16 years after the last Hollywood version we get another MORTAL KOMBAT video game adaptation and funnily enough it's about the same quality as the last one. Grittier to begin with and Hiroyuki Sanada is one of those guys who automatically lifts the quality of the thing by his presence alone, but then it ends up turning into the usual CGI dominated cheese fest by the climax. They try to make sense of some kind of plot here which is quite excruciating but by the end it's just the usual intercutting of heavily stylised fights between the player characters. Kudos for the copious gore FX and the CGI isn't as bad as it could have been, but I was hoping for more.

Earth is on the verge of annihilation. After nine victories by Outworld, they are one loss away from the Earth being conquered. Cole Young (Lewis Tan),Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee),and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) must defeat the warriors of ruthless Outworld Emperor Shang Tsung (Chin Han).

This is a violent, hard-R reboot of the video game adaptation from the 90's. It has scraped off the cheese and speckled on some more action. The special effects are mostly up to date. It's very competent like the competent acting, action, and designs. The story is basic and set up to have more movies in the franchise. Josh Lawson is funny as Kano. The others are less charismatic. The missing ingredient is an A-list actor or an old action star doing a side role cameo. It's an old Hollywood trick but it works. It would give this the illusion of an A-list movie. As it stands, this is a well made B-movie and it's probably enough to continue as a B-movie franchise. Sadly, that road is usually downhill but maybe it could be a long ride.

The film opens in 1607 Japan. Hanzo is killed by Bi-Kan who goes on to become the bad guy Sub-zero (Joe Taslim). Not to be confused with a Batman villain or the guy on "Running Man." Years later descendants of Hanzo and those that might have killed one have the dragon mark. They are the chosen ones of Earth who must fight in the intergalactic contest of "Mortal Kombat". There are three people who have the mark and a fourth (Jessica McNamee toned) who tags along. We know how she will get her mark, but they make us wait for it.

There is the standard training scene. This one doesn't have a music montage. They also have certain elemental powers including an eye with a freakin' laser beam. Predictable fare. It builds character which was very secondary to the script.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.