LOS ANGELES: Warner Bros and New Line have released the first seven minutes of the upcoming martial arts fantasy film Mortal Kombat online.
The film’s opening sequence features Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), whose family comes under attack from Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim).
The R-rated film from director Simon McQuoid and writers Greg Russo and Dave Callaham is based on the iconic video game franchise.
The film’s box office performance will doubtless be watched closely as it’s one of the first major post-pandemic studio releases and theaters are still in the process of reopening around the country.
The movie reboot aims to better depict the extreme gore of the video game franchise than two cinematic spinoffs of the 1990s.
The video game has pushed the limits of violence and gore since it arrived in arcades in 1992 and was a main factor behind the establishment of a rating system for violence in video games by the industry.
“It would be crazy to ignore that violence is a fundamental part of the video game,” Josh Lawson, who plays brawler Kano in the film, said in an interview.
“If you pull punches on that part of the game, then I’d say you’re not doing … a true service to the game,” he added. “This does go as far as you possibly can.”
The movie follows Cole Young (Lewis Tan), a new character to the franchise, who finds he and his family are being hunted by the ice-wielding Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) because he has a mysterious birthmark.
He meets others who have the birthmark including fire-wielding Liu Kang and Kung Lao, who uses his metal hat as a weapon. All three are destined to fight in the mysterious Mortal Kombat tournament to help protect Earth.
The actors in “Mortal Kombat” hail from all around the world. Star Tan is of British and Chinese descent. Mortal Kombat will be released in the US on Friday, as well as on the HBO Max streaming service.
The wait for Mortal Kombat is almost over – to #PrepareForMortalKombat, watch the first seven minutes of #MortalKombatMovie and tag your movie krew. Experience Mortal Kombat in theaters and streaming on HBO Max* this Friday. pic.twitter.com/N9zTw0t1tc
— Mortal Kombat Movie (@MKMovie) April 20, 2021
