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Mortal Kombat (2021) Movie Discussion Thread

DixieFlatline78

DixieFlatline78

Everyone Has A Path
Still in the middle of watching the movie, glad they had the restraint to make it under two hours, but I swear this movie's biggest problem is the editing. They don't let a single shot finish and the score is sooooo fucking bad. It's kinda neat, I was somewhat optimistic after the trailer, but definitely pales in comparison to the original so far.
 
Tertian

Tertian

*
5/10

It's confusing because it obviously for adults, but was handled like it's being presented to really dumb children.

It fell into the old pit fall of too much exposition, trying fitting too much in and an overblown yet weak story mostly serving to connect set pieces. Tonally it was all over the place, cartoonish video game characters that had to be justified into existence. No one cares how they get superpowers, such a waste of time...

This either should've been the Scorpion vs Subzero romcom we all want or just a tightly focused tournament movie (a la Iron Fist Heavenly Tournament).

Positives;
  • Subzero being jason voorhees with ice powers
  • Kano's superpower (which is having a personality when no one else did)
  • Frozen child at the start (kids suck)
P.S. Cole is the name of a guy who works at best buy, not some supposed bad ass fighter...
 
kingjolly

kingjolly

Noob
I’m not entirely sure why this is...but the 1995 movie felt more R-rated than the 2021 movie for me. I didn’t even know the 1995 was pg13 until somewhat recently. The fight scenes had more impact in the original one. The 2021 let me down....the music sucked too.
 
T

theotherguy

Noob
Convicsik said:
there was a “wait that’s not right, that’s not how the character / scenario / story goes in the game”.
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If you expect it to be 100% as the game was you will be disappointed. For the most part the characters are true to their game versions. Sonya/Jax are military related, Kano is a scumbag, Scorpion/Sub ninjas with their revenge backstory, Shang the sorcerer, Raiden the God of Thunder etc...

Having them not turn up on a leaky boat or the tournament not being part of the film doesn't take away that this is still a movie based in the MK universe.

Trustful_Whale said:
We'll slap some glow effect on his eyes and call it a day.
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Yep and Lambert wasn't a dude walking around in white pyjamas with the occasional lightning flicker on his finger or eyes.

What exactly did you want to make Raiden seem more than what we got?

WhooFlungPoo said:
We didn't need almost every scene to introduce a tag line from the game that basically said "here's a phrase from the game to remind you we played the game when making this." They were all overly cheesy, badly acted, and didn't really flow with the conversations and always seemed shoe horned in as an out of place nod.
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Agree with that, but even MK'95 had a tendency to do the same. I'm not even sure why they feel the need to do that.
 
Sutter Pain

Sutter Pain

Your mothers main.
xKhaoTik said:
Nitara got done dirty too. I know she isn’t nowhere near as popular as Mileena and Liu, but you would think they would have some type of justice to a character who hasn’t been relevant since Armageddon (which was over 10 years ago)

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I honestly had no idea who that was a I skipped everything post mk3-mk9. She looked really good but man she got hemmed up quick, def would liked to see more of her though.
 
Trustful_Whale

Trustful_Whale

Noob
theotherguy said:
Yep and Lambert wasn't a dude walking around in white pyjamas with the occasional lightning flicker on his finger or eyes.

What exactly did you want to make Raiden seem more than what we got?
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Towering, powerful voice, intimidating; like a god.
More than a sparkly Uber driver that leaves his shield generator unguarded.

I never even mentioned MK95, but yes it dropped the ball here too.
 
T

theotherguy

Noob
Liquid Swordsman said:
If they did that, then people would still complain because the movie would be "too dark and serious".
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I think there's 2 camps. The guys that want a MK95 remake that's a little hokey. And those that want something that a little more dark, serious and grounded. Unfortunately i don't think you'll ever something that makes both sides happy.


Trustful_Whale said:
Towering, powerful voice, intimidating; like a god.
More than a sparkly Uber driver that leaves his shield generator unguarded.

I never even mentioned MK95, but yes it dropped the ball here too.
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Fair points. I didn't mind this version. Somewhat understated, doesn't have a stereotypical God vibe about him, but you know he's powerful given he pops up in bolts of lightning.

I mentioned MK95 because it seems there's a lot of love for that movie (even Lamberts Raiden), which as with you wasn't my idea of who he should have been.
 
Marinjuana

Marinjuana

Up rock incoming, ETA 5 minutes
I don't get the hate for Tadanobu Asano's Raiden, I thought he was a badass, had no issues with the pick. He's just a good actor

 
Jynks

Jynks

some heroes are born, some made, some wondrous
Only thing that sucked about Raiden was the director didn't understand how to shoot him. He should have watched Big Trouble in Little China and took notes on how John Carpenter did it. Basically, when you have one of those straw hat things I do not know the name of, you should film the actor from underneath, with the camera looking up. Not only is this a great shot and suits the "god of thunder" as the fame is always looming down on the audience, but it would also mean that the actor did not need to bend his neck backwards and basically look into the ceiling and then cast his eyes "down" to look strait. The glowing eyes hid the eyelines, but the neck and general posture was a real fail. This subtle body language error is what is contributing to people not liking the character, imo. Instead of us looking UP at him, he is looking UP at us. Lame.
 
Liquid Swordsman

Liquid Swordsman

Noob
Swindle said:
I’ve seen all the “movies based on fighting games”: Tekken, Street Fighter, DOA, King of Fighters, the OG Mortal Kombats...
This film is better than they are, and gives me hope that future MK films will be even better (and will actually get made).
That pleases me.
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Same. Although, at the same time, I'm kind of worried.

For a story like mortal kombat, no matter how much you spin it into almost any interpretation of a live action adaption, I can't help but believe if it's mainly the tournament aspect that's holding it back and why most of the time everyone will never warm up to it like the DC/Marvel films. There's a reason why a lot people liked the scorpion opening than the rest of film. His backstory alone was way more interesting than a lot of what you remember from the game's lore.
 
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Kiss the Missile

Kiss the Missile

Red Messiah
Lot of people saying Cole was pointless, but I actually think it was a really good call to have him in.
It lets us have a Scorpion related character without having Scorpion be the main protagonist. Scorpion is at his best when he's an antihero. He was great in the beginnings of MKX's storyline when he was reluctant, but by MK11 he's a full on goody goody and its a terrible look for the immortal spectre from Hell.

I hope Hanzo's blood somehow corrupts Cole in future movies. He hasn't killed anyone yet, that could be an interesting conflict later on.
 
T

ticklebandit!

Noob
Kiss the Missile said:
I hope Hanzo's blood somehow corrupts Cole in future movies. He hasn't killed anyone yet, that could be an interesting conflict later on.
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Somewhere out there there is a mourning, four armed family that would disagree....lol

Hot (drunk) take: Movie was great. The criticisms I've read in this thread tho (mostly) have been totally warranted. The only problem is WTF are the naysayers comparing it to??? Aside from the first movie and maaaaaaaaaybe Scorpion's revenge this film trumps all MK story related media. Even the in game story modes like the cheese fest that was MK9. For a lower(ish) budget movie made during covid it did the best it could. I agree they went all in on character abilities which was cool but skimped on actual well shot martial arts which was disappointing compared to other live action MK media. And yeah, exposition on top exposition but again, they worked with what they had.

Sub Zero was handled fucking AMAZINGLY and treating him like a horror movie character is PERFECT for Noob motherfucking saibot.

The actor playing Kano KILLED IT (even if they gave him some cage esq jokes). They nailed Kabal's personality as well (however brief)

I'll post more when I sober up......and watch it again.



EDIT: Also I like the angle of having Cole be this new guy to learn about all the MK shit but I was majorly bummed they made him an original character with a magic glowing shirt. Massivie missed oppertunity to have him turn out to be anactual MK character (cough slightly retconned Scorpion's son Takeda, or at least some one else)
 
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T

ticklebandit!

Noob
Hey also Mileena was a scrub that spammed teleport at the end.

Miss the martial arts heavier aspect of the first movie (and conquest series) :/ minor complaint but yeah
 
Onryoki

Onryoki

We all die alone. So love yourself before you go.
Kiss the Missile said:
Lot of people saying Cole was pointless, but I actually think it was a really good call to have him in.
It lets us have a Scorpion related character without having Scorpion be the main protagonist. Scorpion is at his best when he's an antihero. He was great in the beginnings of MKX's storyline when he was reluctant, but by MK11 he's a full on goody goody and its a terrible look for the immortal spectre from Hell.

I hope Hanzo's blood somehow corrupts Cole in future movies. He hasn't killed anyone yet, that could be an interesting conflict later on.
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But what did Cole actually do though? He had no character development, was extremely bland, I still don’t understand his power. The only thing I can give him is the actor playing being sexy, that’s it. Scorpion could’ve been an anti hero without putting a filler character in. Scorpion being in hell for 300 years and coming out of nowhere only to kill subzero is stupid. Subzero living for 300years sucked too.
 
Kiss the Missile

Kiss the Missile

Red Messiah
Onryoki said:
But what did Cole actually do though? He had no character development, was extremely bland, I still don’t understand his power. The only thing I can give him is the actor playing being sexy, that’s it. Scorpion could’ve been an anti hero without putting a filler character in. Scorpion being in hell for 300 years and coming out of nowhere only to kill subzero is stupid. Subzero living for 300years sucked too.
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I enjoyed him for what he was. Every other character is well versed in what MK is, so I liked the idea of having someone like him to be a fish out of water. Yeah there could have been better ways to do it, but this worked imo.

Sub-Zero living that long isn't new. Its like that in the games too. Cryomancers age extremely slow.

I did think it was weird (unless I missed a line somewhere) that Jax had nothing to say to Sub Zero considering what he did to him.
 
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