Mortal Kombat Writer Says The Film Will Earn Its R-Rating

Mortal Kombat fans, here’s some music to your ears. Greg Russo wants you to know that the film will be the blood-filled fight fest you’ve made it very clear that you want. Flawless victory on your part.

The writer for the upcoming remake recently chatted with ComicBook.com’s Adam Barnhardt about the pic and was cautious to point out that we shouldn’t expect any over-the-top gore, a la 1980’s Cannibal Holocaust. When a director gets arrested in a foreign country for making a snuff film, he probably overdid it a little.

But will those classic in-game fatalities be included? Absolutely. Russo pointed out that even those, however, won’t be gratuitous and will have a purpose.

“… if we’re going to do it to use that device, we want to make sure that it’s not just in there just to be in there and have that point to the story. So everything will always have that point to what’s happening in the story, that it will feel awesome and bad ass, but it’s going to play a role, you know, it’s not just going to be there just to be showy.”

Does this mean that when a fighter punches their fist into an opponent’s chest and pulls out their still-beating heart, they’re going to donate it to the closest hospital? Doubtful. But who cares? We’re going to be treated to some new and (hopefully) classic fatalities this time around.

1995’s Mortal Kombat was fine and all, but it definitely lacked the magic of the original arcade game. Part of the fun of going to the bowling alley as a youngster was playing titles like that. While my blissfully unaware parents honed their bowling and drinking games, I was perfecting my Johnny Cage and Raiden fatalities. Yeah, right…who am I kidding? I never did actually figure out the right button combinations for those damn things.

If this reboot turns out to be a hit though, Russo’s career as a video game/movie adaptation writer will be taking off. Along with Kombat, he’s also currently working on a reboot to the Resident Evil franchise and has even expressed interest in making a BioShock movie. We’ll find out how good he is soon enough, as Mortal Kombat is set to hit theaters on March 5th, 2021.