Mortal Kombat

Arriving simultaneously on HBO Max and theaters (where possible, of course) April 16th, the latest film edition of Mortal Kombat is an entry that will slot in nicely for those watching Godzilla vs Kong later this month and feeling ready for more. At a healthy 2:42, the trailer earn a steady build-up to the gory scenes the most clearly mirror its video game namesake. Notably, the aesthetics feel a little more at home in a popular cinema landscape dominated in recent history by superheroes, with the music taking a similar cue.

The soundtrack, titled “Emergence” by VWLS and published by Pusher Music, is a potent mix of epic music conventions and some techno elements reminiscent of the theme from the 1995 original directed by Paul Anderson.

At 1:00-1:04 we get a series of eight synchronized beats between the on-screen action (and foley) with the soundtrack. It seems with each passing year, the emphasis on such sequences, especially in epic and action trailers, becomes increasingly overt.

At 1:11 with the release date reveal—a relative rarity in mid-trailer title cards—the minor key theme reveals itself in the upper range of the synthesizer in tandem with general widening of the musical soundstage, matching the scenic view.

Choral voices blend neatly with these synths as the cast is introduced, and we see their abilities brought to the fore in a spectacular array of special effects. A common ploy to further heighten the tension, triplet rhythms enter the percussion to take things to the next level.

The height of the arrangement presages a moment of aural silence and aural blackout before we are introduced to Subzero’s voice—notice how it is very much his voice that we hear first, for a good two seconds, which in trailer terms is quite a long while. The fight scene after allows the music to remain dropped out, roundly placing the emphasis on the sound of metal-on-metal in the fight scene that follows.

At 2:10 we get another black screen as the music drops in again, with a slow and deliberate pace with strings that definitely references the aforementioned 1995 theme song in terms of motif, with that minor key melody oscillating between the tonic, sub tonic, and mediant.

Updated for 2021, Mortal Kombat uses a smattering of the conventions that come nearly standard to an epic/action trailer of recent vintage: Triplet martial percussion, the black-out moment (or two of them), insistent synch between the beat and on-screen action. By the same measure, it draws reference from what one might at this point call its heritage with a melodic callback to its theme song, a techno affair emblematic of 90s youth. As is most often the case, it’s a subtle enough nod for those who remember, while still incidentally working well for those who might not.

— Curtis Perry