The new Mortal Kombat movie is on the way, and while it's impossible to judge the quality of the movie at the moment, the movie's trailer is undoubtedly impressive. While it does appear to be taking some liberties with the story and characters in Mortal Kombat, which may or may not work out, it definitely seems to be faithfully translating the actual "Kombat" of the series.
Part of the reason the movie is able to translate that combat so well is because of its R-rating. It allows the movie to get away with the absurdly brutal action the Mortal Kombat series is known for; anything less than that, and the movie just wouldn't really seem authentic. This could mean the curse of lackluster video game movies may be broken.
Translating The Mortal Kombat Source Material
It's not that every video game movie needs to be rated R; in fact, for a lot of properties, that would be pretty weird. While it could be entertaining in its own right, a rated R Mario movie wouldn't exactly be translating the source material very well. That said, the same can be said in reverse; translating Metal Gear Solid into a movie with a PG-13 rating would be similarly complicated.
Taking these characters and stories out of a game and onto a screen can already make them feel different for fans. It literally takes the control out of the players' hands and forces them to be a passive participant instead of an active one. While that isn't inherently a bad thing by any means, it changes how the entire experience can feel. Since games are already a little different because of the medium, any minor change to the characters and world is going to amplify that. A Mortal Kombat movie without some brutally violent fights just wouldn't feel right, and fans of the series would likely react poorly to it.
Rated R Comic Book Movies Have Seen Success
While R-rated blockbusters were a tougher sell a few years ago, those days are starting to pass. Movies that are very important in popular culture, like Deadpool and Joker (the latter of which went on to make more than $1 billion), were both rated R adaptations of comic book characters. One of those adaptations was a little more faithful to the comic book counterpart than the other, but that's not necessarily the point. Both of these movies were given an R rating because it's what the story needed to be told properly, and they saw success not because of that R rating, but because of the quality of the story.
Even movies that weren't adaptations of existing characters, and weren't necessarily going to become pop culture icons, overcame the R ratings like the John Wick series. It seems like movies are starting to understand that the most important thing is to tell the story properly, without concessions. This is a great sign not only for movies in general, but for video game adaptations that need that R rating to be told properly.
While it's a series rather than a movie, another adaptation that could go a long way in proving this point is the upcoming The Last Of Us TV series, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. While the rating for that show is unconfirmed, it would be near-impossible to translate that story into a family-friendly tale. If that show sees success, it's possible faithful video game adaptations won't only be limited to the movies, but could see time on the small screen as well.
The Mortal Kombat movie is currently slated to release on April 16, 2021.