![]() While broadly an ensemble, this reimagining centers on the only surviving member of Scorpion’s (one of the franchise’s most iconic characters, here played with the right blend of vengeance and determination by Hiroyuki Sanada) bloodline, Cole Young (an exceedingly bland Lewis Tan), a once-gifted fighter now doing shoddy matches for little pay who gets roped into this realm-spanning saga by Army veterans Jax (Mehcad Brooks) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) after Sub-Zero, one of the greatest foes from Outworld, starts hunting him and his family down. The original follows Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, and Sonya Blade, warriors of sorts who are called on to participate in a tournament that will determine the fate of the world, a.k.a. ![]() But screenwriters Greg Russo and Dave Callaham take a convoluted approach to the narrative, so I suppose some explanation is in order. Given this, Mortal Kombat is the last kind of film that needs to be explained. I wanted to see people ripping out spines and shoving swords into the eye sockets of their enemies. I wanted hot dudes and dames duking it out with grody monsters in the most bloody, inventive manner possible. I didn’t want depth or intelligence or high-minded subversion. Going into Mortal Kombat, I was eager for the specific brew of silliness, gore, and playful physicality the video game itself provides. This year’s Mortal Kombat adaptation - which dropped simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max last Friday - is another paltry reminder that Hollywood has abandoned the sincere pleasure action films provide: pointing a camera at a person in motion to showcase their beauty and savagery. Superhero flicks and IP franchises retain an unfortunate stranglehold on the industry but make legible the utter sexlessness in American cinema as a whole. ![]() Musicals lack wit and the understanding that more than just the face can tell a story. This truth has seeped into every genre of film today. Hollywood has forgotten what to do with the human body.
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