The opening scene to this new reboot adaptation of one of the greatest video game franchises in the industry showed me what potential this film had. The introduction of Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, played by the great actor Hiroyuki Sanada, and his vengeful fight with Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, played by Joe Taslim, was an amazingly beautiful example of great storytelling. It was amazing because it told me a story without having to explain much. The script, the performances, the choreography, the editing, and the cinematography in the first ten minutes were great, but when it was over, it was honestly — truly — over.
Basically, when the story skipped to the modern day, it was all down hill. The only character that was a highlight in this dismal feature film was Kano, played by Josh Lawson, with his witty one-liners and humorous insults. And the way he discovered his powers was perfect: “Now pass me an egg roll!”
I welcomed with open arms the introduction of the new character Cole Young(Lewis Tan), but the screenwriters could barely give him any depth.
The film does look good. It has some great fight scenes which is honestly the only reason to watch it. For basically being an entire cutscene from one of the video games, it’s an okay film, but worth skipping if you want to watch something with more substance.
My favorite part — other than the opening scene — was when Scorpion literally appears out of nowhere, says his infamous line, “GET OVER HERE!” and starts fighting Sub-Zero. It was as if he stepped in to save a bad film. I didn’t care there was no logic to Scorpion’s arrival; I just wanted these two classic characters to go at it.
I give it: 2/5
