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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Simon McQuoid
Cast:
Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks
Writing Credits:
Greh Russo, Dave Callahan

Synopsis:
MMA fighter Cole Young seeks out Earth's greatest champions in order to stand against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.

MPAA:
Rated R.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio:
English Dolby Atmos
English Descriptive Audio US
English Descriptive Audio UK
French Dolby 5.1
Quebecois French Dolby 5.1
German Dolby 5.1
German Descriptive Audio
Italian Dolby 5.1
Spanish Dolby 5.1
Castillian Dolby 5.1
Portuguese Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
French
German
Italian
Castillian
Dutch
Spanish
Portuguese
Danish
Finnish
Greek
Norwegian
Swedish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
French
German
Italian
Castillian
Dutch
Spanish
Portuguese

Runtime: 110 min.
Price: $34.98
Release Date: 7/13/2021

Bonus:
• Deleted Scenes
• “From Game to Screen” Featurette
• “Fan Favorite Characters” Featurette
• “Fight Koreography” Featurette
• “Into the Krypt” Featurette
• “Anatomy of a Scene” Featurette


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-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Mortal Kombat [Blu-Ray] (2021)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (July 13, 2021)

Back in 1995, Mortal Kombat became the first movie based on a video game to actual turn into a moderate box office success. However, 1997’s sequel Annihilation did less well, so that ended the potential franchise.

26 years later, we find a reboot via 2021’s Mortal Kombat. As with the source video game and the 1990s movies, Kombat introduces us to the concept that an ancient tournament that will determine the fate of the Earth.

Every generation or so, warriors from Earth fight those from the Outworld. If one group wins 10 straight contests, they get to come and rule over the other one.

Right now, the tally stands at 9-0 Outworld, so the next tournament takes on greater importance. With another battle on the horizon, Outworld Sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han) tries to tip the balance in his direction.

This leads toward MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan), who Shang Tsung sends warrior Sub-Zero (Joe Taslin) to kill. While Cole attempts to stay alive, he learns the secrets of the Mortal Kombat tournament and some hidden information about his own past that might help save the Earth in the long run.

As you can see from the review linked above, I thought the 1995 Kombat became a pretty terrible movie. Did the 2021 reboot improve upon that model?

Yeah – sort of. Kombat isn't a good film but it offers sporadic entertainment - very sporadic, but I guess that beats a kick in the head.

Kombat starts pretty well, actually, as a scene set in feudal Japan works nicely. Sure, that theme is played-out in action films, but the opening fights are fairly exciting and they give the movie a good opening.

After that? Meh.

I get that the movie needs to introduce a lot of characters and provide some semblance of backstory, but it feels like it wastes too much time since the target audience simply doesn't care. Give us the most basic of basics and get to the violence!

The 2021 Kombat certainly does that better than the 1990s version. Has a movie studio ever made a decision dumber than the choice to limit the 1990s film to "PG-13"?

Probably, but that was still an idiotic restriction to place on a movie based on a videogame famous mainly due to its graphic violence.

A Mortal Kombat movie without extreme gore is like a porn movie where no one does anything more than kiss and cuddle. It defeats the purpose.

So the 2021 Kombat certainly corrects that error. I wouldn't even call the violence "mindless" because it suits the original game, and as I noted, why bother to adapt Kombat if you don't offer its original selling point?

I admit I'm not sure why the 2021 movie created a new character to be the focal point. The videogame universe includes a broad array of characters so why bother to make up Cole for the film? Why not just use one of the existing combatants?

Ultimately, there's not much of a movie here, as we find little more than trite character beats cobbled around a loose plot and graphic violence. Still, that represents the source and the action seems lively enough often enough to make the movie watchable.

All of this leads to a decent reproduction of the Kombat universe. Nothing soars but the film at least offers a more satisfying exploration of the subject matter than the awful 1995 flick.


The Disc Grades: Picture A-/ Audio A-/ Bonus C+

Mortal Kombat appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie looked great.

At all times, sharpness appeared positive. I thought the image seemed accurate and well-defined from start to finish, with virtually no signs of softness on display. I noticed no signs of shimmering or jaggies, and the movie lacked any print flaws.

Like most other modern action flicks, Kombat favored stylized colors, and as usual, those colors tended toward teal and orange. Actually, the palette broadened at times, so while it stayed heavily oriented toward orange/teal, at least some reds emerged. Given the visual choices, the hues looked positive.

Blacks were always deep and tight, and I saw good contrast as well. Shadows seemed clear and appropriately opaque. The Blu-ray became a strong reproduction of the film.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I felt just as pleased with the impressive Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Kombat. A movie packed with mayhem and action, the mix used all the channels in a lively, involving manner. Various violent elements popped up from all around the room and delivered a smooth, engrossing soundscape.

This meant nearly constant material from the surrounds. The back speakers delivered a high level of information and created a great sense of place in that domain. All of this melded together in a vivid, satisfying manner.

Audio quality was also strong. Music seemed full and bold, while speech was consistently natural and crisp.

Effects became the most prominent component, of course, and packed a solid punch, with positive clarity and range. The audio of Kombat delivered the goods.

The disc brings us a mix of featurettes, and From Game to Screen runs 21 minutes, 30 seconds. It includes comments from writer Greg Russo, director Simon McQuoid, prosthetics makeup supervisor Larry Van Duynhoven, costume designer Cappi Ireland, supervising location manager Jacob McIntyre, production designer Naaman Marshall, visual effects supervisor Chris Godfrey, special effects supervisor Peter Stubbs, and actors Lewis Tan, Matilda Kimber, Mehcad Brooks, Jessica McNamee, Joe Taslim, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, and Chin Han.

“Screen” looks at the source video games and their adaptation to the 2021 movie as well as costumes, sets and locations, and various effects. “Screen” becomes more effective than I’d expect, as it brings a pretty good overview of some production choices.

Fan Favorite Characters breaks into 11 segments, each of which looks at a specific Kombat role. All together, these occupy 16 minutes, 51 seconds and involve McQuoid, Tan, Russo, McNamee, Taslim, Brooks, Ireland, Han, Lin, Huang, and actors Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Sisi Stringer.

We get quick summaries of these 11 characters. These tend to remain brief and rudimentary, though a handful of insights emerge.

Next comes Fight Koreography, a nine-minute, five-second featurette with info from McQuoid, Brooks, Taslim, Sanada, Huang, McNamee, Lawson, Lin, Stringer, Tan, Russo, 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Kyle Gardiner and fight choreographer Chan Griffin.

As expected, “Koreography” looks at the design and execution of the movie’s battle sequences. It offers a mostly engaging discussion of the subject matter.

Into the Krypt goes for four minutes, 11 seconds and involves McQuoid as he goes through the film’s Easter eggs. This offers a fun look at some hidden elements.

Finally, Anatomy of a Scene splits into seven featurettes with a total running time of 11 minutes, 57 seconds. Across these, we hear from McQuoid as he provides his thoughts on some specific scenes. It’s too bad McQuoid didn’t give us a commentary, as he provides some good info.

Four Deleted Scenes span a total of four minutes, 13 seconds. These tend to offer brief character expansions, none of which seem especially compelling.

26 years after the franchise’s initial big-screen foray, Mortal Kombat reboots in a moderately satisfying manner. While the film could fare better, it does enough right to keep the audience generally engaged. The Blu-ray boasts excellent picture and audio as well as a decent set of supplements. I suspect fans of the series will like this cinematic revival.

Viewer Film Ratings: 2.5 Stars Number of Votes: 2
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