If you’re a fan of video game adaptations, there’s a good chance you’ve been anticipating the release of “Mortal Kombat.” After being pushed back a week, the movie arrived in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23 — which means subscribers devoted to the “Mortal Kombat” franchise can stream it as many times as they want for the next 31 days. Directed by Simon McQuoid, the latest installment of “Mortal Kombat” revolves around the mysterious, intergalactic tournament in which Earth’s best champions go up against enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. The films star Lewis Tan, Joe Taslim, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, and Hiroyuki Sanada. “Mortal Kombat” is one of more than a dozen Warner Bros. movies scheduled for simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases this year. And HBO Max subscribers get access to every new release for the first 31 days as the film hits theaters. For movie lovers who may not be ready to return to theaters, or those who want to watch the story unfold on the big screen and the small screen, HBO Max lets you have the best of both worlds. It costs $14.99 a month to subscribe to HBO Max, and you can instantly start streaming from the platform’s massive library that includes classic TV shows, blockbuster films, and exclusive programming.
The release of “Mortal Kombat” coincides with the two-year anniversary of the “Mortal Kombat 11” video game, and like any adaptation, there’s debate over whether or not the film gets it right, but one thing’s for sure: the fatality scenes are pretty gruesome. So much so that Tan admitted feeling queasy during filming. “I walked on set one day and I didn’t know what was going on, and I accidentally walked into a post-fatality set and I felt pretty sick to my stomach,” the actor told Variety. “I was like, ‘What the hell is this? What happened here?’ It looked like somebody destroyed a buffet line, but there was no food.” Despite the blood and gore, McQuoid wanted to make sure the film didn’t receive an NC-17 rating. “That was one thing for sure that the director was adamant on,” added Tan. “He was like, ‘This is going to be hard R. Try not to make it NC-17, but let’s take it all the way up until that point.’ And that’s what we did. But I think he did it really tastefully. He didn’t just try to be super gory and crazy. I’m not into all that, but I think if you’re going to do ‘Mortal Kombat’ correctly, you’ve got to have it.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
