Mortal Kombat 3 (2021) - [Simon McQuoid]
It is fair to say I am bias with this movie. From the day I saw Mortal Kombat in the arcade over 25 years ago I have been playing this game. I have unremembered hours of time sunk into this game series over those 25+ years and to this day I am still playing MK almost daily. We are up to MK11 now, but it is really MK, MK2 and the Ultimate that really hold my heart.
My point is... I am a MK fanboy, so take this with a grain of salt.
This movie was fucking awesome!!!
The only thing that sucks about it is that if you are a fan you're sure to see some of your favourite characters die, and that is depressing, though of course death is never the end in MK! I am not sure what people are expecting but this is an old school American Martial Arts film. Think "Bloodsport" but modern. The movie is a weak, and I mean weak, framework to get people into a fight sequence. While the plot works, it never is able to rise above the fact that it is a framing device for the fight sequences. This is not a weakness of the film, this is the film makers understanding what they are making and who they are making it for. We are not forced to sit through much mellow drama or other assorted crap.. it is just blood and gore fight sequences pretty much non-stop peppered in with some fun jokes.
What makes the film really step up a notch is the amazing performance of Kano. He carries the movie as he is fun to watch, and funny as fuck. In fact Kano and Kabal are both fantastic in this movie. Everyone else is taking it a little to seriously. Still the casting is just boss. Scorpion is perfectly cast from Hiroyuki Sanada, and Sub-Zero being played by Joe Taslim is genius. (Can not wait for him to come back as Noob Saibot). Chin Han dose a perfect Shang Tsung and well, really, all in all.... everyone nails it.
The movie has its problems. The forced game lines like "Finish Him" and "Flawless Victory" stand out like dogs balls. With Kano's "Kano Wins" the only one that works. This is probably the films biggest issue, while the dialogue writing is actually really good, particularly the comedic stuff with Kano which is all working, the attempts to call back to the game constantly breaks the reality of the movie.
The gore is not as gory as I would have liked. It is not nearly as gory as the actual modern games, apart from a few "fatalities". If you have seen "The Night Comes for Us"... that is what the gore should have been. More vicious and brutal. This is more like "glory shots".. so the gore is there, but it is more cartoonish than brutal. Even so, in the modern age of Disney and WB comic book films with all the bloodless violence having actual gore and blood in a mainstream movie is 5 aces as far as I am concerned, even if the Indonesian Martial Arts film scene is way in front.
I do not really know what more people could have wanted from a MK film. Lets not pretend that the original movies are some kind of high art. You see some great realizations of your favourite characters, you see them fight... all in all it is a much better MK film that I expected and I was very happy with what I saw.
Verdict : Round 2.... FIGHT!!
