Mortal Kombat *SPOILERS*

[Nate Grey]

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.

Well...as a nod to the MK:A, they could recast him with someone who kinda sorta looks like Lewis Tan and then kill him in the first five seconds. lol

But no I think Tan is here to stay.

[Castle]

Whelp....I went into this movie with low expectations. As someone who's a big fan of the Mortal Kombat franchise, almost nothing about this movie really excited me from the getgo. Aside from Ludi Lin as Liu Kang. I was actually really happy for him.

Anyway, I went in thinking that it wouldn't be great but it'd at least be okay....and I was still let down, severely. Holy **** this sucked. Like....Mulan remake levels of disappointing. The first two movies weren't anything to write home about either but I'd actually rather see them again than this. They were fun. This was just...a hot ass mess.

They made the same fucking mistake that 2017 Power Rangers made. They're banking on a sequel so instead of making a decent standalone movie, they made an hour and a half long setup movie for a sequel that's not even guaranteed. Oh hey. More Power Rangers connections: Once again Ludi Lin played the most boring character in the main cast. And that's saying something because all of these people are a bunch of joyless bores. Save for Kano. But he might have actually been the worst of the bunch because he would not shut. The ****. Up! Oh my God, it's like he was making up for the fact that Johnny wasn't there. So he had to be twice as quippy and over the top as he normally is.



^This pretty much sums it all up. This whole movie was such a painfully hollow attempt at recreating one of the most engaging fighting game stories I've ever seen.

Power Rangers 2017 is the superior film. far better story structure and character motives with better dialogue but I have to agree, that this movie spent more time with set ups. these studios need to stop drinking the Marvel studios Kool-Aid of making step up movies because at least MCU does plan itself well and already has the good will of the media and critics by their side, MK franchise is not even close to this type of reception. the reception of the film should be worse than the 1995 film.

As you have you said , they needed to focus more on creating a decent stand alone film, the power rangers thing is uncanny because the way this movie teases Johnny cage, is the same way power rangers 2017 teased the Green Ranger and Tommy, only in that movie it worked because no character in that film was trying to fill in tommy's place, so it felt like the movie would be going to a new chapter with the green ranger, especially having set up Jason as the leader , however in Mortal Kombat, Kano was already trying to be Johnny Cage, so the Cage set up tease just came out cheesy since Kano was doing a lousy job trying to be him

Also was this movie suppose to have arcs? A basic standard action film usually have 3 major arcs, this movie just had lots of randomness, you did not know when one story arc or plot point wrapped , to move to the next. completely horrible.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Power Rangers 2017 is the superior film. far better story structure and character motives with better dialogue but I have to agree, that this movie spent more time with set ups. these studios need to stop drinking the Marvel studios Kool-Aid of making step up movies because at least MCU does plan itself well and already has the good will of the media and critics by their side, MK franchise is not even close to this type of reception. the reception of the film should be worse than the 1995 film.

As you have you said , they needed to focus more on creating a decent stand alone film, the power rangers thing is uncanny because the way this movie teases Johnny cage, is the same way power rangers 2017 teased the Green Ranger and Tommy, only in that movie it worked because no character in that film was trying to fill in tommy's place, so it felt like the movie would be going to a new chapter with the green ranger, especially having set up Jason as the leader , however in Mortal Kombat, Kano was already trying to be Johnny Cage, so the Cage set up tease just came out cheesy since Kano was doing a lousy job trying to be him

Also was this movie suppose to have arcs? A basic standard action film usually have 3 major arcs, this movie just had lots of randomness, you did not know when one story arc or plot point wrapped , to move to the next. completely horrible.

Here's the thing though.... Marvel didn't really make that many set up films. Iron Man was a perfect standalone film. The one set up was really an end of credit scene. Even though everything built to Infinity Wars and Endgame, the set up was an end of credit scene in Avengers to know Thano existed, a few films that had infinity gems as part of the plot but weren't about Thanos looking for them, and via Guardians, knowing a bit more about Thanos hierarchy.

Ironically one of the most hated early MCU films was Iron Man 2 and largely that was because it forced so much set up into the movie at the expense of the plot and they learned their lesson.

This film was literally "there's a tournament coming, find all the fighters in the tournament, train them, a guy trying to manipulate the tournament before it happens".... then no tournament. So you knew the entire film that the important thing wasn't happening.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Well...as a nod to the MK:A, they could recast him with someone who kinda sorta looks like Lewis Tan and then kill him in the first five seconds. lol

But no I think Tan is here to stay.

I really don't even get why they had Cole instead of Cage. Cage is the fish out of water character who can be skeptical of everything that the audience can latch onto and he is a more interesting character than a generic blah named Cole.

[Nate Grey]

I really don't even get why they had Cole instead of Cage. Cage is the fish out of water character who can be skeptical of everything that the audience can latch onto and he is a more interesting character than a generic blah named Cole.

Well...

Greg Russo, revealed that this inclusion was a studio mandate. "It was something the studio wanted. The new protagonist was an idea loaded in prior to my involvement."

and

Producer Todd Garner does point out that the character offers a new perspective into the complicated world of Mortal Kombat. "We needed somebody to completely manipulate, so there’s not 30 years of people going ‘You can’t do that.’"

[Psy-lock]

Well...

Greg Russo, revealed that this inclusion was a studio mandate. "It was something the studio wanted. The new protagonist was an idea loaded in prior to my involvement."

Will WB ever learn? Probably not.

[Castle]

Well...

Greg Russo, revealed that this inclusion was a studio mandate. "It was something the studio wanted. The new protagonist was an idea loaded in prior to my involvement."

and

Producer Todd Garner does point out that the character offers a new perspective into the complicated world of Mortal Kombat. "We needed somebody to completely manipulate, so there’s not 30 years of people going ‘You can’t do that.’"

And this my dear friend is what some of us fear when studios start pushing inclusion over pure film making artistic choices, when what is needed is a balance of both.

They replaced Raiden with an Asian Actor but could not find any Asian actor as good as the last white actor that played Raiden?

Also the 1995 Film was already inclusive. Liu Kang was Asian and he was the central character not Johnny Cage, one of the other female lead and love interest of Liu Kang, Kitana was of Latin heritage. so we even had an interracial couple. The 1995 film even had a black character (Art Lean) who gave the movie a major plot point and gave the characters more purpose, although one may argue...well the black character died. there was already a female lead, though white was still female.

The 1995 film is how to do diversity well. while caring about good story telling and personal character motives. This scene from the 1995, where Raiden tells Johnny, Liu and Sonya that they need to movie on from their personal issues, obliterates the 2021 film and this scene was only the first arc of the 95 film.


Studios need to forces on getting the art right first, when they have done that inclusion would not be a problem.

[Nate Grey]

And this my dear friend is what some of us fear when studios start pushing inclusion over pure film making artistic choices, when what is needed is a balance of both.

The whole thing seems bizarre. I'm one of the few who didn't hate the character but at the same time felt he shouldn't have been the main character. But at least now we know why he's there.

They replaced Raiden with an Asian Actor but could not find any Asian actor as good as the last white actor that played Raiden?

They were too worried about buildup to have Tadanobu Asano actually do anything, so to me he's a big question mark as in who's better, him, Lambert or Jeffrey Meek. Yes darn tootin I'm including Jeffrey Meek I loved Mortal Kombat: Conquest. lol But if they weren't worried about the sequel but instead making this a decent stand alone he might had done more while still "following the rules".

Also the 1995 Film was already inclusive. Liu Kang was Asian and he was the central character not Johnny Cage, one of the other female lead and love interest of Liu Kang, Kitana was of Latin heritage. so we even had an interracial couple. The 1995 film even had a black character (Art Lean) who gave the movie a major plot point and gave the characters more purpose, although one may argue...well the black character died.

Well...yes, but offset by Jax's cameo. So technically you can say they didn't kill the only black guy in the movie.

This scene from the 1995, where Raiden tells Johnny, Liu and Sonya that they need to movie on from their personal issues, obliterates the 2021 film and this scene was only the first arc of the 95 film.

That's what I'm saying, Raiden could have did a version of that HERE but it seems like they want to save him for the sequel.

[CliffHanger2]

Eh, I'm in no rush to see this. Jax getting his effin arms ripped off is kinda off-putting to me. In the 1st one he just had enhancements and then didn't need them by the end. So not sure what that's about here. I never really thought Lambert was that great at anything personally. I thought the guy on the Highlander show was better than him.

Guess i'll get around to checking it out.

[hareluyafan1]

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!

Beg your pardon but that is not so.

In MK3 it was explained that Shao Kahn exploited a loophole in the rules by arranging to have Sindel resurrected in Earthrealm. This allowed him to legally invade it in order to "rescue" her. It was a backup pan he'd kept in reserve in case his plan to conquer Earthrealm through 10 tournament victories failed.

MK9 of course ****** it all up but NetherRealm Studios writing is abysmal so best to ignore that.

I thought the guy on the Highlander show was better than him.

Adrian Paul, and yes he was.

[Captain Smith]

Not being into its universe and watching it as a movie - it was pretty bad. I kind of liked Sub-zero. So the plan is to invade Earth with some medieval level army?

[SiegePerilous02]

Watched this last night.

For some dumb "shut your brain off entertainment" it was...fine. I'm not a big MK fan as I've only ever seen the first movie a couple times, and played the games at arcades sporadically, but even I could tell Cole was a bland OC Do Not Steal who was outshined by pretty much everyone else. And they are all action figures from a fighting video game, so that's saying something. I did at least like everyone else even if they weren't too complex, but nobody really had anything to do. Liu Kang, Sonya or even Jax should have been the main protagonists.

I thought Kano was the best part of the movie, and I appreciated that they gave Sonya some better fight scenes after her underwhelming one in the MK95, along with not falling into the damsel in distress role. But while the original movie was not good by any stretch of the imagination, it at least had a tournament, and was charming in how cheesy it was. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was sorely missed as a hammy Shang Tsung. Hell, aside form obvious bad casting decisions, so was Christopher Lambert.

[Username taken]

Eh, I'm in no rush to see this. Jax getting his effin arms ripped off is kinda off-putting to me. In the 1st one he just had enhancements and then didn't need them by the end. So not sure what that's about here. I never really thought Lambert was that great at anything personally. I thought the guy on the Highlander show was better than him.

Guess i'll get around to checking it out.

Lambert wasn't at all great in the first MK movie. He was barely in the movie.

The only thing he brought to it was star power and name recognition (which was why he was cast at the time).

Linden Ashby and Robin Shou did well enough to carry that movie.

Apart from Highlander, Lambert hasn't really been great in anything IMO.

[Blue22]

Beg your pardon but that is not so.

In MK3 it was explained that Shao Kahn exploited a loophole in the rules by arranging to have Sindel resurrected in Earthrealm. This allowed him to legally invade it in order to "rescue" her. It was a backup pan he'd kept in reserve in case his plan to conquer Earthrealm through 10 tournament victories failed.

MK9 of course ****** it all up but NetherRealm Studios writing is abysmal so best to ignore that.

Oh I'm well aware of the reason. But even before MK9 swooped in and fucked that story to hell and back, I still thought that was a very stupid loophole and broke enough of the rules for me to think the elder gods shouldn't have allowed it to happen the way that it did. Picking up your wife = permission to take over the whole realm? There's no way in hell that should have been able to fly. There's a lot of silly things about MK's earlier stories that could have used some fleshing out in the remakes to make them less...silly. Instead the remakes kinda doubled down on the stupid.

[hareluyafan1]

Not being into its universe and watching it as a movie - it was pretty bad. I kind of liked Sub-zero. So the plan is to invade Earth with some medieval level army?

A "medieval level army" composed of beings that are not only far more physically powerful than humans (Shokan for example can take multiple rounds of automatic weapons fire and keep coming), but have a range of eldritch powers, including teleportation, telekinesis, energy blasts powerful enough to blow up helicopters and such. Plus Shao Kahn has conquered multiple realms so his army is huge. It has been shown several times that standard Earthrealm forces are no match for them.

Seriously, even if you don't play the games you should read up on the lore. It's fascinating.

Oh I'm well aware of the reason. But even before MK9 swooped in and fucked that story to hell and back, I still thought that was a very stupid loophole and broke enough of the rules for me to think the elder gods shouldn't have allowed it to happen the way that it did. Picking up your wife = permission to take over the whole realm? There's no way in hell that should have been able to fly.

Agreed. By all means permit travel to the realm in force to rescue loved ones, but conquering the entire realm? Like you said that is odd.

There's a lot of silly things about MK's earlier stories that could have used some fleshing out in the remakes to make them less...silly. Instead the remakes kinda doubled down on the stupid.

Very true.