Posted on: June 8th, 2010 What Is This MORTAL KOMBAT Short?

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Ahh the 90’s. They brought us so many great things. Like flannel shirts tied around the waist, Crystal Pepsi and Joey Lawrence. Lest we not forget the greatest thing to come out of the decade, the ultra-violent Mortal Kombat video game. Parents were pissed and the property took off and before we knew it we had Kombat toys, t-shirts, cartoons and two lice-action feature films. These films, Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, respectively, were not good. There have been times where I defended the first film, but that’s mostly because it’s so cheesy it becomes good. The sequel however, is a vile testament to the evils that men can do.

That still doesn’t explain my surprise to see that there is a large number of people out there just clamoring for a faithful Mortal Kombat film. This I discovered, when a live-action short hit the net this morning, promoting something called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. Is it test-footage or a teaser for a new film? Is it a tie-in trailer for the next video game installment? Apparently no one knows. It is kind of impressive though.

Enough gum-flapping from me, watch the clip embedded below.

You’ll no doubt recognize the great Michael Jai White as Det. Jackson “Jax” Briggs and Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade. It should also be noted that the fight choreography was provided by Larnell Stovall, who was responsible for the awesome fight scenes in Undisputed III: Redemption.

So what is this for? With the massive video-game conference E3 just around the corner, many fans speculated it’s for a new Mortal Kombat video game, while CHUD reports that it is for a new live action film (apparently coming from choreographer Stovall himself).

So we’re most likely going to get a new Kombat movie, or at least someone is putting their foot forward to get this thing green-lit. And while I think that short is certainly a far more mature, stylish approach to the franchise, I just can’t shake the looming pessimism of the video-game adaptation. It’s Mortal Kombat. Is there even a good story there to be told?

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with this one. On the bright side, if this film is a means to get a Michael Jai White leading role with fight scenes from Larnell Stovall, then I say bring it.

What do you think about the short, and a new Mortal Kombat film?

Also, here’s Raiden laughing:

Filed under: Movies, News, Trailers, Video Games

7 Responses to “What Is This MORTAL KOMBAT Short?”

  1. dale Says:
    June 8th, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    To be perfectly honest, this is the most exciting thing I’ve seen all year. I was doing backflips for the entire 7 minutes. (and boy are my legs tired!) Whatever it is, I’m in.

  2. Olaf Blomerus Says:
    June 8th, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    They really tried to throw those lines in there… ‘Finish Him’… ‘Fatality’… as long as the movie isn’t filled with too many of those I can respect the direction they’re going for.

    Inside out eyes though? C’mon.

  3. ProMovieBlogger Says:
    June 8th, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    Looks great to me. Loved how the histories of the characters were upgraded to fit into a modern environment.

  4. Awesome New Mortal Kombat TRAILER « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more Says:
    June 14th, 2010 at 8:28 pm

    [...] Mortal Kombat again since a live-action short (intended for a full-length feature) hit the net last week. The timing couldn’t have been better, as this week we are treated to a trailer for the next [...]

  5. Ben Rankel Says:
    June 15th, 2010 at 10:04 pm

    If I wanted realism I wouldn’t be invested in a video game about a supernatural tournament set up for stealing souls in another dimension.

  6. Ryan Ferrier Says:
    June 15th, 2010 at 10:17 pm

    I’m picking up what you’re putting down, Ben. I was impressed with the short though, and can detach myself from the franchise should they go with this style and concept. Even then, who gives a hoot if they muck up a Mortal Kombat movie, it’s not like its deep, subtextual drama. I’m putting it out there: if they do this with that fight choreographer, we’re in for a severe face-fucking. The good kind.

  7. Ben Rankel Says:
    June 15th, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    I concur.

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