Mortal Kombat

Martial arts and gore fans get over here! Everyone who gave The Father five stars, get the fuck out! The solid and anticipated reboot of Mortal Kombat is a successful debut and a respectable action genre film that slightly disappoints in a few aspects, but still serves as solid fan service and unquestionably belongs to the better films released this year. On the acting side, Joe Taslim stands out in the role of Sub-Zero, stealing all the scenes for himself, and Josh Lawson delights as Kano, possibly the biggest badass in the last ten years. This guy stole the whole show for himself, and his wisecracks had me in stitches multiple times!! As for the fights themselves, the choreography could have been more elaborate, but fortunately, the creators indulged in some nice fatalities (because that's what MK is all about) with properly utilized gore (five stars for that!). The rest of the characters don't stand out much, and the plot is of course silly (it's based on the game!!), but fans of PG 13 nonsense, musicals, and slow, uninteresting dramas will obviously suffer. The ending is a complete ball of nerves, the Sub-Zero-Scorpion duel was excellent. Overall, I had a great time, enjoyed the action, the humour, and the visuals, the music is also decent, so I will definitely revisit this film multiple times in the future. In simple terms, five stars for the gore, four stars for the fights, three stars for the plot and characters. Those who feel the need to find faults will find them. 8/10. (2021.04.23)

Some good stuff that primarily involves action scenes, excellent fatalities that directly honour the game and some fantastic visual effects. Then it only gets worse. Of the characters, the most interesting is the duel Sub Zero vs Scorpion, here and there Kano winks at the viewer with a catchphrase and Sonya with a kick, the rest is not worth mentioning. The legendary Liu Kang and Lord Raiden from the original film are just there to for fan service, and Mortal Kombat without a tournament as such it's dull wilderness. If they cut and edit it, maybe. (2021.04.25)

At first I just wanted to rejoice in what a big leap it is from the universally adored guilty pleasures by Paul W.S. Anderson, which sadly got old a while ago. However, the more I think about it, the more I realize how unfair that would be. In those days, the creators were inspired by only a couple of games that focused on tournaments and only tournaments. Since then, however, not only has more than a quarter of a century passed, but a decent number of combat games have emerged, in which mythology has reached various peaks, falls, missteps, new clashes, reboots of old concepts, and even a new generation of adventures. And from such a pile, not only can an old-new direction be much better selected, but the motivations of the characters can also be better varied. But that doesn't change my enthusiasm, because my beloved Kung Lao finally gets his chance to shine, the screenplay cautiously draws inspiration from both new and old times, beautifully winks at the details, and if it weren't for the slightly fragmented mood and unnecessarily modest storytelling in the middle act, there wouldn't be much to criticize. Even someone like Kano, whom I never really liked, works perfectly, there are so many fights that something is always happening, and at the same time, they never fall into a stereotype. All that's left is to check off favorite fatalities or images that every fan dreamed of. When a perfectly timed "Get over here!" hit, I couldn't help but get goosebumps everywhere. Hopefully, the plan for a promised trilogy will come true for these enthusiasts because the characters and individual events are distributed absolutely precisely. (2021.04.26)

Quite a buffoonery this was. And the more serious/harsh/fateful it tries to look, the funnier it gets. When those terribly acted characters in funny outfits don’t say anything, it's watchable – so I see three stars as an improvement in a situation where not many great films are still coming out. That said, forget about any fancy fight choreography, I though they were pretty ordinary. If Gareth Evans had taken over, it would have been a different story. (2021.04.23)

So I think the filmmakers really like Anderson's 1995 film, and they didn't make the new Mortal Kombat with the need to make amends to the mother of bloody video games, but to make it the way Paul W.S. Anderson would probably make it today. So expect another B-movie with not-so-interesting characters that takes itself deadly seriously, regardless of what is happening in it, pretty decent (but far from perfect) effects, and a number of scenes that are downright reminiscent of, if not quotes from, the original film. No more, no less. (2021.12.05)