New Mortal Kombat?

Here's a spoiler free review I wrote after watching it:

I get they where trying not to retread the '95 film with the "Enter The Dragon" style tournament set up but instead went more with the Street Fighter '94 route in some ways most charcters being reduced to being introduced by shouting their name or some one else doing that for em. For the most part the casting is pretty great (Kano, Sub-Zero and Kung Lao being the standouts) but the weird tonal shifts and clunky dialogue do it no favors. Especially when at times the writers want us to take a moment seriously but then shit all over it by having one of the charcters point out how stupid it is. The boring soundtrack does this no favors either, teasing you with a techno build up just to transition into a standard orchestral score.

The biggest waste of time was the addition of non game charcter Cole Young, who serves as the blank slate, one dimensional, audience analog with the tired trope of "Oh no my wife and kids are in danger" shit. It's forces the movie to have a lot of pointless exposition, which if they stuck with a tournament structure the exposition would fit in easier and wouldn't be so dull.

I had my bar set pretty low and was at least expecting good action and gore considering some of the cast and having an R rating. There is a couple fight scenes that look good, shot at wide angles and editing not too fast paced, but most the scenes it's not the case. There is some decent locations and sets but they only use a couple for the most part, which cheapens the film and lowers the stakes. Gore wise there is one moment in particular that is great but unfortunetly the rest doesn't rise above an M or MA.

Unfortunetly this is not the film to break the curse of poor video game adaptations nor is it a great action film which I feel won't please fans of the lore or fans or martial arts in general, the writers attempts to simplify the plot some how make it more convoluted. But at 2hrs it does fly by (Maybe I was just happy to be in a cinema again) and much like the recent Kong Vs Godzilla I'm happy to see mid level non superhero related blockbusters make a return to the big screen.

2/5