Although the Mortal Kombat video game series is still chugging along nearly three decades after its launch, we haven’t explored this property in a cinematic setting since 1997 with Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which followed two years after the original Mortal Kombat movie. Well, that dry spell will soon be over as the Mortal Kombat reboot is now only months away from playing on big screens and HBO Max, and our first look at the movie has finally arrived!
For those of you who grew up on the Mortal Kombat, many of your favorites will be taking part in the upcoming movie, as this first batch of pictures makes abundantly clear. For instance, below you’ll see Josh Lawson’s Kano and Jessica McNamee’s Sonya Blade, with the latter having the edge over the former in their tussle.
For the Supergirl fans out there, check out James Olsen actor Mehcad Brooks bringing Jax Briggs to life, cybernetic arms and everything.
Of course, while martial arts are obviously a key component to Mortal Kombat, this franchise also characters who boast special powers. Such is the case Ludi Lin’s Liu Kang, who has fireballs ready below and is accompanied Max Huang’s Kung Lao, who doesn’t have a special power of his own, but does have a razor-rimmed hat that can slice up his enemies
I’d be remiss if I also didn’t highlight Joe Taslim playing Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, who, as the latter moniker indicates, is gifted with freezing powers.
These are just some of the Mortal Kombat photos that have been released, and you can look at the rest in the image gallery at the bottom of the article. The cast also includes Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Elissa Cadwell as Nitara, Daniel Nelson as Kabal and Lewis Tan as Cole Young. This marks Simon McQuoid’s feature directorial debut, and James Wan and Todd Garner produced the reboot. Greg Russo and David Callaham tackled the screenplay, which is based off a story from Russo and Oren Uziel.
So now that we have these pictures covered, what exactly can we expect from the Mortal Kombat reboot story-wise? Well, the plot involves Cole Young, a brand-new character created for the movie who Simon McQuoid described as a “washed-up MMA fighter who used to be a champion,” and his journey to learn about his heritage. This journey will see him crossing paths with many of the established Mortal Kombat characters, some of whom will aid him, while others will hunt him down. It all leads to a high-stakes martial arts tournament being held to vanquish the enemies from Outworld.
We’ll have to wait and see whether this Mortal Kombat movie critically fares better than the one released in 1995, which was met with mixed reception. For what it’s worth though, Simon McQuoid was determined to stay true to the mythology from the original video games, saying to EW:
I wanted to make sure that everyone respected the material, the lore of Mortal Kombat, the fans and the love they have for this. Everyone was clear on it.
And while the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie was stamped with a PG-13 rating, that will not be the case with this reboot. Granted, Simon McQuoid is still editing Mortal Kombat, but with the amount of blood spilled in this feature, it’s practically a given that this will be an R-rated offering. So for those of you interested in watching Mortal Kombat, expect plenty of gore and fatalities.
The Mortal Kombat reboot will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16. Find out what other movies arrive this year with our 2021 release schedule.
