FINISH HIM! MORTAL KOMBAT

The Mortal Kombat series has always been a controversial video game series, with its over the-top violence and extremely brutal fatalities that sees fighters decapitating their opponents or literally ripping them in half. It’s brutal, it’s bloody and it’s brilliant. Of course with any successful video game franchise, Hollywood will come calling eventually and even though the 1995 Mortal Kombat was campy fun, it failed to capture what makes Mortal Kombat, the uber violence.

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With numerous sequels that followed the quality dipped faster than a Johnny Cage low blow and it felt that the MK series will never reach the cinematic heights that the gaming franchise did. However, New Line Cinema has decided to give the violent gaming series another shot and to be honest, it is actually rather brilliant in that bad sort of way.

The story in 2021’s Mortal Kombat is gloriously rubbish. MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage or why Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family's safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family but to stop Outworld once and for all?