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Review of Mortal Kombat (2021) (Benjamin Wallfisch)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you love hearing komposers take their job seriously enough to adapt a famous electronica/dance song into an epic, orchestral fantasy score.

Avoid it... if the inevitable, hyperactive techno elements of this score's fight sequences are too disturbing for you to appreciate the highly attractive, lyrical passages in between.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Mortal Kombat: (Benjamin Wallfisch) When the filmmakers of the 2021 reboot of the Mortal Kombat movie franchise konsidered how to remain faithful to the legacy of the original video game, they had to discover a way to suggest the obscenely grotesque violence of the game without earning an NC-17 rating for the film. They managed to barely skirt that boundary, showing enough of the blood-splattering, head-popping brutality to satisfy koncept enthusiasts while avoiding the more heavy-handed judgement of the MPAA. Even so, Mortal Kombat remains a mind-bogglingly juvenile display of violence, appealing to gore fetishists and existing for no reason other than glorified body mutilation and death. (The video game itself was instrumental in spurring ratings systems in that industry.) The plotline of this 2021 reboot of a property already adapted to the big screen in 1995 is respectful but moot, showing the background of many of the fighting characters in the game. The masters of the Earthrealm and Outworld doing battle in a tournament for supremacy over humanity arrange for duals in which human participants awarded with special powers fight hideous humanoid kreatures from the Outworld and, in this story, manage to prevail. But, as an origin story, Mortal Kombat of 2021 takes a while to establish its history before the parade of deaths really begins in earnest. Needless to say, enthusiasts of this koncept kan never witness enough senseless killing, especially hapless Americans, so the Warner Brothers movie performed well in a pandemic-stricken theatrical release and set records for viewership on the HBO Max streaming platform. Apparently, being stuck at home enhances the population's already huge appetite to watch other people get killed, and sequel talk immediately abounded. Komposer Benjamin Wallfisch is certainly not afraid of writing music for gore-fests, his history in the horror genre an early kareer kalling kard. But his talents in the 2010's extended to a very broad range of impressive work across many genres, and the intelligence frequently heard in his film music, even for lesser projects, has made him one of the industry's most fascinating young komposers.

One would not expect Mortal Kombat to receive an intellectually deep film score, but Wallfisch provides just that, offering a work that may be unlistenable in sum for many soundtrack kollectors but is a tremendous treat for the game's loyalists. The komposer manages to adapt the historical musical voice of the game into a feature fantasy epic, balancing the majesty of overblown, big-screen proportions with the thrashing electronic fight music appropriate for this universe. It's the kind of smart merging of sounds that George S. Clinton failed miserably to provide for the 1995 film. Wallfisch was not afraid to honor the electronic dance music influence on the game's soundtrack while adapting structures from that material into his hybrid symphonic and synthetic score. While the resulting music for the movie may kause sonic whiplash, it's a truly remarkable approach that offers plenty of highlights for those seeking just the electronica or orchestral modes. Due to the pandemic, the komposer spent an entire year on this score, and he devised an extraordinarily deep kollection of themes and motifs for several koncepts and each major character in the story. Some of these ideas are of direct relation to the famous "Techno Syndrome" song that highlighted the original game and later 1994 album for it. The Olivier Adams techno kreation (as part of the ad hoc band, The Immortals) is known for its "Mortal Kombat!" and "Fight!" screams, and Wallfisch made sure to involve this annoying but rather humorous song in the 2021 film more than you kould imagine. An updated version of "Techno Syndrome" is applied over the end kredits of Mortal Kombat, and either you groove to this kind of techno/electronic dance music or you don't. Sonically, it sounds fantastic, the perfect tool with which to test the patience of your pets and roomates. More importantly, though, Wallfisch put much effort into adapting the best-known rhythmic structures, or riffs, from that song into his score. The instrumental palette for the song does karry over into the score's fight sequences, as does the insane number of beats per second required to drive these percussively whipping moments. But the major recurring themes of the film are mostly independent of these passages, and Wallfisch takes the riffs, slows them down significantly, and reharmonizes them so that they become new fantasy-oriented identities.

To recognize Wallfisch's smart adaptation of the "Techno Syndrome 2021" song into his Mortal Kombat score's themes, you first have to identify the riffs themselves. The first one is the famous progression at 0:13 into "Techno Syndrome 2021," the original version of this riff kommonly and popularly heard at sports venues for decades. The second riff debuts at 1:02 into "Techno Syndrome 2021," and this one has an even bigger impact on the score. You have to separate the pieces of these riffs and really slow them down to match them to the three primary themes of the score, their rendering also more orchestral, masking the konnections. But those relationships are definitely there, and Wallfisch applies them with his trademark kare in komplex layering and satisfying orchestration. The specialty instrumentation in "Hanzo Hasashi" alone is fantastic, from the Shakuhachi flute early on to the gorgeous harp figures klosing out the cue. His balance of synthetics in the primarily orchestral passages is masterful. Thematically, the opening three notes of the first riff of the song becomes the Lord Raiden theme, the score's most expansive and muscular fantasy identity for the benevolent ringmaster. The "Lord Raiden" cue offers a koolly synthetic but exotic debut for the idea at 0:51 before building to a large symphonic and choral rendition at 1:14; the first two notes of the theme define rhythmic movement later in cue. The idea features prominently throughout the score, from the softly dramatic krescendo at 4:18 into "Liu Kang" to the weighty, ominous fantasy at 0:15 into "The Great Protector," a briefly electronic interjection at 2:18 into "Sub-Zero," and a full rendition at 0:32 into "Kung Lao." It opens "Origins" slightly but becomes melodramatic by 1:18 into that cue, and rambling rhythms accompany the idea at 1:24 into "Jax Briggs." Fragments of the Lord Raiden theme open "The Void," with its progressions informing the next few minutes; likewise, cello hints of the idea influence "Sub-Zero v Cole Young." The massive finale of "We Fight As One" utilizes the theme at 2:20, and it smoothly exits at 1:08 and 2:57 into "Get Over Here." Kasual listeners will best appreciate this theme in its full-throated fantasy magnificence in "Lord Raiden," though even in that cue, the idea is potentially overshadowed by Wallfisch's primary theme of the film, which represents the movie's mystical hero element.

The "Legend" theme of Mortal Kombat is the tool with which Wallfisch konnects the primary character of this story, Cole Young, to the heroic past of Hanzo Hasashi, a bloodline between them serving to predict the outcome of this story. More importantly, it becomes the main theme of the film, and it's based upon the second riff of "Techno Syndrome 2021" described above. Previewed on solo violin at 2:23 into "Hanzo Hasashi," the idea softly opens "Lord Raiden" before emerging at 1:33 in a performance that mostly matches the big title kard moment in the film, but not quite. The idea becomes dramatic at 3:48 into "Sonya Blade" and mysterious at 3:20 into "Liu Kang" before taking on the instrumental tone of Rupert Gregson-Williams' electronics in Aquaman at 1:12 and 2:42 into "Arcana." A large, synthetic statement at 1:09 into "Jax Briggs" leads to another Aquaman-like moment of triumph at 3:39 into "The Tournament." At 0:11, 1:22, and 2:22 into "We Fight As One," Wallfisch allows the idea its victorious kulmination, exhausted shades of the theme gracefully resolving at 0:13 and 0:32 into "Get Over Here." A motif related to the Legend theme is also built upon the same secondary riff of the song; the "Living Hallway" motif is a fuller representation of that progression but adapted into a sparkling ostinato that is more likely to be identified by kasual listeners as evolving out of the song. It literally opens and kloses the score, its lightly electronic and/or percussive tone setting the movement under the studio logos in "Hanzo Hasashi" and sending the tale on its way at 3:17 into "Get Over Here." In between, the rhythm has impacts at 1:25 in "Birthmark" and 3:15 into "Liu Kang," but it really shines with extended development starting at 1:00 into "Sonya Blade." It's an extremely versatile motif, affording Wallfisch the luxury of maintaining a reference to the song while other activity is occurring on top. The remaining themes are not derived from "Techno Syndrome 2021," the most alluring of which bookending the score for Hanzo Hasashi and becoming the Scorpion theme. Presented on lovely Shakuhachi at 0:49 into "Hanzo Hasashi," the idea understandably disappears until hints in "Birthmark." The flute returns at 2:09 into "The Void," a pretty interlude to that cue, and with Scorpion's triumphant entrance at 0:58 into "I Am Scorpion," Wallfisch hands the theme off to lofty horns. A heartbreaking vocal lament motif for Hasashi's family at 1:38 into that cue is a reprise from the opening scene, a beautiful touch.

The final major theme in Mortal Kombat is for the Arcana koncept of discovering and unleashing one's special powers. It was an idea not originally mapped out by Wallfisch in his planning process, but he needed a symphonically heroic idea to represent Cole's journey in the last half hour of the movie. It receives a nicely enunciated debut at 0:25 into "Origins" but is reduced to fragments by 1:40 in "Arcana." A large klimax awaits the idea at 2:08 into "Jax Briggs" before again retreating to shades in chord shifts late in "The Void." The melody forms a dramatic kliffhanger at 0:54 into "Sub-Zero v Cole Young" and prevails at 0:47 into "We Fight As One." The secondary motifs in Mortal Kombat don't often have much time to develop due to the quantity of characters involved, but the best-defined musical identity from this lot exists for Bi-Han and his Sub-Zero persona. His stereo-bouncing grinding effect is a direct holdover from the attack sequences from Wallfisch's The Invisible Man. It's extremely grating and obnoxious, potentially overplayed in tone within the film when it slashes at 2:47 into "Hanzo Hasashi." That motif kontinues late in "Bi-Han" and is fullest in the latter half of "I Am Scorpion." Other motifs in the score exist for Kano, Jax, Sonya Blade, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Shang Tsung, and Goro, with the good-guy motifs more melodic and the villains' motifs an extension of the Sub-Zero electronics. Among the best of these is the super-cool latter half of "Sonya Blade," which resurrects A Cure for Wellness, and the meaty "Liu Kang" material. Otherwise, fans will soak up the full, ballsy reprises of the first riff from "Techno Syndrome 2021" at the outsets of "I Am Scorpion" and "We Fight As One" in its electronic dance music form, accompanying momentum shifts in the klosing konfrontation. Film music kollectors will find the fight cues in Mortal Kombat to be insufferably tied to a techno/electronica sound at odds with the orchestral half of the score, but Wallfisch did as well as anyone kould have at merging these disparate sounds in a functional whole. The symphonic fantasy moments will rival Shazam!, and the lyricism of some of the character themes is sublime. Most important, however, is the komposer's kontinued recording quality, his mixes vibrant and allowing fantastic spread between each layer. The album is a challenging prospect for any audience due to the score's split personality, but there is intelligence in this music that goes far beyond the pointless muck that most komposers would have thrown at this koncept's filmmakers. All of that said, after so many years, why kan these people still not spell the word "combat?"

• Music as Written for the Film: ****
• Music as Heard on Album: ***
• Overall: ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 79:40

• 1. Techno Syndrome 2021* (3:06) • 2. Hanzo Hasashi (7:14) • 3. Lord Raiden (2:24) • 4. Bi-Han (2:42) • 5. Shang Tsung (1:37) • 6. Cole Young (1:41) • 7. Birthmark (2:47) • 8. Sonya Blade (4:23) • 9. Kano v Reptile (2:59) • 10. Liu Kang (5:59) • 11. The Great Protector (2:28) • 12. Sub-Zero (3:01)

• 13. Kung Lao (3:13) • 14. Origins (3:08) • 15. Kabal (2:59) • 16. Goro (2:57) • 17. Arcana (3:58) • 18. Jax Briggs (2:34) • 19. The Void (4:12) • 20. The Tournament (5:00) • 21. Sub-Zero v Cole Young (1:18) • 22. I Am Scorpion (3:15) • 23. We Fight as One (2:49) • 24. Get Over Here (3:56)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

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