MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan), accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage or why Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung (Chin Han) has set his best warrior, Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family's safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) at the direction of Jax (Mehcad Brooks), a Special Forces Major who bears the same dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he fines himself at the temple of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), 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 (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang) and rogue mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), 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?
Others to round out the cast are Matilda Kimber as Emily, Cole's daughter, Laura Brent as Allison, Cole's wife, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasahi/Scorpion, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Mel Jarnson as Nitara and Nathan Jones as Reiko.
This was well paced and staged by relative newcomer, director Simon McQuoid (video short). Considering his lack of feature film directing, I was amazed by the talent of this filmmaker. A natural? Not sure, but other than a couple of small areas of stiffness, this movie was simply fluid. Of course, there is some fine staple actors which we've seen in other films--namely Hiroyuki Sanada, but the talent of McQuoid still shined. It was also well crafted by relative newcomer writer, Greg Russo and seasoned writer, Dave Callaham ("Doom" '05, "Horsemen" '09, "Tell Tale" '09, "The Expendables" '10, "Zombieland: Double Tap" '19, "Wonder Woman 1984" '20), based on a story by Oren Uziel and Russo, which is originally based on a videogame created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Usually, I'm not really into these martial arts films, but, since we're still in the dead zone--that time of year, coupled with the fact we're all looking for any film to watch in the theater because of the pandemic, I felt it was just nice to see a movie in the theater. However, as I'm viewing the film, I soon realized that, not only was I captivated by the premise, but also surprised this was written as well as it was. Sure, there were a few small places of inconsistencies, but all in all it did the job that I believe the production company wanted to do: to allow the audience to escape while being wildly entertained. The real stars here are clearly the stunt and fight coordinators and the sound designers. Also the visual effects predominantly created by Method Studios were seamless as they were unique. If you like the brand or style of Callaham's writing, his "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is in post production. It, like this film, is yet another martial arts type film set to release soon.
If martial arts films are a genre that excites you, this will please. However, if you're not, like me, the pacing and staging, along with its premise will still intrigue the staunchest critics. This actually combines the present world with a fantasy world and does so with sincere quality. Is it perfect? No, but it will entertain. It's also in an IMAX format as well, which looks as though this would've been a great format to enjoy it that much more.
Out of 4 Stars: 2.5 Rated: R 110mins.
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