The newest film adaptation of video game Mortal Kombat stinks.
I got a whiff of the rot from its trailers. However, the excellent first 10 minutes, the most intriguing sequence of the entire film that was given away as a free preview before its official release, made me plug my nose and take a bite anyway.
The opening scene, with its beautiful cinematography and a tone that reminded me of Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and a live action Ninja Scroll, established an enthralling blood feud between ninjas Hanzo Hasashi aka Scorpion and his rival Sub-Zero.
All that remarkable build is abandoned the second we’re introduced to an uninteresting new character named Cole Young. We follow him on his convoluted journey through ridiculous scenes, cringe-worthy bad acting, and him gaining a lackluster power to win the Mortal Kombat tournament to prevent Outworld from conquering Earthrealm. Also, there’s never a Mortal Kombat tournament.
This movie is a steaming-pile pie layered with moldy cheese. Yet, I agonizingly nibbled on a slice in hopes that it would pay off the story it established in the beginning with satisfying results. It didn’t. All I ended up getting was indigestion.
I saw someone comment on social media that Mortal Kombat was their new all-time favorite movie. They went on from there about how great it was. That person, I should assume, doesn’t care about plot, acting, continuity or sensibility. They just like to see stuff happening on the screen.
That’s the type of audience member that some film makers and movie studios know will accept just about anything. They also realize they can make subpar offerings based on popular franchises that fanatic people will pay to support it regardless of its creative quality. It’s less about the effort and more about the monetary result.
Mortal Kombat has one of the worst plots, if you can call it that, that I’ve experienced in a movie. The entire film should have been solely centered on Sub-Zero and Scorpion from beginning to end.
Again, take the opening of the movie totally into account. Had its creators made a Bloodsport-type movie, dodging all the Mortal Kombat video game tropes and just focused on a revenge tale culminating between Scorpion and Sub-Zero in the Kombat tournament final battle, this could have been outstanding.
Instead, they chose to offend my intelligence and my nose. |THIS.
[By Mr. Joe Walker]
