An impressive short film entitled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth hit the web earlier today.  It centers on Jax trying to convince a shadowy figure to enter the Mortal Kombat tournament and kill vicious psychopaths Baraka, Reptile, and other murderers that are participating.  It's a "real-world" approach so Reptile is actually the victim of a rare hereditary disease and Baraka is a doctor who went mad and inserted giant blades into his arms (but not in the stupid Deadpool way from X-Men Origins: Wolverine).  Basically, no one has superpowers beyond freakish behavior and martial arts.

Hit the jump to check out the short and learn more about the project and what it's trying to accomplish.

UPDATE: We landed an exclusive interview with director Kevin Tancharoen.  He talks about how the short came together and what he'd like to do in a feature version.  Click here to read it.

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The short stars Michael Jai White (Black Dynamite) and features Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager) along with martial artists Lateef Crowder, Ian Anthony Dale, Matt Mullins, with fight choreography by Larnell Stovall (who worked on Undisputed III, which I hear is a pretty great film despite its title and going straight-to-video).  Rebirth was directed by Kevin Tancharoen (last year's remake of Fame) in an attempt to convince Warner Bros to make a Hard-R Mortal Kombat movie.  We reported in January that Warner Bros. was moving forward to relaunch the series, but in February it was revealed that the project had run into legal troubles.  I'll admit that the short is a little silly in how seriously it takes itself, but you have to admire the craft and skill on display.  If I worked at Warner Bros., I'd be sold.

[Credit to Latino Review for providing the names of the folks involved and to Kotaku for first picking up the story.]