Depending on who you ask, Mortal Kombat is either the surprise hit of 2021, or borderline unwatchable. For those of us living in the purgatory that is the UK, unable to watch it through official channels, all we have to go by is the buzz online, and that can be pretty hard to read right now.

However, if you go by review aggregators such as Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, a pattern emerges—we have another critic/audience split on our hands. But what’s curious is that this is a video game film adaptation that seems to have (mostly) pleased fans, or at least not got them up in arms.

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Over on Metacritic, Mortal Kombat sits at an average of 44/100, signaling mixed or average reviews. Interestingly, this underwhelming score does not come from a slew of below average reviews, but rather critics not quite having a consensus. Publications such as IGN and the New York Post went for scores in the 70s, whereas Vanity Fair and the New York Times went with 38 and 30 respectively. Sure enough, most of the 36 critic reviews sit in the middle, but it’s not quite enough to say that the film critique scene is on the same page.

User scores on Metacritic are a touch higher, with an average of 6.5/10. This section is a sea of 5 to 8 scores, with many saying that the latest Mortal Kombat film is some good dumb and violent fun. It’s a similar scene on Rotten Tomatoes, with an all audience score of 78%.

Over on the Mortal Kombat subreddit, fans don’t seem to disappointed either. Kano’s actor, Josh Lawson, has stolen many hearts in the fanbase, with one even researching out to him on Instagram to commend him for the role. The actor actually responded, thanking them for the praise. Fans of the games have also been speaking positively of Joe Taslim, who plays the iconic Sub Zero in the new film.

And for those that did think Mortal Kombat is worth a watch, Taslim came bearing good news. He recently confirmed he’d actually signed on for four films in the franchise, and that a sequel is likely if this one performs well.

Source: Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes 

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