Fun and games
FORGET THE ACTING AND STORYTELLING, THIS MODERN TAKE ON AN ARCADE CLASSIC IS ALL ABOUT THE BLOODY BIFFO
MOVIE REVIEWS MORTAL KOMBAT (R18+)
Director: Simon McQuoid
(feature debut)
Starring: Lewis Tan, Josh Lawson, Jessica McNamee, Ludi Lin, Joe Taslim.
Rating: hhh
Win now or lose forever
Pure, mindless action cinema has been one of the biggest genre casualties of the COVID era. Perhaps only comedies have suffered more from all the shutdowns and changeups that have blighted the movie business.
Will the arrival of Mortal Kombat change that equation any? Surprisingly, it stands a better chance than most. Which is not bad going for a modern production based on an ancient video game.
Action fans with long – no, make that very long – memories will recall movies have had a previous pop at exploiting the MK franchise.
These old-timers can rest assured 2021’s Mortal Kombat is roughly five times better than its 1995 equivalent (and you can double that estimate for 1997’s atrocious Mortal Kombat: Annihilation).
Just don’t come along expecting anything resembling decent acting or straightforward storytelling, and you’ll be more than content with what you see here.
For what it is worth – not much, admittedly – the Mortal Kombat plot is barely fathomable throughout.
Here is all that can be reliably reported. There are these two competing dimensions of existence. Where you are right now? That is Earthrealm. The other world? You can call it Outworld.
According to the occasional line of dialogue slipped into the mix, Earthrealm and Outworld have been at loggerheads for centuries. The ongoing battle has been confined to organised fighting tournaments governed by strict rules.
Lots of strict rules. The only one really worth knowing is should either side lose 10 fights in a row, then they will be toast forever. As we join the action in Mortal Kombat, Earthrealm is on a 0-9 losing streak. One more defeat, and our planet becomes an Outworld outpost.
Got all that? Good. As the movie progresses, an all-new Earthrealm team sheet is assembled, with former MMA star Cole (Lewis Tan), feisty freedom fighter Sonya (Jessica McNamee) and wisecracking mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson) the freshest recruits.
Once trained up, this trio and their better-credentialed cohorts Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Kung Lao (Max Huang) will be on a collision course with the dreaded Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), a centuries-old chiller-killer who can freeze you to death with the slightest touch.
All that really matters here are the fight sequences, and it has to be conceded a majority of the setpiece smackdowns deliver the goods. Not so much in terms of elegant or inspired design (the John Wick series has Mortal Kombat completely covered on this front), but definitely when it comes to excitement and sustained energy release.
Those without a taste for the very rough stuff may wish to be aware of the movie’s R rating, a prohibitive tag you don’t see often these days. The violence here is definitely ultra-graphic, and not for the faint-hearted.
Mortal Kombat is now showing in general release.
THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY (MA15+) hhk
Selected cinemas
You can safely file this one away under “major performance in a minor movie” and perhaps wait until it hits home streaming in the middle of the year. What cannot be denied here is that Andra Day’s portrayal of the legendary AfricanAmerican singer Billie Holiday is completely worthy of the Best Actress Oscar nomination that came her way last month.
As for the movie itself, however, it gets itself in one heck of a tongue-twisting tangle in trying to drive home Holiday’s significance as an artist of colour in the 1940s and 50s. The FBI was no fan of “Lady Day” (as she was popularly known) and took particular offence to her signature song, Strange Fruit. This confronting, yet melodically alluring account of black lynchings (remarkably, still permissible by US law in the years after WWII) still stands as an astonishing piece of music decades after its composition.
Holiday’s interpretation was beyond definitive. Once heard, it could never be forgotten. Unfortunately, the movie bearing her name settles for a bulletpointed, sub-Wikipedia approach to Billie Holiday, a fascinating, complex and contradictory soul who was so far ahead of her time it truly boggles the mind.
THE UNHOLY (M) hhk
General release
So there’s this deaf-mute girl named Alice (Cricket Brown). After an apparent visitation by the Virgin Mary, Alice is beginning to see, hear and yes, say things. A jaded journo passing through town, Gerry (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), thinks he may have stumbled upon the biggest story of the year. But as we know from many a religious-themed horror movie, miracles are never what they seem to be.
The semi-sinister reason for Alice’s unprecedented transformation generates just enough spooky scares and kooky shocks to earn this middling thriller a pass mark.
Mercifully, the pacing here is a little more lively than usual, and the sense that all is not being taken too seriously is much appreciated also.