Entertainment Weekly has shared a fresh batch of photos that gives us our first look at director Simon McQuoid's movie reboot of Mortal Kombat. McQuoid's adaptation of the popular video game franchise -- which he assures will be R-rated -- promises blood and gore, but also a fair bit of history and lore.
Speaking to EW, McQuoid offered a bit of context for the film -- including its use of blood, which he says has many meanings.
"Blood represents family. Blood represents a connection. Blood represents who we are. Without getting too overcomplicated, what we did is use blood executionally."
In the lengthy creature, McQuoid provides some context for the upcoming film, which begins with a 10-minute opening sequence in feudal Japan highlighting "the blood feud between the clans of Hanzo and Bi-Han." For those unfamiliar, those are the birth names of Scorpion and Sub-Zero (before they wield the supernatural abilities).
"[Hanzo's] the leader of a ninja clan and he's strong, but also… at the beginning, he's a peaceful family man," explains Hiroyuki Sanada (Logan), who plays Hanzo/Scorpion. "It is like a family drama with excitingly brutal fighting. That's the image of this movie for me."
The feature also reveals a new character created for the film: Cole Young, played by actor and martial artist Lewis Tan (Wu Assassins, Into the Badlands). Tan reveals of the character:
"When we first meet Cole, he's in a really bad spot. He's down on his luck. He's kind of a washed-up MMA fighter who used to be a champion, who used to believe in himself, who used to have a lot of hope in his career. And it's all gone down the drain. It's a very interesting place for a hero to start, and I think that, along the journey of Mortal Kombat and Cole discovering where he comes from, you're introduced to all these other iconic characters and elements that everybody loves so dearly."
Young knows little of his heritage, except that he has a birthmark on his chest in the shape of the Mortal Kombat symbol. While details were kept under wraps, it seems the symbol will "tie into the journey that he's going on." Tan tease:
"It remains the only clue Cole has when the sinister sorcerer and emperor of the realm Outerworld, Shang Tsung (Skyscraper's Chin Han), sends Sub-Zero, now with his cryomancy powers, to hunt him down."
The movie will feature numerous other characters from the series -- including Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang), Kano (Josh Lawson), and Mileena (Sisi Stringer) -- and there will be some sort of high-stakes tournament for control of the realm.
Beyond the familiar characters, fans of the series will also be treated to "the best fight sequences ever done in a movie ever" -- which, of course, will result in copious amounts of blood. Mortal Kombat will be rated R, which McQuoid joked was pretty much unavoidable.
"I wanted to make sure that everyone respected the material, the lore of Mortal Kombat, the fans and the love they have for this. Everyone was clear on it," said McQuoid. This means some of the game's most iconic fatalities -- graphic finishing moves performed at the end of the game's fights -- will be included.
"We've picked a couple of iconic ones. There's a lot of really cool signature moves that you'll see, a lot of Easter eggs that we snuck into the film, but there are some really badass fatalities that I can't wait to see on the big screen. They're brutal, man. They, they don't hold back," McQuoid promised.
Mortal Kombat is scheduled to release in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service simultaneously on April 16. Hopefully, we get to see a proper trailer for the film soon.