By Paul Anthony

Here is the film that we have been waiting for a very long time for!!, since 97 fans have been craving for a film that would help ease our pain from 1997 pain that is Mortal Kombat: Annihilation which just killed the franchise but would this revive the series? Well the movie had a budget of 95 million and on the international market so far the film has grossed 20 million though America numbers will surely boost that total and right now it’s hard judge on that fact alone but time will only tell on that one. The film stars a cast that were more picked because they can fight rather than a big name. the two biggest names that comes to mind is Ludi Lin (2017 Power Rangers) and Hiroyuki Sanada, though I am taking nothing away from the rest of the cast!! Like always let’s take a look at the plot.

The film starts in Japan in the year 1617, where we see Hanzo Hasashi and his family which consist a baby daughter, young son and his wife though he branches off to get water for his family, that’s when Bi-Han and his henchmen attack the house and kill his family but the daughter is tucked away so she can live and fight of course breaks out between the two men with Han getting the upper hand and killing Hanzo. Fast forward to present day the Earthrealm has lost 9 Mortal Kombats and if they lose the tenth then the outworld realm can open the gates and fully take over the earthrealm. Their plan is simple and that is to cheat by crossing the line and killing the earth’s strongest champions to basically secure the tournament. Here is where we meet Cole Young, a MMA fighter, then we meet Jax and Sonya Blade who proves Cole with information regarding what he thought was a birth mark, through the rest of the film we meet Kano, Raiden, Lui Kang and Kung Lao. Kang and Lao train the others to waken their arcana which is basically a power hidden within them that they must unlock and of course Cole is the last to do so, only when him and his family are about to die from Goro. At this point Cole learns he is a descendant of Hasashi. the champions come up with a plan to fight Shang Tsung one on one but these warriors are strong and include Bi-Han who now goes by the name of Sub-Zero. The Earth champs manages defeat everyone with the help of Hasashi who was able to be resurrected and now fights as Scorpion and together with Cole who is his 1500th great grandson they kill Sub-Zero but Shang Tsung warns them this only the beginning and departs. Raiden tells his team they must recruit more champions as they get ready for the tournament in which Cole departs for Hollywood to find the one and only Johnny Cage.

Now let’s talk about it, the film did a lot of good the revive this series. One introducing a new character is always risky but the story made it clear unlike the trailers this wasn’t just a new character that was randomly added, no he had a purpose to the story, the action was on par which also required the casting to be on par as well. Now the story might have been a little weak and some plot holes did occur, one for example was Kano, Sonya knew he was bad but turned the blind eye so he could lead her to Raiden temple but must have forgotten the reason why Kano was cuffed in her trailer. In all this movie kept it loyal to the game which should please the fans and the action could draw in new fans which makes this film a success in my eyes. The highlight though has to be the performance of Kano and Kabal, their personalities alone will sell you on this film. In the end I am giving this film an 85 percent for a rating and glad to see that this franchise is back and better than ever!!