Lewis Tan's Martial Arts Training Was Much Different Than Fighting On-Camera In Mortal Kombat

A short amount of internet research does not reveal, sadly, a canonical reason why "Mortal Kombat" is spelled with a "K." Midway's "Mortal Kombat" first hit arcades in 1992, and was notable for its blood and gore and for its graphics. "Mortal Kombat" incorporated photographs of actual actors in colorful outfits and in fight poses who were then animated into the game. Unlike its more cartoonish competitor "Street Fighter," "Mortal Kombat" had an edge.

Over the years, the premise of "Mortal Kombat" became complicated to the point of risibility. It seems a fighting tournament is held every X number of years, and people from across multiple dimensions, including robots and demons, gather to compete. The winner will receive ultimate power or something. It doesn't really matter. The point is getting strange, colorful, violent characters in an area so that we may witness one forcibly removing the spine from the other.

Over 30 years later, games and even spinoff feature films are still being made. After a celebrated but clunky 1995 live-action feature film from Paul W.S. Anderson, and an ill-fated sequel two years later, the most recent cinematic iteration came in 2021 with the release of Simon McQuoid's "Mortal Kombat," a gory, R-rated fight movie starring Lewis Tan.

Tan plays a character named Cole Young, a human with a dragon-shaped birthmark who has unwittingly become part of the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament. Should the human realm lose the tournament, the wicked Outworld will invade, claiming our dimension as their own. Luckily, Tan is an experienced MMA fighter, so he's not starting from zero.

But there was still a lot to learn. In 2021, Tan spoke with Variety about the new kind of kombat he had to learn for the movie, and how it dramatically differed from his extant training.

Lewis Tan pointed out immediately that fighting in a ring and fighting for a camera are entirely different disciplines. When one is facing off against an actual opponent, punches and kicks are designed to land and do actual damage. On a camera, the punches are pulled and recoil reactions are designed to be photogenic. Tan said that film fighting is "almost more like dancing," complete with special choreography and balletic body movements. It was all about "dancing, rhythm, timing," he noted. Luckily, working as an actual fighter helped him build up the physical endurance that was required to accomplish the on-camera dance fights. Tan explained:

"These are things that I'm familiar with because of my training and all the years that I've been working in the business. And it's not something where you could just jump in and learn. I think you can learn to a certain degree, but you can't learn to a degree where it's going to be impressive on a multi-million dollar movie. So, fortunately, I've had years and years of training previously. I have this saying: 'Stay ready, so you don't have to get ready.'"

Once properly prepared, Tan said that he was ready to roll pretty much the instant he got the call; he didn't have to call around to experts and implore to be taught something at the last minute. "I just needed to learn the choreography for this particular film, and then go perform it." Those who have seen "Mortal Kombat" can attest that Tan did an exemplary job, even if his fights were in a fantasy context; at least one character gets buzzsawed in half.

Something Lewis Tan was sensitive to was that his character, Cole Young, would likely have developed a different fighting style than he did personally. As such, Tan had to alter his kicks and punches to communicate what kind of fighter Cole was, denoting his training, his history, and his attitude. It seems a lot can be established about a person just by watching them fight. When asked what Cole's fighting style was exactly, Tan pointed out that Cole develops over the course of the movie. He was even ginger about revealing what kinds of weapons Cole was going to use as to avoid spoilers. Tan noted:

"[Cole] starts off as a mixed martial artist that's mostly doing muay thai and jiu-jitsu and judo, and then he goes kind of more into a wing chun, karate, weapons — I don't want to say which kind of weapons and stuff, because it'll give a little bit away, but multiple different weapons. So as Cole develops, he's being trained by some of the other 'Mortal Kombat' characters. And as they're training him, his style changes and expands and you'll see that expansion."

Cole is part of a cadre of "hero" characters who are all training to compete in the Mortal Kombat tourney, so many different fighting styles are on display in the final film. Tan was wise enough to know that his fighting would adapt depending on his instructor and his co-fighters. The actor hopes audiences will notice, saying: 

"You'll notice the different styles as the film goes on, which I think is another cool part of the movie, because we explore all different types of martial arts, so people will get to see some really cool stuff." 

Overall, of course, "Moral Kombat" certainly contained some really cool stuff.