Mortal Kombat (2021) review (Theatrical/HBO Max)

 

In 1992, Midway Games released a new arcade fighting game, Mortal Kombat. Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the game was originally set to be an adaptation of that year’s sci-fi action film Universal Soldier starring Jean-Claude Van Damme; but, when that idea ultimately went nowhere, it was transformed into a more fantastical fighting game defined by its incredibly graphic finishing moves known as ‘Fatalities’. And while those Fatalities ended up putting the game in some major hot water with certain crowds to the point where it was largely responsible for creating North America’s video game rating system, the ESRB, it also helped make Mortal Kombat an instant staple of both the arcade and home consoles once the game was adapted to the latter format. Since then, the series has spawned numerous follow-ups and spin-offs that have sold around 54 million copies worldwide, and in 1995, it was brought to the big screen courtesy of director Paul W.S. Anderson. Upon its release, the first Mortal Kombat film did incredibly well financially, and despite a generally mixed critical reception, mainly due to it being a heavily toned-down take on the series so that it could maintain a PG-13 rating, it was enough of a hit with fans that, even nowadays, it is still considered to be one of the better films based on a hit video game. However, the same can’t be said for its 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which, despite boasting a budget nearly double the size of the original, somehow ended up being an all-around cheaper production that promptly killed any chances for a third installment.

Yes, because of how disastrous Annihilation turned out, a planned third installment spent several years stuck in development hell. It wasn’t until 2010 after Warner Bros purchased the franchise rights from Midway when the latter declared bankruptcy when this proposed threequel was finally shelved in favor of a full-on cinematic reboot. Originally, the project was set to be developed by director Kevin Tancharoen and writer Oren Uziel, who garnered a lot of attention that year when they made an eight-minute fan film, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. The short proved to be such a big hit that Warner Bros and NetherRealm Studios granted Tancharoen the opportunity to make a web series based on the franchise, Mortal Kombat: Legacy, which ran for two seasons from 2011 to 2013. And while Tancharoen was then officially tapped to direct the reboot, he ultimately backed out of the production a month after Legacy’s conclusion. Thankfully, this wouldn’t be the end for the new Mortal Kombat film as James Wan (who, at the time, was steadily becoming one of the most prominent directors in the industry) signed on to produce it in 2015 with commercial director Simon McQuoid stepping in as its new director. And now, nearly two and a half decades after the franchise’s previous cinematic incarnation fizzled out, the new Mortal Kombat film is upon us and promises to be a far more faithful take on the franchise, especially due to its R-rating. As you might have guessed, this means that we finally get to witness the Mortal Kombat franchise’s infamous ‘fatalities’ in this all-around crowd-pleaser that may be far from perfect but still manages to deliver on some utterly satisfying fan service.

For the past several centuries, the fate of humanity has been dependent on the results of an intense tournament known as Mortal Kombat that involves warriors from Earth, AKA Earthrealm, and the dark and mysterious dimension known as Outworld. Unfortunately, for the people of Earthrealm, Outworld has won the last nine tournaments, and if they win the next one, said victory will allow the sinister sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and his constituents the opportunity to conquer Earthrealm. Thus, with the threat of Shang Tsung’s wrath more prevalent than ever before, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), the god of Thunder and protector of Earthrealm, begins to assemble a varied collection of warriors, including Shaolin monk Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and vicious mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), to train for the tournament. Another notable recruit is Cole Young (Lewis Tan), an MMA fighter who learns that he has a significant connection to Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), a warrior from 17^th century Japan who was killed by one of Shang Tsung’s warriors, Bi-Han AKA Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim). As the Earthrealm crew soon discovers, however, Shang Tsung has no intent on playing fair as he unleashes his minions upon them to ensure that no one can get in the way of their conquest.

One of the first questions that I’m sure a lot of people have about this film is if it manages to deliver on Mortal Kombat’s trademark violence in ways that the 1995 film didn’t, and simply put, it does. Now, obviously, it doesn’t go ‘all out’ with its violence to avoid getting hit with the dreaded NC-17 rating (which means that it’s objectively less violent than the games themselves), but still, what’s there is presented in all its ridiculously messed-up glory thanks to the film’s excellent action sequences that, for the most part, help to make up for its narrative shortcomings. For one thing, given that this is clearly meant to be a ‘franchise starter’ film, it starts off on a bit of a slow note (not counting the excellent pre-title sequence that sets up the conflict between Hanzo Hasashi AKA Scorpion and Bi-Han AKA Sub-Zero, arguably the franchise’s most popular characters) in its efforts to set up the plot and the world of Mortal Kombat. It also doesn’t help that, when it comes to said plot and character development, it’s a lot of generically basic material, especially when it comes to the film’s main protagonist Cole Young, a film-exclusive character who’s mainly just your typical audience surrogate. Despite all this, however, it all comes together nicely in the film’s second half since that’s where all the best action sequences occur along with some great nods to the franchise, including a pitch-perfect utilization of the franchise’s iconic theme song, ‘Techno Syndrome’ by The Immortals. In short, it’s a lot like what happened with the first Avengers, which also had a basic plot and started off rather slow but then got going at just the right time to deliver on exactly what fans had come to see.   

When it comes to the previous live-action Mortal Kombat films, their casting efforts admittedly garnered mixed results. While the first film featured standout performances from the likes of Christopher Lambert as Raiden and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, the rest of the cast could be hit or miss, which only proceeded to get worse with the sequel, Annihilation, especially since more than half of the main protagonists were recast. Thankfully, this isn’t the case with the 2021 reboot, which spawns a much better all-around ensemble. Despite what I said earlier about his character being a basic audience surrogate who is largely overshadowed by all the other classic Mortal Kombat characters, Lewis Tan does headline the film nicely as Cole Young. The same goes for Jessica McNamee in the lead female role of Sonya Blade, who gets a bit more to work with as her arc revolves around her efforts to prove herself since she’s not immediately tapped as one of Earthrealm’s heroes. Ultimately, though, the biggest standouts of the cast are its supporting players such as Ludi Lin and Max Huang as the duo of Liu Kang and Kung Lao and Josh Lawson, who’s a full-on comedic riot as the hilariously scummy Kano. And then there’s the duo of Sub-Zero and Scorpion who, despite their enduring popularity, were mostly underused in the original Mortal Kombat films. It’s a much different story in this film, though, with Joe Taslim being perfectly intimidating as Sub-Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada getting some of the best dramatic moments in the film even if Scorpion isn’t in it as much by comparison.    

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have much of a history with the Mortal Kombat games. In fact, to be perfectly honest, the build-up to this film’s release was the main reason why I’ve even started playing them recently since my only real experiences with the franchise beforehand was via the original films and the rare instances where I came across an MK game in an arcade. And when it comes to the latter, I do mean ‘rare’ since once I was old enough to legitimately show any kind of interest in the franchise, it was at a point where most arcades began to rely more on newer games rather than older ones. Nevertheless, I was well aware of the franchise during my teenaged years, which then led to me watching the undeniably flawed but largely entertaining 1995 film adaptation… and its infamously horrendous 1997 sequel. And now that I’ve seen this new one, I can safely say that 2021’s Mortal Kombat is the series’ best film adaptation yet and one of the best video game films ever made, even if the latter half of that statement isn’t saying much given most of the other films in the genre. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect; it takes a while to get going and is as basic as you can get from a narrative perspective. And yet, thanks to an awesome second half that gives us much of what has made this the smash hit of a franchise that it is, this is very much the snazzy and highly faithful big-budget cinematic take on Mortal Kombat that fans have been waiting to see for years. As such, I’m sure I’m not the only one who would love to see this get a sequel that, should it follow the example of the best parts of its predecessor, could be an even better showcase of everything that is MORTAL KOMBAT!!!

Rating: 4.5/5

Power Rangers (2017) review

While I was only around for half of the decade, I do consider myself to be a ‘90’s kid’. And with that said, many ‘90’s kids’ will agree that one of the definitive shows of their childhoods was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Developed by TV theme song composers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, the series, which utilized stock footage from Toei’s Super Sentai franchise and repurposed it around an American cast, became a worldwide phenomenon when it debuted in 1993. Nearly 25 years later, the series is still going strong today with new themed iterations debuting every year, and while nowadays some feel that the original series has not aged well because of its cheesy nature, it’s still very much a landmark show of its era. I’ll admit, though, that I wasn’t really a Power Rangers fan growing up, mainly just because the original Mighty Morphin series was already over before I was even a year old. However, because it’s so directly tied to my generation, I was at least interested in seeing the new film reboot of this legendary franchise. And thus, here we are with Power Rangers, the third Power Rangers film released to date after 1995’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and 1997’s Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. As stated earlier, it serves as a reboot of the original Mighty Morphin series, with a new cast taking on the roles of the original Ranger team. It’s also easily the biggest Power Rangers film to date in terms of its budget and scale. But, of course, this now leads to one big question; will this succeed in appealing to fans of the franchise while also serving as an effective introduction for the uninitiated? Well, for the most part, director Dean Israelite (Project Almanac) does succeed in redefining this franchise for a new generation.  

In the town of Angel Grove, suspended high school quarterback Jason Lee Scott (Dacre Montgomery), autistic nerd Billy Cranston (RJ Cyler), and ousted cheerleader Kimberly Hart (Naomi Scott) begin to bond while being forced to spend time in detention for various incidents that they were involved in at school. One night, the three end up at the local mines where they, along with truant Zack Taylor (Ludi Lin) and new student Trini Kwan (Becky G), come across five mysterious coin-like artifacts trapped within the rocks. After taking them, the five begin to find themselves imbued with new powers, namely superhuman strength. When they return to where they found the coins, they end up in an ancient spaceship buried deep underground. There, they come across Zordon (Bryan Cranston), an ancient being whose consciousness was uploaded into the ship’s matrix by his android assistant Alpha 5 (Bill Hader). Zordon tells them that they have been chosen by the Power Coins that they’ve found to become the Power Rangers, a group of warriors who protect the Earth from those who seek the Zeo Crystal, the source of their power. And, sure enough, one of those threats, former Green Ranger Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), awakens from her long slumber and plans on rebuilding her monster, Goldar, to find the Zeo Crystal, which Zordon (the former Red Ranger) had buried deep underground millions of years ago when she betrayed their team. With little time to spare before she unleashes her army of monsters upon Angel Grove, the five teens find themselves tasked with trying to band together to become the Rangers and use all their abilities to save their home and their world.  

Overall, this new Power Rangers film does away with many of the campier elements of the original series. Now, for the record, there are still some silly moments here and there (e.g. brace yourself for one ludicrous bit of product placement that literally ends up becoming a major part of the plot) but, overall, the plot is taken more seriously than previous iterations of the franchise. And while this may result in some tonal inconsistencies here and there, like whenever Rita attacks someone in a rather intense manner, the film still manages to capture the feel of the franchise without going completely campy. Plus, with the addition of various nods to the series for eagle-eyed fans to point out, some of which I’m sure I didn’t notice the first time being only a casual fan of the franchise, I think longtime fans will enjoy this new film quite fine. Based on what I’ve seen from the original series, it doesn’t seem like it pulls any major deviations from the source material, aside from new characterizations for the protagonists, that would betray what made the franchise popular in the first place. The big question, though, is how it appeals to newcomers of the franchise. It does so by way of an ‘origin story’. And, yes, I know that this phrase has sort of become a ‘bad word’ amongst filmgoers but here, it is done quite well because it’s about the five teens learning to become the Rangers instead of just being instantly able to do so like in the show. Thus, it ends up sharing a similar aspect with 1997’s Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie in that the teens don’t fully morph into the Rangers until the finale. But in this case, it does work because of their journey beforehand to become the Rangers, instead of just sidelining them in their own film like Turbo did. And once they do get into the suits, the action, which, obviously, is primarily CG-based this time around with an undeniably Transformers vibe to it, is solid.  

As fans of the show know, one of its trademark lines was ‘Teenagers with Attitude’, a phrase uttered by Zordon in the opening credits (though not the show itself) to describe the team. However, in the show, the Rangers were always portrayed as good students and, thus, more like role models and not really ‘teenagers with attitude’. Here, though, they very much emphasize the ‘attitude’ part, showcasing a group of misfits who must come together to become the heroes they’re meant to be. And, like I said before, while the show had them capable of morphing into the Rangers right out the gate, I do like how, in this film, they must work to get to that level. Also, to the filmmakers’ credit, they did pick an excellent group of leads to take on these iconic roles. Granted, some get more attention than others (namely Jason, Kimberly, and Billy, who are the first to be introduced in the film; Zack and Trini don’t come in until they get the Power Coins) but they do have fantastic chemistry with each other. Not bad for a group that’s mostly made up of general newcomers; just goes to show that perhaps Dean Israelite’s greatest strength as a director is working with younger actors/actresses. As for their supporting cast, Bryan Cranston (who notably provided villain voices for the original series and was even the inspiration for the Blue Ranger’s name, Billy Cranston) brings the proper dignified nature to the role of Zordon while Bill Hader provides some enjoyable comic relief in the role of Alpha 5 (“Ai yi yi!”). Finally, there’s Elizabeth Banks as main villain Rita Repulsa; she’s quite over-the-top here, keeping very much in line with the Rita of the original series. It’ll either work for you or it won’t. Personally, it didn’t bother me but maybe that’s because she’s not really in the film that much, as the focus is primarily on the Rangers, which is a good thing.

So, as I stated before, I didn’t grow up with Power Rangers. I did watch some episodes of the show before watching this film (as well as the previous films) and, like I said last time, I probably would’ve loved the show had I watched it as a kid. But, overall, going into this I was a newcomer to the franchise that had gradually become a casual fan once I finally watched some episodes of it. And overall, as a ‘casual fan’ of Power Rangers, I rather enjoyed this new film. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that it’s groundbreaking or anything but as a new iteration of a popular franchise, it manages to appeal to both longtime fans and those like me who come into it generally new to the series. In the case of the former, it does this through solid but respectful homages to the franchise while the latter will find a surprisingly engrossing origin story with solid characters portrayed by an excellent group of leads. Now, with that said, admittedly if you weren’t already big on the series to begin with, you probably won’t get much out of this. Despite the change in tone, it’s still the same generally silly premise of teens fighting aliens in giant robots. But, if you are a fan of the show, it is a nice new addition to the franchise. It’s basically the original Mighty Morphin series but with the budget and scale that it just didn’t have back when it was on. Thus, I think longtime fans will enjoy this just fine; I can tell that just from my own theater experience. When the Power Rangers theme came on, there was applause. Thus, I think it’s safe to say that Power Rangers will be a definite crowd-pleaser for fans young and old.

Rating: 4/5