Mortal Kombat (2021)

[StalinMan53]

It seems to me that point of movies like this is to make old ones look better by comparison. Old one was entertaining to watch, even more so if you saw some 70's asian kung fu flicks, and for video game adaptation it was very decent.

New one is simply boring - they fighting in the dark (mostly), main character is bland, decent gore only after 1h mark (and it's not enough), no fun catchphrases and zero fan-service. I didn't like it because it was disposable, but that's reality with many modern films. Watched it once, then never again. No wonder something like Marvel doing like 6 films in 12 months, not counting streaming shows.

 

[REMEMBERMKULTRA]

The seethe across this thread, before and after the movie came out, seems a bit embarassing though, especially considering how not-wokie the movie is.

I don't care about wokeness but I'd say this movie is moderately woke. There are literally no heroic white male characters and they race-swapped Mileena.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Keeping in mind that I'm a very casual fan of the series and have only played a few of the games, I thought the movie was decently entertaining enough.

While I gets fans' complaints about Original Character donut steel and the lack of an actual tournament, I also kind of get why they didn't want to do a straight up remake of the 1995 film at the start and wanted it to be pretty different, Hollywood loves "origin stories" these days.

One thing I thought was cool was that they added a character from the 2002 game Deadly Alliance, it would have been so easy just to focus on the more recent games or the classic games and ignore the mid-point of the series, the fact that they didn't is cool, it's nice to have homages to the entire history of the series.

One thing that did bother me though was Kano, I thought it was an interesting take on it to have him be more of an anti-hero, he brought some much needed life and energy to the movie, but then they just have him become a typical villain, a waste of a good opportunity I think.

I am interested to see where they go from here assuming a sequel happens, there's room for improvement but I think it's a decent jumping off point and a cut above what most video game movies tend to be, compare this movie to 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li (which I have seen) and Mortal Kombat 2021 is fantastic in comparison.

 

[Heckler1]

I would watch a Sub-Zero Mythologies movie with Joe Taslim after seeing how hard he killed it as Bi-Han.

 

[JohnDoe]

I would watch a Sub-Zero Mythologies movie with Joe Taslim after seeing how hard he killed it as Bi-Han.

We're unlikely to get it after this fuck-up of a film. I'm continually amazed that studios and producers keep tripping themselves up in the exact same way time and time again when trying to reproduce the Marvel success story. Nobody seems capable of looking back to the pre-Avengers era and seeing the very isolated stand-alone films that established and popularized the core characters and concepts.

Like Iron Man [2008] this film needed to be focused. A tight cast of characters played by good actors with a very simple story that can anchor further developments and other series or movies. MK has plenty of cool shit that would easily support comics and TV and other movies but the central pillar has to be solid and simple with a broad appeal.

Which is more palatable to normies:
"Okay so a genetic birthmark that you can also inherit by killing the owner (does it pass down to the killer's kids?) identifies people with magic powers who may or may have to fight in some kind of tournament we never see or know a lot about to decide if weird Asian guys and monsters invade Earth, I think, but also the other guys can just assassinate those fighters without consequence but also we could invade and kill them ahead of time and also it seems like they can just invade anyway because there is no penalty for cheating but regardless there are rivalries between Chinese and Japanese ninjas but the characters don't know that because I don't think the main character speaks either language and also there is a kung fu temple. Do you want to know more?"
or
"Some evil guys from another dimension want to take over Earth and the only way to stop them is by winning a deadly fighting tournament with ancient gods as the referees. Want to know more?"

 

[Heckler1]

We're unlikely to get it after this fuck-up of a film. I'm continually amazed that studios and producers keep tripping themselves up in the exact same way time and time again when trying to reproduce the Marvel success story. Nobody seems capable of looking back to the pre-Avengers era and seeing the very isolated stand-alone films that established and popularized the core characters and concepts.

Like Iron Man [2008] this film needed to be focused. A tight cast of characters played by good actors with a very simple story that can anchor further developments and other series or movies. MK has plenty of cool shit that would easily support comics and TV and other movies but the central pillar has to be solid and simple with a broad appeal.

Which is more palatable to normies:
"Okay so a genetic birthmark that you can also inherit by killing the owner (does it pass down to the killer's kids?) identifies people with magic powers who may or may have to fight in some kind of tournament we never see or know a lot about to decide if weird Asian guys and monsters invade Earth, I think, but also the other guys can just assassinate those fighters without consequence but also we could invade and kill them ahead of time and also it seems like they can just invade anyway because there is no penalty for cheating but regardless there are rivalries between Chinese and Japanese ninjas but the characters don't know that because I don't think the main character speaks either language and also there is a kung fu temple. Do you want to know more?"
or
"Some evil guys from another dimension want to take over Earth and the only way to stop them is by winning a deadly fighting tournament with ancient gods as the referees. Want to know more?"

It's doing fine in the box office. If Hollywood can milk something that makes money, they will make more of it. Plus, "normies" seem to njoy it, so I don't see the series not continuing.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I think people tend to forget just how fucking bad video game movies used to be.

Again, I have to compare it to Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, which MK 2021 is a great movie in comparison, to say nothing of those Uwe Boll movies.

Even with Mortal Kombat itself while this may not be as good as the 1995 film it's still a lot better than Annihilation, which was Uwe Boll levels of laughably bad.

It seems like slowly but surely Hollywood is figuring out how to do a video game movie and not have it be a complete embarrassment.

This actually makes me want to see them make another Street Fighter movie.

I don't care about wokeness but I'd say this movie is moderately woke. There are literally no heroic white male characters and they race-swapped Mileena.

I think that's one of the reasons why I liked the movie is, other than race-swapped Mileena, I wouldn't say this movie was really Woke at all, it felt like, ya know, a real movie, like Hollywood used to make, not blatant propaganda where you're entertainment is a very distant second.

The character of Sonya Blade impressed with how likable she was because usually female characters are so terribly done these days.

I would watch a Sub-Zero Mythologies movie with Joe Taslim after seeing how hard he killed it as Bi-Han.

Yeah, I had the same thought, it was very interesting to see them reference something that originated with that game of all things.

It's the same thing with the appearance of a character from the 2002 game, what can I say? It's cool to see a modern movie with a bunch of stuff taken from 90s and 2000s media.

If they make a Sub-Zero Mythologies movie, we'd then need a Special Forces movie where Jax runs past a group of showering women lol.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

I started watching the OG after this one last night. I still have around 45 minutes left of it, but I do have to say that compared to the 2021 version, the 1995 one blows it out of the water in set design and the script.

The dialog in the 2021 movie is just not good. There are some jokes here and there but often times, it's pretty bleh.

I agree, OC donut steel is useless, and so is his family. At one point I thought he was gonna be the new Scorpio because of the visions and shit, but then the actual one shows up, and I was like what? Also, why didn't Sub-Zero kill his family? The whole fucking "keep my bloodline going" is complete shit when you're "alive".

Also, why didn't the baby cry at the beginning? I really hate that shit.

 

[The Demon Baby]

The only part of MK that I found entertaining was the scene where Kano was training with Liu Kang, and the movie made fun of all the players who spam Liu Kang's leg sweep. "Is that the only move you know, mate?"
I LOL'ed.

 

[Islamic Creampie]

I almost never watch movies, but figured I'd see this since I loved the original as a kid. What a fucking disappointment. Cole was bland as shit, Sonya can't act, the whole chosen one superpowers thing was lame except Kano. Him being worked up into a spitting rant for his powers actually worked and fit the character.

The dialogue was really bad for the most part. Very stiff and corny. Almost like a 90's video game movie, but in 2021. Except for Kano. He was funny and by far the best character.

Nothing really happens for a lot of the movie, then everything happens at once, everyone gets their powers and they win ten minutes later.

Kano and the opening scene were the only redeeming things.

 

[Megaroad 2012]

I wouldn't say this movie was really Woke at all,

Johnny Cage is not in this because he's a white dude lol

 

[Dom Cruise]

Did anyone else notice the change they made where the science fiction elements like Jax's arms and Kano's laser eye are all now supernatural "arcanas"?

I wonder if they were following the "double mumbo jumbo" rule of screen writing or if they were thinking it makes it a bit less goofy?

I almost never watch movies, but figured I'd see this since I loved the original as a kid. What a fucking disappointment. Cole was bland as shit, Sonya can't act, the whole chosen one superpowers thing was lame except Kano. Him being worked up into a spitting rant for his powers actually worked and fit the character.

The dialogue was really bad for the most part. Very stiff and corny. Almost like a 90's video game movie, but in 2021. Except for Kano. He was funny and by far the best character.

Nothing really happens for a lot of the movie, then everything happens at once, everyone gets their powers and they win ten minutes later.

Kano and the opening scene were the only redeeming things.

Kano was by far the best thing about the movie.

Johnny Cage is not in this because he's a white dude lol

Then why is Johnny Cage the sequel tease that is supposed to get us hyped and Kano is a likable anti-hero at first despite ultimately becoming a villain?

Whatever Woke elements are in the movie are mild compared to most stuff these days.

 

[The Nothingness]

I got mixed thoughts on this, with most of the cons being stuff already brought up. Here are some other nitpicks of mine The various Easter eggs that were in the temple gave me vibes of The Mummy (2017) where so many references to the Universal monsters were jammed in for the failed Dark Universe. Outworld's champions were an odd selection with lesser known characters like Nitara appearing and Reiko just being a generic big guy with a hammer, Kabal's mask looked a bit like Smoke's cybernetic helmet, which confused me when he first appeared, and Goro also being a generic monster that went out like a bitch. If future installments are made, I hope they don't fuck up my boy, Ermac. I'm still reeling from him being done really dirty in Season Two of Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

If there is one plus I can give for this movie it is making Bi-Han's Sub-Zero the final boss and made me think of this unrelated clip.

 

[TheAmbiguousLurker]

"Okay so a genetic birthmark that you can also inherit by killing the owner (does it pass down to the killer's kids?) identifies people with magic powers who may or may have to fight in some kind of tournament we never see or know a lot about to decide if weird Asian guys and monsters invade Earth, I think, but also the other guys can just assassinate those fighters without consequence but also we could invade and kill them ahead of time and also it seems like they can just invade anyway because there is no penalty for cheating but regardless there are rivalries between Chinese and Japanese ninjas but the characters don't know that because I don't think the main character speaks either language and also there is a kung fu temple. Do you want to know more?"

Really, you have to wonder why they waste so much time detailing the Tournament that isn't apart of this movie when they could give more time to anything else. So much of the movie feels rushed. Like, in the span of about five minutes we're introduced to Kabal, reveal he has a history with Kano, then have him convince Kano to work with the people trying to kill him and start the fight that has Lui Kang swearing vengeance against Kabal.

 

[TheClorax]

Just got back from seeing it.
I’m not familiar with Mortal Kombat myself, never really played the games (though I did have a friend who loved it), but from what I get is that it’s a big dumb fighting game where whatever’s coolest is what goes.
And the movie certainly delivered on being a big dumb gorefest I expected it to be.
Not a whole lot I can say for it beyond that though. I wasn’t particularly attached to any of the characters given I was only familiar with Scorp and Sub through cultural osmosis.
It was big, it was ridiculous, it was gory, and I‘m not sure what else there was to expect from it.

 

[Image Reactions]

Nitara, Mileena and Reiko were just fucking fodder. Terrible shit film.

 

[I.B. Niggin]

Was Cole's arcana literally plot armor?

 

[Dom Cruise]

Was Cole's arcana literally plot armor?

I laughed at a shot near the end where it's clear it's rubber.

 

[Heckler1]

Did anyone else notice the change they made where the science fiction elements like Jax's arms and Kano's laser eye are all now supernatural "arcanas"?

I wonder if they were following the "double mumbo jumbo" rule of screen writing or if they were thinking it makes it a bit less goofy?

Honestly, that was really the only aspect that I strongly disliked. I liked how in the universe lore, most humans have no magical powers, and so compensate with training and tech. Makes them seem more resiliant against a force of magic wielding monsters and shit. It also made the humans WITH powers seem more important. Since death doesn't matter in MK, 'd say when Kano comes back he has his full on cyber eye and heart. Maybe introduce the Cyber Lin Kui or something.

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

I enjoyed it for what it was. Yes the writing was poor (that really awkward way of a character addressing someone by their name and title so the audience knows who they are) and the cinematography was pretty drab, but I felt it achieved what it set out to do in being a dumb, fun popcorn flick.