It’s been over 30 years since Hollywood made its first serious attempt at a video game adaptation with 1993’s disastrous Super Mario Bros., and it still feels like the concept hasn't been pushed to its fullest potential quite yet. The game-to-screen pipeline is in much better shape than it was 3 decades ago, and it seems as if the days of clueless studio executives adapting source material they're embarrassed of is over – that problem hasn't disappeared entirely though, and there's also the rise of the opposite issue to contend with: slavish but empty aesthetic recreations that exist solely to profit off massive fanbases, offering up little more than glorified Easter eggs. Even now, adaptations that truly engage with the creative spirit of their material (such as Amazon’s Fallout) are still few and far between.
One franchise in particular has been around long enough to experience both ends of the spectrum: a shlocky, tonally confused attempt at a digestible crowd-pleaser from the ‘90s, and a slick, big-budget “for the fans” adaptation from 2021. There hasn't been a cinematic version of Mortal Kombat yet that has truly nailed the perfect formula, but if Karl Urban’s recent comments are to be believed, the upcoming Mortal Kombat 2 won't just be the best adaptation of the games, but it might be the best video game adaptation ever – and depending on how you look at it, he might be correct.
