Everyone’s favorite ice ninja just got a little frostier in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Raid star Joe Taslim has been cast as the blue-costumed ninja from the popular fighting game franchise in a new live-action adaptation. The film, which is scheduled for a 2021 release date, is the latest Hollywood attempt at bringing the brutal beat-’em-up to the big screen. It’s combat so extreme, it needs to be spelled with a ‘K’.
The Indonesian actor and martial artist has also appeared in Fast & Furious 6 and Star Trek Beyond, as well in Netflix thriller The Night Comes For Us. However, action connoisseurs know him best for having appeared in one of the genre’s finest films from this decade, 2011’s The Raid, which was directed by Gareth Evans.
There isn’t much in the way of plot information just yet, but Taslim will play Sub-Zero – an ice-cold killer ninja capable of delivering some nasty frozen fatalities, who takes part in the eponymous tournament alongside other fighters such as Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Raiden, Kano, Goro and Shang Tsung. His nemesis was yellow-hued doppelganger Scorpion, whose infamous spear attack was accompanied by an even more infamous “Get over here!”
The game series has already been adapted for the big screen, with Paul WS Anderson’s action-packed 1995 cult favourite Mortal Kombat and its frankly terrible sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. The new project is a total reboot and is being overseen by veteran commercials director Simon McQuoid, with a script by newcomer Greg Russo. James Wan – director of The Conjuring, Fast & Furious 7 and Aquaman – will be on hand to lend his considerable experience as the film’s producer.
Taslim is the first actor to be cast in the film, which is set to start shooting in Australia later this year. We’ll bring you more casting announcements as we get them. The film will open in cinemas on 5 March 2021.
