Mortal Kombat

I didn't know anything about the game, the characters, or the mythology but my nephew really wanted to see Mortal Kombat, the new movie adaptation of the popular gaming franchise, so we went to see it last night.  I had only the vaguest notion of what was going on but Sean, who loves the game, giggled through the whole thing so it was a lot of fun for me to watch it with him.  In 17th century Japan, a ninja named Bi-Han (Joe Taslim) kills his rival Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his wife and son.  He thinks that he has destroyed Hanzo's entire bloodline but his baby daughter is rescued by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), the god of thunder.  In the present, the Outworld, under the control of the sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han), has defeated the Earthrealm, under the control of Lord Raiden, in nine out of ten deathmatch tournaments known as Mortal Kombat.  If they can win one more time the Outworld will conquer the Earthrealm but Shang Tsung discovers a prophecy that says the blood of Hanzo Hasashi will defeat them.  Lord Raiden assembles a group at his temple, including existing champions Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Kung Lao (Max Huang), Special Forces soldiers Jackson "Jax" Briggs (Mehcad Brooks) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), an Australian mercenary named Kano (Josh Lawson), and a down-and-out former MMA champion named Cole Young (Lewis Tan), to find their arcana, or special power, and train for the tournament. Shang Tsung assembles Bi-Han, Mileena (Sisi Stringer), Nitara (Mel Jarnson), Kabal (Daniel Nelson), Reiko (Nathan Jones), and Goro (Angus Sampson) to fight them and an insane amount of graphic violence ensues.  When Bi-Han, now known as Sub-Zero, attacks Cole's wife Allison (Laura Brent) and daughter Emily (Matilda Kimber), Cole learns that he is a descendant of Hanzo.  He challenges Sub-Zero which reawakens Hanzo, now known as Scorpion, and this ultimately leads to an epic battle between Sub-Zero and Scorpion.  The story is very convoluted but it hardly matters because the action is so exciting.  Everyone in my screening cheered when each character was introduced and again during each battle, of which there are many.  As I mentioned, Sean absolutely loved this movie and I suspect fans of the game will love it as well (I didn't hate it but it probably won't feature in my top ten list at the end of the year).  I recommend it to gamers with the caveat that there is a tremendous amount of very graphic violence and a lot of profanity.

Note:  The movie ends when Lord Raiden asks his champions to locate more possible champions to train for the next battle so there is the possibility of a sequel.  Sean cheered out loud when Johnny Cage was mentioned!