Mr. Movie: ‘Mortal Kombat’ is a nice transition from game to the big screen

Mortal Kombat

I’ve never played Mortal Kombat and know almost nothing about the video game. Research says the original game came out in 1992 and it’s been updated several times The game is very popular — still. As most of you know, it is famous for weird characters, and lots of blood and gore.

Emphasis needs to be added on the blood and gore part.

The new movie “Mortal Kombat” has plenty of both. With a plot that follows the video game concept, there’s lots of combat with a C, bloody battles, and creative deaths of this character or that.

Here’s the basic story. Earth has not had enough winners and the evil of Outworld can take over if Earth doesn’t produce one or two. People born with a dragon mark somewhere on their body are tagged by the universe or some such force, to represent Earth.

Newcomer Lewis Tan stars as Cole Young. He’s the son of one of Earth’s defenders. His daddy gets killed by the bad guys and he’s orphaned. Years later he gets the call to go to bat for the planet. Cole is joined by Jessica McNamee’s, Sonya Blade and Josh Lawson’s, Kano.

The latter is a loose cannon and the only actor in the movie that seems to be having fun with his part. That said, loose cannons are a lot more fun to play than a regular role. But can any role in a movie like this be deemed as regular?

Probably not.

And we don’t really see films like this for actors or acting. If you don’t mind the pun, in martial art flicks like this, actors are just pawns in the game.

This one is pure guilty pleasure. Give credit to Simon McQuoid. Most martial arts-slash-fantasy films are overdone. Producers, directors and special effects teams pack them with splashy CGI effects designed to generate oohs and aahs from viewers.

McQuoid and his team practiced restraint. “Mortal Kombat” is beautifully shot. The locations are simple, perfect and, in places, gorgeous. Same with the sets. Again, lots of restraint. Nothing is overdone.

He and first time writer, Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, one of the “Wonder Woman 1984” writers, keep the movie moving. Creatures crawl in and out of the movie. Villains do villainy. Heroes are heroic. Some on both sides are sliced and diced. Others escape to fight another day.

Everything gets done in the perfect length of just under two-hours.

The real question is whether fans of the game Mortal Kombat are going to like this one. I did but I’m not a fan. Even if you’re not a fan of the game or a player of the game, I think you’ll like this one, too.

▪ Rated R for violence, gore and language. You can see it at the Fairchild Cinemas Queensgate 12, Southgate 10 and the Pasco theater and at the AMC Classic Kennewick 12.

▪ Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

Vanquish

Morgan Freeman as a villain? The voice of God as a bad guy? The perfect president doing dastardly deeds? No way. Please. Say it isn’t so?

Heavy sigh. It is so.

“Vanquish” casts Freeman as former hero cop, Damon. He’s been decorated over and over for heroism. Damon is loved by the whole city. Today, crippled by bad guys, Damon is retired and lives in a lavish mansion.

He’s also as crooked as the proverbial snake.

Damon has rescued Victoria and her child. Victoria is played by Ruby Rose. She wowed us in “The Doorman” and played TV’s Batwoman for a couple of years. Rose is also a former boxer so you know the lady is formidable.

Damon double-crosses her, kidnaps her daughter and forces Victoria — who one time worked for a Russian mob — to collect money he’s owed by groups in the city’s underworld. That requires an ability to adapt to violent situations.

Victoria has that ability.

“Vanquished” is written and directed by George Gallo. He wrote a couple of my favorite movies. “Wise Guys” and “Midnight Run” might be on your favorite list, too. Gallo also created the characters for the “Bad Boys” franchise and came up with the original story.

In a long conversation I had with Gallo, he talked about his writing philosophy and why he did this movie. Gallo says this genre of movie has been done dozens of times. There is no way to make it original. How it’s made, and how it’s cast, is the only way to put originality into the story.

That leads us back to Freeman.

You know he’s the bad guy. You know he has no conscience. You know what he’s doing to this young woman and her daughter is horrible and unforgivable. All that sits on your mind as you wade through Gallo’s story.

That leads to my biggest problem with Gallo’s movie and his casting. You just can’t buy the performance. We all love Morgan Freeman. He’s the best possible good guy. Evil doesn’t exist in his soul. Period.

The casting of Freeman in a role like this is a brilliant idea. He, and Gallo’s script, fail to make him a convincing bad guy.

Gallo’s pick of Rose to play Victoria and how he writes her character is exceptional. You know she can kick butt and is a force of nature when action is needed. Gallo puts her in situations where the solution to a problem requires thinking rather than violence.

It’s a nice touch.

The other thing I loved about the movie is Damon’s house. It’s a rambling mansion. Gallo shoots it with kind of a dark blue hue. The house is creepy and ends up seeming more evil than the character inhabiting its space.

Another failure is how Gallo shoots the movie. He experiments with visual effects in transition scenes that are overdone and take away from, rather than add to, his movie. However, it does accomplish the goal of making a done-too-many-times concept somewhat original.

And it does have Morgan Freeman as the lead actor. Gallo gets kudos for that.

▪ Rated R for language and violence. It’s not in theaters but can be streamed on demand and the DVD will be out next week.

▪ Rating: 3 out of 5

This story was originally published April 22, 2021 at 8:52 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Mortal Kombat’ is a nice transition from game to the big screen."