Cole Young Must Die! (...In The Mortal Kombat Movie)
If you watched the 2021 video game adaptation Mortal Kombat, especially if you were already familiar with the franchise, you'd probably notice something odd: The presence of a brand new character. Now, that's not automatically a bad thing; new characters could be a welcome addition if they actually add something to the proceedings.
Cole Young, the new character in question, adds nothing: He's generic, boring and forgettable. Why? Because he's meant to be the audience's surrogate into the story. He's supposed to represent you, since the concept of Mortal Kombat is apparently just way too complex without Cole Young to understand it for us.
Pictured: Mistake
The character, not the actor. If anything, Lewis Tan should have played Johnny Cage.
I mean, that's what Mortal Kombat truly needed, right? Who'd want to play the game as a thunder god or an undead pyromancer, when instead they could play as some regular schmoe who works at Denny's?
How did we get here? Who thought this was a good idea?
// "Oh Man, It's Just Like The Dark Knight!"
Let's rewind back to 2010. In early June, a short called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth was uploaded to YouTube, and quickly picked up traction. It leaned into that whole “gritty, realistic take” trend that movies were riding at the time, and went in a radically different direction story-wise. Baraka was a plastic surgeon that went insane. Reptile was a cannibalistic serial killer. Everyone seemingly lived ON EARTH. It felt like a completely different story whose only relation to Mortal Kombat were character names.
However, it did something the '90s Mortal Kombat movies failed to do: Make the violence graphic and believable. And it reminded fans of what they actually wanted: A Mortal Kombat movie that portrayed the games accurately. While Rebirth took major liberties with the lore, it served as a great proof of concept that helped shine a light on what fans were asking for.
Then, the Rebirth team was given permission to produce a web series: Mortal Kombat: Legacy. And... it was bad. The first season had some good episodes, and that's about it. It came and went about as quickly as it was greenlit.
// Splashing The Silver Screen Red
But fans didn't want some low-budget web series that looked like rushed episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fans wanted a big-budget feature that they could see at the theater, with amazing visual detail and incredible sound.
A new Mortal Kombat theatrical feature had been in development hell ever since Mortal Kombat Annihilation bombed hard at the box office. Sometime after the release of Rebirth, word spread that a new film was in active pre-production. One detail included the addition of a new character: Cole Turner, who was meant to act as the surrogate to the audience. Back then, IMDb still had active forums, and every single post discussing this project agreed on one thing: Cole Turner was a bad idea. Many thought it was just a rumor, and that there was no way it would be true, given how much of a bad idea it was.
Fast-forward more than a decade, and we all wish it had just been a rumor. If they wanted a more grounded perspective, they had better options: They could’ve used an existing character, or switched up the POV every so often. But no, instead we got a bland new character whose special power is literally plot armor. And we're supposed to believe that this guy is connected to Scorpion: One of MK's best characters, and arguably the face of the franchise.
// The Studio Fucked Up
When Cole Turner was "rumored" to be written into the next Mortal Kombat movie, it was believed to be a studio mandate. Maybe it was because the execs didn't understand the franchise, or they didn't have faith in the audience understanding such a high concept like "Mortal Kombat". Whatever the reasoning, they mandated the addition of Cole Turner/Young.
This is the only time I've ever truly disagreed with Yakko, Wakko & Dot.
The addition of Cole Young didn't add anything, nor did it clarify anything that needed clarifying. If anything, he actively got in the way of a more interesting story. After all, did you notice anything missing from Mortal Kombat (2021)?
THE FUCKING MORTAL KOMBAT TOURNAMENT.
Some will argue that the story doesn't matter; the gore is the hook, so who cares about the story? While it is true that the violence and gore are a big draw, the context is about as important. Think about it:
Scorpion vs Sub-Zero.
Shang Tsung as a vampiric sorcerer using the tournament to siphon souls.
Goro, who's been champion for centuries, brutally murdering Earth’s best.
If you take those kinds of things away, do you think we'd still be talking about Mortal Kombat today?
// The Production Can Save It
How? Easy: Kill Cole Young. Early and violently.
First time we see Cole on screen, I want Baraka to pop out of nowhere and viciously turn Cole's insides into outsides. Karl Urban is playing Johnny Cage in the sequel; seems like a great reason to put Cage front and center instead. Hell, make the new lead character Hsu Hao, just get Cole Young's unimportant ass the fuck out of our faces. His inclusion was a mistake, and the best way to rectify said-mistake is to violently force his exit.
Do I have faith they will actually do this? No, not at all. But, it's okay. It's been 15 years since the rumor of Cole Turner started, and since then, we've had some excellent portrayals of MK's story. The story modes of MK9, MKX, MK11, and MK1 are all very well written and executed. We've had animated adaptations like the excellent Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge. We are not without the story of Mortal Kombat being competently told. It'd just be nice if the movies caught up.