‘Mortal Kombat’ Debuts First Look Pictures and Interview
It’s all about sweaty muscles and bloody knuckles in the first look at Mortal Kombat.
Fans have been dying to see anything official from Warner Bros. and New Line’s upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot for months now. With its April 16 release date rapidly approaching, the marketing machine is finally booting up.
Entertainment Weekly has the first look at newcomer Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat, which is being produced by James Wan. The exclusive photos showcase a good number of well-known fighters from the famous video game series, and most of them are sporting pretty nifty looks.
While Paul W.S. Anderson’s original film stuck close to the first games’ campy tone, it seems like this iteration’s take on the source material will be grittier and, above all, bloodier. McQuoid said the following about the film’s rating:
“It’s definitely not gonna get a PG-13 rating… Out of context this quote might seem incendiary, it’s not: The rules around ratings aren’t what a lot of people think they are… It’s amount of blood, it’s amount of red, it’s interpretation of how you go about it. We had a lot of discussions about getting the balance right so there was gore and there was blood and there were fatalities… And there is gore, blood, and fatalities.”
So yeah, things are getting nasty this time around. Probably not “modern Mortal Kombat games” levels of nasty though. Lewis Tan, who is playing original character Cole Young, added the following about the infamous fatalities:
“There are some crazy fatalities… We’ve picked a couple of iconic ones. There’s a lot of really cool signature moves that you’ll see, a lot of Easter eggs that we snuck into the film, but there are some really badass fatalities that I can’t wait to see on the big screen. They’re brutal, man. They, they don’t hold back.”
It also seems like Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s feud, a key pillar of the franchise’s mythology, is getting more love; the film’s 10-minute opening sequence kicks off in feudal Japan and gives us a close look at how the bad blood between them started. With martial artist (and professional action guy) Joe Taslim playing Bi-Han/Sub-Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada embodying Hanzo/Scorpion, their rivalry is bound to be one of the film’s strengths.
Sadly, test screenings for the film haven’t gone very well (or so I’ve heard), and both the director and writers haven’t got a lot of experience, so I’m keeping my expectations in check despite being a massive MK fan. I also heard that James Wan’s Atomic Monster took a more hands-on approach during the reshoots in order to up the action scenes. The first trailer will hopefully offer a good look at the finished product sooner rather than later.
Lewis Tan stars as Cole Young and is joined by Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Mehcad Brooks (Jax), Max Huang (Kung Lao), Tadanobu Asano (Raiden), Joe Taslim (Sub-Zero), Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion), Josh Lawson (Kano), Daniel Nelson (Kabal), Sisi Stringer (Mileena), and Chin Han (Shang Tsung). Other iconic Mortal Kombat roles such as Johnny Cage and Kitana haven’t been confirmed yet and aren’t expected at this point.
Mortal Kombat debuts domestically on HBO Max and in theaters on April 16, 2021. Even though some big releases slated for next spring are shifting release dates once again, it appears that Warner Bros. is dead set on getting this one and Godzilla vs. Kong out before summer.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
