It became HBO Max's most-successful film launch to date.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $84 million worldwide against a $55 million budget. Mortal Kombat was released internationally on April 8, 2021, then in the United States on April 23, simultaneously in theaters in Dolby Cinema, IMAX and 4DX and on the HBO Max streaming service. Principal photography occurred from September to December 2019. Production took place at Adelaide Studios in Adelaide and at other locations in South Australia. James Wan was announced as a producer in August 2015 and McQuoid was hired as director in November 2016. Pictures and New Line Cinema began developing a new film, with Kevin Tancharoen serving as director from a script written by Uziel in the wake of their Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film. Concerned for the safety of his family, he seeks out a clique of fighters that were chosen to defend Earthrealm against Outworld.įollowing the critical and commercial failure of the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, a third Mortal Kombat film languished in development hell for a period of nearly two decades. The film follows Cole Young, a washed-up mixed martial arts fighter who is unaware of his hidden lineage or why the assassin Sub-Zero is hunting him down. It is directed by Simon McQuoid in his feature directorial debut, from a screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham and a story by Russo and Oren Uziel. The film stars Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Max Huang, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada.
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Another positive is the films pacing - too fast for real narrative build up - but fast enough to be good for future viewings.ĭespite being largely tailored to the fans of the series and lacking any serious acting chops, Mortal Kombat unlocks enough of its own arcana to wow audiences - even if only for brief moments.Mortal Kombat is a 2021 martial arts fantasy film based on the video game franchise of the same name and a reboot of the Mortal Kombat film series. In this mature space, the film is able to use some very graphic violence to enhance the characters “finish him” moves. Mortal Kombat rights many wrongs from the previous adaptations most notably the films R rating. The actors, while more representative and culturally appropriate than the original 90’s adaptation give, spotty performances at best. Unfortuanately, the film does little to introduce or explain these characters to newcomers to the series. With it, he and the other champions of Earth Jax, Sonya Blade, and Liu Kang must stop the warriors of outworld from the enslaving the globe.įans of the series will immediately recognize all of the primary fighters. In discovering the reason for his birthmark, Cole has no choice but to train hard in hopes of finding his arcana - a mythical power from within in his own soul. When superhuman (and fan favorite character) Sub-Zero arrives to hunt down the champions of Earthrealm, Cole must find the Temple of Lord Raiden. In Mortal Kombat, Cole Young (Lewis Tan), is a former MMA star unaware as to why he has a mysterious dragon birth mark. The new Mortal Kombat reboot scores a “flawless victory” in being just that. Films based on video games have a rich - albeit unflattering - history of being superficially enjoyable narrative disasters.