Son of a monkey, does this movie look violent. I heard they almost didn't even even get an R rating because of some of the violence. Cheese and rice, I hope they leave the fatality scenes in the final cut. It would be some real banana shenanigans if they didn't. Regardless, golly gee willickers am I excited to drink some apple juice and watch this baby next week!
I really liked it. After reading some posts I decided to approach it with an open mind, and by no means I expected this to be somewhat of a remake of the '95 movie. By the way I like that movie too, but honestly I don't hold it in such a high regard. It's funny and all but there's barely any fighting and it's too cheesy.
Now to 2021!
Jax and Sonya are awesome. I wish they were like this in the most recent games. I enjoyed the fights a lot, some of them are really good, and the gore is great. I think they represented well the essence of most of the characters, and that was a very cool thing to see.
This film is not some masterpiece of MK storytelling. My enjoyment of it comes from really liking what I feel they did right, and being able to live with the things I didn’t enjoy as much.
Absolutely.
I'm on board with them doing their own thing. For once it's not the MK1 tournament for the hundred time. And while Cole isn't very impressive, I understand why they chose to go with a character like that. There's too much background, if the movie was about Liu Kang or Sonya discovering all this for the first time it would've been another thing completely. Probably centering only about a few characters with few fights or in the worst case scenario, fighting random background characters.
Like you said, there's too many characters out there. The thing that most people know about MK is that it's about fighting. We are the minority that discuss lore from 20 years ago and think that Kintaro is an iconic character. I believe it was the right approach to focus on the fights and do their own thing with the lore.
Kabal was great. I had a really good time listening to him talking shit and kicking ass. But to people that doesn't know much about MK, he was probably just a cool fighter, nothing more.
There were arbitrary and unexplained things for sure. But overall I had a good time. Sadly movie theaters are going into lockdown here again tomorrow because of the rise of COVID cases, otherwise I'd go to watch it again in the weekend.
This is what I mean when I say we're a minority that cares about these characters.
I'm a Reiko fan. However, I liked to see him in the movie. Even if he was just a brute.
I know Reiko is at best a C-list character. He was somewhat popular around the time of Conquest, but nowadays he's nothing. If you missed him in the MKX comics, the last canonically appearence he had was in a game from 2006.
And even within the fans he's often treated as "just that Shao Kahn fanboy"
I never expected this movie to acknowledge the lore behind Reiko, his fascination with Shao Kahn, his machinations and all. Not by any stretch.
Nitara is another character that doesn't even do much in the games. She was trash and irrelevant in the movie... kinda like her existence since 2002.
I really liked it. After reading some posts I decided to approach it an open mind, and by no means I expected this to be somewhat of a remake of the '95 movie. By the way I like that movie too, but honestly I don't hold it in such a high regard. It's funny and all but there's barely any fighting and it's too cheesy.
Now to 2021!
Jax and Sonya are awesome. I wish they were like this in the most recent games. I enjoyed the fights a lot, some of them are really good, and the gore is great. I think they represented well the essence of most of the characters, and that was a very cool thing to see.
Absolutely.
I'm on board with them doing their own thing. For once it's not the MK1 tournament for the hundred time. And while Cole isn't very impressive, I understand why they chose to go with a character like that. There's too much background, if the movie was about Liu Kang or Sonya discovering all this for the first time it would've been another thing completely. Probably centering only about a few characters with few fights or in the worst case scenario, fighting random background characters.
Like you said, there's too many characters out there. The thing that most people know about MK is that it's about fighting. We are the minority that discuss lore from 20 years ago and think that Kintaro is an iconic character. I believe it was the right approach to focus on the fights and do their own thing with the lore.
Kabal was great. I had a really good time listening to him talking shit and kicking ass. But to people that doesn't know much about MK, he was probably just a cool fighter, nothing more.
There were arbitrary and unexplained things for sure. But overall I had a good time. Sadly movie theaters are going into lockdown here again tomorrow because of the rise of COVID cases, otherwise I'd go to watch it again in the weekend.
This is what I mean when I say we're a minority that cares about these characters.
I'm a Reiko fan. However, I liked to see him in the movie. Even if he was just a brute.
I know Reiko is at best a C-list character. He was somewhat popular around the time of Conquest, but nowadays he's nothing. If you missed him in the MKX comics, the last canonically appearence he had was in a game from 2006.
And even within the fans he's often treated as "just that Shao Kahn fanboy"
I never expected this movie to acknowledge the lore behind Reiko, his fascination with Shao Kahn, his machinations and all. Not by any stretch.
Nitara is another character that doesn't even do much in the games. She was trash and irrelevant in the movie... kinda like her existence since 2002.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I don’t understand the “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to enjoying these types of adaptations.
This is a revival of MK as a possible film franchise. It doesn’t all have to be great - it just needs to have potential to be great. Before this film, the franchise was dead as far as live-action goes. They weren’t even releasing stuff that was filmed years prior.
Now, the possibility of a truly amazing MK film is real. This film did so much to set the stage - casting talented martial artists who are also actors, designing credible costumes that read well on screen, characterizations that are true to the spirit of the original characters, MK style gore and violence, etc.
Now, other filmmakers have a solid starting point for making their own film, and perhaps in the near future, we will get an MK masterpiece.
I think any human that doesn't know about the tournament and its history, going into it is enough of a fish out of water story. I don't need a washed-up MMA fighter. If he isn't a badass at the MMA stuff, why would he be any good in the Mortal Kombat tournament?
Here is an article/review that mentions that the budget for the 2021 film is 50 million...
Wikipedia also lists the movie's budget at 50 million, as well.
I haven't seen it of course but from what reviews I've seen or spoilers it all feels what was predicted. And let's be real...no one in MK ever dies. I like the idea of the OG Sub transitioning into Noob...that seems to be where they are going. and they have all the eye candy. The blond bombshell that is strong, shirtless muscle dudes, and most of the actors I have seen them in other work that I liked. I get Margot Robbie vibes from the actress playing as Sonya.
Here is an article/review that mentions that the budget for the 2021 film is 50 million...
Wikipedia also lists the movie's budget at 50 million, as well.
Thats pretty low for such a special effects and visual effects heavy movie. That's actually a point in its favor if it can garner a lot of attention and kill it at the box office. Lets hope
The new MK movie is AWFUL. The script is bad. The pacing is worse. No tournament so they get into skirmishes and free for alls with none of the weight and gravitas the tournament setting provides. You have fantastical elements but 0 intrigue. You have an insane premise but 0 stakes. What a letdown.
*With the exception of Sub-Zero and Cole, everyone else gets an equal amount of screening time. Only one character appears just as a "cameo" and is never seen again.
*Goro, Sub-Zero and Shang Tsung feel like a real threat whenever you see them. Sometimes the direction has mini-"horror" elements the way a certain shot is happening .
*Most of the fight scenes are good (some shaky cameras here and there but not "Bourne Identity"-shaky), cgi also good. There is no fight that compares to the Liu/Reptile (1995) one, IMO... This version of the film relies on special moves a whole lot than traditional hand to hand combat, so there is a different approach to the choreographies. Whenever Kung Lao or Cole are on screen, that's when you get Hong Kong-style choreography vibes. At times, it feels like the action has been directed very-very differently from one scene to another. It possibly has to do with each actor's abilities and experience so the final product differs because of certain actors' limitations. For example Max Huang and Joe Taslim SHINE much more than any other actor on this category.
*In my eyes, Hanzo, Bi Han, Kano, Sonya and Shang actors gave the best performances in the movie. Not that the others' performances were bad but , from my experience, I understood that some characters were written better than others. Character-wise, i think Subzero, Kung Lao and Kabal stole the show. Expect to see an MK11 Kabal straight from the game in every aspect. Sub-Zero could NOT get any better than this.
*EXTREMELY lots of fan-service elements. Lots of easter eggs here and there. If fans aren't satisfied by this, then sth's wrong with them. I understand that not everybody is going to be satisfied by a certain product, but my god there was lots of stuff and love put into this.
*Raiden, Liu kang, Sonya and Shang Tsung were written/performed quite differently from their 90's versions so watch the film with a blank slate-mentality. Don't expect Robin Shou 2.0 or Cary Tagawa 2.0 going into the film. They do their own thing and I think it's a step forward.
Overall , what I have to say is... We didn't get any MK -related material for 13 years until Kevin Tancharoen came around 2010 with Rebirth and Legacy1 &2...
Then we waited another 8 years to get a very respected version of MK on screen. This one was made by people who you can tell that they know their stuff. They did check, study and respect the lore. Anyone can tell that it wasn't made by producers and executives unrelated to the MK universe just for the possible earnings $$$.
I hope the film wakes up the geeky teenager in you.
Totally agree! My fave was Lao, but damn Kabal was impressive too and I am so happy that a character which is not really S tier in terms of popularity got such a nice representation in film.
Totally agree! My fave was Lao, but damn Kabal was impressive too and I am so happy that a character which is not really S tier in terms of popularity got such a nice representation in film.
When Goro came on screen, and the way the fight went, i got deja-vu from when i watched the terminator salvation film... When the T-800 fought john connor and thought to myself "how the hell are they going to beat that?!??!?".
That's why I mentioned him as a threat... And as for Shang Tsung , well.... There was THAT scene.... you know!
Kabal's role also was more than a "goon". His voice actor did a good job too. Cocky, street-mouth and to the point. Great performance.
The new MK movie is AWFUL. The script is bad. The pacing is worse. No tournament so they get into skirmishes and free for alls with none of the weight and gravitas the tournament setting provides. You have fantastical elements but 0 intrigue. You have an insane premise but 0 stakes. What a letdown.
It was good. The fact that it only took about 5 minutes for the movie to earn its R rating reassured me alot.
Also, delineating that Quan Bi Zero Chi Han spoke Chinese to a Japanese speaking Hanzo via subtitle annotations was a very nice touch. It's this stuff- not shitty Ice Clone's shoved into otherwise good fight scenes- that let me know the film makers care about the IP
www.criticalhit.net
