The "Mortal Kombat" series is known for infamously violent fatalities and a deep roster of badass
fighters from realms across the multiverse.
Translating these fighting games into movies is no easy task.
Here are the five best and five worst scenes in 2021's "Mortal Kombat."
"Mortal Kombat" puts its best foot forward in an opening that takes place centuries before
the rest of the movie.
Sub-Zero comes to Hanzo Hasashi's home to assassinate him and his family.
After seeing his son and wife killed and frozen by the cryomancer, Hanzo goes on a rampage,
tearing through a legion of assassins with his iconic Kunai rope.
This leads to an epic showdown between the two.
The actors playing the iconic "Mortal Kombat" duo - Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada - are
veterans of martial arts and samurai cinema.
The bouts between them are by far the highlight of the 2021 "Mortal Kombat" adaptation, and
the first one gets the movie off to a rousing start.
Sub-Zero walks away the victor, leaving Hanzo dead as the screen fades to black and the
title card fades in.
It's time for "Mortal Kombat."
A strength of the latest "Mortal Kombat" is the direction and choreography of its hand-to-hand combat.
Unfortunately, this means the scenes where the actors have to fight against a CGI opponent
stick out like a sore thumb amid the visually superior physical action.
The worst of these is a warehouse fight where Cole, Sonya Blade, and Kano face off against
an invisible human-sized reptile.
Seeing the actors fight against air definitely breaks the believability of the scene.
When their adversary is invisible, the effects aren't convincing enough to give you a solid
sense of its scope or location; when we do get a glimpse, it still doesn't seem like
much more than a generic beast.
Once Kano punctures the lizard with a flare, he becomes a whole lot easier to see and well...
you know what's coming next.
Still, even when the cast isn't punching at nothing, the scene doesn't manage to excite.
The special effects on the lizard don't look especially stylish or cool.
The end result is the most forgettable fight of the entire movie.
Eagle-eyed "Mortal Kombat" fans undoubtedly noticed from trailers that early on in the
movie Jax is lacking his defining characteristic - his two cyborg arms.
It doesn't take long for the movie to show the traumatic incident that caused Jax's epic transformation.
The early scenes where Jax has both his human arms can be interpreted as a nod to "Mortal
Kombat II," the game where the character made his debut.
In the 2021 "Mortal Kombat ” Sub-Zero is the one responsible for Jax's dismemberment.
After hunting down Jax, Cole, and his family, Sub-Zero lures Jax into battle.
The two have an intense combat session that leads to a pretty gnarly time for Jax when
Sub-Zero freezes his arms until they explode into a bloody mess of ice and viscera.
In the middle of the film, Liu Kang finds Cole, Sonya, and Jax in the desert and the
movie decides the real plot should start now.
The legendary protector takes the crew to Raiden's temple where the Earthrealm protectors
have the entire backstory of "Mortal Kombat" and Outworld explained to them.
Liu Kang tells the protectors about the tournament and that's kind of his role for the entire movie.
It is a major letdown to have the main hero of a majority of the "Mortal Kombat" series
relegated to doling out exposition and training the characters that actually get to fight.
In less than 10 minutes of its total runtime, "Mortal Kombat" introduces three major characters
and sets up the conflict for the rest of the adventure.
It's a rushed scene full of exposition that reiterates information that most "Mortal Kombat" fans already know.
Despite being squeezed between two action sequences, this scene still manages to kill
the momentum in the middle of the movie.
Cole unlocks his true potential when the four-armed Goro is about to kill his family.
With wife Alison and daughter Emily in harm's way, Cole taps into his arcana, his body turning
into an energy-absorbing armor not unlike the "Black Panther" costume.
Sure, the CGI-heavy fights in "Mortal Kombat" aren't the best, but the final moments of
this sequence more than make up for that.
When tapping into his power, Cole materializes his weapons and proceeds to absolutely go
to town on Goro.
Only one of Cole's weapons is bladed, but it definitely feels like they're an homage
to Tanya's in "Mortal Kombat: Deception" and "Armageddon."
Kano is the ultimate loudmouth and this scene is him at his swear-iest, angriest, and most
overtly racist.
Kano exudes machismo and spews some serious anti-Asian sentiments as Kung Lao and Liu
Kang egg him on to try and see his true power.
It's only then that we see Kano's laser eye in action for the first time in the movie.
The scene goes way overboard on how offensive Kano acts to the point where it begins to
give away the twist that happens later on.
There's no way you are supposed to root for Kano after this.
If it wasn't obvious Kano was destined to betray the protectors to Shang Tsung, this
scene makes it painfully clear that he is not a good guy.
Fighting games are known for creating some of the biggest character rivalries in gaming,
and Sonya and Kano go way back as storied rivals.
Additionally, fans of the original 1995 movie are sure to be reminded of the pair's classic face-off.
The new movie leans hard into Kano being a foul-mouthed scumbag.
He's always been known for being cunning and untrustworthy.
The latest portrayal of Kano is no different, as he betrays Sonya and the heroes of Earthrealm
by removing the shield of protection around the Raiden's temple - betraying Sonya's trust most of all.
This relationship makes the final showdown between the two supremely satisfying.
When Sonya finally unleashes her garden gnome-based fatality on Kano, she earns her dragon mark
and finally becomes the protector of Earthrealm she was destined to be.
Not long after the protectors make it to Raiden's temple, Sonya discovers Jax is alive and being
cybernetically enhanced.
As he recovers, Jax struggles with getting accustomed to his new body.
Thankfully Sonya is there to give a motivational speech that works wonders for Jax, but leaves
the audience a bit cold.
The attempt to develop this crucial "Mortal Kombat" relationship is a bit "too little too late."
While Sonya and Jax are indeed partners and have a close friendship in the games and comics
lore, the connection doesn't come across as well in the newest movie.
Sonya's words of motivation clue into the duo's military background together, but the
monologue doesn't land on an emotional level and falls flat as the movie barrels forward.
In the biggest twist of the whole movie, Cole's ancestor warps back from the depths of the
Netherrealm to finally defeat Sub-Zero once and for all.
Right before Sub-Zero is about to deal a death blow to Cole, Hanzo's Kunai lodges its way
into his arm before the ancient hero lets loose his iconic battle cry.
It wouldn't be a "Mortal Kombat" movie without at least one "get over here," now would it?
"Get over here!"
It is once again worth mentioning how fantastic the action and choreography are in the scenes
featuring these two martial arts film stars.
The climactic action sequence fully delivers on being one of the best in the movie, featuring
weapons, fists, and magic powers in equal measure.
Hanzo fully makes the transition to Scorpion and finishes Sub-Zero with the fire breath
fatality "Mortal Kombat" fans remember from way back in the day at the arcades.
It is hard to top the climactic battle between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but "Mortal Kombat"
wraps up so quickly and abruptly it's hard not to feel like you fell asleep or missed something.
Of the final scenes, the one that feels most rushed is the confrontation between the leaders
of each realm: thunder god Lord Raiden versus the evil Shang Tsung.
It ends up being less of a confrontation and more of a short conversation.
After it becomes clear that Raiden and the forces of Earthrealm have defeated their Outworld
foes, Shang Tsung teleports into the scene to tell the heroes the fight is not over yet.
He swears he will get his revenge, and then it looks like Raiden is preparing to battle
in one last epic fight.
But that is ... not what happens.
Instead, Raiden uses a lightning blast to send Shang Tsung back to Outworld, buying
time to gather more allies for the sequel.
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