Bloody, but not brutal, the new release Mortal Kombat is far from a flawless victory. Video game movies are rarely worth your time, but the tale of an MMA fighter being thrown into the mystical fighting competition was met with much anticipation. It would’ve been the dream to see the violent and fun characters dish it out, yet this film tells you to just keep dreaming. This is a rushed and messy movie that is not worthy of the original source, nor your precious two hours of free time. The movie’s action is sparse and full of super quick cuts that are annoying and headache-inducing. None of the style matches the hyper-violence on screen, let alone make the characters feel dimensional. We are shown bland, overly quippy renditions of fan-favourite characters and, strangely, adapt a super boring new character as the hero. There’s a real confusion in whether the movie wants to play with the fan’s expectations or introduce a new take on the source material, which is the movie’s biggest flaw. It’s sad to see yet another limp attempt to start a universe of movies. Mortal Kombat feels so rushed and tensionless and merely becomes an extended trailer for its sequel. We’re left in a limbo of what the point for this new movie is and with the exasperating action and characters, there’s really no fight worth seeing in this unfortunate movie.
“Two out of ten, at least Scorpion rules.”
