Latino Review has dug up info on a new “Mortal Kombat” promo trailer directed by Kevin Tancharoen (he helmed the recent “Fame” remake). Starring the likes of Michael Jai White, Jeri Ryan, Ian Anthony Dale, Lateef Crowder and Matt Mullins, the clip is evidently a test run to try to sell Warner Bros. on a darker and grittier ‘Kombat’ reboot.
A third film in the profitable “Mortal Kombat” film series has long been in development with rotating creative teams trying to piece together the ridiculous mythology of the games into a convincing narrative that shed the goofiness of the first film and the embarrassing amateurishness of the second. We expected to see the series again once Midway was acquired by Warner Bros., but we weren’t sure what form the revival would take.
But this nearly-eight minute video surfaced yesterday showcasing a moody, dank crime story giving gritty, poker-faced revisions to popular characters from the “Mortal Kombat” universe. At first we thought it was a goof, a fan-made trailer made by someone with too much free time.
Is this what “Batman Begins” hath wrought? Since that film was praised for their grounded approach to originally silly material (with moments like Bruce Wayne leafing through a circular for Bat-tools), Hollywood seems like they’ve been in a race to see who can take a more literal, imagination-free approach to their own properties. As a result, we have this clip, where supernatural demon-creatures like Reptile and Baraka are given super realistic re-inventions as, respectively, a deformed cannibal and an insane plastic surgeon.
We think the cast seems appropriate for this kind of film, and the fighting on display looks fairly well-executed. But man, this thing just gives us the creeps. We want to say it’s the overall deadening tone of the thing, all dirt-under-the-fingernails artificiality and pervasive, excessive shadows. It’s probably also the gruesome gore — the “Kombat” games are amusing for their goofily elaborate deaths, but do we really need to see someone reaching inside a decomposing head to eat the remains? Then again, the idea of treating this like some straight-faced grisly serial-killer movie does seem pretty hilarious. If this clip becomes the basis for an upcoming film, we can’t imagine anyone not cackling their way through ninety minutes of shadowy backrooms and morose, wordy exposition.