A some-what original spin on the "Mortal Kombat" mythos. This "teaser" is more grounded in reality than the video game and previous films. Which is good in some ways but also not so good in others. For example (spoiler alert); the characters of 'Reptile' and 'Baraka' are no longer strange mutants from 'Outworld' but psychotic humans who engineer their own deformities i.e. piercing the face and attaching blades to the arms....which is cool and different, yes - but it's not as cool as the whole "outworld" mythology of a whole other race of humanoid/mutant types. Shang Tsung is no longer an evil sorcerer but an evil mob boss??? Um....no!
The whole "grounded in reality" pitch is interesting at best but it just does not work for Mortal Kombat which is supposed to be as far away from reality as possible! Punching people across a room whilst they spew litres upon litres of blood only to get up and retaliate by punching the opponent's head clean-off is common Mortal Kombat fodder, as is shooting ice/lightning/crazy spears from your hands, shooting lasers from your eyes, knocking people from one arena to another, turning opponent's into babies and performing gory and over-the-top finishing moves known as Fatalities! Realism out the window and all the better for it!!! Call me a purist or whatever you want but that's what made Mortal kombat so great and original in the first place.
That's not to say that this 'teaser' trailer/short film isn't any good. It's shot surprisingly well and has a pretty good cast including Michael Jai White as 'Jax'!!! Obviously a bit of money was spent and it is very polished in it's appearance. The action sequences are good but not amazing and it's definitely nothing we've never seen before! It works fine as a stand alone feature but I personally hope the next Mortal Kombat film isn't like this one. Cast Michael Jai White by all means but add some fantasy back into it.
All up it is still worth a watch especially if you're a fan of Mortal Kombat and let's face it....it could have been worse....it could have been "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation"!!!
The whole "grounded in reality" pitch is interesting at best but it just does not work for Mortal Kombat which is supposed to be as far away from reality as possible! Punching people across a room whilst they spew litres upon litres of blood only to get up and retaliate by punching the opponent's head clean-off is common Mortal Kombat fodder, as is shooting ice/lightning/crazy spears from your hands, shooting lasers from your eyes, knocking people from one arena to another, turning opponent's into babies and performing gory and over-the-top finishing moves known as Fatalities! Realism out the window and all the better for it!!! Call me a purist or whatever you want but that's what made Mortal kombat so great and original in the first place.
That's not to say that this 'teaser' trailer/short film isn't any good. It's shot surprisingly well and has a pretty good cast including Michael Jai White as 'Jax'!!! Obviously a bit of money was spent and it is very polished in it's appearance. The action sequences are good but not amazing and it's definitely nothing we've never seen before! It works fine as a stand alone feature but I personally hope the next Mortal Kombat film isn't like this one. Cast Michael Jai White by all means but add some fantasy back into it.
All up it is still worth a watch especially if you're a fan of Mortal Kombat and let's face it....it could have been worse....it could have been "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation"!!!