Mortal Kombat *SPOILERS*

[Psy-lock]

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.

To be fair, Sonya's power was mystical in the games until the rebooted timeline.

[Wildling]

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?

IIRC Shang Tsung said they were too lazy to stop him so I'd wonder if they had bigger otherwordly stuff to care about rather than if Earth lived or died. By the same token, maybe Raiden was too deferent to them before but after Shang Tsung abused his power for nine tournaments straight Raiden decided to live a little of his immortality by the time he shut Shang Tsung off mid-sentence and transported him back to his realm.

[Nate Grey]

They were even more fast and loose with the rules than Shao Khan was in MK9. 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!

I think what's happening is, Shang Tsung isn't the true representative of Outworld, Shao Khan is. Meaning Shang Tsung is a glorified lackey. So he can break the rules, and Shao Khan can say "Hey he went rogue *I* didn't tell him to do that tee hee" and Raiden knows that, hence his why he didn't do jack when Shang Tsung randomly killed Kung Lao amongst other things. Maybe the only person he's allowed to fight is Shao Khan himself, and fighting even a lackey would be akin to breaking the rules. Boss against boss, not boss against minion.

I'm just making ish up of course cause the movie gives me nothing to work with, but a line of dialogue could have made things a bit clearer.

[Midvillian1322]

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.

Shang Tsung said the Elder Gods had grown lazy and that's why he can get away it. Stupid plot point but they atkeats adress it. I'm guessing Raiden didn't break the rules because he respects them despite Shangs disregard for them. I hated that but whatever. Soon as Shang Tsung broke the rules Raiden should have messed him up.

There are alot of good actors I like in this that I didn't care for here at all. The guy who plays Shang Tsung being the main one. Loved him as a villain in Marco Polo. Hes bland here.. Ludi Lin was charismatic in Power rangers and likable. Here I found him odd as a character. Think they leaned too hard into the Monk aspect.

Hiyrosuki Sanada is great in everything he is in. But he's barely in this and he's too old for the character. I like Tan, he should have played Scorpion if they plan on making this a 4 movie series or whatever the director said.

Subzero didn't have much of a personality but I'd say in the games it's his little brother who has the more memorable personality. So whatever the action was cool with him. Once his Armor fell off and he was just wearing all black. Thought that looked better then the bulky samurai looking suit. Guess that was just a Noob Easter egg.

[Nate Grey]

IIRC Shang Tsung said they were too lazy to stop him so I'd wonder if they had bigger otherwordly stuff to care about rather than if Earth lived or died. By the same token, maybe Raiden was too deferent to them before but after Shang Tsung abused his power for nine tournaments straight Raiden decided to live a little of his immortality by the time he shut Shang Tsung off mid-sentence and transported him back to his realm.

Huh, I'll have to watch that again. I took that as Shang Tsung saying "Oh [bleep]!" and getting the heck out of dodge a split second before the bolt hit.

[Nate Grey]

Shang Tsung said the Elder Gods had grown lazy and that's why he can get away it. Stupid plot point but they atkeats adress it. I'm guessing Raiden didn't break the rules because he respects them despite Shangs disregard for them. I hated that but whatever.

Alright I stand corrected. Better than nothing I guess.

Soon as Shang Tsung broke the rules Raiden should have messed him up.

Gotta save something for the sequel! *rolls eyes*

There are alot of good actors I like in this that I didn't care for here at all. The guy who plays Shang Tsung being the main one. Loved him as a villain in Marco Polo. Hes bland here.. Ludi Lin was charismatic in Power rangers and likable. Here I found him odd as a character. Think they leaned too hard into the Monk aspect.

Hiyrosuki Sanada is great in everything he is in. But he's barely in this and he's too old for the character. I like Tan, he should have played Scorpion if they plan on making this a 4 movie series or whatever the director said.

Subzero didn't have much of a personality but I'd say in the games it's his little brother who has the more memorable personality. So whatever the action was cool with him. Once his Armor fell off and he was just wearing all black. Thought that looked better then the bulky samurai looking suit. Guess that was just a Noob Easter egg.

I agree with this. It was weird Lao was the cocky one and Kang was the reserved one, should have been the other way around. And given what happened with Sub-Zero, how does his younger brother come into play? Will he turn out to be immortal too or just a descendant of Kuai Liang?

[Wildling]

Huh, I'll have to watch that again. I took that as Shang Tsung saying "Oh [bleep]!" and getting the heck out of dodge a split second before the bolt hit.

Nah Raiden even said he talked too much afterwards, Shang Tsung was clearly ready to chew everybody out about losing. While I agree Raiden was barely there as a character, he was becoming a bit more of a guardian by the end which is partly why I wouldn't mind watching a sequel.

[Blue22]

The elder gods being wishy-washy when it comes to how much they care about the rules has always been a thing (see again: MK3 and MK9). But damn. I expected the tournament to become pointless somewhere down the line. It always happens. But in the very first movie? After you spent all that time talking about the tournament and training for the tournament and gathering allies for the tournament?

[Vworp Vworp]

Yeah, that was bad. Really bad. The pacing (such that it has) is all over the place, the dialogue is mostly eek and the fights are disappointingly blah. All too often, the action is largely too choppy/over-edited, excessive shaky-cam and rarely even focuses on one fight at a time. Honestly, you'll find better short fight scenes filmed by stunt performers on YouTube on a fraction of the budget.

Story-wise, it has no story. There's not even really a Tournament here to speak of. It's just "You've been chosen. Now Training!" And it's not like the training has anything to do with improving their fighting skills anyway, cos everything is just about unlocking their special feature. I mean, Cole's arc is what? He's a bit rubbish. He leaves. His family are threatened. He gets some armour and arm-knives. He wins a fight. Oh yes, and just so he's not a complete outsider to the franchise, he's Scorpion's great, great, great Grandson or something.

Even the iconic stuff doesn't land right. Kung Lao gets a cheap fatality on Nitara and it's the first big game-inspired fatality of the movie and so he says... "Flawless Victory" And then, when someone does say Fatality, it's "Fatality... for Kung Lao" Likewise, all of Shang Tsung's big lines are kind of flat and Scorpion's "Get Over Here" just seems weird when it's spoken by a guy that only speaks Japanese for the rest of the movie.

As for the characters themselves, they range from OK at best (Sonya) to mostly meh (pretty much everyone else). Kano is sometimes entertaining in moderation, but not as much as the movie thinks he is.

For all of its maaaaaany faults, I've rewatched Mortal Kombat:Annihilation a few times in the years since it's release. Yes, it's awful, but it does still manage to be kind of entertaining, albeit usually in spite of itself. MK 2021 though? It's not good enough to be good, but it's not mad enough to be in any way memorable.

[Cyke]

I just realized that the games tried to have a new audience-insert protagonist, being Shujinko, and *maybe* Taven. They didn't work well, either.

[Agent Z]

I liked the movie. I agree with everyone that Cole added nothing. He was painfully generic and added nothing to the plot. How come his arcana turns him into the gold ranger while everyone else just gets a fireball?

Only Liu Kang got the fireballs.

[Agent Z]

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

Fans like Tanya just fine from what I've seen.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The elder gods being wishy-washy when it comes to how much they care about the rules has always been a thing (see again: MK3 and MK9). But damn. I expected the tournament to become pointless somewhere down the line. It always happens. But in the very first movie? After you spent all that time talking about the tournament and training for the tournament and gathering allies for the tournament?

I think the point more was that Shang Tsung was skirting the rules to stack the deck in his favor for the tournament so that when they do get to the real show he has all but secured victory. But now all his forces are completely wiped out. Which aside from Goro (it was a huge mistake to use him here as he really should be the big bad of the first tournament next to Shang Tsung) and Sub-Zero (who has a brother) they can now restock the deck with new villains (presumably Sindel, Baraka, Jade, and Sheeva)

[numberthirty]

Why do I get the feeling that this thread is legitimately better than the film?

(That Said, This Thread Is Kinda Priceless...)

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I thought it was interesting that the movie only found it's footing when they said screw the plot and just had everyone fight each other. Huge mistake having half the movie being build to a tournament they wouldn't pay off. Also Cole could die in 5 secs in the next movie and nobody would miss him.