'Mortal Kombat' Reboot Casts 'The Raid' Star As Sub-Zero

By Chris Evangelista/July 9, 2019 1:30 pm EST

In case you forgot (I did!), there's going to be a new Mortal Kombat movie! While that news alone may not be enough to get you excited, this first bit of casting might. Actor and martial artist Joe Taslim, who starred in the action extravaganza The Raid, has joined the cast as Sub-Zero. At the very least, this implies the Mortal Kombat reboot is aiming to have some thrilling fight scenes.

THR broke the news about Joe Talsim joining the Mortal Kombat reboot cast. Talsim has kicked plenty of ass in The Raid, Fast & Furious 6, and The Night Comes For Us, and now he's going to throw ice chunks at Scorpion. James Wan is producing the new take on Mortal Kombat, with Simon McQuoid making his feature directorial debut.

There are no official plot details yet, but assuming the film follows the basic premise of the games, Mortal Kombat focuses on a line-up of the some of the best fighters from our world going up against super-powered beings from other dimensions, all in the name of world domination. The first Mortal Kombat game launched in 1992, and spawned many sequels. The games also spawned plenty of controversy due to their wildly graphic depictions of violence.

In 1995, Paul W.S. Anderson directed a live-action Mortal Kombat movie which was...fine? I guess? It was stupid, but it got the job done. This was followed by the laughably bad Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1997. The new Mortal Kombat currently features a script by Greg Russo.

Casting a talented martial artist like Taslim in the film is a step in the right direction, but it's still too early for me to get excited about this. I'd feel a lot better if a more established action filmmaker were at the helm, rather than McQuoid, who has only directed commercials before. Hiring fighters like Taslim to be in your movie won't be worth a dang thing if the action isn't well-choreographed and well-filmed.

Mortal Kombat is set to start shooting this year, with a 2021 release date likely. Now enjoy this video of Joe Taslim fighting Iko Uwais.