Mortal Kombat is one of the most anticipated movies of 2021 that was released in theaters and HBO Max. It is a martial arts film based on the popular video game franchise and a reboot of the movie series. It was distributed by Warner Bros Pictures and directed by Simon McQuid. The film’s runtime is one hour and 50 minutes with an R rating and was released in theaters and HBO max on April 26, 2021. 

     This movie follows the story of a new franchise character, Cole Young, a washed up MMA fighter who now fights and takes a beating for money, as he is gathered by Earth’s Greatest champions, Raiden, Jax, Sonya Blade, Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Kano to compete in a contest called “Mortal Kombat” and fight against enemies of a different realm, Outworld. Ruled by a sorcerer Shang Tsung with help of his best warrior Sub-Zero, a ninja with the ability to create ice seeks to conquer all of humanity if they succeed in killing the heroes and winning the tournament. 

     According to rotten tomatoes, Mortal Kombat (2021) got an audience score of eighty six percent and rotten tomatoes of fifty five percent. 

     Mortal Kombat originated as an arcade fighting game developed and published by Midway in 1922 until it was given ownership to NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment. The Mortal Kombat games are now playable on gaming platforms such as Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and on PC. 

    Some of the previous Mortal Kombat movies were, Mortal Kombat (1995),  Mortal Kombat 2: Annihilation (1997), Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge (2020), and more. This film is the most successful for a videogame movie reboot within the series. 

     According to a Rolling Stones review, “Mortal Kombat, which arrives on HBO Max and in U.S. theaters this Friday, also deviates a little from what came before. It adds a bit of emotional weight to its violence; it’s more convincing than its live-action forebears at making the stakes of its central, epic tournament feel high-ish.”  The review continued, “The new Mortal Kombat is the first in what’s clearly been designed to be the opening act of something ongoing. So it does go through the motions, to a degree. But only to a degree.”

     Junior Jared O’Sullivan shared his thoughts and plans to watch the movie. O’Sullivan said, “I don’t know much about the Mortal Kombat movie, but I would assume that it’s going to be a great movie, considering the technology in 2021 and the great reviews about the movie that I have been seeing online. I will definitely go see it sometime this year, hopefully in the theater, but if not then using HBO!”

     O’Sullivan added, “I never played the game but I know a lot of people that did and found it really fun and addicting to play. I would assume that the movie is as good as the game.”

     You can now watch the new Mortal Kombat movie in theaters and on HBO Max.