PULPY, GORY, SHOW YOU HALF THE MOVIE BUT YOU STILL GONNA WATCH GOODNESS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow3fhDtRHiU

I'm not sure which outcome I'm more hopeful for

SFX seem pretty mediocre and the casting is all over the place

And who's "Cole"? Why not Liu Kang?

I s'pose if the last MK you played was II back in the arcades this'll be the best story they've ever told but MK9-11 probably still gonna be the GOAT


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

And introducing a new character (Kharacter?) is a mistake, I think.

But it looks like he's being tied into the mythology as a descendent of Scorpion, so maybe it will work.

Oh I can't wait for them to cover this one. This does not look good at all.

LMAO. Yikes

>PULPY, GORY, SHOW YOU HALF THE MOVIE BUT YOU STILL GONNA
>WATCH GOODNESS:
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow3fhDtRHiU

It’s called Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge and I loved it. This goes without saying but it was SUPER violent.

would probably skip it in theaters if i had that option.

I get 90's nostalgia but a movie based on a 30-year-old game? But I guess if Sonic did numbers maybe this can too?

the last edition was the 5th-best selling game of 2019

>I get 90's nostalgia but a movie based on a 30-year-old game?
>But I guess if Sonic did numbers maybe this can too?

My son is 6, and he's a huge Sonic fan. Backpack, lunchbox, the works.

And that's before the movie. He plays everything from the original Sonic, to Sonic Forces and Sonic Team racing. He even likes that wack ass Sonic Fighters game.

He watches the old Sonic cartoons and everything.

Mortal Kombat has never gone away. They're up to MK11 now, and it's a massive crossover spectacle, with editions featuring everyone from Freddy Krueger, to Spawn, to Terminator and Robocop to Rambo.

It's not the media phenomenon it once was, but the game is as big, successful, and relevant as ever.

These movies are trading on the strength of both nostalgia and current relevance. Other long running franchises, such as Street Fighter or Tekken, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Mario, Mega Man, etc, could all very easily do the same, because those games all remain a significant industry presence with current games.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I'm out.

.

Yes, many of us have played the games and pretty much know why that happens and what it sets up.

But that could have gone a different way, and I was watching hoping he'd return. Knowing for sure would have made that a very different experience for me.

The movie was hot basura but still. People shouldn't be putting these kinds of spoilers in the headers, especially on opening weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt6BQKxxdCo

it doesn't look like complete shit I guess?

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

If you're only in it for the gory fight scenes, it mostly delivers.

But overall this was just as bad as the original.

I'm probably going to skip pt. 2 (and yes they set up a pt. 2)

.

1. Shoulda been an actual tournament. They we’re getting so bogged down in training/figuring out their powers and then had a bunch of kinda quick fights to solve it.

2. They made the outer world characters look like shit in these fights, particularly Goru. He gets taken out by a guy who is just now figuring out his powers? Fuck that. It seemed like all of this was merely to set up a sequel with a bunch of undead versions of these characters.

The first 12 minutes were awesome though.

They let Hanso and Sub-Zero go in big long takes... but Cole and Sonja they cut around and used tighter shots. (Especially odd consider the Cole actor is supposed to be an action guy.) Definitely a mixed bag, which is disappointing.

I fell asleep on it last night and picked it back up today. Even when you don't knitpick, it's rough. The Kung Lao fatality was pretty hard, though.

It’s not good. But I enjoyed parts of it. Stupid idea whomever was like “let’s bypass the tournament” though. Also, I really thought there would be better fights in it. They weren’t bad, but I was hoping for epic shit. That final battle(s) were over in a blink.

but Hollywood loves to reinvent the wheel.

>It’s not good. But I enjoyed parts of it. Stupid idea
>whomever was like “let’s bypass the tournament” though.
>Also, I really thought there would be better fights in it.
>They weren’t bad, but I was hoping for epic shit. That final
>battle(s) were over in a blink.
>

really low expectations, but this could have actually been good if they did a real tournament and ramped up the final battles.

This script felt like an algorithm


Shame of a movie, especially considering they could've just edited and condensed the Mortal Kombat 9 story and had the perfect jumping off point for a bonkers tentpole trilogy about time travel and legacy

Instead we get "arcana" and bootleg Liu Kang


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I think maybe it's because they clearly knew what kind of movie they were making. It's a B movie made as a B movie. They didn't get too ambitious with the story or the cast or the acting.

The pacing was good, the nods to the video game were cool, and it wasn't too long. It was kind of a fun watch.

The only thing I did kinda miss was an actual tournament, because expected one, but knowing now that it's a prequel then I get it.

is isn't ironically good.
It's not popcorn flick b-movie fun.

It's bland.
It's boring.

Characters are shit.
Story is shit.

Not on some, "I expected citizen kane" shit.

But in some, nothing about anyone or anything anyone did or said was remotely interesting or engaging.

This is shit people will tell themselves is good in a certain context, or because you shouldn't expect a quality film based on this property.

But no.

The games are disjointed. But the pieces, the framework of a good story are there.

We don't need people suddenly, magically getting powers.
We don't need mythical birthmarks.

We damn sure don't need brand new, movie exclusive characters.

The only thing even remotely god about this is Kano's trash talk game.

That's it.

The fighting isn't even entertaining.

This shit is a CW or Syfy quality TV movie, and it sucks even by that standard.

It's bad, bad, bad, and yet another huge strike against mining video games for film content.

The IP is there, but everyone involved in the writing, casting, acting, design, production, direction, etc of this film were absolutely the wrong choices.

This is the worst movie I've seen since the flaming bag of pig shit that was Jupiter Ascending.

..its funny 'cause its true.



*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Provided we get a fucking tournament. I can't believe they hit us w/ a prequel to a tournament. get the fuck out of here.

Liked
- Kano the MVP of the movie.
- Kung Lao (my boy was swagged tf out and had the hardest kill in the movie)
- Liu Kang's fatality
- Lewis Tan (I feel bad for him that he's playing such a shit and disliked character. Loved the dude in Badlands and he made the best of the slop he was given here)
- Kabal
- Sonya
- Mileena's angles lol (yall thought it too)

Disliked
- Liu Kang's casting and costumes (he just looks like a boy. too young. too small. Robin Shou looked legit)
- Raiden (sorry but white Raiden from the old movie fucking shits on this dude. this dude had the energy of an Uber driver and all he did was taxi folks around anyway)
- Cole Young (prime example of Hollywood overthinking shit. you already have your audience insert w/ Johnny Cage. Cole Young is unnecessary and disrespects the story history. wack weapons, wack powers, wack costume)
- the Arcana thing (there's too much "why" in this movie anyway but the Arcana stuff about made my eyes roll out of my head)
- NO TOURNAMENT (I am just flabbergasted as to how there is no Mortal Kombat in Mortal Kombat. Come on.)

If they have half a braincell over there go cast The Miz as Johnny Cage ASAP, and get us to a tournament within the first 15 mins of MK2

Two biggest things that stuck out for me were no Johnny Cage and no tournament.

Since I don't play the game, I thought maybe he had been removed from the game since the 90s, but the ending implies him having a larger role in the sequel.

Most egregious was the lack of tournament though. I mean w/ the original there was a definite build up and sense of anticipation as the fighters worked their way through the competition, but here everything felt kinda...flat? Idk, I know a movie like this there's only so much plot you're going to get, but I wish they would have just stuck with humans vs the universe in a march madness styled competition.

(Also both Raiden and Shang Tsung were miles better in the 90s film)

Miz isn't even a credible main event star in his own field.

He can talk his ass off, but his entire presentation is mid card- which is where he's been. He's great at being a mid card pro wrestler with a mid card gimmick, who just so happens to have main event speaking ability.

He's smug, arrogant, etc, but despite the wwe and reality tv fans (and Boone, apparently) trying to make this a thing, Miz isn't Johnny Cage.

All this is apart from the fact that he's shown nothing even resembling martial arts skills.

Can he throw a believable sidekick? The splits? Cause that shit will be needed.

Ryan Reynolds would make that shit pop though, because he's got pretty much everything needed, both for the character and the movie, because this shit desperately needs a star. RR isn't exactly the greatest, but he's fantastic in certain situations, and I think Cage is a perfect fit.

We'll probably get some generic CW type actor for this shit though.

As somebody who HAS played the games, the way they used him in MK9 was pretty much perfect for what they felt they "needed" this Cole character to do: bring the audience into the world of the movie. Cage has always been kind of a lame fighter IMO, but in the lore he's one of the fuller non-Outworld characters there is. Take this exchange from early in the game:

Raiden : You fought well.
Johnny Cage : Thanks. Nice hat.
Liu Kang : You should be more respectful of Lord Raiden. He's the protector of Earthrealm. The God of Thunder, the...
Johnny Cage : Look. I don't know what kind of role playing you guys are into, but count me out.
Liu Kang : This tournament is more than a chance for personal glory. We are fighting for the very surivial of Earthrealm.
Johnny Cage : What are you talking about?
Raiden : Your last opponent was Tarkatan. He was born with those blades.
Johnny Cage : Yeah. Those things are real.
Raiden : He represents Outworld. Had you lost, the Emperor Shao Kahn would come 1 step closer to physically absorbing *our* world into his.
Johnny Cage : Outworld, yeah. Right, right.
Raiden : The Elder Gods created the Mortal Kombat tournament to give Earthrealm a chance to defend itself. But if we lose this time, Shao Kahn will conquer all.
Johnny Cage : Dun, dun, duuuuunnnn. Look, guys. I'm an actor. I save the world for the cameras. If this emperor is *really* a threat? Call the military. Me? I've got a date with a blonde. Ciao.

Liu Kang : What do you see in him?
Raiden : He is a hero, Liu Kang. Though he may not yet know it.


I swear, the guy that wrote this movie is an idiot.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

The games already have plenty of story to tell.

just adapt that.

And that Cage scene is perfect. He's a smarmy, wisecracking asshole.

To be honest, adapting 9 would have been a great way to incorporate the OG series and draw some continuity.

But I digress. There were plenty of ways to make this good.

What we got was shit.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

I mean it's no action masterpiece, but it was entertaining enough.

The 90s film is one of my favorite low budget films, and I admittedly don't know why except the cheesiness and fucking amazing soundtrack just work for me.

This one also had a lower budget feel, but the fun of the 1st one is missing and they had the audacity to not include the iconic song until the closing credits. It seemed to be very violent, but seemingly there was more emphasis placed on gory endings versus actual fighting.

Ultimately, this felt like a placeholder for a sequel which seems to be the norm nowadays.

it hit all the beats.

this one doesn't really reflect any particular aesthetic, and it doesn't have "how the fuck is an actor this good in this shit" actors to carry it

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at