Mortal Kombat director says the movie is pushing the R Rating "right to the limit"

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There's literal heart-stopping action in Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat movie
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Mortal Kombat has, happily, been slapped with an R Rating. It’s the first time that’s happened in the franchise’s on-screen history and means the video game adaptation is no longer taking half measures when it comes to the guts and gore traditionally associated with the series.

Director Simon McQuoid spoke to our sister publication SFX Magazine – available to buy now – about just how far they’ve taken the action and the brutality.

"We wanted to push the [blood, gore and fatalities] right to the limit," McQuoid says. That includes, but isn’t limited to, someone having their heart ripped out of their chest – just in case you were wondering.

"Obviously, there’s a point where the film becomes unreleasable if you push it too far, and that would be a very unwise return on investment for the studio," McQuoid explains. "But from day one it’s been, ‘Okay, we’re doing this and we’re going to do it properly.’"

That’s a mantra echoed by producer Todd Garner, who reveals that his very first conversation with the studio involved him asking if the movie was going to be R-Rated. Their reply? "There’s no other way."

For more from SFX’s bumper Mortal Kombat feature, check out the current issue featuring Godzilla vs. Kong on the cover. Mortal Kombat is out on HBO Max and theaters in the US on April 16 and is coming soon to the UK. For more from SFX, be sure to sign up to the newsletter.

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Stephen Kelly

Stephen is a freelance culture journalist specialising in TV and film. He writes regularly for the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the i, Radio Times, and WIRED.