Mortal Kombat Movie Opens With a “Pretty Nasty” Fight Between Scorpion and Sub-Zero

Even though a trailer still hasn’t dropped for the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie reboot, today has finally brought with it the most news we’ve received on the film so far. In addition to releasing a variety of new images from the movie, we now also have an idea of what to expect in its opening minutes.

Detailed by Entertainment Weekly, the first ten minutes of Mortal Kombat is said to center around a fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero when both were still known as Hanzo Hasashi and Bi-Han. The bout takes place before either character has donned their iconic garb or acquired their unique abilities. It also sets up the reason for why both Scorpion and Sub-Zero and their respective clans despise one another.

Simon McQuoid, the director of Mortal Kombat, describes the sequence as one that is full of “pretty nasty hand-to-hand combat” between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. McQuoid also explained that this opening is one of the main reasons why he cast Hiroyuki Sanada and Joe Taslim as Scorpion and Sub-Zero respectively. Each actor has an extensive martial arts background which allowed them to make this fight scene that much better. “It is like a family drama with excitingly brutal fighting. That’s the image of this movie for me,” McQuoid said.

As for the scene itself, McQuoid also stated that he wanted it to be one where the storytelling could be “told within the fight.” Rather than convey the blood feud between Scorpion and Sub-Zero entirely through words, the director seemingly found it better to have the battle speak for itself.

And if you’re worried about this new version of Mortal Kombat potentially not being as gruesome as the video game franchise, well, fear not. Speaking especially to this opening clash, McQuoid said he wanted it to be dirty. “There are some great camera moves to give it a bit of dynamism, that make it really enjoyable,” he explained. “We needed it to be really elemental and really brutal. It’s not a shiny film… I wanted the dirt and the grime to come through.”

While we have yet to see any of these fight scenes for ourselves, it shouldn’t be long until Warner Bros. opts to release an actual trailer for Mortal Kombat. With the movie’s release occurring both in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16, 2021, the coming weeks and months should bring a whole lot of new information and footage. In the meantime, you can keep up with all of our coverage of the movie leading up to its release right here.