Jenarita Plante
Anchor Contributor
Many of us are familiar with the Mortal Kombat franchise. If you didn’t play it in the arcades during the 90’s, you may have owned it on Sega or a version of Nintendo, Playstation or Xbox. You may have been one of the original characters: Johnny Cage, Kano, Liu Kang, Raiden, Scorpion, Sonya Blade, Sub Zero, Shang Tsung, Goro or Reptile. It certainly was a franchise well known in the 1990s and 2000s, and one still popular today as my students at Goff Middle School in Pawtucket still talk about the game and wear shirts with the logo.
In 1995, “Mortal Kombat,” the movie came out yielding a new set of fans and entertaining former ones. This was followed two years later by “Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation.” After a 24 year hiatus, the big screen once again was presented with a new Mortal Kombat in 2021. I sat down with my husband to reminisce about the 90s and see how well the reboot was made. It is not a film I would let my children watch yet, as this film is definitely for a more mature audience with a true age rating of R. If you have children at home you may want to watch this film when the little ones are in bed, or during a date night.
The 2021 version of the movie “Mortal Kombat” may have only received 3 stars on IMDB, but one thing is for sure, it is action packed and full of amazing graphics. The film stays true to the characters introduced to the world in the 90s and it was fun figuring out who was who before they were named in the film. This film is absolutely not for the faint of heart, as it is very gory. However, if that type of film does not bother you, “Mortal Kombat” will not disappoint. The film's graphics are aesthetically pleasing and the gore throughout the movie is not meaningless; it follows a well thought out storyline that does service to the franchise. This film is introducing Mortal Kombat to a new generation once again, and I would not be surprised at all if the popularity once again grows throughout the gaming world.