Mortal Kombat (2021) Trailer Review

So after many months of speculation we finally have a trailer for the new Mortal Kombat film coming out in April and it really delivers. Over the last few years I have become a big fan of this world through the games so I am very excited for this film and here are the main takeaways I got from this trailer. 

Sub-zero is the one to take Jax's arms  

In the video games Jax loses his arms when he is attacked by Ermac a sorcerer of the Netherealm. It seems like Ermac won't be a part of the film so that role will go to Sub-Zero, it seems the Special Forces are on the hunt for Sub-Zero for some reason. Over the years Sub-Zero has become more of a heroic character but it seems he is pretty antagonistic here and it brings into question exactly what version of the character we are going to see. 

The new character Cole Young looks the most boring part of the film

Even though the MK universe is filled with plenty of interesting characters, they decided that they needed a main protagonist called Cole Young who is an MMA fighter bought into this universe. It just feels unnecessary, why they couldn't have had Johnny Cage or hell even Stryker as this type of character is beyond me and I think the film is going to have to work hard to get me on board with him. 

We're going to see the death of Scorpion's family 

A scene in the trailer shows Hanzo Hasashi who later becomes Scorpion killing some foes. It seems like this will be where we see the death of his family, in the games this drives him to sacrifice his soul to become the demon Scorpion and it seems like this will be accurately depicted here. 

Kano is a good guy

This may be the biggest change for me, in the games Kano is one of the biggest villains but here he is clearly going to be a protagonist. I expect that it will seem like he will be working with Earthrealm before turning on them and revealing himself as a villain, though this is an interesting thing to see on screen. 

We get our first look at Shao Kahn 

For me Shao Kahn is the big bad of the Mortal Kombat universe, yes there have been others but he is the big dog. We see a statue of Outworld's ruler here and though it seems like they are saving him for a sequel it is nice to get a first look of him here and gets me excited to see his debut possibly in a sequel. 

We also get Goro

Another character who seems to have slipped into the film is the tournament champion of Goro. He was a part of the old films but the tech couldn't do him justice. the hope is here that he can be the dominant figure that he is in the games. 

We're getting Fatalities

In the games Mortal Kombat is brutal, it holds nothing back and finally it seems like the films are catching up as this film shows some brutal scenes and promises us with some fatalities that will hopefully be worth the wait all these years. 

Can the film balance the characters

This is something that I am worried about. This trailer makes it clear it is going to give us a huge amount of the video game characters with rich lore, but obviously not all of them can get the spotlight and I hope some fan favourites don't have small roles. I originally wanted a TV Show as I though it would be able to balance the characters but we have a film instead. 

Overall

Overall, this trailer got me so hyped for this film, I know video game movies have had a tough time but maybe just maybe this can be the one that changes that and really delivers a film that builds a big MK universe to build on in the future.