Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat reboot is the perfect example of a movie that’s been precision engineered to appeal directly to fans of the source material. The critical reactions have been mixed across the board and those unfamiliar with the intricate lore might not have a clue what the hell is going on for large stretches of the film, but longtime supporters of the video game series absolutely love it.
Mortal Kombat holds a 55% Rotten Tomatoes score from over 200 ratings, but well in excess of 2,500 audience reviews have placed it at a significantly higher 87%, with many calling it the best console-to-screen adaptation ever. It’s also recouped its $55 million budget at the box office already despite only hitting domestic theaters last Friday, so sequels are an inevitability at this stage.
Sub-Zero star Joe Taslim has confirmed that he was contracted for multiple future outings, and as well as previously admitting his desire to bring undead menace Noob Saibot to the screen, in a new interview he also signalled his interest in a prequel focusing on the early years of Bi-Han before he became Shang Tsung’s terrifying hitman.
Yes, that’s the next transformation of the character, but of course, we don’t know yet. If the fans want this franchise to continue, then there’s a strong chance that the next step for Bi-Han is to play Noob Saibot. Fingers crossed, but I hope it happens because I definitely want to play that character. But to be honest, the most interesting path, in my opinion, is to do a prequel. It would be a story about Bi-Han and his training in the Lin Kuei. When he got abducted by the Lin Kuei, his parents were killed. So it would be the process of him and his brother becoming assassins, and I think that’s quite interesting as well.”
A stripped-back Mortal Kombat prequel focused almost entirely on Bi-Han and the Lin Kuei wouldn’t cost a great deal of money to produce, and would allow Taslim to showcase more of the action hero chops he brought to his best performances in hard-hitting modern martial arts classics The Raid and The Night Comes for Us, so if the reboot does go on to launch an entire cinematic universe, there are definitely worse ways of using up the remaining options on the actor’s multi-picture contract.
