I Hated Mortal Kombat (2021)- Daily Rant

MORTAL KOMBAT CAME OUT ON HBOMAX April 16th, 2021. I didn’t have a chance to take a look at the movie until April 26th, 2021. I was excited! I grew up watching the original Mortal Kombat and always loved it! Yes, it hasn’t aged well, and the fight choreography doesn’t hold up as I remember, but it will always have a fond place in my memories. That being said, I can’t stand Annihilation. I thought it was terrible on release, and I still can’t sit and watch it now. So when I saw the trailer for the new Mortal Kombat, I was hyped. It looked promising!

What I Liked

THE CHARACTERS. Well, some of them. Kano was the most interesting of the bunch since he was the only one that wasn’t stern, agitated, and unhappy. Almost every other character had a chip on their shoulder, didn’t really have much personality, and looked irritated the whole time. I mean, I know it’s Mortal Kombat, with death and all that, but could they have given them some personality quirks? I liked seeing a deeper story and characterization for Sub-zero and Scorpion. Sub-zero was an all-around badass; in a way, I never thought of him as. I was never a fan of Sub-zero (always been team Scorpion), but this movie had me liking Sub-zero for the first time.

THE DESIGNS WERE COOL. I liked the revamped costumes for Sub-Zero, Kabal, Kung Lao, Mileena, Raiden, and Goro actually looked really intimidating!

THE ACTION was pretty good. It wasn’t the best, but I at least enjoyed the fight choreography for the most part. My favorite battles were Liu Kang vs. Kabal, Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero, and Kung-Lao vs. Nitara (mostly because I wasn’t expecting the finishing move, but they did her hella dirty!)

What I Didn’t Like

THE CHARACTER DESIGNS. Some of the new costumes just weren’t appealing. The significant change was Shang Tsung. What was with that strange boob armor? I also feel like they should have swapped the actors for Raiden and Shang Tsung. Tadanobu Asano looked more intimidating, and I just felt like Raiden was on the verge of killing everyone, just by the look in his eyes. While Shang Tsung looked a little more… wholesome, I guess? He just looks like a nice guy that was having a bad day, while Raiden had the look of, “Yes. I will kill you.” Maybe that was just me. And I’m not familiar with Reiko, but he was random and out of place. He reminded me of Lord General in the movie Weird Science, released August 2nd, 1985. Oh, and did anyone else think that Liu Kang looked like Ryu from Street Fighter in the end? I was like, welp, wrong franchise 😛

SCORPION AND SUB ZERO. They had an exciting build-up, awesome costume designs, and then… nothing? The movie had almost nothing to do with them! They spent the first 10 minutes or so of the opening moments on their rivalry! They became background noise and then had a showdown out of nowhere in the very end. Yay, Scorpion is back to kick @$$… Because? Well, he just is. Where did he come from? How? Why now, and not before? Don’t worry about that, watch them fight!

ARCANA? Why the name arcana, first off? Why not chi or ki? Anywho, the idea of gaining powers because you’re chosen for the tournament was intriguing. And the ability to gain powers by killing another chosen one was also cool. But not in a Mortal Kombat movie. I’m in no way an expert on Mortal Kombat since I’ve only ever casually played 1-3, but this was never a thing, right? The movie dragged on without a tournament, just to allow the characters to get said powers. It was a waste of time! Oh, OH! And don’t get me started or Cole’s Arcana.

COLE? Cole! Who was this guy? They could have chosen hundreds of characters, multiple story paths to focus the story, and they decided on Joe Blow, Nobody? It was a waste of time cause he’s no one! They dedicated a lot of the movie and screen time to his nonsense when they could have used that time for other story moments. And when he finally gets his powers? What in the holy F*** was that? It didn’t even look like it belonged in the Mortal Kombat universe, let alone it being a rip-off of Black Panther’s power absorption ability. An ability that, by the way, is never used ever again, after his battle with Goro. Which is a thing with his whole character: what was the point? They should have just had Johnny Cage be the protagonist instead of saving him for some lame teaser in the end. You get Johnny Cage! Next time. Or how about following Subzero or Scorpion? Since, you know, the movie started with them, has both fighters on the promotional art, and ends with them! But I guess that makes too much sense.

Closing Thoughts

I KNOW MOST PEOPLE WATCH FOR THE GORE. And the fights. The point was to see classic characters from the Mortal Kombat universe show up, battle it out, and do fatalities. I get that. I wanted that too! But I wish there was more substance and lore from the games instead of what we got. They could have done for video game movies what Spiderman did for comic book movies! But, I don’t have faith in anything Hollywood does for video games, and Mortal Kombat 2021 is no exception. Oh well, at least I saw someone’s soul sucked from their body and witnessed a character getting cut in half. Oh, and one last thought: Does Shang Tsung literally eat an opponent’s soul, as he did in the movie? I also thought that was a weird choice.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading! I’ll be back with another entry next time. Stay creative and go make something! Tell the world your story, in the way that only you can. Please take care and God bless. Cheers!