Mortal Kombat (2021)

[Morrigan2575]

Red Band Trailer

I haven't played MK since my Sega days. Where's Johnny and Kitana? I saw someone who I think was cast as Mileena but, it doesn't make sense unless they're totally changing the character's back story.

 

[calliope1975]

I really like the cast and that we're getting some brutal fatalities. Maybe they're saving Kitana and Johnny for the hoped for sequel. 

[Morrigan2575]

I'm a little worried about Liu Kang considering he's such a major character in the games. Other than it looks good and I'm excited for it. 

[Robert Lynch]

MORTAL KOMBAT! Nothing is complete without that song! I hope they include that in the end credits or something.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Robert Lynch

[BetterButter]

 

[Morrigan2575]

No joke, Annihilation is the only movie I have ever walked out on in a theater.

I forgot how much I loved Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung

[BetterButter]

 

[Morrigan2575]

Boo! Boo! I want it now!😂

[BetterButter]

 

[Anduin]

We get the first seven minutes! Pretty good. Maybe better than I expected. While I could watch this at home, I'm leaning towards the cinema on Friday.

[gbobo84]

Just saw these Easter egg clip of MK, can’t wait 1 hour left. 
 

Link: https://shrinke.me/Hs3ke9

[Anduin]

Wow. I decided to watch it at home instead. One of my better decisions.

While the big screen and sound system would be nice, my area got dinged with a fresh lockdown. Yay. On the bright side, I didn’t need to put on shoes, deal with other people, and got to pause for breaks when I felt like it.

And yeah, the movie itself was just okay. Some fun dialogue, some fun fights, but nothing that really stood out. If you can watch this at home, I suggest you do so.

Hey, this was filmed, at least partially, in Adelaide! Adelaide is known for three things. Churches, serial killers, and generally being a hole. Filming a Hollywood blockbuster there? It’s just a funny idea.

Hey, any big MK fans out there? We've got three movies, a live-action series, a cartoon, and a web series. Does it have such a large fanbase to justify all these different cracks at the material?

[Sakura12]

Another movie I'm glad I didn't pay to watch in the theater. They are going to have hard time getting me back in the theater if these so called blockbusters aren't delivering. And for all the talk of the tournament and we never actually got to it was their biggest mistake. That is the whole point. I don't need to see the family life of a new character that I don't care about. I watch Mortal Kombat to see cool fighting. 

It was an okay movie that had potential to be better if it had a better story. The movie felt very small in scale too. We barely so any other people around besides the characters. That made the world feel tiny and made it seem like they were the only people left. And none of them really stood out either. I haven't seen the 90's version in awhile but I remember Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Shang Tsung and Christopher Lambert's Raiden. These versions were just kind of there. The 90's version isn't a great movie by any means, but it got right in terms of what I expect from it and that's what makes it good. 

The new character was completely unnecessary. They all didn't know much about Mortal Kombat so they could've just used Johhny Cage and not save him for a sequel they may not get. 

I would watch a movie about the history of Sub-Zero and Scorpion though. 

[bluvelvet]

Decided to see this in the theater and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Thought the fight scenes were well done, only complaint would be more on the history of SubZero and Scorpion and more Scorpion in general. Also did Cole understand Japanese?

Still deciding how I feel about a new character just for the movie, but I liked the idea that Scorpion's bloodline wasn't just obliterated.

Wish we had the tournament, but I would watch a sequel.

[Morrigan2575]

Woot! Johnny Cage in the Sequel. Hopefully we get Kitana too. Although they need to cast and Asian actress for Kitana...not sure how they will explain Mileena. I'm surprised they killed Kung Lao since he's a major character in the games. Although he has "died" before and usually his death prompts Liu Kang into winning major battle.

I enjoyed the movie but they wasted Hiroyuki Sanada and Scorpion. He better be back for the sequel. 

Was Cole an original character all the way? I didn't recognize his final power but, figured he was from the latest games that I never played.

[Anduin]

10 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Was Cole an original character all the way? I didn't recognize his final power but, figured he was from the latest games that I never played.

Apparently he was a studio-mandated new character. But why make him so crap and bland? Apparently we're supposed to support these kind of losers, seeing them as everymen. See ourselves in them. If I'm expected to escape into this world, I want someone I can get behind. Someone interesting.

I don't demand that the protagonist be awesome to start with, I know they need a rocky uphill path to the end of the story, but please give me a little more to go on.

[Morrigan2575]

4 minutes ago, Anduin said:

Apparently he was a studio-mandated new character. But why make him so crap and bland?

Interesting...maybe he'll get the Johnny Cage treatment in Annihilation? 😃 

Cole was a bland character but, I'd hate to see him die, especially since he has a family. I actually liked his wife..."fuck this" then took an axe to Goro.

Sequel needs more Scorpion...they better bring him back.  His fights with Subzero to bookend the movie were excellent.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Morrigan2575

[Racj82]

On 4/23/2021 at 10:29 AM, Anduin said:

Wow. I decided to watch it at home instead. One of my better decisions.

While the big screen and sound system would be nice, my area got dinged with a fresh lockdown. Yay. On the bright side, I didn’t need to put on shoes, deal with other people, and got to pause for breaks when I felt like it.

And yeah, the movie itself was just okay. Some fun dialogue, some fun fights, but nothing that really stood out. If you can watch this at home, I suggest you do so.

Hey, this was filmed, at least partially, in Adelaide! Adelaide is known for three things. Churches, serial killers, and generally being a hole. Filming a Hollywood blockbuster there? It’s just a funny idea.

Hey, any big MK fans out there? We've got three movies, a live-action series, a cartoon, and a web series. Does it have such a large fanbase to justify all these different cracks at the material?

Everything that is a multi million dollar property is worth many adaptations.

Street Fighter has basically gotten the same amount of chances. 

It's a simple set up with a huge fan base.

The movie is nowhere near as bad as most will sat which why reviews and word of mouth don't mean much to me anymore.

That being said, way too much cutting in fight scenes. You hired people that can do the work. Let the work speak for itself.

I'm only annoyed by the non tournament if they is no sequel but I'm sure there will be one. It also becomes it what now if you blow your load on the tournament immediately. Obviously this a franchise starter.

Kano was a damn show stealer. If only everyone else had that much personality or charisma. 

26 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Woot! Johnny Cage in the Sequel. Hopefully we get Kitana too. Although they need to cast and Asian actress for Kitana...not sure how they will explain Mileena. I'm surprised they killed Kung Lao since he's a major character in the games. Although he has "died" before and usually his death prompts Liu Kang into winning major battle.

I enjoyed the movie but they wasted Hiroyuki Sanada and Scorpion. He better be back for the sequel. 

Was Cole an original character all the way? I didn't recognize his final power but, figured he was from the latest games that I never played.

Scorpion said he was free now so of course he will be back.

Cole was completely invented for the movie 

[Morrigan2575]

1 minute ago, Racj82 said:

Kano was a damn show stealer. If only everyone else had that much personality or charisma. 

He was. They better cast someone great as Johnny Cage because he will have big shoes to fill (charisma/personality).

Although I liked Sonya and Jax well enough, was given more story than Jax and was pretty entertaining.

[Jeebus Cripes]

Thank God for Kano because everything about that Cole guy was boring me to tears. Dude had no charisma, couldn't act, and even his powers were lame. At least he could fight but he's just stealing time from interesting legacy characters, and I resent the hell out of the makers of the film for this needless addition. It was like the bad fanfic where someone inserts their OC into it. 

Aside from Kano, who really was aces, Scorpion and Subzero were the only other standouts for me.

Shang Tsung was another weak spot. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is a tough act to follow but the actor here is nowhere near menacing enough. 

[Rushmoras]

I'm just going to post my sort of review sort of impressions here as well:

There are a lot of controversial opinions about this movie (at least on the websites I frequented recently), some say it's complete trash, some say its great. Those, that are saying it is complete trash, are fans of the game franchise unhappy that the movie is not following the game's lore. Those, that are saying it is good, are not fans of the game franchise and don't really care that the movie does not follow the game's lore.

I, having watched only Mortal Kombat (1995), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1998) and Mortal Kombat television series (I guess, 1999-2000), tend to agree with the latter camp. The movie is loads better than the campy and cheezy versions of 1995 and 1998. Is it better than the TV series of the nineties? Hard to say, because I don't remember it all that much. I just have vague memories of seeing Otherworld (Netherworld (?)) ninjas and Liu Kang fighting them every episode in what looked like Medieval Japan (or pick any other Asian country).

So, this movie...

Spoiler

the premise of it is that... in Medieval Japan, a rival clan ninja wielding sub-par magical ice-powers killed a rival clan's ninja without any powers, because there was a prophecy that that ninja's that ice-ninja killed family line will one day save the Earth from these baddies from another dimension through a martial arts tournament where everyone dies. So, the ice-ninja kills his entire family, but misses a baby. Here, steps in Raiden (an elder thunder-god) to save the baby. Flash forward to the present, we see a descendant of the killed ninija taking up amateur fighting tournaments for two hundreds bucks a fight, because that's the only way he knows how to support his family. So, he's getting his ass kicked. Flash forward to another dimension called the Otherworld, we see how the semi-boss of that dimension Shang Tsung in order not to sweat in the upcoming martial arts tournament decides to kill off its Earthling participants and sends his best mercenary team after them. Low and behold, one of the members of that mercenary team is the sub-par ice powers having ninja... but now his powers have grown immensely, and he can control the weather, and he calls him self Sub-Zero now. So, they start hunting the future tournament participants...

Now, I get why some people say, oh, it's not a MK movie, because there is no tournament here, well... yeah, it's kind of like a prologue, I would wager, and we gonna see the tournament either in the second or third movie (if there will be). Then again, they are kind of taking the same rules from the 1998 movie where Shao Kan decided to: "Hey, I know that we lost in the first movie and all, but we still gonna invade Earth, because what are the Elder Gods gonna do to us? Oh, right, nothing". So, they took a page from that movie and decided to... "you can't have a tournament, if there is no one left to fight in it". And, theoretically, in the movie Raiden, as an elder god, cannot interfere, but de facto... he kinda does. I mean, he teleports people from danger, he shields them from danger (when the plot demands this). So, it's not clear why he can't, but actually can interfere, because the

Spoiler

only time where Raiden obeyed this rule of his was when Shang Tsung was holding Kung Lao by the throat and stealing is soul; and Raiden was like... well, shit, can't teleport him to safety. Sorry, Kung.

Anyways, as I've said, I liked the movie. There was one instance in the opening segment of the film where I was like: "Just no" in regards to the fighting with a spear on a leash (don't know what it's called), but in one scene for a couple of seconds it appeared that it defied the laws of physics even more than usual.

Spoiler

Also, initially, I was thinking that they will make Cole in to Scorpion, because of his link with the in Middle Ages killed ninja and the flash-backs that he gradually received throughout the movie. I thought that they will go the route where Cole, while fighting Sub-Zero, will somehow access the essence of his slain ancestor and use it to become Scorpion, but no... they decided to make Cole an original character (another reason why some did not like the movie) and then introduce Scorpion in the end as a vengeful spirit risen from Hell to avenge his and his family members deaths against Sub-Zero.

Well, all in all, I would rate this movie a 7 out of 10. Maybe, if I had seen other MK movies (many seem to praise the fan-made one that was on youtube a couple of years ago (but I have my doubts) or Scorpions Revenge (an animated one)), maybe I would say that those movies are better, but since I haven't, and I only can compare this to the 1995, 1998 and 1999-2000 instalments, well... to me, this was the better movie.

[TrininisaScorp]

HBO Max has made my life better with their direct to Max when it opens in the theater for 2021.  B/c this was perfect to watch the hell home for free.  Full disclosure:  I'm a child of the 80s/90s.  I played the original Mortal Kombat on SNES (at my friend's house with her older brothers); my go to avatars were Scorpion, Cage, and Kitana.  I watched the 90s movies.  

I kinda figured out what I would be fine with and pretty much got it:  It was silly and gory, with some solid fight scenes, and paid some fan service to set up a new franchise of sequels.  Das it.  I'll take "get over here" and Kung's hat buzzsaw.  It was not good, but it was fun. 

The Cole character was boring, but I really like Lewis Tan from Into the Badlands and Wu Assassins.  Dude can move and fight and he's hot, but I'm not sure he was put thru his paces in the fight scenes here.  Is he the best actor?  Nah, bruv, I didn't come here for that.  I love that dude from Warrior (Joe Talsim), dude from WestWorld/The Wolverine (Hiroyuki Sanada), dude from Black Mirror/Aquaman (Ludi Lin and that bawdy) came thru to do good work. 

Other random thoughts:

• Hiroyuki is such a compelling actor and did my boy Scorpion justice, but I wish we got a little more from him. 
• Raiden and Tsung were a bit useless.
• I'm a little annoyed they did Mileena like that.
• I'm hoping that Cole magically understood Japanese otherwise...not super helpful. LOL. 
• Goro was lame, but I liked that Cole's wife was like "the hell with this screaming and crying" and grabbed the axe. 
• Can't wait to see how they do Cage (b/c I agree with y'all that Kano was excellent) and Kitana.  
• Sonya is never a character I was that into, and she was fine here; same with Jax, but nice to see Mehcad Brooks. 
• I would love to see more about Bi-Han and Hanzo's histories and their time together. 

[Morrigan2575]

Just watched a video of the MK cast guessing real vs fake game characters. My appreciation for Lewis Tan has sky rocketed. He really knows the game, characters and story. Plus he's super cute and very charming. I have no idea why Cole was so dull. Hopefully, they can fix him in MK2, have him play off Johnny Cage. Although, the Johnny actor is going to have a tough role since Kano basically owned MK 2021.

[blackwing]

I enjoyed the movie overall.  I thought the fight scenes were well done, and I loved the lines from the game ("flawless victory", "fatality", "get over here").

Kano was the best, although I wish part of his Arcana had been discovering how to do that signature cannonball move.  Is there a way to resurrect him for the next movie?

Cole Young was a complete disaster.  Why on earth did they think we needed to have an original character?  This character was awful.  Poorly written, and dull as dishwater.  I spent the first part of his appearances wondering who the little girl is.  Cole looks like he's about 22 so I thought it was his little sister.  Then the other sister showed up at the diner and then he kissed her on the mouth and I figured out it was his wife and kid. Cole's powers were also boring as dirt and that armour looked terrible.

Some of it is bad writing, but the actor has ZERO charisma in this movie.  He wanted to be Shang Chi?  So glad that Marvel avoided giving him the role.  I'm sorry we lost Kung Lao.  I get that at least one of the good guys had to die too to make it more realistic, but why couldn't it have been Cole?  

The actress who played Sonya was pretty bad too.

Looking forward to a sequel.  I hope the focus is on Johnny Cage and Kitana and not the terrible Cole.  I'd also love to see a Bi Han vs. Hanzo Hasashi prequel movie set in 1700s China and Japan.

[cambridgeguy]

16 hours ago, blackwing said:

Looking forward to a sequel.  I hope the focus is on Johnny Cage and Kitana and not the terrible Cole.  I'd also love to see a Bi Han vs. Hanzo Hasashi prequel movie set in 1700s China and Japan.

They need to be a little careful here.  In a cast full of POC you can't just bring in a white guy and make him the de facto lead. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by cambridgeguy

[AnimeMania]

HBO Max has added Mortal Kombat: Conquest, the 22-episode TV Series from 1998-99 to the site.

[krankydoodle]

I had high hopes for this but found it disappointing. I've seen a lot of love for Kano, but I didn't even like him that much and think he just benefited from being less bland/wooden than everyone around him. The bright spots for me were Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, and their fight scenes. I also liked Kabal and the unexpected (to me, anyway) use of Kung Lao's hat.

Spoiler

I know Taslim has signed on for sequels so at least we'll get to see him again if there are more movies.

ETA: Spoiler tags in case mentioning that an actor is going to appear in sequels counts.

Edited May 1, 2021 by krankydoodle

[Matt K]

On 4/30/2021 at 11:55 PM, AnimeMania said:

HBO Max has added Mortal Kombat: Conquest, the 22-episode TV Series from 1998-99 to the site.

I remember watching that in High School.  It was syndicated so I know I missed some episodes.  I might have to check it out.

As for Cole's powers, I had checked out "The Man with the Iron Fists" a couple weeks before this movie and it kind of reminded me of Brass Body but Brass Body's power was so much cooler.  They really should have gone with Cage or Stryker instead of Cole.  Having Cage be an ancestor of Scorpion would be kind of neat contrasting Cage's bombastic personality with Scorpion's more dour one.  

[Perfect Xero]

So Cole is related to Scorpion who is largely sidelined in the film, seems to be nearly invulnerable to harm once he unlocks his power, he defeats Goro easily when his wife and daughter are about to get fridged, he comes up with the plan and has to clue Raiden in on a really basic strategy for using his powers, and he teams up with Scorpion to defeat Sub Zero?

Meanwhile Johnny Cage isn't in it, Jax is sidelined for most of the movie to save Cole, and Liu Kang and Kung Lao are basically just there to train Cole (and die in the case of Lao).

Did they find some Mary Sue self insert fanfic and adapt that into the plot?

[Racj82]

1 hour ago, Perfect Xero said:

So Cole is related to Scorpion who is largely sidelined in the film, seems to be nearly invulnerable to harm once he unlocks his power, he defeats Goro easily when his wife and daughter are about to get fridged, he comes up with the plan and has to clue Raiden in on a really basic strategy for using his powers, and he teams up with Scorpion to defeat Sub Zero?

Meanwhile Johnny Cage isn't in it, Jax is sidelined for most of the movie to save Cole, and Liu Kang and Kung Lao are basically just there to train Cole (and die in the case of Lao).

Did they find some Mary Sue self insert fanfic and adapt that into the plot?

They had Cole come up with the plan to show the courage and strength he had gained. He was the man Raiden thought he was.

Finding your power at the most important moment is just standard storytelling. 

They didn't use Cage because they didn't want a white guy at the center of the first part of this story. Nor did they want Kano and Cage walking around being smart asses on the good side.

Jax was always getting sidelined. It has nothing to do with Cole and had to with Jax needing to lose his arms.

Kung Lao and Lui Kang were training everyone. Not just Cole.

Cole wasn't a Mary Sue. He was a central character.  Of course, he had more to do. 

They didn't need to do this but that doesn't make him a Mary Sue. He spent most of the movie getting his ass kicked. Nor was he going to be able to beat Sub Zero on his own. He even needed help with Mileena. He was never written to be without flaw or greater than anyone else. 

[tv echo]

GalaxyCon's Mortal Kombat Virtual Experience, May 30, 2021, at 2pm ET (Free Live Stream Q&A)
Guests: Mehcad Brooks (Jax) and Max Huang (Kung Lao)
https://galaxycon.com/blogs/21/may-30-mortal-kombat

 
 

[BetterButter]

 

[tv echo]

Added Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade) as a guest...

 

[tv echo]

Go to link to watch video of this con panel with Max Huang (Kung Lao) and Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade)...

GalaxyCon's Mortal Kombat Virtual Experience
Streamed live on May 30, 2021
https://galaxycon.com/pages/mortal-kombat-live-stream-0530

-- Mod asked who they want to play Johnny Cage in the sequel.*
Max suggested Scott Adkins, because he liked his "movement," or Ryan Reynolds, although "he would have to train."
Mod suggested The Miz (WWE wrestler). 
Jessica suggested her "good friend" Josh Segarra. She then incorrectly said that he was on The Flash (he was on Arrow). She described him as an "amazing comedic actor."

* When asked by Inverse and CinemaBlend why Johnny Cage isn't in Mortal Kombat, screenwriter Greg Russo said that Cage's omission was decided before he came and that it was because of Kano (they loved Josh Lawson's performance as Kano, but Kano and Cage have "two identical personalities"). So some big characters, like Cage and Kitana, were saved for the sequel, if they make one.

-- Mod asked if their characters would be getting origin stories or spinoff series.
Jessica said that there were no specific plans but that it's always possible as their universe "continues to build."
Max also said that there was "nothing official to say" right now, but that he would love to see origin stories for the characters.

-- Mod asked about their desired franchise crossovers with Mortal Kombat.
Jessica wanted a Deadpool crossover. She also mentioned Lara Croft and Harley Quinn (for an all-female action team).
Max wanted Terminator and Rambo (with Schwarzenegger and Stallone).

-- There was also some talk about the stars' training and background, and some behind-the-scenes stuff. Also some talk about the influence of the original Mortal Kombat movie. Plus some talk about the stars' favorite scenes to shoot, whether they took anything from the set, and their favorite "fatality" from the movie.

ETA: Mehcad Brooks (Jax) was also scheduled for this con, but for autographs only.

Edited May 31, 2021 by tv echo

[tennisgurl]

This was certainly alright, it had some cool fatalities and effects and the acting was pretty solid. Certainly better then a lot of other Mortal Kombat adaptations, but it was really hampered by centering it all around a random new character. The actor playing Cole was alright, but I just do not know why they wanted to make some brand new non game character the person the movie is based around. You would think the main character would be Sonja, who was established as having tracked what all is going on for awhile, or her and Jax would be co-leads who have to find the contest and Outworld and are used to explore the world and everyone dumps the exposition on them. Or they could use, I don't know, literally any one of the billions of characters in this franchise as the lead? Pretty much every other character is reduced to cackling evilly or dumping exposition, and while they do at least usually get to do a few cool things, everyone seemed so underused. They even went and offed Kung Lao of all people, all in the name of their new lead who appeared out of nowhere. 

I would be interested in a sequel still though. Now that the groundwork has been placed they could maybe do something more interesting. 

[CailynA]

Finally watched this and it was ok fun movie but honestly though the 95 version is corny and cheesy as hell I'll rewatch it before this one. We will see the sequel if they make it. Raiden annoyed the hell out of me in this one, just so I don't even know hands off but pissy about it. Wish we'd seen more Scorpion. Cole was boring and yeah we were annoyed they didn't just pick a character from the games to focus on. 

[BetterButter]

Mortal Kombat 2: Movie Sequel Is Moving Ahead With the Moon Knight Writer

[Anduin]

3 hours ago, BetterButter said:

Mortal Kombat 2: Movie Sequel Is Moving Ahead With the Moon Knight Writer

FFS. Why? The first one was terrible. Did it make enough money to justify a sequel?