Nearly thirty years on and 1995’s film adaptation of the “Mortal Kombat” video game franchise remains one of the best live-action video game adaptations made.
The movie understood the game’s appeal and played to it well – translating it faithfully albeit without the game’s iconic blood and brutality which couldn’t be done in a PG-13 film.
Now a new movie based on the property has no such limitations, the Simon McQuoid-helmed feature offers “gore, blood, and fatalities” along with a new story about a feud between two of the franchise’s most famed characters – Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim).
Today the first photos from the project have gone online via EW, showing off several characters, a tiny glimpse of powers and sets. Lewis Tan plays a new character, a washed-up MMA fighter named Cole Young in the film and he tells the outlet the film gives him a journey to follow whilst incorporating the various franchise staples.
Cole first meets Mehcad Brooks as Jax, then Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, then Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden and at his temple come a whole bunch of characters – Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Max Huang as Kung Lao and Josh Lawson as Kano – who are all training for a high-stakes tournament to defeat the invading enemies from Outerworld.
“Mortal Kombat” arrives in theaters and HBO Max on April 12th.
Time to FIGHT! #MortalKombat director Simon McQuoid promises blood, gore, and, for the first time, fatalities. https://t.co/WGHAsHsOzS pic.twitter.com/oLF4aO3UQE
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) January 16, 2021
