Mortal Kombat - third film to be shot in Australia

[elevenism]

I think the initial draw to legacy for me was wanting to see their take on different characters, and if I remember right it just ended up being a huge mixed bag. And now, I just ultimately don't think it's very memorable, and I think this new movie seems like it's going to fall into a similar place.

As for the formatting... I guess I do think the 95 movie proves it can be done right in a 2 hour time span. But time and scope are things addressed by the story being told through gaming... Mk obviously having done a lot to influence the way stories are told in games, as well. But ultimately when you translate it to another medium you're going to run into problems. Like there are many groups of characters in MK that actually have nothing to do with each other or have little interaction, and I think that's difficult even for a tv show. For a long time the sub-zero/scorpion plot is just wholly separate from the core mortal kombat tournament story, and it's been interesting to see how linear storytellers deal with that, since obviously these two are the most iconic characters on the franchise, while only tangentially interacting with the main group.

This is why we need the MKCU.

Hey: while I'm here I've seen MK "movies" made out of cutscenes from the games available on YouTube. (I've not kept up with the games.)
Are these worth watching? I especially love the first three games, so would 9 be the one to watch? I'm hoping you answer this one, @Shadaloo , as you seem to be our resident MK superfan.

[Erneuert]

This is why we need the MKCU.

Hey: while I'm here I've seen MK "movies" made out of cutscenes from the games available on YouTube. (I've not kept up with the games.)
Are these worth watching? I especially love the first three games, so would 9 be the one to watch? I'm hoping you answer this one, @Shadaloo , as you seem to be our resident MK superfan.

Y-E-S!

Watch the movies (game movies) for MK9, X and 11 (and Aftermath). They’re all incredible!

[Shadaloo]

This is why we need the MKCU.

Hey: while I'm here I've seen MK "movies" made out of cutscenes from the games available on YouTube. (I've not kept up with the games.)
Are these worth watching? I especially love the first three games, so would 9 be the one to watch? I'm hoping you answer this one, @Shadaloo , as you seem to be our resident MK superfan.

They're great if you just want to catch up on where the story's been going since Armageddon, yes (nutshell: alternate timeline). These days, character endings aren't really part of the overall story at all, though a few of them do still reveal interesting facts about the cast.

I have mixed feelings about story direction since MK9. It's important to note that 9 really simplifies 1-3, MK3's story in particular (Shao Kahn kind of trashes a city when he invades as opposed to killing everyone on Earth, for example) They took a lot of liberties with their characters in comparison to how they used to be, often seemingly for the sake of streamlining the story - for example, Kitana and Mileena don't have any kind of shared background anymore, in MK9's telling Kitana just Spoiler: discovers Mileena freshly created instead. There's also a tendency to go for big "SURPRISE PLOT TWIST" moments - some of which I think do work, some of which don't.

So be prepared for changes, if you remember the original story beats. MK9's story mode was a revelation to a whole new generation of MK fans, but it left quite a few of us old-timers cold. I actually hated it for years, and I still disagree with a lot of the decisions it made (who in god's name would write Raiden as being so stupid?), but I can't deny it's still overall pretty entertaining

That particular one started a trend of using time travel as a storytelling device, so as a result things feel...even sillier than usual, sometimes, along with 11. Both focus very heavily on time shenanigans.

Of the three, I think I like Mortal Kombat X the most overall (it also has a pretty damn decent tie-in comic). It takes what 9 started and runs with it, and introduces a whole slew of great new characters to boot. The "Outworld civil war" is one of my favorite things in recent years.

MK11 is also fun as hell with the notable exceptions of how it handled Sindel and Shao Kahn (who, to my great disappointment, has been dumbed down over the years to a brutish barbarian who basically spouts MAGA parody rhetoric - that was a very painful scene to watch). Watching Cary Tagawa come back as Shang Tsung is such a fucking treat.

And Johnny Cage? Single best thing about MK games these days. All 3 of 'em. You'll see

[Erneuert]

I really hope the rumours about Havik still being part of MK11 are true.

Him and Sareena would be amazing. Shame all she got was a cameo in MKX. She’s one hot demon!

[Wretchedest]

Fuck it I'm doing a rewatch.

First of all this fucking movie just starts with the techno breakdown at full force so you know it's not fucking around.

Shang Tsungs leather jacket is fucking sick. Why don't we ever talk about that?

As we know from numerous action movies, clubs are an excellent place to apprehend a suspect. The band doesn't stop playing for the shotgun blasts and no one stops moshing.

The movie makes no attempt to explain Kano's faceplate. We just have to accept it or get fucked.

Johnny Cage's intro is great. Perfect. Shang Tsung sends some poor PA to get him. Also, the tournament is supposed to prove to the press that Johnny is legit but like... The press is not covering this tournament. They should. We could get a reporter fighter. Also the idea that the press is just dogging an action star over his moves is pretty bizarre.

Liu Kang also has a sweet leather jacket. And robin shou is ripped as fuck. What else did he do?

Raiden is effectively badass in his first scene, but Liu Kang just submits to him after a single judo maneuver.

Why does Shang Tsung care if Sonya enters the tournament? Or Johnny Cage? Sonya doesn't know who Johnny cage is... I guess she doesn't read the tabloids?

Obviously by making them allies, this movie fucks up the Scorpion/Sub Zero thing but that could threaten to derail the plot. Who cares? And by now it's been rehashed too many times as it is.

Oh yeah the reptile cgi looks brutal today lol the sub zero snow bal is fine though.

There this sequence now where they're like... Wandering the island looking for Shang Tsung. It's very weird.

I think this movie came out after ninja turtles and it's by the same studio, but Goro not looking great these days.

They're just bullying kano for no reason right now.I guess shang Tsung brought sonya because he wants to bang her??? That's a super weird plot point. This scene is just one piece of exposition after another.

Kitana just lurking around staring at people ominously.

What's funny is that all of these plots just become abandoned for a long string of fight scenes at the end.

Sonya is just relentlessly mean. Actually every bit of dialogue that isn't sonya being mean, or Johnny cage making jokes is just exposition.

So the tournament starts... Is there a ladder? How does this work? There are a ton of red shirts in this movie, they could have slotted in a couple characters from the games here. Not sure who though. Obviously that didn't work out in the sequel.

I've always loved this fight scene with Johnny and Scorpion, does johnny just get like a message telling him to go to these woods or what? Also there's some death metal gymnastics in this scene. The way johnny wins this fight is bullshit. Scorpion just stops fighting back after johnny gets some weapons out of no where.

Of all people, when Art Lean dies, Sonya is the most upset. Maybe he was the only character not sexually harassing her. Even raiden sexually harasses her.

There's a raiden pep-talk followed by a thoughtful montage that's actually about Johnny Cage realizing he can punch Goro in the balls.

Shang Tsung: "the rules are quite clear." No they are not.

At this point the movie needlessly turns sonya into a helpless victim, even though she recently killed a man but cracking his neck with her calves.

This whole scene where reptile gets tentacled into a statue that turns him into a ninja is fucking bonkers.

Yeah what this movie does to sonya is easily the worst thing about it.


I feel like I made this post too long lol

[Erneuert]

And Johnny Cage? Single best thing about MK games these days. All 3 of 'em. You'll see

[october_midnight]

[october_midnight]

[Wretchedest]

So what was the point of randomly including Reiko and Nitara? Like out of all characters? Might as well have included Mocap by the sounds of it. -insert Picard facepalm image-

As a guy who often chooses obscure characters favorites, I'll never shit on the few Nitara and Reiko die hards who won this day. Glad they got to have theirs.

[neorev]

Well, that was forgettable

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Spoiler: Loved every minute of it. Faithful to the characters, I actually gave a shit about everyone, and love that they had to earn their powers. Like what they did with Cole as well; It delivered for me, but for fucks sake they really showed almost every fatality in the trailers.

[Wretchedest]

This movie is so bad. It's like the CW version of MK.

The fatalities were the only good part, and other wise the movie is one horrible choice after another.

It kind of remind me of The Amazing Spiderman: yes it's more sleek and more modern, but it lacks the heart and soul of it's cheesier original

[neorev]

The real question is do people want 4 more of these movies?

https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/ne...-kombat-movies

[Wretchedest]

No

[Shadaloo]

Please no

[NotoriousTIMP]

Sign me up for four more! I was entertained and that’s all I ask of movies like this one.

[Jinsai]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I don't get how they're getting this stuff wrong.
The last MK game had a great story segment that was basically a four hour long movie. Then they brought out that Armageddon expansion, which is apparently cool too.

And I'll stand in defense of the first Mortal Kombat movie. It's a goofy fun mashup of Enter the Dragon and Mortal Kombat, and I think it knows how stupid it is... which is what makes it work. But if you wanted to make a "real Mortal Kombat movie" full of all the gore and have it actually follow the world's "story" (wtf ever that is), just make it like the story mode in MK11.

[otnavuskire]

I thought it was campy, violent, gory, dumb, and fun. What more could you want from a movie like this?

[Shadaloo]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I don't get how they're getting this stuff wrong.
The last MK game had a great story segment that was basically a four hour long movie. Then they brought out that Armageddon expansion, which is apparently cool too.

And I'll stand in defense of the first Mortal Kombat movie. It's a goofy fun mashup of Enter the Dragon and Mortal Kombat, and I think it knows how stupid it is... which is what makes it work. But if you wanted to make a "real Mortal Kombat movie" full of all the gore and have it actually follow the world's "story" (wtf ever that is), just make it like the story mode in MK11.

People saying "whatever the fuck Mortal Kombat's story is" are likely part of the real target audience for this thing - casual moviegoers that don't give much of a shit about the world and its history and characters. And I'm not saying that to be insulting: WB is banking on the blood and violence being the real draw for this. You can see it in the marketing.

I get that the popular draw for MK is violence and gore, of course - it's what made it famous, after all, but it was only ever the icing on the cake for me. I fell in love with the universe, plot and characters. I expect so little from that and I'm still disappointed.

It's frustrating to me on a few levels. Like...they've had nearly thirty years to flesh out this huge universe, and at this point saying "whatever MK's story is" is tantamount to "whatever the fuck Batman/insert comic series' story is. Stupid or not, there is a narrative - MK was, yes, always Enter The Dragon with more supernatural, horror/sci-fi aspects thrown in. There's a cast of supporting characters. There's a cast of bad guys, and all of whom do have a surprising amount of history with each other. Good guys go to a tournament to save the world from extra-dimensional evil bad guys and it kicks off from there. You would expect to see those things at the bare minimum, and...yet we're getting a movie mostly about a studio-created original character that basically exists because the filmmakers didn't have enough faith in the characters that were already there in the first place. There's no damn reason Johnny fucking Cage should not be present here, and yet...

To me, MK 1995 WAS a real MK movie. For all it matters, its violence was PG-13, but hell, you still had dudes being impaled on spikes. And I kinda feel like the choices this movie makes are straight up a result of trying to do the few things that film couldn't. Like Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero. Like hard R-rated gore. So you've got one movie that has fights as part of the tournament story, and another movie that uses its story as an excuse to show fights and murder people.

But I don't necessarily need people being torn to shreds to have a good MK experience - what I need is to feel like I'm in that universe - the Shaw Bros. Chinese Kung-fu atmosphere, the twisted, desolate ruins of Outworld. Instead I got a frozen warehouse and somebody's fucking backyard while I basically just watch re-enactments of the game's special moves and finishers, like that's all that's worth paying attention to.

"Daddy, use your uppercut!" - An actual quote.

There were episodes of the fucking 90's cartoon that were written better than this thing.

I thought it was campy, violent, gory, dumb, and fun. What more could you want from a movie like this?

Engaging characters. Not a goddamned one of those to be found here. 'Cept Kano.

[Jinsai]

Yeah, I don't worry about it... I can't pretend to keep up with the convoluted Mortal Kombat universe... the version of the game I just downloaded has The Terminator in it. But I get the vibe, and I thought the original MK movie actually got the "vibe" pretty right, minus the campy gore.

[richardp]

Couldn't really care less about the dumb history or mythology of Mortal Kombat, but that movie was FUN. I had a really good time watching it and got everything out of it that I expected to get.

[wizfan]

And Johnny Cage? Single best thing about MK games these days. All 3 of 'em. You'll see

"DAMN, I'm good."

I'm honestly afraid to watch this new movie. I'm more interested in brainstorming for a new MK remix album, but I probably will post more about it on my personal thread, rather than this one or the MK games thread. Then again, I still haven't had the time to finish my charity album... Welp, I'm gonna drop some ideas for it here, and I promise I won't derail the thread.

Like the story of MK, the music is also a rich and engaging world; I cringe whenever people dismiss Dan Forden's unforgettable work and say "but the MK theme is that techno song hurr durr", even though it's not the main theme in any game. The re-imagined themes of MK9 left me with mixed feelings. Some were beautifully faithful renditions, others were BRILLIANT reconstructions (it took me a while to figure out what they did with the new Graveyard theme, and then I was like "whoooaaa, holy shit"), while others were just... eh, especially those that were turned into generic bland Hollywood-y stuff, just like the original tracks made for the game. My tribute will stick a bit closer to the original tracks, but I'll also take a shot at the MK9 stuff as well, because why not? And it will have loopable versions so they can be used in fan games like the amazing MUGEN ones (seriously, why aren't you playing these?).

Now that I've got this out of my system, does the new movie at least have a good soundtrack? How did Benjamin Wallfisch fare? And, I hate to ask this, but is his Techno Syndrome 2021 tolerable? I'm also afraid to listen to it.

[Wretchedest]

People saying "whatever the fuck Mortal Kombat's story is" are likely part of the real target audience for this thing - casual moviegoers that don't give much of a shit about the world and its history and characters. And I'm not saying that to be insulting: WB is banking on the blood and violence being the real draw for this. You can see it in the marketing.

I get that the popular draw for MK is violence and gore, of course - it's what made it famous, after all, but it was only ever the icing on the cake for me. I fell in love with the universe, plot and characters. I expect so little from that and I'm still disappointed.

It's frustrating to me on a few levels. Like...they've had nearly thirty years to flesh out this huge universe, and at this point saying "whatever MK's story is" is tantamount to "whatever the fuck Batman/insert comic series' story is. Stupid or not, there is a narrative - MK was, yes, always Enter The Dragon with more supernatural, horror/sci-fi aspects thrown in. There's a cast of supporting characters. There's a cast of bad guys, and all of whom do have a surprising amount of history with each other. Good guys go to a tournament to save the world from extra-dimensional evil bad guys and it kicks off from there. You would expect to see those things at the bare minimum, and...yet we're getting a movie mostly about a studio-created original character that basically exists because the filmmakers didn't have enough faith in the characters that were already there in the first place. There's no damn reason Johnny fucking Cage should not be present here, and yet...

To me, MK 1995 WAS a real MK movie. For all it matters, its violence was PG-13, but hell, you still had dudes being impaled on spikes. And I kinda feel like the choices this movie makes are straight up a result of trying to do the few things that film couldn't. Like Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero. Like hard R-rated gore. So you've got one movie that has fights as part of the tournament story, and another movie that uses its story as an excuse to show fights and murder people.

But I don't necessarily need people being torn to shreds to have a good MK experience - what I need is to feel like I'm in that universe - the Shaw Bros. Chinese Kung-fu atmosphere, the twisted, desolate ruins of Outworld. Instead I got a frozen warehouse and somebody's fucking backyard while I basically just watch re-enactments of the game's special moves and finishers, like that's all that's worth paying attention to.

"Daddy, use your uppercut!" - An actual quote.

There were episodes of the fucking 90's cartoon that were written better than this thing.



Engaging characters. Not a goddamned one of those to be found here. 'Cept Kano.

Yes, all this. I remember early on the filmmakers saying they wanted to emphasize the fatalities... And it shows.

I don't need the story to be accurate to the mk games nobody gives a fuck about it. I just need it to be fun and not a drag. MK95 makes correct understandable choices in a b-movie framing.

This one makes baffling, frustrating choices in a blockbuster framing. None of the performers have any of the charm of the ones in the original. Kano maybe. But even then.

[burnmotherfucker!]

Now that I've got this out of my system, does the new movie at least have a good soundtrack? How did Benjamin Wallfisch fare? And, I hate to ask this, but is his Techno Syndrome 2021 tolerable? I'm also afraid to listen to it.

I just watched it and I think as bad as it was the music let me down more than anything. Much of the movie is backed by generic sounding orchestral movements that sound like they were just copy pasted from some other B movie. Come to think of it the best musical moment is when one particular character shows up and they rehash the old theme. It lasts about 2 seconds.

My bar was pretty low for this thing and I don't really even think they managed to clear it. Some of the kills are cool and thats about the only good thing I could say about it. At least the 90s movies had great music and they also did a much better job of making the tournament actually feel like a big event. This movie crams all the fights into one basically and they never really give you a good feeling of two fighters facing off like the old one did. Even the Scorpion vs Sub-zero managed to shit the bed by throwing in the new MMA generic character in the middle of it.

I'll take the og over this every time. Also, I'll take the web series over it too. That had the best Scorpion/SubZero story.

[Erneuert]

Been watching clips from it on YouTube and yeah... no. Apparently the Cole character was forced into the script by Warner Bros.

The only movies I will watch or take as canon are the “movies” within the games of MK9, X and 11.

Otherwise, count me out unless it’s something Ed Boon is creating and/or directing. So much cringe in what I’ve seen.

[Erneuert]

I thought it was campy, violent, gory, dumb, and fun. What more could you want from a movie like this?

Accuracy and truth to the story. It’s so elaborate only the original creators could do a live action film justice.

This mess of a film is just... a mess. And the roster of characters is completely out of chronology to how they ought to appear for anything to make any sense. You don’t just throw in a new studio mandated character and random Outworld people for shits and giggles. Massive let down.

[burnmotherfucker!]

Accuracy and truth to the story. It’s so elaborate only the original creators could do a live action film justice.

This mess of a film is just... a mess. And the roster of characters is completely out of chronology to how they ought to appear for anything to make any sense. You don’t just throw in a new studio mandated character and random Outworld people for shits and giggles. Massive let down.

I agree it comes down to story. Do people actually like the "hey look Cole has a family so you want to root for him now dont you audience?" routine they did here. The most interesting thing about the guy is his ancestry. And his ancestor isn't even in the movie enough.

Idk, I'm ok with new things and putting new twists on stories. But if you're going to go that route then you better have a better story than what came before. WB has got to be the worst studio of all time when it comes to interfering with shit. The worst thing is it's not like it affects the budget to write a better story.

[Erneuert]

I agree it comes down to story. Do people actually like the "hey look Cole has a family so you want to root for him now dont you audience?" routine they did here. The most interesting thing about the guy is his ancestry. And his ancestor isn't even in the movie enough.

Idk, I'm ok with new things and putting new twists on stories. But if you're going to go that route then you better have a better story than what came before. WB has got to be the worst studio of all time when it comes to interfering with shit. The worst thing is it's not like it affects the budget to write a better story.

Massive case in point: when WB interfered with The Exorcist III. Small personal plug: I’ve run a website dedicated to William Peter Blatty’s (author of The Exorcist) two films (the only two he directed) following The Exorcist since around 2007 or so (http://www.theninthconfiguration.com - just noticed the Legion sub-site isn’t loading, will need to fix that), but, basically, since 2010 to his passing in 2017 we became close friends and he often gave me updates/insights to add to the website via email and a couple of times over the phone.

Back in 1990, what was a fantastic adaptation to his “Legion” novel became a convoluted mess at the end due to WB’s involvement. I have an entire sub-section dedicated to explaining it and whatnot that will hopefully load by tomorrow. Edit: here - https://legion.theninthconfiguration.com/film/original/

Total drift, but if anyone reading this is interested in how all of Bill’s work is intertwined, read this page I put together years ago: https://www.theninthconfiguration.com/intro/
@allegro @allegate @eversonpoe and @elevenism and @ickyvicky you guys might find this interesting.

Sorry about the drift. In conclusion: Warner Bros sucks donkey ass.

[otnavuskire]

I think Shadaloo hit the nail on the head when they said the target audience for this movie is people that don't know anything about the story. Which is most people. Can't say I was even aware MK had a story, and I'll bet most other people would say the same. I've always been terrible at fighting games so I don't play them. I couldn't care less about the story. As I said, all I wanted was some campy violence and gore and I got what I came for and enjoyed it.

[Erneuert]

I think Shadaloo hit the nail on the head when they said the target audience for this movie is people that don't know anything about the story. Which is most people. Can't say I was even aware MK had a story, and I'll bet most other people would say the same. I've always been terrible at fighting games so I don't play them. I couldn't care less about the story. As I said, all I wanted was some campy violence and gore and I got what I came for and enjoyed it.

It’s really interesting when you get into the lore and all the different realms. Reptile comes from his own realm that we only know of one other inhabitant so far: Chameleon/Khameleon, and most recently discovered (through Raiden) his real name: Syzoth.

Havik exists in the Chaos Realm (most recently went there with The Joker with his Mortal Kombat cameo) and contrasts with the Order Realm. When Mortal Kombat 4 came out (Reiko’s game debut) they ended up giving him an extended ending in the Mortal Kombat Gold version where he walks through a portal, sits on Shao Kahn’s throne and dons his helmet. This caused a major controversy for years over whether he was really Shao Kahn or what the deal was. Eventually it became known that he just yearned to have that type of power:




Then you get this film that just shits all over that and Jax punches his head to smithereens. The actor sucked playing him and looked nothing like him to boot.

This new film is really a major kick in the face to loyal fans from the 90s.