NaughtySenpai
Warrior
Voted for Mortal Kombat Legacy the Johnny Cage episode in particular. That one stood out to me and while I have lots of nostalgia for the Mortal Kombat movie, it's a shit film objectively speaking.
In the film's defence, I can totally understand all those decisions though. They wanted it streamlined "earth vs outworld" for a 90 minute movie that needed to be mainstream whilst still appealing to the fans; the more factions you present, the more cumbersome the story becomes (especially back then in 1995 when video game movies were so risky... hell they're still not much better, but especially back then when they'd all been failures and the medium of games themselves was still very much a niche market) but movie-making in general was a lot more restrictive in how indulgent you could be. Pre-Lord of the Rings, fantasy movies couldn't be so epic (13th Warrior sank like a stone after it was drastically reshot), pre-Saw movies couldn't be so violent (so much of Event Horizon had to be cut for what today would pass censorship so easily), the Western martial arts flick was out of vogue and as stated, video game movies were treated just as seriously as their source material was (ie. not at all). I admire their restraint.1) MK movie (1995): It made some mistakes which people still tend to ignore. We never saw our Scorpion-SubZero battle, there were some DRASTIC stylistic/design changes to some characters (Rayden, Kano, Reptile), they included two non MK fighters that were there just to be punching bags (Art Lean-no pun intended- and that dreadheaded tall guy in the 1st fight), we only saw a glimpse of Jax with no further involvement and there was minimal gore.
Before MK Deception, I remember some of my casual friends believed that Noob Saibot was actually a creation of Ermac thanks to this movie.Ok today's observation, that I'm surprised hadn't occurred to me sooner.
In 1997, MK Annihilation squeezed in Noob Saibot during the Ermac fight by having him ooze out of Ermac's torso like a liquid shadow fighter.
You literally can't tell me that how he and his shadow fight together in MKs 9 & 11 are not based on this!
He also is the one ninja in this movie who walks away with any dignity from the costume department; dressed in traditional black silken wraps and leather belt, the guy (for what little clear shots you get of him) looks fantastic compared to the rubber clad power rangers posing about in my post above.
Speaking of which, you've just made me realise something else... so MKA Ermac influenced MK9 Noob with his shadow clone... and yet it would also appear that MKA Noob influenced MK9 Ermac with his fashion sense!!!!Before MK Deception, I remember some of my casual friends believed that Noob Saibot was actually a creation of Ermac thanks to this movie.
MK The Journey Begins probably has the worst background character designs ever3) Holy shit, did The Journey Begins invent Hsu Hao?
"HEY YOU GUYS!"
Probably because of this lmao:I'm having a hard time envisioning McHale as a fighter, even though he's pretty ripped.
Does anyone know if The Journey Begins is (legally) available somewhere? Like HBO Max?
Don't think so online, but it is on the blu-ray of MK95 as a bonus feature.Does anyone know if The Journey Begins is (legally) available somewhere? Like HBO Max?
I really enjoyed the series as a whole, but my god Sub Zero looked a dickhead in the present-day. They went to so much effort to try and make the Japanese scenes feel beautifully grounded in realism, with gorgeous old-fashioned costumes and masks... then Subz turns up on the island like a SWAT officer going dirt-biking and I remember just losing all my enthusiasm for the battle because he looked an utter twat. Luckily Scorpion ripped his head off, which should have been for fashion crimes alone!
Definitely agree about Shao Kahn. He was clever, sadistic, relished in his power, didn't kill his legions just out of moronic anger (like MKA's Kahn who killed Rain... for having taken two great warriors prisoners? That he could still torture or kill if ordered to do so? What? Now you've lost one of your best warriors and still have two prisoners that you can still kill at your behest!?) and instead dominated, belittled and reminded them of how much they owe him their duty and loyalty out of what he may do to them otherwise.
And the set may have been minimalistic (or cheap) but he looked amazing in the cascading light of the between-realm he fought Raiden in during the last episodes; his chainmail and armour backlit for terrifying effect, they're almost like devil wings as he runs out of the darkness. The costume too just looked fantastic (well except for the awful "classic" helmet he wore in the pilot) and would love to see the outfit replicated in a game.
It's a shame Chris Casamassa's voice acting is so awful, because Kahn is deliciously villainous here, love the sheer arrogance:
How he roars at Shang Tsung "HOW DARE YOU BEG FOR DEATH!" then so patronisingly belittles him with "only victors are granted their desires."
And yes, the overlays were all very cheap and very made-for-90s-TV, but the ending with its SURPRISINGLY good use of Mortal Kombat Annihilation stock footage actually proves that with a more talented eye, some of that movie's visuals of the extermination squads could have been used to far greater effect, the montage looks suitably creepy. This Kahn didn't want to kill or destroy Raiden... he relished in watching him be broken, and the greatest reward was simply making him bow to him! Even just the delivery on how it goes from seething fiery hatred to pure flamboyant arrogance as he raises his arms in pure camp indulgence and self-lovingly utters "...to... meee", I love it
Scorpion/Sub-Zero were done better.It’s Mortal Kombat 2021.
I actually tried to edit the poll a while back to add both MK21 and Battle For the Realms, but sadly I’m unable to add new options.It’s Mortal Kombat 2021.