Review – Mortal Kombat (2021)
Review – Mortal Kombat (2021)
Storyline
MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan), accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage-or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung (Chin Han) has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) at the direction of Jax (Mehcad Brooks), a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with.
Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang), and rogue mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana-the immense power from within his soul-in time to save not only his family but to stop Outworld once and for all?
BGCP Opinion
So did you make it through the WB synopsis above without saying what the actual fuck has this got to do with a bloody video game? I didn’t! Ten minutes into this garbled mess of a film I was yearning for the blissful death of a “FLAWLESS VICTORY!” Have you ever wondered how Scorpion became a nutjob? (me neither), How Jaks got his metal arms ( crickets…) And who the absolute hell is Cole Young? There are literally hundreds of characters in the franchise and this movie decided to McGuffin its way through 90% by doing a quest movie!
The point of any MK movie is to spend as little time as any with the plot and get to the fighting (and killing as soon as possible.) This Frankenstein’s Monster of a movie decides to give us all back story and no action. The acting is so wooden that I hear Gerry Anderson and the Thunderbirds are suing for plagiarism.
When you are outshone by a 1995 cheesy film as well as the 2020 animated movie you are in deep deep trouble!
The CGI and effects are laughable in a time when 20 years ago we got Hobbits and Ring Wraiths, as usual the lazy studio and director has green screened away all his problems with a terrible Goro who would lose to his plasticine doppelganger from 95!
The cast and directors should have just had 2 hours of blood, guts, and mayhem instead it’s a buddy movie where nobody likes anybody but hey let’s get along. Nobody cares about Cole’s powers and how he does or doesn’t get them. Known as arcana in Mortal Kombat — they manifest in a life-or-death situation (apart from Kano who gets a bit grumpy and gets them!), granting him supernatural body armour and a pair of arm blades (the body armour is shirt so let’s hope there are never any neck or headshots!.
Final Verdict
This film is everything wrong with gaming movies, it doesn’t care about the gamers and tries to pander to “fresh blood” who after almost 30 years have never heard of the game. But let’s get to the plus points for those that want to watch it!
- Bloody Deaths (10/10)
- Crappy 90s Techno soundtrack (it’s there but you need to wait till the end!)
- Raiden, Liu Kang and Kabal are pantomime but great!
- Did I mention the Deaths?
So did you waste £15 watching MK? Did your Uncle try and show you how to stream it on your Amazon or Google Play and turned it into a brick? If you enjoyed our Review of Mortal Kombat 2021.. let us know below!
If you want to watch MK here’s the first (and best!) seven minutes.. but to honest I’ve also included the 1995 and the 2020 film trailers which kick it’s bottom!
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