Mortal Kombat *SPOILERS*

[AnakinFlair]

As a VERY casual fan of Mortal Kombat as a whole... I thought it was fine. The performances were mostly terrible (it says something when the wife and the kid give a better performance than Liu Kang or Kung Lao), and I missed the guy that played Shang Tsung in the original movie. But I enjoyed Kano, I enjoyed Sonya at times, and I enjoyed Mechad Brooks- though that might be because he was the one actor in this that I recognized.

All in all, while I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I paid to see it in theaters, I enjoyed it enough.

[Wildling]

Sonya can also work in this context. In retellings of the first game, she gets involved with tournament because she pursuing Kano, got captured and forced to particulate. I guess her personality doesn't lend itself for being a lead like Johnny.

I didn't mind Cole as much as others did (I haven't touched MK lore for quite a while so I didn't know if he was at least based on somebody or totally original) but I think this is why I enjoyed Sonya here as much as I did. She's the other side of the underdog hero coin, Cole is a has-been fighter with a legacy he can't initially use but Sonya tries to do her best from the beginning as a resourceful and skilled special forces member trying to dip her toes in the MK pond and gets eventually rewarded for it. It doesn't hurt her appearances are tied a lot with Kano's, who even naysayers seem to agree is a high point in the movie.

I'm not surprised to hear games eventually gave her daughter a protagonist role.

[Coal Tiger]

I was firmly on the "Jade is black" side for a long time. Then MK11 happened lol

You want an even more fun time? Ask a bunch of different MK fans what they think Tanya is.

Tanya is an MK4 character so she might as well be non-canon.

[Wildling]

Scorpion/Subzero was cool but the way they handled the characters I didn't like. So no Scorpion going forward? He gets his revenge then his souls free to rest. He's thee most popular character from the game and he's in 10mins of the film and then gone.

I wouldn't be surprised if he returned with minimal excuse. He didn't just walk into the light, he surrounded himself with hellish flames as if going back to the same place before, just content. As long as Cole is around they could both be linked, the movie implied Raiden broke his non-intervention rule in order for that to happen. And Scorpion wouldn't want Shang Tsung to ruin Earth because that's where he keeps his stuff (his remaining living legacy).

[Nate Grey]

I liked the use of their powers. Made me wonder if we'll ever get a Street Fighter movie where they'll Shoryuken! and Sonic BOOM! during a fight instead of shying away from it or putting bits and pieces here and there. Give me a fire-ball spamming Ryu already!

Hated Raiden never got to fight (I really wanted to see him fight Shang Tsung).

Cole...I'm not sure he should have been the de facto primary character, but otherwise I didn't mind him. I loved his brass body power up, reminded me of, well, Brass Body from The Man With the Iron Fists.

Poor Kung Lao. My favorite character outside of Raiden. Alas.

Not many complaints with the movie...I feel like there's some pacing issues I can't put my finger on, though. I felt the length versus not noticing the length with the 1995 movie. The 1995 movie seemed more focused I guess. But I'd definitely watch this one again.

[Blue22]

Tanya is an MK4 character so she might as well be non-canon.

She's actually one of the few MK4-Armageddon characters that they still at least somewhat acknowledge. And with each new appearance, it feels like she gets less and less black.

[Wildling]

I liked the use of their powers. Made me wonder if we'll ever get a Street Fighter movie where they'll Shoryuken! and Sonic BOOM! during a fight instead of shying away from it or putting bits and pieces here and there. Give me a fire-ball spamming Ryu already!

Didn't SF get into animation as a better medium for itself before MK did?

I don't think videogame movies are irredeemable awful by default now but it would fit if a bigger MK II movie circled back to getting another Hollywood SF movie. Especially if the RE reboot is well received this year. Which is a reason I can overlook Raiden and Shang Tsung 2021 suffering when compared to 1995, it's clear at least Shang Tsung saved his money shots for another movie. I'm just worried we're still in a pandemic and turning a profit is trickier.

[Psy-lock]

I've just rewatched the original movie. Yeah, it was much better than the new one in almost every aspect. The story was more faithful and better written, the characters had more personality, the acting was better, even the fight choreography was more exciting. That movie also made some weird choices but nowhere near as weird as the addition of Cole Yang.

[Nate Grey]

Didn't SF get into animation as a better medium for itself before MK did?

Well the animated movie still holds up, IMO, but I'd still like to see a decent SF live-action movie that puts their abilities on display like Mortal Kombat 2021 did. Though Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist is probably the closest we'll ever get (I haven't see Street Fighter: Resurrection but it's my understanding it was only 4 eps and functioned as a tie-in to Street Fighter 5).

Heck let's throw King of Fighters in there. Not just to wash the taste of whatever the f that was in 2010, but also to see Iori and Kyo tussle. Soulcalibur, too.

[Hiromi]

honestly don't get why anyone would complain about how "faithful" the story is when the games have multiple different continuities and retcons, to the point that the most current game even acknowledged there being numerous different realities existing

[Cyke]

Just watched it now. Of all the video game movies ever made, this is certainly one of them.

Ludi Lin's a very good actor, but his Liu Kang was simply... there. Maybe it was the writing or the direction, but Liu should have more personality, especially since traditionally he's the Ryu/Captain America/Superman figure of the franchise.

That said, I thought it was interesting that theovie put Kung Lao in that role (though I'm mixed with the twist), but he comes across sometimes more asore arrogant than heroic at times.

Plus, when the villains surround Liu Kang and Kung Lao, the best our heroes can do is pose in protective fear rather than engage. That's maybe the least characteristic thing I've seen either of them do in any media.

I'm not feeling Cole at all. In earlier threads I posited the theory that he would be the audience surrogate who unexpectedly gets killed, but I kinda wish the movie had the guts to do so.

I get that the movie serves more for setting up the new franchise, but it felt really, really small scale, when even the original game had this sense of mystic doom about it even though it was purely on Earth. For better special effects and more complex technology, it was somehow less grandiose than the original.

I'm also not a fan of how simply being at the temple helped grow superpowers, as opposed to simply being training, though I do like how Sonya was an "everyperson" defeating actual-superpowered opponents and earning her badge.

But for that matter, those monks sure know their cybernetic Robocop technology, don't they?

Couldn't we get Raiden vs. Shang Tsung?

The fight direction is kinda choppy. There are a couple times where the shot is a smooth take like the final battle of the original or like a Corey Yuen film, but sometimes the editing is too chopping and more akin to (but not at the level of) a shaky Jason Bourne fight. We want to see the choreography and the actors performing them.

Lastly, what is it about Hollywood casting Tadanobu Asano a *lot*, only to use him for about 2-5 min of screentime? Give the man more to do.

[Guy_McNichts]

Just finished watching it and....wow, that was bad.

The opening with Scorpion's origin was good. Sub-Zero was a bad-ass. The cast in general was good, even if the material they were given was garbage. But in a way, that was more frustrating, because all I could think of was the better movie that could be made with these people.

I can't help but wonder who exactly this movie is for. Because if you don't know the lore or at least haven't seen the '95 movie, you'll have no idea what the hell is going on. Like take Shang Tsung. He appears like three times before he's even named. He's never given a proper introduction. Who he is or what he wants beyond being "the bad guy" is never established. So if you don't know the games or have seen the original movie, you have no idea who this guy is.

And that's what it's like for pretty much every one else. Characters are introduced...some of them are named...but unless you follow the games, you have no reason to know who this character is or why they matter.

And the real kicker...if you DO know the games' lore, you'll hate this. Mileena is wasted. Reptile is wasted. Kung Lao goes out like a bitch. Why is Kabal working for Outworld? Why is Sub-Zero working for Outworld? There isn't even a tournament! What the hell is happening?!

In the lead-up to the movie, I was disappointed Kitana doesn't appear (she isn't even mentioned or referenced aside from a blink-and-you'll-miss easter egg). But I'm also kind of glad, because if she had appeared--based on how everyone else is treated in this movie--her role would be showing up, announcing her name, having a single fight scene, and otherwise standing around doing nothing.

And Cole. It's been said, and pretty much everyone called it from the start.
He sucks. He doesn't belong in this story at all. He reeks of a fan fic OC. He takes Liu Kang's place as the chosen one. He takes Johnny Cage's place as the POV character who needs everything explained to. And he horns on Scorpion's story to top it off.

And it's a shame because I liked Lewis Tan as an actor. If anything, he should've been Kuai Liang (the younger Sub-Zero, for those who don't follow MK's story). And honestly, a movie with Kuai Liang as the protagonist would've been infinitely better because the younger Sub-Zero is one of MK's best developed characters, and he would've fit in better with this movies interpretation of Bi-Han and Scorpion.

Everything about this movie felt off. Nothing lands. Characters feel like they're rushed in, just for the story to stop dead so we can focus on Kano and Cole finding their arcana. It feels like a poorly made pilot for a TV series. Here's a bunch of characters and concepts, if you like them, we'll keep make more.
But as a stand-alone movie, this is a disaster.

It's honestly a shame because, again, I think the cast is solid. I would've loved to see them play these characters with a better script.
The '95 movie isn't perfect. And as a guy who used to be obsessed with Mortal Kombat's lore, I have my issues with it. But it is lightyears better than this shambles.

[ZeroBG82]

Ok. So this movie is pretty bad, actually. Not terrible, but bad.

Let's start with the stuff that I actually did like. Jax and Sonya were great. Sonya was a little bit too conspiracy nut to start, but I thought they worked quite well. Their motivations are too basic (we met something weird and became obsessed), but Brooks in particular was excellent. Kung Lao looked amazing, and I love the ego. Also has the movie's best fatality, hands down. Raiden looks cool, though he doesn't do anything. Kano is the best character in the film, even if he is the watered down, suburban version of Kano. And Sub-Zero was a beast. Team Bi-Han for life? Nope, still prefer Kuai Liang. But Subby made a great villain in terms of presence.

Cole actually didn't bother me that much. The actor has a fantastic air of "common man" flavor that really helps the character. His powers were dumb, but whatever. He's not going to be a fantastic addition to the mythos or somebody I hope they put into the games, but he works for what he needs to be. Other than wanting the family tie to Scorpion so that they could make Scorp/Sub the centerline of the picture there is absolutely no reason this couldn't have been either Johnny OR Liu Kang, and either of those works better in the larger framework, but he didn't drag the film down any.

But I'll be curious if anybody who isn't into the games can follow this story at all. None of the realms, the tournament or even the roles of Raiden or Shang Tsung are explained. Raiden gets a brief mention when he explains how he's contractually useless, but otherwise they are just there. Nothing on why 10 tournaments matter, why Earth losing is bad, beyond generic threats of destruction, or what anybody gets out of any of this pain, violence and death. We get absolutely no explanation for how Sub-Zero can live for centuries, even though they explicitly reference his lifespan in dialogue. As a huge MK fan, I can make sense of all of those, or at least fanon explanations for them from the lore. But casuals? This was paced oddly, edited oddly, the script is godawful and the cinematography was generic as all hell. The movie manages to look boring even when they have overly elaborate costumes on display.

What else bugged me. The villains get no motivation or personality. It's not even clear how Cole knows their names when he devises his so-called plan (which is basically just let's have the damn tournament, ok?). You can basically tell that whoever wrote the script googled "outworld jobbers" and picked the first two names he found (Reptile and Reiko). And Nitara screams "but we can't kill Kitana, so who else can we throw in here?!" This version of Shang Tsung just isn't menacing or charismatic when compared to Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa's rendition from '95. He was serviceable, but not memorable. And Mileena was completely wasted here, and didn't even get to do anything cool before she jobbed hard.

Liu Kang. Ok, Lin looks the part. And I actually do like that they had him be the junior member to Kung Lao and the respectful younger man tropes. I'm not sure how I feel about "on my last day of training the Order of Light sent me to murder a guy and get an invitation to the tournament" as an origin story for him. Yes, it was a child trafficker, but still that's not very heroic monk. He's the goddamn dragon of earthrealm, and the movie basically makes him into Fireball Guy. He's not even that skilled a fighter, and really only beats Kabal thanks to the environment. Also, the cg on his dragon fatality was awful.

The fights mostly suck. The opening battle between Hanzo and the Lin Kuei was good, and the final Scorpion v Sub-Zero main event was super short but excellent in spite of that limitation. They clearly didn't have the budget to go for the full Toasty fatality, or were too frightened to make Scorpion scary and go for the full flaming skull look. But the only other fight in the whole movie that is worth even calling a fight is Sonya v Kano, and that was generic and without personality. How Sonya is the one who ends up fighting dirty and not Kano is just beyond me. Nothing here holds a candle to the '95 fight scenes beyond brutality. None of these characters feel like they are real fighters, let alone skilled enough to be fated to defend or conquer Earth.

Kabal got to look cool and run fast, Mileena got to teleport a few times. But otherwise they might as well not even be in the movie. Nitara doesn't even get to do that, dying without even a single line of dialogue and absolutely no presence. And while jobber Goro is to be expected, is it too much to ask that he gets a little personality beyond generic animal growls before he serves his sad fated role to go out like a chump? I'm going to be petty and deduct points for no Tarkatan as well. You can put frikkin Reiko in your movie, but we can't even get a generic unnamed Tarkatan? Hell, job Baraka out. Netherrealm Studios does it every game, it's pretty much his lot in life, second only to Reptile.

I really didn't like how they ditched the advanced tech the games use in addition to the supernatural elements. Kano's eye, Sonya's rings, even Jax's arms are just supernatural powers in this, and that misses a major theme of the game in tech vs. mysticism. And they never bother to explain how the warriors are chosen, when killing one passes on the dragon mark. Is Raiden manipulating fate? Or are we relying on blind, stupid chance in our inter-realm destined battles?

All in all, this was weak sauce. Confused, poorly executed and just generally a flawed example of film-making. Not all bad, but what worked can't save what didn't.

[Nate Grey]

Yeah I was kinda confused about that myself. It wasn't the actual tournament, so...Shang Tsung was just trying to get Raiden's fighters to forfeit? Neither could fight, buuuut, Shang Tsung can suck the soul out of Kung Lao? So Shang Tsung can breaks rules without repercussions but Raiden can't? And who exactly would be doling out those repercussions? Were "Elder Gods" even mentioned once?

It was confusing, and again I really wanted to see Raiden at least zap Shang Tsung at least once, but I just chalked it up to having something to do with the mythos that I stopped following post 2011 video game reboot.

[Blue22]

Yeah I was kinda confused about that myself. It wasn't the actual tournament, so...Shang Tsung was just trying to get Raiden's fighters to forfeit? Neither could fight, buuuut, Shang Tsung can suck the soul out of Kung Lao? So Shang Tsung can breaks rules without repercussions but Raiden can't? And who exactly would be doling out those repercussions? Were "Elder Gods" even mentioned once?

It was confusing, and again I really wanted to see Raiden at least zap Shang Tsung at least once, but I just chalked it up to having something to do with the mythos that I stopped following post 2011 video game reboot.

They were even more fast and loose with the rules than Shao Khan was in MK9 (and, by extension, MK3 I guess. But it felt even more unfair in 9 lol). To the point where there basically no rules unless Raiden conveniently said so. This movie felt like it was supposed to be set up to the tournament but it's entire plot made the tournament pointless. If Shang Tsung can swoop in wage all out war with the competition whenever he pleases, with no repercussions from the useless elder gods (guess they at least got that part right) then why are they even bothering with the tournament? Shang Tsung spent the whole movie breaking the rules and showing that he could get away with it. Meanwhile Raiden does jack **** because "the rules". That is until all of those times where he actually does intervene. This whole plot was just a fucking mess.

At least Shao Khan had to wait two tournaments before he was allowed to do something that made them all meaningless. Shang Tsung made them null and void before they even began. And the elder gods (as well as "Mr. Do-nothing-until-the-end" Raiden) let him!