While video game film adaptations have come a long way in the past 30 years, they still carry a stigma of poor quality. Well-aware of previous missteps, Mortal Kombat screenwriter Greg Russo sought to focus on the franchise's character arcs in the upcoming film.

Since Mortal Kombat is a franchise with characters ranging from cyborg ninjas to four-armed monsters, Russo wanted a realistic tone for the film. "I think tone is the trickiest thing with Mortal Kombat," Russo told CBR. "You're always walking that line where if you tiptoe over the edge, you're in camp, you're in that cheesy world that no one wants to do."

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"As much as everyone loves Mortal Kombat, there's kind of this wink-wink nature to it because it doesn't take itself too seriously, that's part of its charm and it's also never campy or too ridiculous," he added.

For Russo, the balancing act of embracing the franchise's fantastical elements without veering into camp was a matter of finding authenticity in the film's characters and world. For inspiration, Russo looked to the games, which treat the emotional stakes for its characters seriously, even as its plots grow outlandish and supernatural.

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"Part of the challenge adapting Mortal Kombat is just striking that right tone and part of what we wanted to do with the adaptation is respect the authentic nature of Mortal Kombat because they do take their storylines seriously and they do take their characters seriously and they do a great job of it," he said. "And we wanted to make sure that we did the same thing, that we respected it and gave it an authenticity and realism as much as we could."

Directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by James Wan, Mortal Kombat stars Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Bridges, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Matilda Kimber as Emily Young and Laura Brent as Allison Young. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max April 23.

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