Few movies in recent memory have been as beholden to fan service as the Mortal Kombat reboot, which is a treasure trove of Easter Eggs and references for longtime followers of the video game series. Audiences unfamiliar with the source material might see a lot of it fly over their heads, but the violence is still gnarly enough to keep them entertained, regardless of whether or not they catch every name-drop or signature move seen throughout the film.
The key members of the creative team promised game-accurate fatalities and buckets of blood, and on that front, director Simon McQuoid, the stunt choreographers and the visual effects department delivered big time. From beginning to end there are nine fatalities peppered across Mortal Kombat‘s 110 minutes, and we’re going to run through them all below.
First out of the gate is Sub-Zero freezing Jax’s arms and snapping them clean off his body, which is swiftly followed by Kano grabbing Reptile’s heart right out of his chest. Kung Lao then uses his trusty hat to literally saw Nitara in half, and once Jax’s new metal appendages find their groove, he claps right through General Reiko’s skull, sending brain matter everywhere.
In the very same scene, Sonya Blade blows a hole through Mileena that’s so big you can see her spine, and Kung Lao eventually gets a taste of his own medicine when Shang Tsung sucks his soul clean out of his body and leaves him as a crumpled heap of nothingness. Meanwhile, Kabal is completely incinerated by Liu Kang’s fire dragon, while the last one goes to Scorpion when he turns Sub-Zero extra crispy with the fires of hell.
That might only be eight, but we’ll give an honorable mention to Cole Young slicing and dicing Goro’s guts right out of his body, even if Lewis Tan’s hero was a brand new creation for Mortal Kombat that’s never been part of the games.
