Mortal Kombat 2021

[TheVileOne]

IMHO trying to bring Last Jedi and Capt. Marvel into this is kinda superficial.

Because if we're honestly going to do that, OK. Let's look at the main characters. I found Lewis Tan to be just plain boring and bland as Cole Young. He had no charisma, his character was completely fabricated to cater to the audience. He had no chemistry with his wife and daughter. When he did talk in the film, he sounded like he was just flatly delivering his lines.

At least with Brie Larson as Carol, I bought into her character, her amnesia, being a dutiful soldier trying to beat the Skrulls and the turning point with the Kree. Even if you don't like Brie Larson as an actor, I at least thought she had a defined personality, some actual charisma and presence in the role. I didn't like all the changes to Carol's backstory, but I did find her believable as the lead.

I'm not saying you are wrong or bad for genuinely liking Mortal Kombat. All the power to you, I just think it's not best served to say "How can this movie get bad reviews when Last Jedi and Capt. Marvel got praised by critics?!"

 

[NotNickFury]

Meanwhile, while I heard that some critics and folks alike weren't fans of this, I dug the hell out of Mortal Kombat. I went in hoping for and wanting a brutal fighter, and I got that in spades. Really liked Sonya and Kano in particular. I don't want to just draw comparisons to the 1995 film, but it's warranted in regards to Sonya. Back then, her only goal was to get revenge on Kano.

Once she does that, the only noteworthy thing that happens is Shang Tsung taking her prisoner. Here, it was a nice change of pace that no, she wasn't a chosen fighter- just helping recruit them. So for awhile I think 'Well, maybe Sonya's just along for the ride,' only to see her unlock her power later, so that was nice.

This film, I feel, focused more on the fighters. That was the case in the first one, but Raiden and Shang Tsung were prominent throughout. Here, they're more in the background, and I liked that Liu Kang and Kung Lao essentially took on that mentorship role Raiden had in helping the combatants tap into their potential. I dug Liu and Lao's friendship and would've loved to see more.

Cole was...fine. It's strange how even though he's the character we follow the most, the only thing linking him to the greater world is his bloodline. This could've been any MK character or just have it be Sonya and Jax that we follow. Cole's a good fighter, to be sure, but I don't think he works as a main character.

As a fan of the games, I had the biggest grin during some of the callbacks. Whether it was Jax name-dropping "Eddie Tobias," Kung Lao saying things like "Test your might" and "Flawless Victory," and being reminded why I hate fighting against Kabal, all those references were fun. I was reminded a lot of Mortal Kombat 9's story mode. When Shang Tsung threatened to come with armies, I thought about the MK II portion of the story mode where, after Raiden rejects Shang Tsung's offer to hold a tournament in Outworld, Tsung brings an army to attack Earthrealm.

The plot is fairly straightforward and this is less of an actual tournament than the first film, but that's not really a negative to me. While the 1995 film did feel more like a tournament with more fighters, this film, by having it focus solely on the protagonists, lets us spend more time with them.

I don't know yet if this tops the 1995 film. That film is more straightforward in its execution. Though, talking about the ending...I'm sorry, but Johnny Cage is not a hook for a sequel. I love Johnny, but I don't walk out of the theater thinking "I can't wait for Mortal Kombat II so we get Johnny!" Shao Kahn showing up at the end of the first film and coming for Earth's souls- that's a hook. I hate that I'm even mentioning this film, but the brief mention of Ryu at the end of Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li- that's a hook. Johnny Cage isn't a hook. To me, at least.

But yeah, safe to say that I dug the hell out of Mortal Kombat and will definitely purchase it when it gets a physical release.

 

[Stringer]

I may have been able to overlook the numerous problems with the movie if the fight choreography and editing were at least on par with the 95 movie, or even the SFII animated movie almost 30 years ago. I find it inexcusable that a martial arts movie still has terribly staged, weightless fights this day in age where awesome action like The Raid, John Wick, and Warrior exist.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I may have been able to overlook the numerous problems with the movie if the fight choreography and editing were at least on par with the 95 movie, or even the SFII animated movie almost 30 years ago. I find it inexcusable that a martial arts movie still has terribly staged, weightless fights this day in age where awesome action like The Raid, John Wick, and Warrior exist.

Lowkey, the best video game movie EVER.

Chun-Li vs Vega will always reign supreme.

 

[Deck Rickard]

It's all ****, but each in their own unique way.

Yeah okay. I’m sorry, but remember you gushing over the Snyder Cut. I’m sure that you’re aware that people who love Snyder’s work tend to have a lot of hate for anything Marvel and/or Disney. I don’t know if you’re one of those types but I’m always a little wary whenever one of Snyder’s diehards dismisses well-received films from his competition.

And to be clear, Captain Marvel was well-received. It got good reviews by critics, and it made over a billion dollars at the box office (meaning a lot of people liked it because they went to see it multiple times), despite being the target of a sexist internet hate campaign leading up to its release. It’s fine if you don’t like it but at the very least, one can conclude that the film did its job.

TLJ is a bit more divisive; it got even better reviews than CM and also made over $1 billion but the fan base clearly had issues with it and it caused Disney to try and course correct afterward. I think some of the negative reactions there were more about certain characters acting in ways that were out of character from what we’ve seen before. But putting that aside and trying to look at it objectively, there is a decent film there even with its flaws. Yes, the Canto Bight subplot is fairly pointless and the Rey/Luke stuff needed more development. But even with those flaws, it’s still a much more competently made film than something like MK. It obviously had a much bigger budget but the script actually made sense and it wasn’t amateur hour with the direction. Comparing it to something like MK and saying they’re the same level of bad is just silly.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I may have been able to overlook the numerous problems with the movie if the fight choreography and editing were at least on par with the 95 movie, or even the SFII animated movie almost 30 years ago. I find it inexcusable that a martial arts movie still has terribly staged, weightless fights this day in age where awesome action like The Raid, John Wick, and Warrior exist.

Yep. The Raid was made for $1.1 million and had fight scenes that were 100 times better than this. There’s no excuse for how bad some of the fight scenes were. That first one with Jax and Sub-Zero was painful to watch. I loved when Jax says something like, “This is what five tours taught me!” Oh really? All that military experience taught you to kick like a grandpa with a broken hip? Cool.

And even if we shrug that one off because Mechad isn’t a martial artist (at least I hope not, given how bad they made him look) even guys who have the skills like Tan and Lin looked awkward in their fight sequences. Just bad all around.

 

[Stringer]

Yep. The Raid was made for $1.1 million and had fight scenes that were 100 times better than this. There’s no excuse for how bad some of the fight scenes were. That first one with Jax and Sub-Zero was painful to watch. I loved when Jax says something like, “This is what five tours taught me!” Oh really? All that military experience taught you to kick like a grandpa with a broken hip? Cool.

And even if we shrug that one off because Mechad isn’t a martial artist (at least I hope not, given how bad they made him look) even guys who have the skills like Tan and Lin looked awkward in their fight sequences. Just bad all around.

It's unquestionably a director problem. Obviously Jax/Mechad isn't going to be able to match the speed of Sub-Zero/Joe but why not incorporate that more into the fight, or any of the fights? Great fight sequences always have a story being told in the blows and this movie does none of that outside of the Scorpion and Sub Zero duels. When the director is unable to properly shoot a phenomenal talent like Joe Taslim then the movie is serious trouble.

 

[Teelie]

On the budget they had with the presumable constraints they had and being a video game adaptation, it was bound to be less than it could be. I do agree they could have done better even in this situation but it was done for what, $55 million? The movie could have been better supported but it was thrown out because studios are still gun shy of putting production costs into video game adaptations.

Considering all that, and it was actually rated R, which studios are just as hesitant to fund, and it came out well enough. Not the best video game movie but far, far from the worst either. It came in somewhere in the upper middle half for me. It definitely was no Uwe Boll adapation but it did not have the money like Pikachu or Sonic either. Both of those had considerably higher budgets.

 

[terry78]

You'd think a franchise like this would have WB tentpole money behind it as well as an established director.

 

[Deck Rickard]

On the budget they had with the presumable constraints they had and being a video game adaptation, it was bound to be less than it could be. I do agree they could have done better even in this situation but it was done for what, $55 million? The movie could have been better supported but it was thrown out because studios are still gun shy of putting production costs into video game adaptations.

Considering all that, and it was actually rated R, which studios are just as hesitant to fund, and it came out well enough. Not the best video game movie but far, far from the worst either. It came in somewhere in the upper middle half for me. It definitely was no Uwe Boll adapation but it did not have the money like Pikachu or Sonic either. Both of those had considerably higher budgets.

I understand that but I feel like a more competent filmmaker would have been able to work around the budget constraints. As we were just saying, movies made with a fraction of MK’s budget managed to have fight choreography and violent action sequences that were far superior to anything in this movie. Likewise, I’ve seen low-budget sci-fi films that had better special effects. Regarding that, not all of the effects are bad (Goro and Reptile looked good overall and Sub-Zero’s ice abilities looked great) and so a better director would have been able to determine what worked and what didn’t. Raiden’s flashlight eyes were a particular eyesore that should have never made the final cut. Some of Liu Kang’s flames effects were cartoonish. If McQuoid knew what he was doing, he would have cut some of that stuff because it’s glaring and takes the audience out of the movie because regardless of what else is happening onscreen, people are sitting there thinking, “Well, that looks fake.”

 

[chamber-music]

You'd think a franchise like this would have WB tentpole money behind it as well as an established director.

Stuff like Warcraft not doing great probably has studios and top tier directors slightly cautious about sinking big money or talent into these video game adaptations.

 

[kguillou]

You'd think a franchise like this would have WB tentpole money behind it as well as an established director.

Video game movies are kind of in that same nebulous zone comic book movies were in in the 80s and 90s. Yeah we had Batman 89 and Donner’s Superman but those were two diamonds in the rough of Howard the Duck and Superman III and IV, and Dolph’s Punisher and Corman F4 and Steel and Captain America ‘90 and all those Ferrigno/Bixby Hulk tv movies. Studios just did not know how to approach cbms back then and as a result you had a glut of low budget fetuses being damn near aborted in the womb.

We’ve yet to really get our “Batman ‘89” of video game movies. Sonic and Detective Pikachu are probably the best rock solid efforts but have no set the box office on fire so in the studios’ eyes they’ve yet to see proof that video game adaptations are worth pouring real money and talent into.

 

[chintai80]

I did enjoy this 2021 Mortal Kombat for what it was but as someone that saw the original 1995 MK when I was 8, this scene had more intensity and heart than all of this reboot.

rewatching this again just goes to show liu kang being the lead was the better choice.

robin shou was perfect. and damn he has a nice head of hair on him. lol

cary tagawa is also a better shang tsung. you can tell he was having fun with this performance.

 

[TheVileOne]

I just got the sense the people who made this movie don't really understand how to film, choreograph and edit martial arts heavy fight sequences.

Yeah there was some of that extra blood and gore, but the fights were either very short or very choppy.

IMHO the only fights that I felt came off well were the Scorpion and Sub-Zero ones at the beginning and end because it felt like they put more personality and character into those fights. Taslim and Sanada and/or the stuntment added some more charm and character to the moves and strikes.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I think what might have to happen is that one of these video game producers needs to join forces with a movie studio in the way that Marvel did with Disney and appoint a Feige type who understands both games and movies to map out a series of films. Obviously they wouldn’t all be interrelated like Marvel’s stuff but with someone like that at the helm, they might be able to produce a number of films and/or TV shows with consistent quality that could potentially change the way people look at video game-based properties.

Unfortunately, games aren’t like comic books in that the most popular ones come from a plethora of different companies. It would probably be easier to pull off this sort of thing with a console producer and a movie studio teaming up to produce films based on their exclusive games. The most obvious one would be Sony, since they already have a movie studio of their own. But given how many of their movies have turned out like garbage, I’m wary of them going all-in on something like this even though I would love a God of War movie. They may be doing this already though; Ghost of Tsushima is coming out at some point.

Thinking about this now though, it makes me wonder if something could come out of that Microsoft/Bethesda acquisition. While it’s possible that Microsoft just wants that $$$ from the games, they may be thinking of an even bigger picture. The Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises are immensely popular and each have great storylines that could potentially make great movies or TV shows. Fallout is already in production at Amazon, and has ensnared some top talent (Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy). If that does well, perhaps they will roll the dice on Elder Scrolls. Of course, there have been (awful) movies based on Bethesda’s Doom games so maybe this isn’t a good idea. But I don’t think Doom is as strong storywise as those other games.

 

[Deck Rickard]

rewatching this again just goes to show liu kang being the lead was the better choice.

robin shou was perfect. and damn he has a nice head of hair on him. lol

cary tagawa is also a better shang tsung. you can tell he was having fun with this performance.

Yep. Robin, Cary and Linden really make the movie. These weren’t Oscar-worthy performances by any means but they all had charisma, intensity and personality, which is more than I can say for most of the actors in the new film other than Josh Lawson. I do think than Jessica McNamee and Mehcad Brooks could have been better in the hands of a better director and screenwriter. I thought they did okay once they each got passed their scenes of each being a human exposition dump for Cole. Chin Han probably would have been good too if they did more with him, though I’m mostly basing that on other stuff I’ve seen him in.

 

[Teelie]

I understand that but I feel like a more competent filmmaker would have been able to work around the budget constraints. As we were just saying, movies made with a fraction of MK’s budget managed to have fight choreography and violent action sequences that were far superior to anything in this movie. Likewise, I’ve seen low-budget sci-fi films that had better special effects. Regarding that, not all of the effects are bad (Goro and Reptile looked good overall and Sub-Zero’s ice abilities looked great) and so a better director would have been able to determine what worked and what didn’t. Raiden’s flashlight eyes were a particular eyesore that should have never made the final cut. Some of Liu Kang’s flames effects were cartoonish. If McQuoid knew what he was doing, he would have cut some of that stuff because it’s glaring and takes the audience out of the movie because regardless of what else is happening onscreen, people are sitting there thinking, “Well, that looks fake.”

A bigger budget would hopefully mean a better director, and a better choreographer, and better cinematography, etc. I know other movies with smaller budgets pulled it off and as you say, some of the effects worked better than others and more money does not always equal a better movie (so, so many examples of that) but more money would have meant more effort. Though that may have also meant playing it safer ala MK'95 but I think after Deadpool and it's sequel studios would be just a bit more open to bigger budget R-rated movies based on famous IP.

This movie has already done well enough it will probably garner a sequel, one that hopefully gets a bigger budget, better director, better choreography and better writing. Most of the actors were well cast for their character roles. Cole was extraneous as was his family.

 

[chintai80]

Yep. Robin, Cary and Linden really make the movie. These weren’t Oscar-worthy performances by any means but they all had charisma, intensity and personality, which is more than I can say for most of the actors in the new film other than Josh Lawson. I do think than Jessica McNamee and Mehcad Brooks could have been better in the hands of a better director and screenwriter. I thought they did okay once they each got passed their scenes of each being a human exposition dump for Cole. Chin Han probably would have been good too if they did more with him, though I’m mostly basing that on other stuff I’ve seen him in.

yea when i heard chin han was cast as shang tsung, i thought oh cool cuz based off other stuff i've seen him in.
i thought he would do good, but he seemed really miscast here, imo.

agreed about mcnamee and brooks as well.

 

[terry78]

I feel like aside from most of the Asian cast and Brooks they just cast a bunch of local Aussies for the rest lol

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

I went in with very low expectations, expecting another bad but dumb fun film like the original, but without the helping nostalgia. Based on that I got some entertainment out of it, much thanks to Kano.

Expectations do a lot for the experience. To tie into the earlier discussion I enjoyed this more than The Last Jedi because this time I did expect a poorly written film that wouldn't do justice to the material it's built on. Of course it helps that I'm not nearly as invested in MK as SW.

 

[CyclopsSummers]

LOL, I’m sorry but this movie was a dumpster fire. It was horribly written and directed. The main character was worthless, and I’m not saying that because he was an original character. I’m saying that because he had no personality or charisma and didn’t even give us a reason to root for him other than I guess people can all kind related to getting their asses kicked. And sending Goro after him made no sense. That’s who you send after a competent fighter.

After seeing this movie, this can be better if we've got more games' ambiences especially more Outworld scenes looking like MK2'stages
This movie isnt epic enought

the good:
-the cast, especially Taslim as Bi-Han
-purple sky of Outworld during Jax/Reiko fight, making me remember MK2!
-idea of arcana

the bad:
-fights arent awesome as we expected
-Liu vs Kabal/Cole vs Mileena/Jax vs Reiko was too short
-Need more explainations about dragon mark: it was told this is an invitation to MK, but Tsung tracking all whose wear it, this confuses us into : be invited to MK=chosen warriors. It isnt the case, a bad guy can obtain dragon mark, the one Liu Kang killed, or the one Jax killed in Bresil, or the criminal Kano killed ... they were all bad guys possessing the mark. This mark just allows to unlock personal arcana and participate at MK.
We can just suggest ourselves that a person with a mark possession isnt necessary a Raiden' chosen warrior fighting against Outworld, but can potentially become one. Maybe for these reasons Shang Tsung doesnt take risks and wants to kill all them
-Bi-Han. No explaination about his immortality, since medieval era until modern era! and I never agree Cole being a descendant of Hanzo

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah the dragon mark nonsense didn’t make any sense. You can get one if you kill a champion. But Cole had one because of his lineage, so does that mean all people who are descendants of previous champions have one? But Hanzo wasn’t even an MK champion so why did he have it in the first place? I guess it was “the prophecy” about Hanzo and that was what made him special? Also, I guess that also means that Cole’s daughter has the mark too?

And yeah, they gave Sub-Zero a cool (no pun intended) intro but then did nothing with him. If you weren’t familiar with the games, you probably were saying to yourself, “What’s the Lin Kuei?” Because that wasn’t even explained.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

After seeing this movie, this can be better if we've got more games' ambiences especially more Outworld scenes looking like MK2'stages
This movie isnt epic enought

the good:
-the cast, especially Taslim as Bi-Han
-purple sky of Outworld during Jax/Reiko fight, making me remember MK2!
-idea of arcana

the bad:
-fights arent awesome as we expected
-Liu vs Kabal/Cole vs Mileena/Jax vs Reiko was too short
-Need more explainations about dragon mark: it was told this is an invitation to MK, but Tsung tracking all whose wear it, this confuses us into : be invited to MK=chosen warriors. It isnt the case, a bad guy can obtain dragon mark, the one Liu Kang killed, or the one Jax killed in Bresil, or the criminal Kano killed ... they were all bad guys possessing the mark. This mark just allows to unlock personal arcana and participate at MK.
We can just suggest ourselves that a person with a mark possession isnt necessary a Raiden' chosen warrior fighting against Outworld, but can potentially become one. Maybe for these reasons Shang Tsung doesnt take risks and wants to kill all them
-Bi-Han. No explaination about his immortality, since medieval era until modern era! and I never agree Cole being a descendant of Hanzo

The subzero brothers are descendants of a race of Outworld cryomancers. Folks from Outworld typically live longer than normal humans, he also works for a sorcerer, his immortality could be how he's paid for his services. There's multiple ways you can MK lore into justification but the filmmakers really shouldn't have expected the audience to do that.

 

[Da-Scribe]

My headcanon is that all cryomancers are immortal by default due to being in a working cryogenic state. This is of course just movie science nonsense, but it's enough for me.

Spoiler

The truth though, is that Sub Zero is immortal simply because Cole is a descendant of Scorpion.