Review: 'Mortal Kombat,' a visually stunning and bloody take on the video game, only works when it's not taking itself seriously

A quarter century later, and moviemakers still haven’t figured out what to do with the video game franchise “Mortal Kombat” — a ridiculous and violent martial arts game that has been turned into a movie that’s still violent but not quite ridiculous enough.

If you’re familiar with the game, which turns 30 next year, it’s a gathering of fighters who square off, one-on-one, for martial arts battles. What makes the fights legendary are the characters’ finishing moves — which, if your parents didn’t know you were playing, usually involved gross bodily injuries like tearing out someone’s heart or pulling out someone’s spine. 

Over the years, and many reiterations of the game, a mythology has grown to explain why the people are fighting each other. Here, it’s explained that the fighters of the Earthrealm (that’s us) battle other worlds in a tournament — and the nasty Outworld fighters, led by the sorcerer Shang Tsung (played by Chinese actor Chin Han), have won the last nine tournaments; one more, and they will rule Earth forever.

The movie starts instead with one of Shang Tsung’s stable of fighters, Bi-Han (played by Indonesian action star Joe Taslim), wreaking bloody havoc on the family of the warrior Hanso Hasashi (played by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada) in 17th century Japan. Bi-Han — who later takes the fighting name Sub-Zero, due to his freezing powers — defeats Hasashi, and with him his entire bloodline. Or so he thinks; the mystical Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) descends to find Hasashi’s family hid Hanso’s baby daughter from Bi-Han, so the bloodline survives.

Cut to the present day, and a whole new set of characters to learn. The central character now is one not in the game: Cole Young (played by Lewis Tan), an MMA fighter who’s too undisciplined to win in the cage. But he bears the symbol of the dragon, and according to another warrior, Jax (Mehcad Brooks, from “Supergirl”), that means he’s been chosen to fight in Mortal Kombat. Jax also warns Cole that Sub-Zero is trying to kill all the Earth fighters before the tournament, and that Cole’s wife Allison (Laura Brent) and 12-year-old daughter Emily (Matilda Kimber) are in danger.

After finding a safe spot for his family, Cole finds Jax’s friend Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), who’s both a strong fighter and a human plot-exposition dispenser. Sonya also has chained up Kano (Josh Larsen), an Australian mercenary who also has the dragon mark — though, we’re informed, he got it by killing another prospective warrior. Sonya and Cole reluctantly team up with Kano to find the secret training center for Earth’s defenders in the tournament — led by the powerful fighters Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Kung Lao (Max Huang).

Confused? Don’t be, it’s not worth the trouble. Just know that the forces of good are preparing for battle with Shang Tsung’s minions, who include the four-armed giant Goro. And Liu Kang and Kung Lao are trying to get their team battle-ready and motivated, by unleashing their hidden superpower — because why just fight when you can fight by throwing balls of fire or shooting a laser out of your eye.

Director Simon McQuoid is making his feature debut here, but he’s got an extensive resumé in commercials and video games. His focus is on capturing the game’s atmosphere and icons with up-to-date computer graphics, and fans of the game will recognize certain catchphrases and battle moves. Fans will also appreciate how McQuoid, in a departure from the sanitized 1995 movie, has transferred the game’s hyper-violence and spurting blood intact.

The gushers of blood become almost comical, in a movie that could use more humor. “Mortal Kombat” was always a ludicrous, over-the-top game — and the overwhelming flaw of this movie adaptation is that McQuoid and his crew take it all too seriously. When the movie sticks to the martial-arts action and the cartoonishly gory dispatching of bad guys, it’s not so bad.

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‘Mortal Kombat

★★1/2

Opens Friday, April 23, in theaters where open, and streaming on HBO Max. Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references. Running time: 110 minutes; in English, with some scenes in Japanese and Chinese with subtitles.