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Mortal Kombat *SPOILERS*
Just watched Mortal Kombat and have to say it was one of the better videogame movie adaptations but it wasn't mindblowing amazing.
Good:
Fight scenes were really good, very well choreographed and the game inspiration was on full display.
Scorpion's backstory was also depicted well.
Sonya Blade's scenes with Kano were good.
Okay:
Dialogue as a whole wasn't the best.
Location settings and background didn't visually look the best (looked pretty cheap imo).
Bad:
Mortal Kombat tournament never actually happens in the film.
Cole Young's story should've been cut. Least interesting part of the film imo.
Not enough Scorpion or Lui Kang.
Overall the film was okay to me. However, the animated film Scorpion's Revenge is the better movie.
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Just going to repost what I said in the other thread then:
Just saw this, pretty good, some bad ass fights, Sub-Zero's fights were the best.
Actually, and oddly, take away the ice powers and Sub-Zero in this movie is a lot like how I imagine the ideal Shredder in live action should be...
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[QUOTE=Vakanai;5502282]Just going to repost what I said in the other thread then:
Just saw this, pretty good, some bad ass fights, Sub-Zero's fights were the best.
Actually, and oddly, take away the ice powers and Sub-Zero in this movie is a lot like how I imagine the ideal Shredder in live action should be...[/QUOTE]
Sub zero was good and he did remind me of Shredder as well. Not a huge fan of his death scene though, felt a bit underwhelming. I feel like the movie should have focused more on Scorpion's hate for him to build up their final battle. Cole Young's story took up too much time in the film and wasn't as interesting, would've liked to see more how Scorpion came to be (ie what his journey was like in hell to get back and enact his revenge on subzero).
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only an hour in but so far cole sucks, i think any game character would have been a better pov character. shouldve made sonya and jax middle-aged and let cassie or jacqueline be the newbie
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[QUOTE=The Gold Stream;5502296]only an hour in but so far cole sucks, i think any game character would have been a better pov character. shouldve made sonya and jax middle-aged and let cassie or jacqueline be the newbie[/QUOTE]
Glad I'm not the only one who didn't care for Cole's story in the film. Waste of screen time that could've been used for something else.
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I knew we were in trouble when the producer explained the reasoning behind Johnny Cage's absence as not wanting to have a white male lead in the movie. Somehow the 95 movie, the 98 TV series and the recent animated movie managed to have an Asian lead without cutting out Cage or creating some fanfic OCs. Building the whole story around a character whose presence is going to annoy the MK fans and having him essentially steal Lui Kang's role is just absolutely baffling to me. On another hand, this movie relies very heavily on fanservice which is only going to appeal to the MK fans...I'm profoundly confused who this movie was made for.
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[QUOTE=Psy-lock;5502425]I knew we were in trouble when the producer explained the reasoning behind Johnny Cage's absence as not wanting to have a white male lead in the movie. Somehow the 95 movie, the 98 TV series and the recent animated movie managed to have an Asian lead without cutting out Cage or creating some fanfic OCs. Building the whole story around a character whose presence is going to annoy the MK fans and having him essentially steal Lui Kang's role is just absolutely baffling to me. On another hand, this movie relies very heavily on fanservice which is only going to appeal to the MK fans...I'm profoundly confused who this movie was made for.[/QUOTE]
This movie seriously should have focused on Scorpion (Japanese) and Sub Zero (Half-Chinese). These two appeal to 99% of the Mortal Kombat Fans and probably all regular fans too. How come nobody is able to figure out such an easy formula?
[B]Good[/B]:
Fights: Very well done
Violence and Fatalities: Definitely one of the movie's biggest strengths. I thought it captured the Mortal Kombat Essence
Sub-Zero: This guy was a beast. I too thought of a Modern Day Shredder watching him. I'm happy this movie took Sub-Zero back to his original roots as a straight up villain. No Quan Chi Crap. This one was practically a force of nature
Kano: Didn't think he'd be my favorite character in the movie. His lines and scenes were priceless
Scorpion: He's always been my favorite character in the franchise. Overall, I liked how his character was portrayed.
[B]Bad[/B]:
Cole Young: Far too much screen time and I didn't like this character. Even his powers were stupid. The movie should have focused on the Scorpion/Sub-Zero Rivalry. Cole was almost a distraction. It would have been far better if Cole was replaced with Johnny and Cassie Cage (Struggling Action Star just trying to feed his daughter).
Not enough Scorpion and Liu Kang
Sloppy Writing: It was never explained how Bi Han lived for hundreds of years. And Jax's Robot Arms. Seriously? That's how he got them?
[B]Overall[/B]: The movie was alright. Great fights but some sloppy writing. Serious missed opportunities here.
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I like it more than Godzilla versus Kong but that's not saying much since both kind of suck.
The good is that the fights are pretty good but none of the FX are. I could notice when they'd switch in for the stunt doubles, at one point I could see the zipper on Cole's costume, and frankly a lot of the costume and set design isn't great (it's very reminiscent of Dragon Ball Evolution). It's just dull in color and and boring in design. And frankly if you're going to go the more grounded route than Sub Zero and Scorpion is what this movie should've focused on. The opening ten minutes is fantastic, after that it goes downhill as it tries to cram dozens of characters into this movie. If anything Mortal Kombat should be an Avengers style movie where a few characters get solo movies (remember the Mythologies branding?) and use that as a way of introducing us to them before the tournament bout. It would've made things a lot tighter and enabled us to get invested in characters beyond super power and good and bad. This and Godzilla are really messy movies that needed a script rework. I don't know what the fuck WB was thinking.
It's average at best but like Godzilla it's not really worth it beyond a youtube clip or two to watch people get killed. Its like this movie is more obsessed with just killing or maiming characters than it is having a tight script.
D+
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I liked it, definitely would watch a sequel
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This is another movie that didn't work for me at all. This is more proof that slapping an R-rating on a movie doesn't automatically make it good.
Making that Cole Young character the main focus of the movie was a dreadful mistake. Everything from Cole's demeanor to his family was boring.
For all the faults of the 1995 movie, that was a lot more focused in what it set out to do and Sub-Zero and Scorpion aside much more faithful to the game (at the time). What they did to Goro in the new movie is fucking embarassing! They treated Mileena like a mere henchwoman and Scorpion and Sub-Zero's conflict wasn't even the main focus of the film...despite the movie starting out with them.
The only good thing was Kano and the movie livened up everytime he was on-screen.
Just like that the completely nonsensical Godzilla vs Kong, this was very,very disappointing, 4/10 for me. As we emerge from the throes of the pandemic, I just hope that rubbish movies aren't the new normal.
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[QUOTE=Psy-lock;5502425]I knew we were in trouble when the producer explained the reasoning behind Johnny Cage's absence as not wanting to have a white male lead in the movie. Somehow the 95 movie, the 98 TV series and the recent animated movie managed to have an Asian lead without cutting out Cage or creating some fanfic OCs. Building the whole story around a character whose presence is going to annoy the MK fans and having him essentially steal Lui Kang's role is just absolutely baffling to me. On another hand, this movie relies very heavily on fanservice which is only going to appeal to the MK fans...I'm profoundly confused who this movie was made for.[/QUOTE]
Being only familiar with this franchise through the first movie, isn't Lui Kang the lead anyway? So Johnny wouldn't be the lead even if he was in this right? you're right, the reasoning is a little weird.
Anyway, watching this with friends tonight.
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[QUOTE=SiegePerilous02;5502640]Being only familiar with this franchise through the first movie, isn't Lui Kang the lead anyway? So Johnny wouldn't be the lead even if he was in this right? you're right, the reasoning is a little weird.
Anyway, watching this with friends tonight.[/QUOTE]
The Mortal Kombat mythology is all sorts of weird.
But the closest thing to a main protagonist in the lore is Liu Kang. As per the game lore, I absolutely HATE what they did with Johnny Cage in the more recent games and I personally didn't care for him not being the movie (it would have meant that we had two wise cracking characters - Kano and Cage).
Johnny Cage not being in this film didn't affect it one bit. But he was teased for the sequel...I can't really say I'm excited to see him at all.
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[QUOTE=SiegePerilous02;5502640]Being only familiar with this franchise through the first movie, isn't Lui Kang the lead anyway? So Johnny wouldn't be the lead even if he was in this right? you're right, the reasoning is a little weird.
Anyway, watching this with friends tonight.[/QUOTE]
Ironically Liu Kang not only would've fit that mold of no white guys but he is the actual hero of Mortal Kombat having beaten Shang Tsung in the tournament and beat Shao Khan twice, one for the second tournament and the third in the invasion of Earth realm.
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[QUOTE=SuperiorIronman;5502673]Ironically Liu Kang not only would've fit that mold of no white guys but he is the actual hero of Mortal Kombat having beaten Shang Tsung in the tournament and beat Shao Khan twice, one for the second tournament and the third in the invasion of Earth realm.[/QUOTE]
Exactly.
It's baffling that they didn't simply make him the protagonist of the movie.
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[QUOTE=Username taken;5502662]As per the game lore, I absolutely HATE what they did with Johnny Cage in the more recent games and I personally didn't care for him not being the movie (it would have meant that we had two wise cracking characters - Kano and Cage).
Johnny Cage not being in this film didn't affect it one bit. But he was teased for the sequel...I can't really say I'm excited to see him at all.[/QUOTE]
I'm on the complete opposite side of this opinion. I'm curious what did you hate about Modern Johnny. I thought he had the most character growth out of everybody in the franchise. Especially in MK11 where you see him interact with his past self. You really see his maturity.