Mortal Kombat (2021 Film)

I loved the 1995 Mortal Kombat film at the time, but it hasn't aged well.  The 1997 sequel was simply terrible, though it did have a couple of decent fights.  

So how does the new one hold up?  Well, it's a solid movie, with decent fight choreography, much better special effects, and less of the campy tone that plagues the '95 version.  But I don't know, I think the 90's cheese actually helped original movie.  Let's face it, the MK universe is hard to take too seriously.

The 2021 movie can't seem to decide whether it's serious or light-hearted.  If you judge it by the opening scene, it could be a serious martial arts film with a Mortal Kombat skin.  But the more the movie goes on, the sillier it gets, with characters learning how to fire their signature energy blasts and eye lasers.

I'm not fond of the selection of characters.  It has a fairly small cast, and ignores several popular fighters like Johnny Cage and Kitana.  And yet it has room for more obscure fighters like Nitara and Reiko.  Of course they're saving some characters for the sequel - the movie doesn't just imply this, it outright says it.

It's a lot bloodier than the 1995 film, and it isn't shy about killing off characters.  Some of the fatalities and special moves are right out of the games, and they look great.  You will have to turn off your brain, though, as the laws of physics don't apply here.

It's just, I don't know, maybe I'm the one who changed, but... I still remember a lot of lines from the original movie, even though I haven't seen it in years.  I've already forgotten large parts of the new movie, even though I watched it a couple of hours ago.  

It just feels like it's missing something.  Not enough happens; it feels too short and anticlimactic.  I don't want to spoil anything, but it feels like they picked a weird place to end the movie.  It almost feels like the pilot for a TV series instead of a movie.

All in all, it's not a bad "turn your brain off and enjoy the violence" action movie.  It has a lot of Easter eggs for fans of the games, and references a lot of characters who aren't in the movie.  But even non-gamers might find something to enjoy here, if they're into bloody fight scenes.  Just don't expect it to make sense.