Mortal Kombat is here, at long last, and though cinemas might be closed for the time being, we've got you covered on where you can watch the anticipated reboot.
As Simon McQuoid's feature film directorial debut, this third Mortal Kombat movie actually was trapped in development hell for almost twenty years. The commercial and critical reception of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation essentially rendered any attempt to get the classic fighting game series onto the silver screen again futile, but Warner Bros. Pictures snagged the rights in late 2010. The screenplay was sorted by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, based on a story from Russo and Oren Uziel, describing a descendant of Scorpion who would save Earthrealm from utter obliteration from Outworld in the tournament titled "Mortal Kombat." Still on the fence? Well, check out this fan-made trailer that replicates the official movie in LEGO. And if that doesn't change your mind, I don't know what will.
Advert
Cole Young, the protagonist, is played by Lewis Tan, known for his roles in Iron Fist and Into The Badlands. Speaking to Comic Book, he enthused about the savagery of the fatalities in the movie, and how he was physically affected by what he saw. "Let me just say this, there were some days on set that I felt sick. I'm not kidding," said Tan. "They did not... They did not hold back." However, if you're expecting it to be buckets and buckets of blood, gore, and viscera dumped on the characters, then you might be surprised at the direction that the story takes. "[We wanted] to pay respect and make sure we were doing Mortal Kombat justice with the amount of brutality within the film," McQuoid told us in an interview. "It's not violence for violence's sake, but it allowed the conflict and the battles and the fights to be authentic."
"It is like a family drama with excitingly brutal fighting," said actor Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Scorpion, in a chat with Entertainment Weekly. "That's the image of this movie for me." Well, I'm sure you're champing at the bit to form your own image of the new Mortal Kombat movie, so with no more ado, here's how. If you're in the US, head on over to HBO Max which is the only service that has the rights to stream the movie. It will leave HBO Max on May 24th, so that's lots of time to watch, watch, and watch again. On the other hand, it is available in select cinemas, so check your local theatres for showings.
For those of us in the UK, we will be hanging on for a little while longer. Warner Bros. Pictures has not announced when the movie will hit the silver screen over here, but indoor cinemas will reopen for business on May 17th. It's imagined that the release of Mortal Kombat will time itself for that window, in order to maximise revenues from audiences. In any event, we'll let you know when we learn more.
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. PicturesTopics: Movies, News, Mortal Kombat