The New ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie Looks Bloody Great—And Very Bloody—In Its First Trailer

I didn’t even know there was a new Mortal Kombat movie in the works until this trailer landed. Either that or when I hear about video game movie adaptations I block them out because they’re often so terrible.

After I punched out this paragraph I was reminded of Monster Hunter—the new movie, not the game—and realized I haven’t seen it yet. It doesn’t look very good and I never for the life of me imagined a Monster Hunter movie about modern soldiers, but I should probably see it and write up a review.

In any case, while most video game adaptations make terrible movies, I am actually going to go out on a limb and say: Maybe not this one. The trailer (above) for Mortal Kombat is actually pretty awesome. Some great fight scenes, a pretty impressive cast, lots of good special effects and ultra-violence.

Here’s the poster:

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Credit: Warner Bros

The official description sent out in today’s press release:

“Inspired by the blockbuster video game franchise, which most recently enjoyed the most successful video game launch in its history with Mortal Kombat 11, “Mortal Kombat” features MMA fighter Cole Young, a brand new character to the Mortal Kombat universe, played by Lewis Tan (“Deadpool 2,” Netflix’s “Wu Assassins”). 

“In the film, Cole is unaware of his heritage, and why he is being hunted by Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung’s best warrior, Sub-Zero. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Once he is brought to the temple of Lord Raiden, Cole begins his training with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano. Soon he will stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.

“Helmed by award-winning Australian commercial filmmaker Simon McQuoid, marking his feature directorial debut, and produced by James Wan (“The Conjuring” universe films, “Aquaman,”), Todd Garner (“Into the Storm,” “Tag”), McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh (“Men in Black: International,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), “Mortal Kombat” is releasing worldwide on April 16, 2021 in theaters and will be available in the U.S. on HBO Max for 31 days from theatrical release.”

Mortal Kombat

Credit: Warner Bros

The film stars Josh Lawson as Kano, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Hirojuki Sanada as Scorpion, Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chan Han as Shang Tsung, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Daniel Nelson as Kabal and Matlida Kimber as Emily Young.

I admit, I find the Warner Bro/HBO Max release schedule kind of backwards. Why not release the movie into theaters for one month before releasing it on HBO Max? That might encourage people to go see it in the theaters instead of at home, but still encourage HBO Max subscriptions when it landed a month later. Seems like they’ve got the cart before the horse here.

But I’m not complaining. Now I can watch it at home on my OLED TV and not spend money on movie tickets. Though I might anyways. I miss going to the movies.

I don’t need this to be the most incredible story ever, either. I just want a faithful rendition of these characters with some crazy martial arts and lots of blood and gore. If it just avoids being massively cheesy and is a fun action movie, I’m all about it.

Mortal Kombat kicks its way into theaters on April 16th. Get over here.