Mortal Kombat (2021) Movie Discussion Thread

[Afk Skinny]

So I avoided almost all media and went into this as open minded as possible. Movie critic in me would be 3/10. MK fan in me probably 6/10. It is like the most meh movie imaginable to me. Some of the choreography was just off to me (like Kabal is fast is shit but he looks like he was wielding a great hammer, and all that speed and its just constant side-switches like he's fighting on a 2d plane.) Speaking of hammers, da hell did they to Reiko? I knew they weren't gonna try to do any of the villains justice but got damn. Kano was cool. Nitara I just have to ask why. Mileena was uneventful, like knowing of what we know of Mileena you really think she would spare someone because 'you no have mark, me no want'? Just strange. I liked Bi Han and they actually built him up to be a threat cough nrs cough. Also can we please move past the trilogy story wise? How many times must we be told about the feud between Hanzo and Bi Han? We're reaching, if not passed, pokemon in catering levels to gen 1

 

[Tertian]

Since we're putting effort into debating nonsense. Let's rank the men based on hotness.
1 - Subzero
2 - Jax
3 - Cole
4 - Goro

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Since we're putting effort into debating nonsense. Let's rank the men based on hotness.
1 - Subzero
2 - Jax
3 - Cole
4 - Goro

Kabal seemed pretty hot by the end of it! (I'll show myself out...)

 

[theotherguy]

It also baffles me that they feel the need to introduce more complicated story gimmicks to explain away characters having powers, considering that fantasy and superheroes are so mainstream today that audiences readily accept magic and superpowers existing just for the sake of existing.

Unpopular opinion here, but i liked it. It's hardly complicated, you get a mark and with it comes a special power. With supernatural characters like Sub/scorpion, they can do whatever they want, even Liu/Kung being monks you can push they meditated really hard to get their powers. But why would a random earthrealmer be able to shoot lasers or energy rings etc. At least this gives their powers a reason for being there. When Johnny turns up in part 2, a random hollywood star, but he can shoot fireballs... just because??

And yes, Kano could have a laser eye implant, and sonya could have some piece of special forces tech...but not everything in the movie has to be a copy of the game.

 

[xRantex]

I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

Dislikes reiko they could've made him look cooler.
No Kitana??
Nitara was a thick big breasted vampiress yet shang tsung is calling her beautiful and she looked the total opposite?!

Liu kang looked like he was 17 lmao.
Raiden sounded like he had something stuck in his throat..

Likes I loved kung lao! And Sub zero was bad ass. Also this is the first time I ever liked Scorpion!! Raiden outfits looked cool.

I didn't like the ending how it lead to a Johnny cage reveal it was very lackluster compared to the first movie where shao kahn appeared on the end (his voice) it was very hype but this one ending was not! Still a solid 7.5 out of 10.

 

[Liquid Swordsman]

I think a huge part of the criticisms revolved around the movie is that it had a feel like it was originally suppose to be a season 1 beginning of the story in some fashion. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing if it's taking the franchise in the right direction. The problem is, once you jam pack it into a film, it leaves a bad taste in most people's mouth because the whole thing now feels incomplete to them and they didn't really get that definitive story they were looking for.

They did a bold move taking the the story in another direction and making it seem like it was sequel baiting at times which put the movie in a risky spot. But as it turns out, it's really not as bad as most make it out to be or at least they think it is. What's really important is that it sets up great for future movies and it's done it job doing that. People just need to let the storyline breathe first.

 

[Afk Skinny]

Also with Jax's arcana, does it still specifically with mechs, or if he had his regular arms would it beef him up to hulk levels?

 

[Immortal]

Also with Jax's arcana, does it still specifically with mechs, or if he had his regular arms would it beef him up to hulk levels?

That exactly how it happen, in another universe Jax arcana made him green and beef up so he became Hulk and gone straight to Avengers. Now nobody needs to read the comics to learn Hulk backstory. Sorry for the spoilers everybody.

Spoiler

Sorry for the offtopic, couldn't help myself.

 

[Tony at Home]

Thought dump:

Reiko in the film is fucking Mongo from Blazing Saddles.

It was a not-terrible movie and better than MK95, bogged down by having waaaaay too many characters and awful CGI fights with Kabal, Shang, Mileena, Nitara etc. Hanzo/Bi Han and Kano/Sonya fights were great.

Tiny robot arms Jax was the dumbest shit I have ever seen.

Cole sucks. The entire plot revolves around him sucking. In the actual plot, his super power is he sucks so bad that he glows orange and fires his suck energy back at you. Fuck. I owe Bo'Ring Chode an apology, this is the worst MK character.

All the performances were good except Ludi Lin (Kang) -who had the weirdest lines ever so I'm not ready to say it was the actor's fault. Josh Lawson stole the show. Max Huang was also great as Lao and their scene at the dinner table was the movies best non-fighting moment.

Kano was the best part of the movie, yet I give props to the movie for taking him out by having Sonya gore him with a garden gnome. If you're going to kill off Kano that's how you should do it.

The first 10 minutes is some of the greatest shit I've ever seen in my life. There were some really good fights in this, particularly when the fights relied on choreography and not CGI. Bi Han vs Hanzo the obvious winners but Sonya vs Kano in both short instances was great too.

It wasn't amazing but they absolutely do deserve a shot at a sequel. Unfortunately the two best performances are dead so they better cast a good Johnny Cage.

EDIT

Oh and "being chosen" took the form of having an eczema rash. Whhhhhhhhy

 

[Eddy Wang]

Curious for all those who say the new movie sucks, how do you compare it to the previous televised media of Mortal Kombat, namely:

MK95
MK The Journey Begins
MK Defenders of the Realm
MK Annihilation
MK Conquest
MK Federation of Martial Arts
MK Rebirth
MK Legacy
MK Legends Scorpion's Revenge

If the new movie sucks, well what was better? How does it rank?

Its worse than MK95
And it's definitely no better or worse than Anihilation.

The arcana element was forced to justify characters using magic, when the writter could clearly do some research on why can Kung Lao and Liu Kang use chi
Sub-Zero bloodline comes from outworld.
Earthrealm fighters use technology and not magic.

This is the worst Liu Kang i've even seen, and Kung Lao was poorly written.

Some fight scenes were good, others were dog shit, lots of cuts to hide the actors ability to fight.
Nitara is the Anihilation's Sheeva in this movie.

 

[Xelz]

And yes, Kano could have a laser eye implant, and sonya could have some piece of special forces tech...but not everything in the movie has to be a copy of the game.

Since they decided to replace technology with super powers, I can’t wait to see Stryker’s arcana. Summon a nightstick at will? Hat can magically change from front facing to ‘90s wear-it-backward-bro style?

Honestly, the whole super-powers-from-dragonmark cliche seems like it was invented by some guy in marketing who thought that MK characters needed to be more like comic book superheroes and feel like the X-Men. And that’s ultimately why the movie didn’t feel like it had anything to do with MK other than borrowing the character names.

The movie wasn’t about a martial arts tournament in the vein of the movies that inspired the creation of MK. It was about “look how cool it is that this guy can shoot fireballs, and this guy can move quickly, and this guy has Superman’s heat vision, but only in one eye, not both, so it’s like he’s less impressive, but he has a beard and is Australian so don’t judge him.”

And it’s hard to be impressed by any of that when we already have superhero movies that go further with their powers, have better R-rated dialogue and jokes (hello Deadpool), and other movies that are more gruesome (‘sup Saw).

That leaves this iteration of MK in no man’s land where it doesn’t do anything nearly as well as anything else. If someone wants to watch a fighting tournament movie, this ain’t it. A movie about super powers, this ain’t it. A campy B-movie so bad that it’s good, this ain’t it.

I can’t recommend the movie to anyone who isn’t a MK fan. And to my friends who are, I’d point them to the first movie, Legacy, or better yet, play through any of the recent MK game story modes again which have significantly better writing and (voice) acting (not like this new movie set a high bar).

 

[Zer0_h0ur]

Cole Young's entire arc should have belonged to Scorpion himself.
They did Goro so so so wrong, but when Cole sliced his shit up and gutted him, I jumped out of my chair and fist pumped just bc it was hype for the moment. After, I was sad Goro went out to a scrub but the scene itself was dope.

The CGI overall for this movie was great with the exception of Kabal's running.
Sub Zero being that OP was intimidating as hell, I loved it.

Nothing I can say about Kano that hasn't been said a ton, it's nice being able to like a live action Kano for once. I loved how Kano was kind of the normal voice of reason throughout all the madness. Kano was like Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China during this movie in that he's like the most normal dude caught in crazy magical sorcery etc. He speaks for the viewer in terms of "when am I getting my super powers" and Liu's seriousness "Tha fuck?!", as well as trolling him for using the same move. A+ character.
Kung Lao didn't need to die there but boy it was dope LOL.

Action scenes def needed to be less cut scene and more thoroughly choreographed.

This movie was fun, I came in with zero expectations, and although I love MK I don't treat it the way Star Wars nerds treat SW. Rated R saved this movie IMO. Would have been 1/10 had they done this PG13. It needed the gore, the cuss words, etc.
I hope we get more sequels. I'll be there to watch, theater or no.

 

[Marinjuana]

Really enjoyed Kano but can't help but wonder if a lot of these lines were originally Johnny's

 

[xRantex]

Really enjoyed Kano but can't help but wonder if a lot of these lines were originally Johnny's

Interesting never thought of that. But I think it was meant for him and sonya to fight etc or they added it in.

 

[theotherguy]

Earthrealm fighters use technology and not magic.

Fair call, and for the most part i agree, except Johnny's never really made sense until MKX where they elaborated on the green power or whatever it was. And Kobra could shoot fireballs and teleport for some unknown reason which always bugged me. And i think there might have been another character that i can't remember.

FWIW, from Tobias himself:
"And... in my mind Sonya’s ring pulse was a manifestation of her chi".. that was his initial thought on it, albeit never expanded on in the games. Even in MK3, Sonya glowed completely pink before shooting the rings, which screams more chi-esque rather than tech based, at least to me.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1375534099964788737

So yeah, i agree, and i like that in the games it's turned out to be a tech power - but i also don't think it's a bad concept for the movie, also not knowing what they have planned down the track. Sure would make it easier explaining why Johnny can throw green goopballs in the sequel, instead of having to flashback to his ancient past explaining his bloodline or having an expository history lesson about it.

 

[LionHeart V1]

This clips pretty much sums up the writing in this movie. Raiden electrified Shang Tsung back to outworld. He could have done that at any point in the movie.

Also not a fan of Raidens actor in this movie. I think he was completely miscast.

 

[LionHeart V1]

 

[Deleted member 5032]

This clips pretty much sums up the writing in this movie. Raiden electrified Shang Tsung back to outworld. He could have done that at any point in the movie.

Also not a fan of Raidens actor in this movie. I think he was completely miscast.

Raiden doesn't gaslight....he GAS LIGHTNINGS!!!

 

[NoCharge]

Why is Cole in this movie?

 

[Deleted member 5032]

Why is Cole in this movie?

Who?

 

[Immortal]

Why is Cole in this movie?

Coz in the sequel at the beginning he gonna chop some tree in the forest which gonna fall on him and kill him, than the mark gonna be transfered on that tree and that how Cetrion gonna be "born" and introduced as the main boss of the movie.

 

[Zer0_h0ur]

I think these guys nail it. MK fan and casual perspectives / takes

 

[xRantex]

Am I the only one that got Taven vibes from cole? I feel like he was a ripoff of Taven.

 

[Linkuei82]

It was decent until they ran into Liu Kang. Then it turned out to the levels of MK Annihilation for me. I thought the best Characters portrayed were Sub-Zero and Scorpion hands down. Really wish they went towards a movie story line based on them like the first 7 mins. I thought the 1995 film was better made.

 

[Juxtapose]

If you lived in the 90's and watched the old films when they where being played, then you know what I'm going to talk about. Some here were TOO young or not even born back then.

The lack of internet, meant we went to see the 1995 film without knowing anything about it... Just 3 or 4 promo pictures in magazines. And that classic Goro-shadow poster outside of cinemas. The critics back then gave mk1995 1 out of 5 stars on average, for the record.
The film had little CGI and a small budget that most of it went to create the Goro puppet (1,5 million). Also, it was pg-13 and it showed. The most violent thing we saw was an extra getting shuttered during an "exhibition fight".
Most fans hated the same stuff which I will talk about further down this post.

The thing most people agreed on, though, was the portrayal of Kano and Shang Tsung and THAT F%#ING music!!! That soundtrack... Not just the techno syndrome, all of it !

So, after 14 years since annihilation and 13 years since TV's Konquest, Kevin Tancharoen comes in and with a budget smaller than my house's worth gives us MK Legacy 1&2.

Then sth happens and suddenly backs of the MK film project when the rumors in late 2013 were that plot was "a normal dude who works in a supermarket and one day discovers he has supernatural powers".


In between those years, people didn't like a bunch of stuff and expressed their opinion over it.

Some of theme were:
- pg-13 MK ?!?
-Mediocre fan service , with SOME special moves here and there.
-poor CGI that aged badly (animalities, reptile, holes in green screen effects etc).
-Liu Kang is bland/boring and the "chosen one" story is overplayed (Cole deja vu?).
- The tournament format is also overplayed.
-Scorpion and Subzero were allies AND jobbers...
- That vagina-like bird out of scorpion's hand.
-Most bad guys are jobbers with no backstory whatsoever in both films.

• People hated , REALLY hated lizard reptile (deja vu?) because mk1,2 and 3 had a ninja-like reptile. It wasn't until MK4 (1997) that Midway re-modeled him after the 1995 movie.
• Casting choices. Always people have their own opinion on casting in any cinema era.

So over the years we 've seen twists being made as an answer to ALL things MK fans bitched about.

-Liu Kang turning on earthrealm (Brian Tee) and kicking earthrealmers' butts.
-Scorpion & Subzero's origins (while talking in japanese, sth that followed us to the 2021 film) being done accurately in an anime style.
-Different takes and styles on different characters' origin story in mk legacy 1.
-A non-classic tournament format, just wandering around an island slaying each other in legacy 2.
-Cole Young as a new face in the franchise, in order for easier exposition and an alternate way to tell the mk story other than "Kang is the man".
-Bad guys finally being a threat and not just extras.
-Great cgi , even greater costumes, gore and fatalities we didn't even dream before 2021 and good casting .
-most important: FAN SERVICE



All I have to say is: WE DO NOT deserve to get anything MK movie-related (animation or live action) ever again. Ever!

This forum , especially , is a good example on why the internet is a bad place to take opinions seriously. Of course everyone has the right to speak his mind, but the fact that the people of the extremes speak their mind so intensely, burying others' opinions with simple phrases like "mk movie sucked-period" or the other extreme, "it was the best video game moive ever-period" and one saying to another "you're an idiot" for not agreeing is more thatn 50% of those last few days of comments.

After years and years of renditions and lots and lots of different takes of MK lore through mk videogames, mk series, mk films, mk comics and mk animation films, fans will always find a way to be totally nihilistic over any attempt that is being made and show little respect to its creators .

Remember when in the MKX days , Shaun Himmerick was bullied and cursed on repeatedly on twitter because there was no reiko in the mkx dlc? Remember when todd garner de-activated his instagram/tiwtter account because he got cursed and spammed over Kano's left eye shooting lazer in the trailer?


Yes, we are that hateful and stupid.
We do not deserve a sequel.
EDIT: I am tagging you because I know you'll be interested in this post of mine, because I know you're civilized and I am interested in your opinion. @Kindred @Art Lean @RoboCop @Jynks

Well said.

The problem is most people don't speak their opinion for the purpose of discussion on the internet in general, they preach their opinion as fact and belittle anyone who disagrees. There's a reason, as I've mentioned in other threads, why I cut social media from my life years ago, and why I only go to a very select few forums now.

Having said that, I do find this forum to be pretty good where most people are open to rational discussion and accepting counter opinions without ridicule, but things can degenerate quickly if one person starts getting argumentative.