History Film / MortalKombat2021

* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Before being banished back to Outworld by Raiden, Shang Tsung vows to return with more than just fighters, but armies. He also makes comments that imply Bi-Han's eventual resurrection as Noob Saibot. Cole also goes off in search of more fighters on his own, starting with Johnny Cage. Oh, and, ''the actual tournament hasn't happened yet''...]]
* ShoutOut: Kano gives Liu Kang a few snarky pop-culture nicknames including Creator/DavidCopperfield and Film/MagicMike.

The film stars Creator/LewisTan as Cole Young, Jessica [=McNamee=] as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Creator/TadanobuAsano as Raiden, Creator/JoeTaslim as Bi-Han/Sub-Zero, Creator/MehcadBrooks as Jackson "Jax" Briggs, Creator/LudiLin as Liu Kang, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, and Creator/HiroyukiSanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion and Nathan Jones as Reiko.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: A violent, vulgar, muscular man breaks into a woman's home saying "Honey, I'm home," brandishing a large array of knives and a SlasherSmile. She fights back against him by mostly hiding and using sneak attacks with knives, focusing on pragmatism and her own training because she knows that he can overpower her physically since he's so much bigger than she is. The fight is violent, with her slashing at him with knives and tossing him around with kombat maneuvers, and him throwing her around the house like rag-doll, many times by her neck and hair, eventually has her pinned and is choking her to death. It ends with her desperately reaching out and grabbing something sharp and stabbing him in the eye, killing him, and finally commenting on how cathartic it was to do so. Does that sound like a DomesticAbuse situation? Normally it would be, but in this case it's not. It's [[spoiler: Sonya and Kano's BrutalBrawl]].

* LeftForDead: [[spoiler:Sub-Zero leaves after lethally wounding Scorpion in kombat. If he'd stuck around, he might have noticed the baby hidden in the bushes that would go on to continue the Hasashi bloodline.]]

* LeftForDead: [[spoiler:Sub-Zero leaves after lethally wounding Scorpion in kombat.]]

->''"Throughout history, different cultures all over the world reference a great tournament of champions. That dragon marking, I think it’s an invitation to fight for something known as Mortal Kombat."''

* ActorAllusion: In the Japanese dub, Creator/TatsuhisaSuzuki (Cole Young) [[Manga/KenganAshura already voiced a young guy participating into another martial arts tournament when his life is in stake]]. Likewise, Creator/KazuhikoInoue (Scorpion) [[Manga/{{Naruto}} already voiced another ninja before.]]

** All of the characters' special moves (nicknamed "Arcanas") are explicit super powers granted to those chosen as Champions, including ones that were previously done with weapons and cybernetics in the games.

* AncestralWeapon: Raiden gives [[spoiler:Cole]] the kunai Hanzo used before he died. Later, the kunai gets covered in [[spoiler:Cole]]’s blood, which ends up [[spoiler:summoning Scorpion to help fight Sub-Zero]].

** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in Hanzo and Bi-Han's first fight in 1617. Hanzo launches his rope dart at Bi-Han, but misses and embeds it in a tree. Bi-Han puts his cheek against the rope, as if to gloat about how Hanzo missed. Hanzo Hanzo proceeds to yank it back, but Bi-Han fails to catch it, cutting his cheek in the process.

* BackupFromOtherWorld: When Cole starts losing his battle with Sub-Zero, he tries to stab him with Scorpion’s kunai. Sub-Zero turns the blade on Cole, cutting the latter's fingers with it, [[spoiler:but the blood ends up summoning Scorpion from the Netherealm, who helps Cole fight Sub-Zero]].

* BloodierAndGorier: This new R-rated film ''definitely'' embraces the bloody carnage the franchise is known for, after the BloodlessCarnage of the PG-13 rated '90s films.
* BoisterousWeakling: Kano has a rather big mouth for somebody that demonstrates inferior skill compared to the other champions.

* DesignatedGirlFight: When Shang Tsung's forces invades the temple, Sonya is pitted against Mileena. Subverted later when Sonya asks to get a rematch with her, but Cole asks her to fight Kano instead (as he's already seen that she can take him) and he fights Mileena. Double subverted when [[spoiler:Mileena is overwhelming him, but Sonya kills her with a surprise energy blast freshly obtained from her killing Kano.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: Hanzo is getting water when his family gets attacked by Lin-Kuei assassins. By the time he hears their screams, it is already too late. After being mortally wounded by Bi-Han, he hears his infant daughter crying from her hiding space in the floor boards of his house, but expires right when he tries to get her, leaving the fear that she would be left abandoned to starve until Raiden rescues her.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: A violent, vulgar, muscular man breaks into a woman's home saying "Honey, I'm home," brandishing a large array of knives and a SlasherSmile. She fights back against him by mostly hiding and using sneak attacks with knives, focusing on pragmatism and her own training because she knows that he can overpower her physically since he's so much bigger than she is. The fight is violent, with her slashing at him with knives and tossing him around with combat maneuvers, and him throwing her around the house like rag-doll, many times by her neck and hair, eventually has her pinned and is choking her to death. It ends with her desperately reaching out and grabbing something sharp and stabbing him in the eye, killing him, and finally commenting on how cathartic it was to do so. Does that sound like a DomesticAbuse situation? Normally it would be, but in this case it's not. It's [[spoiler: Sonya and Kano's BrutalBrawl]].

* EyeBeams: Kano's super power, which is magical as he lacks any cybernetics.

** Liu Kang, one of the best trained warriors for Earth, explains that his powers [[spoiler: manfiested instantly after killing a pedophile with the mark and getting it himself. Later on in the movie, Sonya - highly trained in fighting herself - gets her powers instantly after killing Kano, a wanted criminal.]]
* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Despite having sharp claws, invisibility, and ''freaking acid spit'', Reptile seems to do much of his time throwing people around and ''not'' using his better offensive skills. The only times he uses the acid is to break in to Sonya's trailer and dissolve a knife in his arm, and he only claws Kano once.

** At one point, you can see a mural of [[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon Dehlia, Argus, and Daegon]], implying that the events that lead to that game happened in this universe.

* HateSink: The owner of the gym where Cole fights in the beginning of the film. His only appearances consist of mocking Cole's fighting skills, deriding Cole's daughter for being his corner-man, and laughing in Cole's face when he says he's going to Hollywood. This is in stark contrast to the fighter Cole faces, who is kind and respectful afterwards, thanking him for a good match.

* HourglassPlot: [[spoiler:Between Sonya and Kano. Kano starts off as a Champion that learns his Arcana during the initial journey, while Sonya is the lone non-Champion during the quest. Afterwards, Sonya kills Kano, becoming a Champion and learning her Arcana quickly.]]

** Sub-Zero freezes and shatters Jax’s original arms. Jax later gets crude replacements, which are upgraded when he unlocks his Arcana.

** Mileena’s mouth rips open during her fight with Cole, resembling her classic look in the games.

** Sub-Zero briefly uses a dagger made from ''Scorpion’s frozen blood.''
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played for drama. The survival of Hanzo’s daughter means that that her heritage would last to the modern day, [[spoiler:which is why Cole gets chosen as a defender of the realm]].

** Sonya is able to use her signature sonic attacks [[spoiler:after killing Kano and gaining his mark]], and uses them to save Cole from Mileena. Arguably {{Justified}}, considering Sonya is one of the most well-trained fighters in the movie, short of Liu Kang and Kung Lao, and has the least mental and emotional hangups about using or unlocking her powers; unlike Kano and Cole, she actually ''wants'' to fight in Mortal Kombat. This is even given {{Foreshadowing}} by Liu Kang, who explains to Cole that his Arcana awoke as soon as he received the mark, because he wanted it that badly.
** After unlocking his Arcana, Cole has no trouble using his bladed Tonfa against Goro. {{Justified}}, since Cole’s MMA fighting style seems to include a lot of boxing moves, and giving a boxer bladed Tonfa not only allows him to use his existing skills instead of having to learn new ones, it also gives him the ability to ''stab with his punches.''
* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Averted. It's specified throughout the movie's subtitles when the characters are speaking a certain language. Hanzo actually can't understand what Bi-Han's last words to him are, because he's speaking Chinese, but the audience can. The casting team also clearly made an effort to avert this trope as well: Hanzo and Raiden are both played by Japanese actors, and the Chinese characters (Bi Han, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Shang Tsung) are all played by actors who are Chinese by ethnicity, if not necessarily by citizenship. The one exception is Cole, who is supposed to be at least partly-Japanese, as a descendent of Hanzo, but actor Lewis Tan's Asian background is Chinese.
* ItIsDehumanizing: When talking about the mission in Brazil, Sonya only refers to whatever they fought as "the target" or "it." Whether this is is due to Sonya seeing it as something other than human for its powers, or expressing restrained loathing for all of her teammates lost, is up in the air.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Downplayed example. Kung Lao and Liu Kang are more than kind with Sonya when she arrives, but come off a bit abrasive when they prevent her from even taking part in practice fights. Despite Cole's protests, they correctly point out that going up against someone who can [[PlayingWithFire throw fire]], [[AnIcePerson conjure and control ice]], or [[SuperSpeed run faster than the eye can see]] with only your fists is a ''very'' good way to get yourself killed, and make the other people ''with'' powers focus on protecting you instead of actually fighting. [[spoiler: Even when the group gets desperate enough to use Sonya for the final "tournament" against Shang Tsung's fighters, they send her against [[UnskilledButStrong Kano]], arguably the least dangerous of the opposing fighters.]]

** Scorpion’s iconic "Get over here!" that caps off the trailer was widely mocked online because it sounded muffled and the words weren’t given much enunciation. The actual film uses a new recording of the line that's much clearer and almost identical to the games, but whether this was intentional or re-dubbed following the trailer’s release is unclear.

** For Allison, [[spoiler: when Goro is about kill Cole, she grabs an axe and hits Goro in the side to save Cole]].

* ScrewTheRulesTheyBrokeThemFirst: To ensure Earthrealm will have no Champions come the next tournament, the bulk of the film involves Earthrealm's Champions being hunted down by Sub-Zero [[spoiler:and the rest of Shang Tsung's assassins. The final act sees the Champions, with assistance from Raiden, tracking down and assassinating the assassins, so Outworld will have no Champions themselves come the tournament. Then again, Mortal Kombat has always been about fighting dirty, and this is not ''technically'' illegal by the established rules of the tournament.]]

* SelfFulfillingProphecy: The prophecy that foretells [[spoiler: Hanzo's blood descendants]] being the key to preventing Outworld's invasion comes true, despite Shang Tsung's machinations to eliminate the possibility and, indeed, even because of what he does. Every assault on the heroes only drives Cole that much closer to becoming a true Champion and after Shang Tsung [[spoiler: steals Kung Lao's soul]], it's Cole that rallies the Earthrealm fighters, making the plan that wins them the day.

* ShownTheirWork: A pre-Scorpion Hanzo creates a prototype of his infamous rope-kunai spear with a rope laying around and a kunai stuck in a garden bed; kunai are believed to have been used as masonry trowels before being modified as tools or weapons by ninjas.

** Sonya introduces Cole to her research, ending with he reveal that the markings and fighters are building towards [[TitleDrop Mortal Kombat.]] [[LampshadeHanging Cole wastes no time in pointing out how silly it sounds, including the fact they spelled it wrong.]]

** In a similar vein, Cole wins only one fight (against Goro), but struggles with battling Mileena and Sub-Zero, requiring outside help in both cases, because despite being an MMA fighter, he isn't trained to fight in order to kill or defend against people actively trying to murder him. His victory with Goro was only because he unlocked his Arcana in time, as well as some timely intervention by his wife. Very much truth in television as trained martial artists and MMA fighters have said that being good at fighting in a controlled environment is completely different from fighting in a life o death brawl or a street fight.

* TookALevelInBadass: An extremely fast example. When Bi-Han is introduced attacking Hanzo Hasashi's farm in the 1600s, he can "merely" make a room cold with his presence and freeze his hands, and even has trouble using his ice powers against Hanzo himself, relying more on physical combat. When he is re-introduced as Sub-Zero, with over 400 more years of combat experience, he can freeze entire rooms in seconds, blanket streets in ice shards with a wave of his hands, and ''stop shotgun pellets at point-blank range''.

** Scorpion’s first rope dart used a kunai that his wife used as a garden trowel.
** After being killed, [[spoiler: Kung Lao’s hat flies towards the heroes when Raiden teleports them away from the infiltrated temple and is held briefly by Liu Kang. The red scarf ornamenting it is taken to be used as Liu Kang's trademark headband in his fight with Kabal.]]

* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: There are two ways of becoming chosen: either the mark is passed on to you by one of your parents, or you kill the person that currently has it.

** Taken even further in the movie's French dub, where '''all the''' catchphrases from the games are left untranslated.

The film was released on April 23, 2021 both in theaters and on Creator/HBOMax (the latter available through May 23). In 2022, a sequel was confirmed to be in development.

** While alive, Hanzo's kunai is attached to a rope, like it was in the games of the original timeline. As Scorpion, the kunai is on a chain, as in the games of the rebooted timeline.

* ShownTheirWork: A pre-Scorpion Hanzo creates a prototype of his infamous rope dart/spear with a rope laying around and a kunai stuck in a garden bed; kunai are believed to have been used as masonry trowels before being modified as tools or weapons by ninjas.

** In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', Jax's arms were torn off by Ermac. In the film, Sub-Zero freezes and destroys them.
** ZigZagged with Kano and Kabal. In both the games and this movie Kano is the reason that Kabal has his life support system but for the exact opposite reasons, with ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 9]]'' showing Kano installing it to revive him due to their old friendship, while this movie implies that Kano betrayed him and left the injuries that required it to begin with.

* SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: In stark contrast to most depictions of the characters, Scorpion and Sub-Zero speak their native Japanese and Chinese during their encounter at the beginning of the film. Bi-Han also seems to know a bit of Japanese, as he speaks it to intimidate Hanzo's family. BilingualDialogue is averted in the same conversation, as Hanzo notes he's unable to understand what Bi-Han is saying to him. Notably, Scorpion's ''only'' line of spoken English in the movie is his aforementioned {{Catchphrase}}; aside from that, all of his dialogue is in Japanese.

* BadPowersGoodPeople: Hanzo was a good family man in life before Bi-Han came to assassinate him. Once he's in the Netherealm, he gains the ability to use Hellfire, as well as other techniques when he was trapped there.

** In a similar vein, Cole wins only one fight (against Goro), but struggles with battling Mileena and Sub-Zero, requiring outside help in both cases, because despite being an MMA fighter, he isn't trained to fight in order to kill or defend against people actively trying to murder him. His victory with Goro was only because he unlocked his Arcana in time, as well as some timely intervention by his wife.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Before being banished back to Outworld by Raiden, Shang Tsung vows to return with more than just fighters, but armies. He also makes comments that imply Bi-Han's eventual resurrection as Noob Saibot. Cole also goes off in search of more fighters on his own, starting with Johnny Cage.]]

** Once Hanzo Hasashi dies, Bi-Han says "For the Lin-Kuei."
** Kano's [[AndShowItToYou heart-ripping]] of [[spoiler:Reptile]] is followed by him saying "Kano wins!"

* {{Magitek}}: The tech-based superpowers are magically formed by the Arcana.

* BriefAccentImitation: Sonya calls Kano "mate" [[spoiler:after fatally stabbing him in the eye]]. Ironically, as her actress is Australian, this becomes an instance of an actor doing a mock version of their own accent.

* TheFriendNoOneLikes: None of the Earthrealm Champions can stand Kano. They all show more respect and friendliness to Sonya, who isn't even a Champion.

* DemotedToExtra:
** Liu Kang, usually the protagonist or at least TheChosenOne, takes a backseat and is simply one in the group -- albeit one of the most experienced.
** Goro, usually a ''big'' focus early into the series (or anything adapting the original tournament), only gets a minor role as a monster with a single line of dialogue that attacks Cole's family.
** Raiden is barely in the film at all and does little to mentor the group.
** While Scorpion is important to Cole's backstory and is essentially the [[SeriesMascot Franchise Mascot]], he only appears in the beginning and at the end of the film, basically existing solely to fight Sub-Zero.

** At his worst, Scorpion was a NominalHero who only sided with the villains to get his revenge on Sub-Zero to avenge his family (which Sub-Zero isn't even responsible for, Quan Chi is). Here, Scorpion is shown to have been an Earthrealm Champion before his death and is firmly on the heroes' side to seek revenge on Sub-Zero for directly killing his family, clan, and himself, and supports Cole in battle [[spoiler:as his descendant through his daughter]].

** Before Jax and Sub-Zero fight, you can see a wall that has "Down Arrow, Right Arrow, LP" spray-painted on it. Down, forward, Light Punch is the input command for Sub Zero's Ice Freeze move in the games.

** A more general Mythology, rather than the games: the idea that if you kill someone with the Champion's crest, it automatically passes onto you, echoes an ancient real-world superstition where if you kill an enemy you gain their greatest power.