The recently released Mortal Kombat trailer has been met with pretty much unanimous applause from both action movie fans and fans of the popular video franchise. The principal cast of Mortal Kombat, including Ludi Lin who plays Liu Kang, Josh Lawson who stars as Kano, Sisi Stringer who plays Mileena, Max Huang who plays Kung Lao, and a few more, sat down to watch the footage for themselves and no doubt echoed the sentiments of Mortal Kombat fans everywhere. The end of the video even has Huang play a very familiar medley on the piano.
Here it is, the Mortal Kombat Trailer Kast Reaction, with love Enjoy! #MortalKombatMovie@Todd_Garner@TheLewisTan@TheChinHan@jessica_mcnamee@themaxhuang@asano_tadanobu@Joe_Taslim@MehcadBrookspic.twitter.com/RrZyhGpW4v
— LudiLin (@ludi_lin) February 21, 2021
Thanks to the violent new trailer, a lot more of the specific story details have now been revealed, with director Simon McQuoid revealing that part of the movie will be about the birth of fan-favorite character, Scorpion, and that fellow fan-favorite character Sub-Zero will be the main antagonist, with their rivalry making up an integral part of the movie. Mortal Kombat will also introduce a brand-new character to the lore in the form of MMA fighter Cole Young. While he is being described as a new character, theories are flying all over the place that Cole will turn out to be someone more familiar to Mortal Kombat fans.
For now, Cole Young is blissfully unaware of his heritage, or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt him down. Cole is forced to go 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, Cole 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, he 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.
The trailer left quite the impression thanks in large part to its grim take on the video game and its commitment to the same brutal violence that the franchise is so renowned for. Director Simon McQuoid recently discussed this element, assuring fans that the fatality sequences are not just for the sake of fan-service. “The Fatalities were always in from the get-go, there was never any question from anyone at all,” he said. “There was no resistance from the studio. They wanted them, I wanted them. There’s a fatality from Kano, he ripped someone’s heart out. But what was important to me was that even when the Fatalities arrived, we couldn’t just do a Fatality and have it mean nothing. … It actually becomes an important ingredient in the rhythm of the action scene.”
Mortal Kombat is directed by Simon McQuoid, making his feature film directorial debut, working from a screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham. The movie stars Wu Assassins actor Lewis Tan as Cole Young, who is joined by a whole host of familiar faces from the Mortal Kombat roster including Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson “Jax” Briggs, Josh Lawson as Kano, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, Tadanobu Asano as Raiden, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Max Huang as Kung Lao, and Daniel Nelson as Kabal.
Mortal Kombat is scheduled to be released in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service by Warner Bros. Pictures on April 16, 2021. This comes to us courtesy of Ludi Lin’s official Twitter account.