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'Mortal Kombat' (15)



Director: Simon McQuoid

Cast: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson 

Where can I watch?: Mortal Kombat is streaming on Prime Video

Rating: 2/5

Review: Dear reader, you won't be shocked to know that my knowledge of the Mortal Kombat universe is based heavily upon watching gamers punch buttons at house parties. However, I do appreciate (and respect!) that, for some, Mortal Kombat (both the games and previous movie outings...) is a significant part of their leisure time. And why shouldn't it be? A variety of flamboyant avatars fighting for their lives in a series of arenas is indeed a fun and engaging way of passing the time... It's just a shame that this latest version of the gaming franchise is neither of those things. It starts off with a fairly promising opening montage: two foes grapple with each other in a fast-paced, well-executed fight sequence that also includes an emotive murder - it all seems rather good. However, to say that the film goes downhill afterwards is something of an understatement - it actually takes a running jump off a cliff. The script is bad, the dialogue, clunky in the least. Do we care about any of the characters? No. Is it boring to see the female characters once again depicted in clothes so tight they could have been painted on? Yes. Also, for a film that's all about fighting, the brawls are painfully dull. There were also a couple of moments where I lost track of who was hitting who, although that didn't really matter in the long run. Yes, there are a handful of better moments - Sub-Zero knows how to make an entrance - but this is a wholly unimaginative, frustratingly dull, clunky summer blockbuster that's best avoided.   

A Must-Watch?: My god, it's rubbish. Like, really rubbish; the script is pants, the acting is poor and the fight scenes, which is what Mortal Kombat is all about, are dry and unimaginative - let me guess, you're going to kick him again? Wooo. I can't say I'm disappointed because I didn't really expect anything more, which has left me wondering: has there ever been a good movie adaptation of a video game? 

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