There are a variety of different fight scenes in the movie. At first, the audience is introduced with a few humble fights such as Bi-Han vs. Hanzo and Cole vs. Ramirez. As more heroes are introduced, players see a larger scope of battles with consequences for the main characters. While the stakes get increasingly higher throughout the movie, how long each battle lasts can vary. There are CGI battles and team scenes that overlap, and it’s not clear whether they are happening at the same time or not. Regardless, the battles in the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie can fit into two categories.
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Not Enough Kombat
All the fighters in the Mortal Kombat movie are a force to be reckoned with, without a doubt. They look as fierce as their Arcana presents itself, and almost all of them get a few good hits in. That being said, there are a few battles where the heroes or villains are dealt with too quickly to see what they were capable of. For instance, in one scene Kung Lao is able to jump on an attacking Nitara’s back and slices her in half. This takes him around 12 seconds to do, from the moment he calms himself to when Nitara is dead and Kung Lao claims a “Flawless Victory.”
In some other examples, Sonya Blade is able to put a knife to Kano’s throat in 14 seconds, while Kano obliterates Cole during training in around 26 seconds. In one of the only instances where the movie seemed to split the fight into rounds occurs between Kung Lao and Cole, and starts with a 17 second win where Cole catches his opponent off guard. Realizing he had slightly underestimated Cole, Kung Lao dials it up and deals with Cole Young after 30 seconds. This 47 total starts to approach where the fights become more comparable to the in-game versions.
A Good Fight
There are a handful of examples where the fights last nearly as long or as long as the fights in the games. The standard round is 90 seconds long with two rounds needed to win the match. The movie tries to stay faithful to the Mortal Kombat time limit, starting with the first battle between Bi-Han and Hanzo, which lasts around 90 seconds before Hanzo is dispatched. The conclusion of their rivalry, Sonya and Kano’s final battle lasts around 90-100 seconds of close quarters combat. Sub-Zero vs. Cole and Scorpion in the cage lasted around 75 seconds, and this was on top of the fight between Sub-Zero and Scorpion shortly before.
There are plenty of other fights and short combat scenes in the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie, with most falling somewhere in between these two places. Sub-Zero defeats Jax and commits his fatality at around a minute, for instance. No matter how long the battles last, the abilities and combat seem to be heavily based on the games, much to the fans’ approval. Seeing as this is just the first entry into what is likely to grow into a franchise, there is no telling how the battles will evolve in the next entry.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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