There’s arguably only one good live-action video game movie, and that is 1995’s Mortal Kombat, which is surprising since it takes a game known for its blood and brutality and renders it into PG-13 fare. That won’t be the case with the upcoming reboot of the same name from director Simon McQuoid, which has now released its first images. There will be buckets of blood, but also a completely new story, one about the feud between the clans of the men who will become franchise staples Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) as well a new character, Cole Young (Lewis Tan).

"When we first meet Cole, he's in a really bad spot," Tan tells EW. "He's down on his luck. He's kind of a washed-up MMA fighter who used to be a champion, who used to believe in himself, who used to have a lot of hope in his career. And it's all gone down the drain. It's a very interesting place for a hero to start, and I think that, along the journey of Mortal Kombat and Cole discovering where he comes from, you're introduced to all these other iconic characters and elements that everybody loves so dearly."

How does Cole come across these iconic characters? EW explains:

Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs (Supergirl's Mehcad Brooks), a special forces major who bears the same mark as Cole, urges him to seek out Sonya Blade (The Meg's Jessica McNamee). She ferries him onward to the next leg of the journey, to the thunderous Elder God known as Lord Raiden (Thor's Tadanobu Asano), who grants sanctuary at his temple to all those with the mark. There, Cole encounters even more recognizable characters from the Mortal Kombat games — Liu Kang (Power Rangers' Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (actor and stuntman Max Huang), and Kano (Superstore's Josh Lawson) — as they all train for a high-stakes tournament to defeat the invading enemies from Outerworld.

So what can fans expect from what McQuoid is crafting? It sounds like something far closer to the games in tone if not in convoluted mythology:

"Out of context this quote might seem incendiary, it's not: The rules around ratings aren't what a lot of people think they are," he says. "It's amount of blood, it's amount of red, it's interpretation of how you go about it. We had a lot of discussions about getting the balance right so there was gore and there was blood and there were fatalities." He pauses to repeat what he just said. "And there is gore, blood, and fatalities."

Check out the first images below. The film arrives in theaters and HBO Max on April 12th.

Lewis Tan as Cole Young in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Mehcad Brooks as Jax in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Josh Lawson as Kano in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Liu Kang and Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Sonya and Kano in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema
Lewis Tan as Cole Young in Mortal Kombat (2021)
Image via New Line Cinema