Best And Worst Scenes In Mortal Kombat

The "Mortal Kombat" series is known for infamously violent fatalities and a deep roster of badass fighters from realms across the multiverse. Translating these fighting games into movies, as it turns out, is no easy task. 

The original 1995 movie may have been a maligned box office hit, but it does have a fondly-remembered cast. Which led to much cautious anticipation for the latest attempt, with the same-named but much improved "Mortal Kombat" now on HBO Max, a full-on blockbuster with both peaks and valleys.

Although most agree that it is better than the 1995 "Kombat," the new entry in the film series is getting a mixed reception, which makes sense. It is a movie that reaches great heights, featuring compelling action choreography and tons of references for fans of the game series to pick up on. It also sports some pretty bad CGI, and is filled to the brim with rushed exposition. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get started at naming the five best and five worst scenes in 2021's "Mortal Kombat."

Spoilers for the new Mortal Kombat movie are ahead. You have been warned.

A strength of the latest "Mortal Kombat" is the direction and choreography of its hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, this means the scenes where the actors have to fight against a CGI opponent stick out like a sore thumb amid the visually superior physical action. The worst of these is a warehouse fight where Cole (Lewis Tan), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), and Kano (Josh Lawson) face off against an invisible human-sized reptile.

Seeing the actors fight against air definitely breaks the believability of the scene. When their adversary is invisible, the effects aren't convincing enough to give you a solid sense of its scope or location; when we do get a glimpse, it still doesn't seem like much more than a generic beast.  

Once Kano punctures the lizard with a flare, he becomes a whole lot easier to see and well... you know what's coming next. Still, even when the cast isn't punching at nothing, the scene doesn't manage to excite. The special effects on the lizard don't look especially stylish or cool. The end result is the most forgettable fight of the entire movie. 

In the middle of the film, Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) finds Cole, Sonya, and Jax in the desert and the movie decides the real plot should start now. The legendary protector takes the crew to Raiden's temple where the Earthrealm protectors (and the audience) have the entire backstory of "Mortal Kombat" and Outworld explained to them. Liu Kang tells the protectors about the tournament and that's kind of his role for the entire movie.  It is a major letdown to have the main hero of a majority of the "Mortal Kombat" series relegated to doling out exposition and training the characters that actually get to fight.

In less than 10 minutes of its total runtime, "Mortal Kombat" introduces three major characters (Raiden, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao) and sets up the conflict for the rest of the adventure. It is a rushed scene full of exposition that reiterates information that most "MK" fans already know. Despite being squeezed between two action sequences, this scene still manages to kill the momentum in the middle of the movie.

Kano is the ultimate loudmouth and this scene is him at his swear-iest, angriest, and most overtly racist. Kano exudes machismo and spews some serious anti-Asian sentiments as Kung Lao and Liu Kang egg him on to try and see his true power. It's only then that we see Kano's laser eye in action for the first time in the movie.

The scene goes way overboard on how offensive Kano acts to the point where it begins to give away the twist that happens later on. There's no way you are supposed to root for Kano after this. Seriously, after asking "Kung Pao" to pass him an egg roll he says, "I'm going to take that stupid sombrero you're wearing and shove it so far up your ass you'll start speaking Spanish." If it wasn't obvious Kano was destined to betray the protectors to Shang Tsung, this scene makes it painfully clear that he is not a good guy.

Not long after the protectors make it to Raiden's temple, Sonya discovers Jax is alive and being cybernetically enhanced. As he recovers, Jax struggles with getting accustomed to his new body. Thankfully Sonya is there to give a motivational speech that works wonders for Jax but leaves the audience a bit cold. The attempt to develop this crucial "Mortal Kombat" relationship comes a bit too little too late.

According to Jax actor Mechad Brooks, this scene is meant to demonstrate "the love and respect that Jax and Sonya have for each other." While Sonya and Jax are indeed partners and have a close friendship in the games and comics lore, the connection doesn't come across as well in the newest movie. Sonya's words of motivation clue into the duo's military background together, but the monologue doesn't land on an emotional level and falls flat as the movie barrels forward.

It is hard to top the climactic battle between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but "Mortal Kombat" wraps up so quickly and abruptly it's hard not to feel like you fell asleep or missed something. Of the final scenes, the one that feels most rushed is the confrontation between the leaders of each realm: thunder god Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) versus the evil Shang Tsung (Chin Han). It ends up being less of a confrontation and more of a short conversation.

After it becomes clear that Raiden and the forces of Earthrealm have defeated their Outworld foes, Shang Tsung teleports into the scene to tell the heroes the fight is not over yet. He swears he will get his revenge and then it looks like Raiden is preparing to battle in one last epic fight of the movie. But that is ... not what happens. 

Instead, Raiden uses a lightning blast to send Shang Tsung back to Outworld, buying time to gather more allies for what we can only hope will be "Mortal Kombat 2."