Member-only story
Mortal Kombat (2021): One Long (But Entertaining) Fight Scene
A story must always include two primary elements: plot and character development. However, did you know you can produce a movie with barely a plot and zero character development, and still make it entertaining?
I offer 2021's Mortal Kombat as exhibit A.
It was Friday evening and I was marking the end of a very long week with a bowl full of angel hair pasta and a glass full of red wine. What could complete this setting? Something entertaining to watch that I didn’t need to pay close attention to and wouldn’t require a significant amount of emotional investment.
I remembered a friend telling me that the new Mortal Kombat movie was pretty good, so I looked that up on HBO Max.
For those too young to know, Mortal Kombat was originally a video arcade game from the early 90s. It spawned a whole series of media, including additional video games, comic books, tv shows, and movies, including this latest one. As a player in the game, you take on the character of a ninja-esque fighter fighting other ninja-esque fighters. I think I may have played the game once or twice growing up and my basic strategy was to hit the controls as fast as I could. I may have even won a fight or two! Then again…maybe it was Street Fighter that I played?
