RED BAND TRAILER – NSFW
“These are your champions?”
-Shang Tsung, Mortal Kombat (2021)
The trailer for the new movie dropped this morning, and it certainly checks a lot of boxes I was looking for.
First, pretty clearly this is reaching for an R-rating. They released a red band trailer, for starters, and ooh boy it is warranted. There was a lot of red splashing around in that 2 minute and 30 second tease, and several Fatalities were on display. It’s important for the franchise to get the look and feel of the current generation of games to translate on screen. The gore is a huge part of that, and it looks like they are nailing it.
I loved the scene of Scorpion pre-undead ninja as Hanzo Hasashi. Watching him make his signature spear was just, italian chef kiss. So good.
We can see in front of his home what is clearly two frozen bodies – likely his wife and son -slain at the hands of Sub-Zero. Scorpion gets his sweet bloody revenge, though.
The trailer introduces us to newcomer Cole, who I assume we will come to care about somehow. He will likely serve as the everyday dude just caught up in some mess that will be the part of the audience, allowing for all of the necessary exposition to take place. Plus he has a Mortal Kombat logo birthmark! Destined for greatness or Coulson-style team-forging death – we shall see.
Some of the roster making an appearance, including Sonya Blade, Jax, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kano, Raiden, Shang Tsung, Scorpion, and Sub Zero.
We also catch glimpses of Shao Khan, Goro, Reptile, Smoke and Mileena.
This looks super painful
Oh and lest we have any doubt about the R-rating, there be Fatalities.
Mortal Kombat will be in theaters everywhere and streaming on HBO Max on April 16, 2021.
Finish them!