Mortal Kombat Reboot
- Thread starter sXeth
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I can't decide if I really felt all that spoiled. Its really not that interesting or enlightening, but I will comment GODDAMN THATS A LOT OF BLOOD!
I actually really don't want to see the first 7 minutes of the film. I want to see that IN the film when it comes out. Feels like it's undercutting the impact of the action scenes, if you parse them out in tiny YT clips before the films even out. We saw the trailer, we got an idea for what the action will look like. Let us just wait and savor the suspense please.
Yep. I'll be avoiding reviews and all clips offered on YouTube. I won't be watching until I get home from work on friday.
*whew* Gotta call this a huge misfire
Non-spoiler
It's.....rough. You have to sit through 2 hours for what is about to 3 or 4 "iconic" moments. The film can't seem to make up it's mind on whether it wants to be serious or trashie "so bad it's good" so it ends up being a muddled mess and oddly.. boring. They'd tried to have their cake and eat it too. Writing what is essentially a new mortal kombat story but filled with needless call backs to the original film. Despite some occasional "cool" moments it left me wanting to just rewatch the original or play the latest one instead.
Spoilers
It's two hours of them gathering people for the tournament and that gets interrupted by shang tsung who decides to have his guys kill them before the tournaments, but it's kind of a wash and you're mostly forced to follow this new guy whos Scorpions boring descendent. It really doesn't ever feel like it's going any where and then it ends on a note that the tournament will happen in the next ...movie? WTF? I don't understand why they thought Mortal Kombat fans or movie goers would be interested in anything other than the actual tournament.
Weirdly enough they spend so much time with Kano he might as well be the protagonist. He's also the most entertaining and charismatic character in the film. Part of me was hoping they'd do a bruce campbell and it end up being him that's the hero/chosen one of the whole thing.
I'm also not sure what their logic was, but all the fight music is gone and replaced with a generic orchestral soundtrack that's barely noticeable. I think for any of this to work they needed to pull in some EDM heavy hitters to do a soundtrack to elevate the film.
Scorpion and sub-zero are...neat, but it's worth noting they both wear ridiculous gaudy armor that makes their fights seems very poorly co-ordinated and hammy. They're ninjas people, ninjas dont wear armor. At least not the plate mail these two lug around. In fact all the fighting is just...ok. You'd think for something like this they'd bring in the Raid Redemption guy Yayan Ruhian. He can't be that expensive and he's literally the current hottest talent for this sort of thing. instead it's a couple nobodys with zero back ground.
I'm calling it a misfire. It's watchable, but I have no interest in ever seeing it again. I was sooo fuckin bored.
Weirdly enough they spend so much time with Kano he might as well be the protagonist. He's also the most entertaining and charismatic character in the film. Part of me was hoping they'd do a bruce campbell and it end up being him that's the hero/chosen one of the whole thing.
I'm also not sure what their logic was, but all the fight music is gone and replaced with a generic orchestral soundtrack that's barely noticeable. I think for any of this to work they needed to pull in some EDM heavy hitters to do a soundtrack to elevate the film.
Scorpion and sub-zero are...neat, but it's worth noting they both wear ridiculous gaudy armor that makes their fights seems very poorly co-ordinated and hammy. They're ninjas people, ninjas dont wear armor. At least not the plate mail these two lug around. In fact all the fighting is just...ok. You'd think for something like this they'd bring in the Raid Redemption guy Yayan Ruhian. He can't be that expensive and he's literally the current hottest talent for this sort of thing. instead it's a couple nobodys with zero back ground.
I'm calling it a misfire. It's watchable, but I have no interest in ever seeing it again. I was sooo fuckin bored.
The movie was surprisingly decent. There are some writing choices I disagree with, and while Cole is generic, the movie I liked and had fun with. The whole champions mark to get powers wasn't needed. Most of them could of already had their powers from the start. It's obvious they wanted try something different. I am glad the film is not a 1-to-1 remake of the 1995 film. Nor is it like the early web series of MK: Legacy where they went "realistic". All of the characters got their own charisma, but still fits with game counterparts, the action scenes are amazing, and the film has the right amount of fan-service without going overboard.
A few things to note: Cole is the last descendant of Scorpion's clan. Second, when he unlocks his powers, his basically Brass Body. Dave Batista's character from The Man With The Iron Fists. I admit to not seeing that coming, Also, the dude can summon nightstick blades from his arms. Pretty bad ass. Second, Johnny Cage is hinted at in a sequel hook. Third, why did they have to kill off Kung Lao? He's awesome! At least he got plenty of bad ass moments and killer lines. Definitely wasted potential, and I would have preferred him to stay alive in the sequel. We could of had a Shaolin Monks spin-off! I still say Cole was not necessary for this film, but I get why they did what they did. Please drop him.
With all that said, I do give a medium recommendation for MK fans. A regular recommendation for casual or non-MK fans (but likes fantasy martial arts).
Here's DT's review if any of y'all are interested.
A few things to note: Cole is the last descendant of Scorpion's clan. Second, when he unlocks his powers, his basically Brass Body. Dave Batista's character from The Man With The Iron Fists. I admit to not seeing that coming, Also, the dude can summon nightstick blades from his arms. Pretty bad ass. Second, Johnny Cage is hinted at in a sequel hook. Third, why did they have to kill off Kung Lao? He's awesome! At least he got plenty of bad ass moments and killer lines. Definitely wasted potential, and I would have preferred him to stay alive in the sequel. We could of had a Shaolin Monks spin-off! I still say Cole was not necessary for this film, but I get why they did what they did. Please drop him.
With all that said, I do give a medium recommendation for MK fans. A regular recommendation for casual or non-MK fans (but likes fantasy martial arts).
Here's DT's review if any of y'all are interested.
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Went to an IMAX screening and that much was basically worth it for the Goro parts (picture and sound...he had a presence albeit too brief imo) but not much else.
Overall for a quick rating I'd give it a 3/5. Maybe 3.5 if we use half points but that's pushing it. The whole thing basically felt like a setup for the inevitable sequel, and oddly more like one of the more recent Terminator movies than an MK movie, barring the fight scenes and mystical stuff. It had higher high's than the original and lower low's.
To briefly compare it to the original, it felt more like an MK movie should feel in terms of presentation, but surprisingly lacking in the thematic relevance, setting, pacing, and charm. What made the original work regardless of gory violence or lack thereof was the fact it revolved around, well, an actual tournament, and on Shang Tsung's island no less. It felt incredibly focused and consistent next to this, which felt like it was constantly trying to find its footing while juggling too many pots on the stove; starting very slowly and then blitzing through the action between all these different characters towards the second half. It's understandable why they took things in a new, more "grounded" direction to try and differentiate from the original, but then that gets offset by a slew of whacky mystical stuff around the next corner, literally going from character-to-character in regards to Earthrealm's chosen finding their "inner strength".
Cole...I get why they used a surrogate character as a vehicle to drive a big chunk of plot, and he seemed to have tried as best he could, but unless one is completely unfamiliar with the series, it's easy to see why he simply falls flat. They kinda shoehorned his existence into the lore as a neutral, "grounded" character *just because*, which might've been intentional to again tie into the main hook for the potential sequel in the final shot.
Kano had a few good chuckle-worthy quips, and oddly enough also showed the most acting range of the entire runtime during a build-up to a special...let's say "discovery". Bi-Han and Hanzo basically serve as the stalwart bookends for all the jumbled messiness in between, carrying the bulk of thematic stuff and serving it well. Shang Tsung while looking appropriately evil is merely just "there" to serve as a paper thin villain next to how Tagawa managed to breathe life into the character.
I really liked some of the bigger moments, but as a movie...at least after an initial viewing, the original still felt like it had a more distinct vision, tone and pacing from start to finish. This new one certainly had more in terms of content and characters but as a result too often felt like it was checking off boxes, whether for fan service or just having too much on its plate for one film. Considering how expansive, convoluted, whacky and sometimes insane the storyline is for this IP though, I kind of expected it. My hope is that if there is a sequel, it will feel more cohesive and put better use to the concept of less being more in terms of what it's attempting to say.
Overall for a quick rating I'd give it a 3/5. Maybe 3.5 if we use half points but that's pushing it. The whole thing basically felt like a setup for the inevitable sequel, and oddly more like one of the more recent Terminator movies than an MK movie, barring the fight scenes and mystical stuff. It had higher high's than the original and lower low's.
To briefly compare it to the original, it felt more like an MK movie should feel in terms of presentation, but surprisingly lacking in the thematic relevance, setting, pacing, and charm. What made the original work regardless of gory violence or lack thereof was the fact it revolved around, well, an actual tournament, and on Shang Tsung's island no less. It felt incredibly focused and consistent next to this, which felt like it was constantly trying to find its footing while juggling too many pots on the stove; starting very slowly and then blitzing through the action between all these different characters towards the second half. It's understandable why they took things in a new, more "grounded" direction to try and differentiate from the original, but then that gets offset by a slew of whacky mystical stuff around the next corner, literally going from character-to-character in regards to Earthrealm's chosen finding their "inner strength".
Cole...I get why they used a surrogate character as a vehicle to drive a big chunk of plot, and he seemed to have tried as best he could, but unless one is completely unfamiliar with the series, it's easy to see why he simply falls flat. They kinda shoehorned his existence into the lore as a neutral, "grounded" character *just because*, which might've been intentional to again tie into the main hook for the potential sequel in the final shot.
Kano had a few good chuckle-worthy quips, and oddly enough also showed the most acting range of the entire runtime during a build-up to a special...let's say "discovery". Bi-Han and Hanzo basically serve as the stalwart bookends for all the jumbled messiness in between, carrying the bulk of thematic stuff and serving it well. Shang Tsung while looking appropriately evil is merely just "there" to serve as a paper thin villain next to how Tagawa managed to breathe life into the character.
I really liked some of the bigger moments, but as a movie...at least after an initial viewing, the original still felt like it had a more distinct vision, tone and pacing from start to finish. This new one certainly had more in terms of content and characters but as a result too often felt like it was checking off boxes, whether for fan service or just having too much on its plate for one film. Considering how expansive, convoluted, whacky and sometimes insane the storyline is for this IP though, I kind of expected it. My hope is that if there is a sequel, it will feel more cohesive and put better use to the concept of less being more in terms of what it's attempting to say.
I don't know, with all the hype and build up, this movie was just kind of embarrassing.
I don't even hate Cole, I think his abilities reflect his MMA background nicely (even though they are ridiculously inconsistent) and would make for a legitimately interesting character in a future game. His character however, just like everyone else in this movie, is nothing.
The Outworlders were hard to watch, especially Shang Tsung. Which sucks, because his actor is totally capable of something better. Speaking of casting, only Kano and Scorpion stood out to me. Everyone else was as generic as they come, or plain miscast *cough*Liu Kang and Raiden*cough*. I don't mind fan service in general, but the delivery ruined pretty much every iconic line except the one we saw in the trailer.
I genuinely enjoyed only one fight in this whole movie, which obviously isn't good. It's so confusing, the cast is clearly capable of doing convincing stunts, but the editing and camerawork completely let them down. Constant unnecessary cuts abound in this movie.
They kill off so many characters in this movie, which is to be expected, but this isn't even the actual tournament yet. I'm no expert on MK lore, but I'm pretty sure a few of the casualties were supposed to be pretty significant characters.
Oh and they committed the ultimate sin of not using the original MK theme in a more creative way. Was really let down by that.
I don't even hate Cole, I think his abilities reflect his MMA background nicely (even though they are ridiculously inconsistent) and would make for a legitimately interesting character in a future game. His character however, just like everyone else in this movie, is nothing.
The Outworlders were hard to watch, especially Shang Tsung. Which sucks, because his actor is totally capable of something better. Speaking of casting, only Kano and Scorpion stood out to me. Everyone else was as generic as they come, or plain miscast *cough*Liu Kang and Raiden*cough*. I don't mind fan service in general, but the delivery ruined pretty much every iconic line except the one we saw in the trailer.
I genuinely enjoyed only one fight in this whole movie, which obviously isn't good. It's so confusing, the cast is clearly capable of doing convincing stunts, but the editing and camerawork completely let them down. Constant unnecessary cuts abound in this movie.
They kill off so many characters in this movie, which is to be expected, but this isn't even the actual tournament yet. I'm no expert on MK lore, but I'm pretty sure a few of the casualties were supposed to be pretty significant characters.
Oh and they committed the ultimate sin of not using the original MK theme in a more creative way. Was really let down by that.
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Yeah, it wasn't great.
Scorpion, and Sub-Zero were cool, and Kano basically single handily gave this film a pulse. Otherwise, aside from the Kung Lao fatality, it was pretty dull.
To me, Mortal Kombat is three things: Cheesy characters. Fun lore. Over-the-top gore. The film didn't reliably pull any of these things off, aside from the previously mentioned glimmers of hope.
I also have no idea why the film decided to focus on an original character. I can only imagine that this guy was forced onto the film by the studio in an attempt to create some kind of relatable character - because who cares?
Scorpion, and Sub-Zero were cool, and Kano basically single handily gave this film a pulse. Otherwise, aside from the Kung Lao fatality, it was pretty dull.
To me, Mortal Kombat is three things: Cheesy characters. Fun lore. Over-the-top gore. The film didn't reliably pull any of these things off, aside from the previously mentioned glimmers of hope.
I also have no idea why the film decided to focus on an original character. I can only imagine that this guy was forced onto the film by the studio in an attempt to create some kind of relatable character - because who cares?
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I don't have any issue with them introducing a new character, but Cole just doesn't fit in a story with cybernetic mercenaries and teleporting ninjas. I think if anything adding him kinda lessened scorpions story. His back story is literally "shitty MMA fighter." I also found it kind of insulting that they took time for both Sub-Zero and Scorpion to have a scene where they say "my name is now ..". Just shows the writers really didn't care about the franchise and some exec was like "you gotta have them day their names". Like there wasnt even any logic in Scorpions. I bet it was ADR because they're standing there and he says "I'm Scorpion now" like Sub-Zero would give a shit what he's calling himself now. Sub-Zero does the same thing earlier in the film and theres zero reaction. I would have loved to hear Shang tsung respond "Umm..ok..whatever."
I found out through the comments on the YoVideoGames review, that Cole was mandated by the studio. Knew it.
Which is a weird decision because MK95 made Liu, Johnny and Sonya the relatable ones by virtue of them being ostensibly normal people suddenly thrown into this very abnormal situation.
I presume they invented Cole because they assumed fans of aforementioned three would expect them to be way bigger badasses since they’ve had close to 30 years of exposure and growth in the games. Compared to the first movie which was released the same year as Mortal Kombat 3 and the average age of a gamer probably still 17 and not 27.
I'm pretty sure they invented Cole for the people who AREN'T fans of MK that would invariably check out the film, to give them someone more relatable, that doesn't come with potentially 30 years of backstory and easter eggs of content. Because NO product is EVER made, with JUST the franchise fanbase in mind. They are always also aiming to get new people as well. So that usually requires a tabula rasa character, that can be equally as clueless about all this shit. And yes, you could say that people like Sonya, and Jax, are the "normal" people, but, the structure of this story clearly doesn't have them being clueless. They are very much in the know about this stuff, as they are the ones often explaining it to Cole. They've been following this stuff for years, having already been confronted with it. So using them as the audience stand-in is a no-go from the start, by nature of the narrative. You can't use Cage, because they decided to not have him in this film, probably because a self-absorbed, arrogant actor cliche made flesh would 1. Not be very relatable as an audience standin, because Cage is meant to be abrasive and annoying, as a foil for the more stoic characters. 2. Drag down the more serious tone they are trying to establish with this film's plot.
So that's most of the "normal" people in the entire roster right there. Everyone else is either some non-earth being, people with their own agendas that have nothing to do with protecting earthrealm, are literal gods, or cliches like that cowboy hat wearing gunman dude, who look like they should not exist anywhere BUT a video game. All of which have so much backstory tied to them, to make them make any sense, that you'd have to have an entire prequel movie just to explain them, before trying to use them as the audience standin.
So yeah, making a new character makes sense, given the structure of the casting and plot. You have literally everyone else being from the games, so all the fans can jump and squee and say "ooh! she/he did the thing that they do in the game!!" and everyone else watching can more easily empathize with Cole.
That being said, that's entirely separate from whether they did it WELL. But the reason behind doing it, I get.
As far as I'm concerned, no they didn't do it well. Because it was unnecessary. If the 1995 film can get this all right, then it was definitely not necessary element. I'm not saying you agree or anything I'm just venting on how I feel. I meant plenty of adults and younger crowds that were clueless about mortal kombat, and they saw the 1995 film, and were able to understand everything just fine or relate to certain characters. If the original can get this right, what the hell is this movie's excuse? I consider the 2021 film decent, but there's a lot of correction that needs to be done. If a sequel ever comes out, they have to drop Cole. He's a nothing character. My fears were founded, when I guessed it all the way back a couple months ago. The only person I know that actually likes Cole, is ironically my older brother, and he's more than familiar with the games.
No I agree, they were able to pull it off in the 95 film, because they gave us some tabula rasa's in the form of Sonya and Johnny Cage, who in THAT version, were clueless to what was going on. Liu Kang knew all the stuff, he just wanted nothing to do with it. My point is, when the new movie's script was being written, they decided to not have, the 3 most easily relatable characters (Sonya, Cage, and Jax) be the blank slates. For one, they just didn't include Cage, for reason of narrative tone I suspect. And Jax/Sonya are very much the mentor exposition characters. They know about this stuff, so they can't fill that role of "WTF is going on?" because they already know. They basically take the place of Raiden in the 95 film, being the guy that explains stuff to the protagonist, Cole in this case. So if they aren't the person being expositioned TO, who will you exposition? Well, nobody else in the roster of people in this film (because they have to shave out the roster, it's just too large.) really fits. They are equally familiar with all this MK stuff, because they are supernatural/inhuman. So, they gotta make a new person. This is entirely because of the way they structured the story, and who they decided was a newb, and who was a veteran of all this supernatural stuff.
Now, I admit I haven't followed the game series for decades, and there could be some other Vanilla Mortal-esque people from the roster they could choose to add, but I'm guessing not. I played MK 11 recently, and the only other normal humans I can recall (that weren't crazy stereotypes like that gunslinger who looks like he came over from a DMC game) were the offspring of the very characters IN this new film, so that just wouldn't make sense for a new film in a rebooted franchise.
They could've repeated things, and have Jax/Sonya be the newbs that we follow, but I feel they wanted to distance themselves from being too much like the plot of the 95 film. So, new character.