With the franchise's latest iteration, Mortal Kombat 1, set to release on September 19, let's take a look at how this beloved fighting game series has captured the hearts of gamers over the years and catered to our deepest nostalgic sentiments.
As an exercise in pure, shameless fan service,
Mortal Kombat (2021) certainly honors not just the 90s video game series it adapts, but also its cinematic predecessors. Shot and lit like a mature TV movie that just happens to be arriving in theaters and via HBO Max this weekend,
Mortal Kombat does excel in two areas the franchise used to pull its punches in: this is one bloody, gory, fight simulation with some stupendous choreography.
The film deserves a lot of credit for acknowledging this supposedly obvious fact, that what drove kids and adults to countless hours hunting for fatalities was the game’s visceral content and devotion to ultra violence. The previous films certainly took notes from the basic story of the games, but their PG-13 ratings felt like a total misfire, an excuse to dumb down the accessibility of the film’s appeal so they could sell more tickets and toys.
Mortal Kombat Review: When Fanservice Doesn’t Lead to a Flawless Victory
Mortal Kombat was one of the godfathers of video game films way back in 1995. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (
Resident Evil,
Monster Hunter), the effort was a sanitized adaptation that featured none of the iconic blood and gore that made the game infamous. However, it did give us one of the best theme songs ever made that still gets the blood pumping to this very day. Then it all went downhill from there. Nevertheless, the video games themselves thrived. With a complex storyline that spans ten games, it was time for Warner Bros to dip its toe once again with a brand new
Mortal Kombat Review: The Dumb Movie Isn t Dumb Enough bleedingcool.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bleedingcool.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.