Board 8 > Mortal Kombat (2021)

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ninkendo
04/23/21 1:26:56 PM
#1:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K5nRntbSfI

I'm sure some have seen it by now. About to go see it at the theater myself.

Reception seems mixed from both critics and fans although they generally agree it's better than the older movies.

Time to find out!

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Leonhart4
04/23/21 1:32:25 PM
#2:


Well, it's not hard to be better than Annihilation

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bryans7
04/23/21 1:37:04 PM
#3:


I can confirm it is better than MK: Annihilation, which is one of the worst movies of all time.

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ninkendo
04/23/21 3:53:16 PM
#4:


Bring on Mortal Kombat 2 what a cliffhanger

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ninkendo
04/23/21 4:06:31 PM
#5:


MK review zone

first 30 minutes and last 30 minutes are great. The fights themselves are amazing

middle hour is pretty slow when they're training, but Kano is such great comic relief that he helps get you through it

Lots of callbacks to the original 1995 movie and a few references for fans of the games, not just the original trilogy but also some of the later games.


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TheRock1525
04/24/21 3:25:52 AM
#6:


Well, while a fun movie, that was some really bad acting.

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Grand Kirby
04/24/21 4:19:31 AM
#7:


I really hope the next Mortal Kombat game adds a trailer home as one of the arenas.

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SwiftyDC
04/24/21 4:45:32 AM
#8:


Kano was amazing.

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Peace___Frog
04/24/21 7:20:39 AM
#9:


Yeah, Kano was easily the best part of the movie

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ZenOfThunder
04/24/21 9:00:51 AM
#10:


everytime Kano is not on-screen the audience should be asking "where's Kano?"

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WazzupGenius00
04/24/21 9:29:15 AM
#11:


Why did they make some rando the protagonist when any number of MK kharacters would have fit that role

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bryans7
04/24/21 9:34:47 AM
#12:


The studio wanted an audience surrogate and to make it a new character so they wouldn't have fans complaining they changed someone.

Though I think in the first draft Cole was originally a reincarnated Scorpion instead of his descendent.

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Grand Kirby
04/24/21 12:18:08 PM
#13:


Yeah, Cole was a studio mandate, and it feels to me like the writers deliberately tried to sideline him as much as possible to compensate. He still gets a lot of focus in the story because he's the main character, but all the really cool moments are given to the other canon characters instead.

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ZenOfThunder
04/24/21 12:21:27 PM
#14:


should have just been Johnny Cage if the studio wanted an audience surrogate

or they could have kept Kano as a good guy and made him the surrogate although I think fan backlash on making Kano the actual main character would have been worse

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TheRock1525
04/24/21 12:37:23 PM
#15:


Also poor Kung Lao. I know someone usually has to die to "motivate" the main characters but having your soul sucked out and trapped in a sorcerer forever is still an awful fate.

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GuessMyUserName
04/24/21 12:39:49 PM
#16:


WazzupGenius00 posted...
Why did they make some rando the protagonist when any number of MK kharacters would have fit that role
gimme my shujinko

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PerfectChaosZ
04/24/21 2:11:22 PM
#17:


They've created a lot of audience surrogates for the games over the years that they could have used without having to make another one
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ninkendo
04/24/21 2:17:06 PM
#18:


TheRock1525 posted...
Also poor Kung Lao. I know someone usually has to die to "motivate" the main characters but having your soul sucked out and trapped in a sorcerer forever is still an awful fate.


but we got the quote so it's fine

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SwiftyDC
04/24/21 3:11:49 PM
#19:


TheRock1525 posted...
Also poor Kung Lao. I know someone usually has to die to "motivate" the main characters but having your soul sucked out and trapped in a sorcerer forever is still an awful fate.

Like the original.


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TheRock1525
04/24/21 3:53:17 PM
#20:


So yeah, I'm just gonna say it.

I think the 1995 Mortal Kombat was better.

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yellowwolley
04/24/21 6:12:42 PM
#21:


It really wasn't very good.

Bland story. Bland dialogue. Bland characters. Bland acting. Most of the characters appear from nowhere with little explanation of who they even are.

Kano was a hoot and there were a few good fights. But those aspects weren't enough to make it a good movie.

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Sorozone
04/24/21 6:30:13 PM
#22:


I liked it enough. Granted I was high.

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Seanchan
04/24/21 7:06:22 PM
#23:


yellowwolley posted...
It really wasn't very good.

Bland story. Bland dialogue. Bland characters. Bland acting. Most of the characters appear from nowhere with little explanation of who they even are.

Kano was a hoot and there were a few good fights. But those aspects weren't enough to make it a good movie.

This pretty much sums it up. It was a whole lot of meh.

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Mac Arrowny
04/24/21 7:53:44 PM
#24:


Should've had more characters to kill, on both sides. Mileena doesn't even eat anyone...
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swordz9
04/24/21 9:06:27 PM
#25:


It was pretty dumb, but slightly enjoyable dumb at least. Cole completely sucked all kinds of ass though. The fatalities were pretty nice at least. Definitely agree with Mac. We needed more fodder to kill in the movie. All of the mains are pretty boring other than Kano. Hes the one character it felt like they actually gave passable content to. He was pretty funny and could actually act to a degree which is more than you can say about almost anyone else in the movie. Id still watch a sequel if it happens, but hopefully they ditch Cole for it
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SeabassDebeste
04/24/21 11:43:30 PM
#26:


like minutes before he appeared i was convinced cole would become scorpion and redeem his existence

other than that, i actually really liked it, shit acting and all. kano was great and the fatalities were fantastic, especially chao yung vs the flying woman and liu kang's flame dragon

needed more techno syndrome though
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Heroic Bigpun
04/25/21 1:12:05 AM
#27:


My only questions are

Was the theme song in it

If not

Do y'all think putting the theme song into random action scenes would've improved the movie

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TheRock1525
04/25/21 1:12:51 AM
#28:


Heroic Bigpun posted...
My only questions are

Was the theme song in it

If not

Do y'all think putting the theme song into random action scenes would've improved the movie

It's kinda in it.

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ninkendo
04/25/21 1:23:16 AM
#29:


The new instrumental remix is in the film multiple times, but not like the original with the lyrics

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v_charon
04/25/21 1:46:15 AM
#30:


It was enjoyable. I'd say it was a good movie. The thing is it will just depend on what kind of Mortal Kombat fan you are. If you're one that just likes the over the top zaniness and enjoys piling characters in no matter the costs, then I think you'll love this movie.

Pros:

-Sub-Zero and Scorpion are both well represented here; the utterly evil nature of Bi-Han is well captured and Scorpion's humanity is displayed pretty well, despite the short amount of time we actually get to see him.

-Unlike most I thought the acting was in general pretty good. None of the performances stuck out as "bad" from the main cast. Liu Kang felt a little flat but he was barely in the movie to really judge.

-Kano was awesome. I didn't think it could be done but this guy actually outdid the original performance by Trevor Goddard, all of which created the Kano character we know today basically (he wasn't Australian until Goddard made the role his own). Witty banter with anyone he interacted with, the star of any scene he was in really.

-I actually ended up thinking the main character was okay. I was a bit worried about this particularly coming in, but I ended up liking him well enough and I appreciate his powers not being a ripoff of someone else from the MK canon. It was also a good callback to his character arc of being a punching bag for others.

-The fights were choreographed pretty well and all the effects used looked great, especially stuff like Liu Kang's dragon fatality and all of Sub-Zero ice effects.

Cons:

-"Character overload syndrome", which plagued MK Annihilation and was one of the many, many reasons it was awful. Obviously this film is not awful by any stretch, but I fail to see the need for characters like Reiko and Nitara here. Yes, they are cute little things for fans of the series given they're more niche, but the problem with this is like I mentioned. I personally am the type of fan that's into the lore and backstory aspect of the series, which is easier to do in a video game because there's more time and you don't need action beats and fatalities every 5 minutes. I really thought those characters were just wasted and their use served no one. The casual person isn't going to care or know about characters that haven't been in any games for well over a decade and the hardcore fan that would be excited to see these characters in action again will be disappointed when they have no speaking lines and die in 5 minutes. I'd have just preferred nameless goons or original characters; they created Cole specifically for the film, so just create some bit characters to kill off as fodder. Don't do this to actual MK lore characters.

-Some of the characters were poorly used. The biggest example is Goro. Here's your 9 time champion and he's literally sent after a guy who doesn't have any powers yet to kill his wife and kid. This just isn't befitting of Goro if you've played the games. To have this guy lose to Cole, who just found out he could use magical powers 3 minutes ago, is pretty lame.

-While it's difficult to write a proper ending to a Mortal Kombat... anything, because WB always is ready to start production on the next thing, this ending felt especially rushed to me and if there is no sequel, then "welp".

There's more to rant about, positive and negative, but those are my main thoughts coming out of it. Ultimately I was fairly impressed with it considering I was dreading this a bit as it became clear it was going to actually happen. I liked it more than I thought I might and I still think if they want to build a franchise of films around this, it could still work if they clean up some of the problems I had with it. Keep the cast small, or just do cameos that don't involve throwing an established character at a main character only for them to have no lines and die. All these characters have a story and if you can't tell those stories, don't use them.
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skullbone
04/25/21 3:09:07 AM
#31:


I was really disappointed in this movie for all of the reasons mentioned above. I understand that Cole was studio mandated but they could have actually made him cool instead of whatever they did with him. His arcana being rock armor and knives was pretty lame. Also lol at all of the characters walking through the desert in combat/tactical gear and he's literally wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Just give him some personality and make him cool!

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TheRock1525
04/25/21 3:35:41 AM
#32:


v_charon posted...
Unlike most I thought the acting was in general pretty good.

I know stuff like this is heavily subjective but I cannot comprehend how anyone could say the acting was good.

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Leonhart4
04/25/21 8:24:13 AM
#33:


I kinda lost interest in it once I learned they made a fanfiction self-insert the main character.

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SeabassDebeste
04/25/21 8:36:46 AM
#34:


TheRock1525 posted...


I know stuff like this is heavily subjective but I cannot comprehend how anyone could say the acting was good.

i think in a video game/action movie you're just looking for "not that bad." only sonya and cole stuck out as really bad to me.
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swordz9
04/25/21 8:46:19 AM
#35:


Thats kinda bad when they were 2 of the 3 characters with the most dialogue >__>
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redrocket
04/25/21 10:06:13 AM
#37:


bryans7 posted...
The studio wanted an audience surrogate and to make it a new character so they wouldn't have fans complaining they changed someone.

Why do studios think this is necessary, especially when the original movie in the same franchise did fine without it?

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Lord Ephraim
04/25/21 2:27:33 PM
#38:


Movie was pretty boring. Aside from Kano and some gory fights, the rest of it was just bland. The context for how violent Mortal Kombat is doesn't fit well with a movie. I don't know why it keeps getting movie adaptations. At least Resident Evil had a branching storyline to go with.

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LiquidOshawott
04/25/21 2:34:42 PM
#39:


It was pretty silly and the script sounded pretty ridiculous, but I had like no expectations going into it so fine

Also the whole arcana thing just didnt really jive well but I guess it was just an excuse to give Kano a laser eye and the main character stuff

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Sens-Hangar_18
04/25/21 2:44:26 PM
#40:


TheRock1525 posted...
So yeah, I'm just gonna say it.

I think Mortal Kombat Annihilation was better.


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Grand Kirby
04/26/21 12:36:54 PM
#41:




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Forceful_Dragon
04/26/21 12:54:33 PM
#42:


I liked the brutality of it.

I don't have a lot to praise other than that, I have a have a lot of confusion regarding the actual plot itself.

Soooooo this is basically the scenario they presented:
-Earthrealm has lost 9 straight tournaments.
-The tournament is coming soon.
-The bad guys are being bad guys and trying to kill everyone BEFORE the tournament.
-The good guys are training to be ready for the tournament.

Right?

So then the good guys get together and start training.

But... WHEN is this tournament supposed to happen? And WHERE is it taking place? And WHO is running the tournament.

There are a total of six realms so we're not supposed to believe that outworld and earth realm are the only two participating right?

Because to me it seemed like the good guys reaction to "bad guys are being bad guys and trying to kill their opponents before the tournament" was to "be bad guys and kill their opponents before the tournament". Or was that supposed to BE the tournament? Is the tournament just "raiden teleports people places and they kill each other"? And if that was the tournament then earth realm is safe now right? Because they just won a tournament and would have to lose 9 more to be in jeopardy?

Or is the official tournament still coming and the movie we just watched did not contain any actual "mortal kombat" but rather a series of fights where the good guys murder all the bad guys in illegal pre tournament fights?

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swordz9
04/26/21 12:58:44 PM
#43:


The director stated a reason for the spoiler question above.

"We didn't want to just do the same the movies again," McQuoid told GameSpot. Just as important, though, the movie's creative team wanted to reflect how the game franchise has changed over the years. "If you look at the way the games evolved, and the storylines within, it's kind of moved away from that as well," the director explained.

McQuoid continued, "We weren't just recreating [the] original film, we weren't recreating the first five years of its existence. We had to consider its entire history, coupled with the fact that when you have a tournament structure for a film, it really informs your structure, it becomes a very specific structural element within the script itself. And that then informs a rhythm within a film that we didn't really feel like we wanted to be locked into. So if you look at both of those things, we needed to talk about it because it's an essential part of what Mortal Kombat is, but we didn't want to be locked into it."
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SeabassDebeste
04/26/21 12:59:53 PM
#44:


Forceful_Dragon posted...

Or is the official tournament still coming and the movie we just watched did not contain any actual "mortal kombat" but rather a series of fights where the good guys murder all the bad guys in illegal pre tournament fights?

this is how i understand it, yes
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ninkendo
04/26/21 1:00:42 PM
#45:


Forceful_Dragon posted...
Or is the official tournament still coming and the movie we just watched did not contain any actual "mortal kombat" but rather a series of fights where the good guys murder all the bad guys in illegal pre tournament fights?

that

Shang Tsung states that battles outside of the tournament have been a normal part of the history of the tournament

This was also the plot of Mortal Kombat 3 after Shao Khan merged Earthrealm and Outworld he basically sent a bunch of extermination squads to try to kill all of Earth's warriors before the tournament could begin.

Also Deadly Alliance literally opens with Shang Tsung and Quan Chi conspiring to murder Lui Kang before any tournament

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Forceful_Dragon
04/26/21 1:25:23 PM
#46:


SeabassDebeste posted...
this is how i understand it, yes

And that's what I thought but it just seems so strange.

Because that means Raiden basically just accomplished the exact thing he was upset at Shang Tsung for trying to do.

And we're supposed to feel good about that?

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ninkendo
04/26/21 1:26:24 PM
#47:


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swordz9
04/26/21 1:36:01 PM
#48:


If theres anything to take away with regards to Raiden in this movie its that Raiden does and says whatever the fuck he wants even if what he does doesnt match what he says. Hes just inconsistent imo
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ninkendo
04/26/21 1:37:14 PM
#49:


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redrocket
04/26/21 2:12:55 PM
#50:


Forceful_Dragon posted...
And that's what I thought but it just seems so strange.

Because that means Raiden basically just accomplished the exact thing he was upset at Shang Tsung for trying to do.

And we're supposed to feel good about that?

i mean theyre bad dudes

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redrocket
04/26/21 2:24:15 PM
#51:


and lets also remember that the tournament only exists in the first place because Raiden forced it as a concession out of Shao Khan, as opposed to Shao Khans actual desire to just invade and conquer Earth at will.

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