Mortal Kombat (2021 Film)

About

Mortal Kombat (2021 Film) is the 2021 cinematic adaptation of the Mortal Kombat series of video games. Directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by New Line Cinema, the film proved largely a treat for fans of the series due to its self-aware humor and R-rating, which allowed it to be appropriately gory, though critics also took issue with its story and some editing of the fight scenes.

History

In November of 2016, Simon McQuoid was announced as the director for a cinematic Mortal Kombat reboot, with Greg Russo writing the script.^[1] The film entered pre-production in 2019. On July 5th, Russo^[2] tweeted that the film would have an R-rating, meaning the gory fatalities of the games would be represented on screen (shown below).

The first trailer for the film released on February 18th, 2021 (shown below). The film released internationally on April 8th and in the United States in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23rd, 2021.

The film follows an original character, Cole Young, as he's sucked into the universe of Mortal Kombat because he is a descendant of legendary warrior Hanzo Hasashi, aka Scorpion. He joins up with Sonya Blade, Kano and Jax on a mission to find Raiden, Liu Kang and Kung Lao as they work to save "Earthrealm" by defeating Outworld and its champions at the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Reception

The film received middling reviews upon release, netting a score of 44 on Metacritic^[3] and 55 on Rotten Tomatoes.^[4] Critics tended to praise the film's tongue-in-cheek humor and excessive violence, saying it was a fun movie though not a cinematic masterpiece. Other critics had issues with the story and the fight choreography. Cr1TiKaL praised the film for being fun but cautioned fans to lower their expectations because it was not without flaws (shown below).

Online Presence

While Mortal Kombat has not developed a significant online community around the film, it has inspired several popular threads and videos online. On Reddit, a thread about the film in /r/movies^[5] gained over 2,400 points. On April 29th, YouTuber Mista GG posted a video discussing the film, gaining over 136,000 views (shown below, left). A review by Chris Stuckmann gained over 837,000 views (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References