Mortal Kombat (2021)

[BusSport]

First poster for the Mortal Kombat reboot to be released on, as the poster indicates, Friday, April 16, 2021, in a dual-release both in theaters and on HBO Max:

 

[Niner Outlaw]

 

[BusSport]

Red-band trailer!

 

[Podunkparte]

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

It's on HBO, I watched it early this AM. It's not bad.

The action scenes are great, and it was awesome seeing the blood and gore which was my major complaint with the original 95' one.

That said, the story was a giant disjointed mess lol. It felt very rushed and the editing was very choppy. It almost feels like it would've been better as a flat out TV series (which I thought it was) or another 20 minutes in run time. The first half was really good, set up the characters well... Kano was great, I liked how they had to 'unlock' their abilities, etc. It was done convincingly enough.

That said, I was kind of sitting there like, "How much run time is left?" and it was like 30-40 minutes. I was thinking, "Man they better get moving on this." And OH DID THEY. The final fights were SUPER rushed, no tournament, no explanation really of WTF was going on. All the fights with exception of the final Sub-Zero/Scorpion were EXTREMELY rushed with no real tension or any chance for the viewer to get invested into what was going on. Goro goes down like a simp and I dunno. I mean it was shot well enough, but the second half REALLY felt rushed and a "OH FUCK we need to end this movie! UHHHH, QUICKLY NOW!"

I'd give it a 6/10. The pacing, music score, and overall plot in the 95' Mortal Kombat was FARRRRR superior. Had they added in the R rating and gore, and gotten a bigger special effects budget, it would've been a pretty complete film. I've rewatched the 95 Mortal Kombat numerous times, I don't know if I would really sit down and watch this again although the fight choreography was very well done and shot. The subzero actor was fantastic.

I was a huge part of the MK scene when I was a kid (in elementary, it was beyond epic) and remember huddling around the arcade machines watching other kids play and praying the fatalities were done. So for me it's a 6 (maybe high 5s)/10 because it did the games justice in terms of the fight scenes. As a movie it's pretty bleh. If you're not an MK fan you're probably not going to enjoy this movie at all lol. The 95 one would probably in all honesty be a better experience for you.

 

[Sparhawk]

They should have went for more of a campy feel than trying to be serious.
The opening sequence was the best part of the movie.

All downhill from there.

 

[wazzu31]

It's on HBO, I watched it early this AM. It's not bad.

The action scenes are great, and it was awesome seeing the blood and gore which was my major complaint with the original 95' one.

That said, the story was a giant disjointed mess lol. It felt very rushed and the editing was very choppy. It almost feels like it would've been better as a flat out TV series (which I thought it was) or another 20 minutes in run time. The first half was really good, set up the characters well... Kano was great, I liked how they had to 'unlock' their abilities, etc. It was done convincingly enough.

That said, I was kind of sitting there like, "How much run time is left?" and it was like 30-40 minutes. I was thinking, "Man they better get moving on this." And OH DID THEY. The final fights were SUPER rushed, no tournament, no explanation really of WTF was going on. All the fights with exception of the final Sub-Zero/Scorpion were EXTREMELY rushed with no real tension or any chance for the viewer to get invested into what was going on. Goro goes down like a simp and I dunno. I mean it was shot well enough, but the second half REALLY felt rushed and a "OH FUCK we need to end this movie! UHHHH, QUICKLY NOW!"

I'd give it a 6/10. The pacing, music score, and overall plot in the 95' Mortal Kombat was FARRRRR superior. Had they added in the R rating and gore, and gotten a bigger special effects budget, it would've been a pretty complete film. I've rewatched the 95 Mortal Kombat numerous times, I don't know if I would really sit down and watch this again although the fight choreography was very well done and shot. The subzero actor was fantastic.

I was a huge part of the MK scene when I was a kid (in elementary, it was beyond epic) and remember huddling around the arcade machines watching other kids play and praying the fatalities were done. So for me it's a 6 (maybe high 5s)/10 because it did the games justice in terms of the fight scenes. As a movie it's pretty bleh. If you're not an MK fan you're probably not going to enjoy this movie at all lol. The 95 one would probably in all honesty be a better experience for you.

The way they went about the movie, it would’ve been good to go the Snyder route and release a 5 hour movie of it because you have to have the tournament not and not just rush to fit it in.

 

[Podunkparte]

The way they went about the movie, it would’ve been good to go the Snyder route and release a 5 hour movie of it because you have to have the tournament not and not just rush to fit it in.

Didn't like the movie, but to be fair to them, the budget was like $50M.

The Snyder cut was around $300M.

My criticisms have little to do with budget. The effects were good enough, even great for some. The writing, direction, dialogue, pace, and overall story decision, were all terrible.

They started off with that 15 minute Scorpion/Sub zero scene, and it was incredible. Everything after that was a different, and much worse movie.

 

[Clayton]

No idea why someone wouldn't just go watch the old one. It has the perfect cast in the top 3 or 4 leads. Cary Tagawa as Shang Tsung in particular. A cheesy (and in some cases pretty stellar) 90s techno soundtrack that is peak video game fight music.

This is like remaking Ghostbusters. A hot mess that shouldn't have worked the first time but it did in its own special way because the people working on it were so talented that they could make anything work.

 

[lilchi721]

Wasn't much of a storyline just a lot of action stuff

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Spoiler-less review.

Ok, so... it was not a good movie by any means, but it was fairly entertaining. The story, or lack there of was pretty bad. The main character isn't even in Mortal Kombat lore and that is dumb and lazy. Kano was funny, he definitely steals most of the scenes he is in. This should have been a Sub Zero vs Scorpion style movie instead, they were easily the best parts of the movie. There were some cool fatalities, but none of the fights seemed to matter nor last long.

A big pet peeve of mine.... CGI blood. What a waste of the budget. This honestly felt a lot like the new Power Rangers movie from a few years ago. Updated graphics which are nice, but not a well thought out story or movie as a whole.

4.5/10

 

[HuskerPower52]

The opening was awesome. New made up lead character upset me, they should have went with Johnny Cage....The lack of a tournament when the whole MK premise is based on a tournament was perplexing. So it didn't feel like a MK movie at times. I did like how they had to work to get their powers. ending did feel rushed... It could have been a lot better 5.

 

[wazzu31]

Didn't like the movie, but to be fair to them, the budget was like $50M.

The Snyder cut was around $300M.

My criticisms have little to do with budget. The effects were good enough, even great for some. The writing, direction, dialogue, pace, and overall story decision, were all terrible.

They started off with that 15 minute Scorpion/Sub zero scene, and it was incredible. Everything after that was a different, and much worse movie.

It wasn’t a movie I will sit and re watch, but I think the time constraint hurt the movie more than anything. I liked the story but they had to cram an entire movie into the last 30 minutes. The first 15 and last 15 IMO were great.

 

[Podunkparte]

It wasn’t a movie I will sit and re watch, but I think the time constraint hurt the movie more than anything. I liked the story but they had to cram an entire movie into the last 30 minutes. The first 15 and last 15 IMO were great.

Which is my story criticism. Why choose to revolve the story around some new character, who isn't good, instead of getting to the point and getting to the tournament? That's something the 90's movie did well. Get your characters introduced and get them to the tournament. Instead we had to watch how this mediocre fighter learns the ability to grow a sweater?

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Watched it earlier this evening. I thought it was okay but nothing worth going out of your way to watch. The action scenes I thought were well done but I thought a lot of the CGI wasn't all that great. The plot did feel very rushed and tried to cram in quite a bit for the run time that they had. I thought most of the casting was fine but the guy that played Cole didn't really do anything for me and I liked Robin Shou from the original movies better as Liu Kang. I'd probably give it around a 5.5-6.

 

[wazzu31]

Which is my story criticism. Why choose to revolve the story around some new character, who isn't good, instead of getting to the point and getting to the tournament? That's something the 90's movie did well. Get your characters introduced and get them to the tournament. Instead we had to watch how this mediocre fighter learns the ability to grow a sweater?

True, but I think that whole backstory really would’ve worked if they got an extra half hour running time. That is my main beef. Because the solid violence got rushed, plus the whole mess of not having a tournament it made the backstory pointless. The movie could’ve been 45 minutes long and it accomplished exactly the same as the full length.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Fortunately for most of us we know the game & the previous movies well enough that we didn't require a whole lot of explanation... Whereas this movie offered very little in that regard.

Seems we all share the same sentiments towards this movie.

The intro scene was the best part of the entire movie. Then it was a 40-minute haphazard attempt at trying to build a movie plot. Not explaining the new main character was a big problem in the end. But not bad for a throwaway watch. I loved the gore element and the fight scenes were pretty decent.

I assume by Shang Tsung's remark: "Death is but another portal" (or something along those lines) and seeing his warrior vaporize means that those characters will be seen again?

 

[redseat]

Watched it on Friday. Wasn't the biggest fan of it. It was "bad" but it wasn't as good as I expected

Fight scenes were good. I love Jessica McNamarra!

 

[cheerupcharlie]

I wasn't expecting much. But i kind of liked it. Kano was great. Opening was awesome.

I'd give it 6.5

 

[Sparhawk]

Fortunately for most of us we know the game & the previous movies well enough that we didn't require a whole lot of explanation... Whereas this movie offered very little in that regard.

Seems we all share the same sentiments towards this movie.

The intro scene was the best part of the entire movie. Then it was a 40-minute haphazard attempt at trying to build a movie plot. Not explaining the new main character was a big problem in the end. But not bad for a throwaway watch. I loved the gore element and the fight scenes were pretty decent.

I assume by Shang Tsung's remark: "Death is but another portal" (or something along those lines) and seeing his warrior vaporize means that those characters will be seen again?

With a little creative writing, what if the new main character's special ability was to channel his father's spirit into his body with his special 'hell' powers to do the fighting for him?

It would have connected a lot of dots and would have allowed the new guy to shout "Get over here!!!".
Which was impossible for the original dude who never learned English...... but said it anyway???