The moment many Millennials have been waiting for, since the release of the abomination known as Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997, has finally arrived!

The release of a Mortal Kombat film more gruesomely and canonically aligned with its video game predecessor.

The film was released on Friday in theaters and on HBO Max. Now I will say that it’s probably not worth trekking out to a public movie theater in the middle of a *panini, but I still enjoyed the film from the comfort of my couch as a launch point for a possible film series.

This film would have been better off titled Mortal Kombat: Training Camp because there was less tournament and more, “let’s get in touch with our abilities because we waited until the last minute to recruit you all for this mega battle”. This prevented the story from progressing forward farther in the allotted runtime. Then again, I was expecting more of a live-action Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge. To be clear: this film is not that.

MK also introduces a new character played by easy-on-the-eyes Chinese-British actor Lewis Tan. The new character Cole, ironically, should have expanded the Scorpion storyline, but we ended up getting a lot less “GET OVER HERE!” and a whole lot more “this is the team I’m stuck with?”

Classic Raiden. So uplifting during the battle for the Earthrealm.

It’s not a trailer-made movie, per say, but the actual film did leave a lot to be desired plot-wise. Surprisingly, the heavily CGId Goro was the only downgrade from the 90s film. I’d give him three thumbs down.

The highlight of the film was definitely the predominantly Asian cast of Chinese and Japanese actors. #RepresentationMatters. Many of them have stunt work backgrounds so they were able to perform their own stunts. And “Bravo!” because the wonderfully violent fight choreography captured the gruesomeness of the video game franchise without looking too cheesy or forced.

All in all, the film was enjoyable and I will definitely be watching it again. I just hope it does well enough to gain a sequel or two in order to expand on the fantasy world we know and love. “FINISH HIM!”

7.2/10 – Have you seen the movie? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!