“Mortal Kombat” (US Rated R)

“Mortal Kombat” (US Rated R)

Cast: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Josh Lawson, Hiroyuki Sanada

Genre: Action/Fantasy

Where to watch: In Theaters/ HBO Max

Dwight’s Rating:

Just like the martial arts fighting video game on which it’s based, people are going to find themselves in two corners while watching “Mortal Kombat.”

In corner number one: big time fans of the video game franchise, completely mentally-enslaved by the ideas initially presented in the game, and who expect any and every part of any adaptation to strictly adhere to every aspect of the game.

In corner number two: people who have no idea what “Mortal Kombat” is all about, or, more realistically, casual fans of the game, who may not even remember the characters’ names and back-stories, and are willing to forgive the movie’s creative team for taking liberties and attempting to tweak the storylines to make a little bit of sense in a limited time, without running on for four hours.

If you’re in camp two, you might want to avoid watching this with anyone in camp one. They simply won’t be silent. Not for one minute. And they’ll likely keep saying “this is dumb” or “this isn’t right” or “this isn’t what happened” or “this isn’t the way it goes in the games”. And you should expect that to continue for most of the nearly two hours of the film.

Otherwise, if you’re a fan of wild, ridiculous fantasy and outrageous special effects, combined with mixed martial arts (MMA), along with scenes of people ripping out their opponents’ hearts or spines or intestines, “Mortal Kombat” is actually super-violent, non-sensical fun. Just suspend all logic and reasoning!

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