SPOILER ALERT! Watch the movie first before reading!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VADCrmCFd48

There’s a new Mortal Kombat short film out on the internet titled, ‘Mortal Kombat: Rebirth’. It’s a grittier depiction of the popular video game serious compared to the previous two films. It was directed by Kevin Tancharoen and stars Michael Jai White as Jax A.K.A. Jackson Briggs and Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade.

The short film was made as a pitch to Warner Brothers (who owns rights to the Mortal Kombat film franchise) to greenlight Tancharoen’s vision into a full feature film.

The darker direction is what a Mortal Kombat movie needs, a hard R-Rated movie, but this short film feels too much like a detective movie.

After vieweing it a few times I realized this isn’t a Mortal Kombat movie. Growing up as a big fan of the video game series, what bothered me the most was the change in the character story of nearly everyone shown in the short film.

I’ll admit it was a bold move to make the story realistic as possible by incorporating the characters as freak human beings rather than something else, but it just doesn’t feel right. Christopher Nolan pulled it off with ‘Batman Begins’, but this method doesn’t work for Mortal Kombat.

Michael Jai White does a great job as Jax, but he’s not a detective. Jackson Briggs is the leader of the United States Special Forces.

The Baraka story line is interesting, but he was not a doctor who mutilated himself to become some freak. I’d like to see a ghoulish looking Baraka from the Outworld, a scary mutant that he was since his introduction in Mortal Kombat II.

There is a sweet fight scene with Baraka and Johnny Cage, but Johnny Cage ends up dead. In the video game story line, Johnny Cage dies in an attack made by Outworld ruler Shao Kahn.

I don’t like how Scorpion was a prisoner and in human form. Scorpion is already dead. I did like however that they mentioned how he killed Sub-Zero, but turned out to be his brother. This is dead on since Scorpion does kill Sub-Zero after the first Mortal Kombat game. Sub-Zero then turns into Noob-Siabot while Sub-Zero’s brother becomes the new Sub-Zero we know today.

Reptiles origin story was fascinating, but everyone else bothered me.

If Warner Brothers does greenlight this movie, I hope Jax doesn’t become the main character. It should stay true to the original story by having either Kung Lao in a different century or Liu Kang in the present as the main protagonist.

As for Warner Brothers, it may be too much of a “risk” for them to cast a lead Asian male in a big budget action movie. Perhaps they’ll do the douche move and cast a white guy to play them as most movie studios do with film adaptations.

Tancharoen’s vision is interesting, but falls flat on what made the Mortal Kombat series special, its fantasy based mythological story line (and the fatalities of course!). I liked Paul W.S. Anderson’s adaptation of Mortal Kombat better, staying truer to the story, but I’d like to see Anderson’s Mortal Kombat world crossed with Tancharoen’s darker toned direction.

The first Mortal Kombat movie satisfied fans (for a PG-13 movie), while the sequel ‘Mortal Kombat: Annihalation’ was a giant turd sandwhich worth more kurichs than the whole town of South Park (yeah, that’s a lot of crap).

So, would people care for another Mortal Kombat movie? I believe so with an R-Rated version that stays true to the story with out being too silly. As for Tancharoen’s story, it may work for people unfamiliar with Mortal Kombat. I can see his vision better suited as a television series and that is not an insult.