Underplayed Gems

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (2010)

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth poster
Directed by
Kevin Tancharoen
Genre
action film, martial arts film
Country
United States
Runtime
8 min
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This is a short fan film that reimagines the Mortal Kombat universe with a realistic no-frills approach. Characters have new backstories and there are no supernatural elements like Outworld. The film was made as a pitch to convince a studio to back a full-length movie.

grittyintenserealisticdarkaction-packedgroundedfast-pacedvisceral

What happens

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth is a 2010 American short fan film directed by Kevin Tancharoen, with fight choreography by Larnell Stovall. Based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, the short-film "actually was made by the director to sell Warner Bros. Entertainment on his vision for a reimagined Mortal Kombat film." The short-film features an alternative version of the Mortal Kombat universe. The characters of the game are portrayed with vastly different origins, based on realism. There is no mention of Outworld or any other supernatural elements, although the tournament itself is a main part of the storyline in this short. Tancharoen himself noted that he wouldn't shy away from supernatural elements entirely in a feature-length adaptation, but they have to be "done in a very tasteful way". The pitch eventually evolved into the web series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.