Mortal Kombat (2021)

[Shark_Blade]

First look pics: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/...-movie-online/

Mortal Kombat is scheduled to be released in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service by Warner Bros. Pictures on April 16, 2021.

[Sumac]

Looks a bit cheap, but we'll see how it looks in a final product.

I am more worried about story: according to it, the main protagonist is some Original Character named Cole and all other characters are kind of sort of in the background.

Well, they can't make it worse than MKAn, so...

[frank_one]

Can a Mortal Kombat movie possibly be good? James Wan is producing it so there's still hope but I wouldn't bet on it. The pics look ok.

[AquaParade]

The 1995 film is still my favorite video game movie by far. It may not be high art, but it does have some really cool cinematic moments, decent choreography, a pulsing soundtrack, and is overall just a lot of fun to watch if you are into the franchise. I've always loved Mortal Kombat outside of the games, so I'm looking forward to this.

[sdp]

I just know the women will have these SJW non-classic costumes because that's the current look of the franchise. As I mentioned before both Mortal Kombat movies have aged so let's hope this one is cool. MK Legends Scorpion was a retelling of the first tournament and it was good despite being from his perspective. I think it'll be hard to mess it up. And the fact that its not going to be in theaters might help it get a sequel since it won't be all about BO numbers.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by sdp

I just know the women will have these SJW non-classic costumes because that's the current look of the franchise. As I mentioned before both Mortal Kombat movies have aged so let's hope this one is cool. MK Legends Scorpion was a retelling of the first tournament and it was good despite being from his perspective. I think it'll be hard to mess it up. And the fact that its not going to be in theaters might help it get a sequel since it won't be all about BO numbers.

Not that women in OG movie and MKAn had revealing costumes, so its kinda a moot point.

I wonder how they will calculate if movie was successful or not?
Does it mean critics would be even more important than before?

[Leo656]

Visually, it looks pretty good, so I'm definitely intrigued. But the whole "The main character is an OC and the plot revolves around them rather than anyone from the games" bit definitely reeks of the "Resident Evil" movies - which I never bothered to actually watch but have read a ton about, and I'm aware that they irritate the living hell out of game fans, for what sounds like very good reasons. So, that's kind of annoying. Why do they not feel like the in-game cast are enough? The excuse is usually some variant of "We need an Audience-Avatar character, someone the casual viewers can relate to as they go on this journey", but why can't Liu Kang or Johnny Cage be that? I don't get it.

I mean, we'll see what happens. Like two years ago the synopsis floating around was that the movie was gonna center around a couple of teenagers, so thankfully they've made some improvements since then. But this still might fall short. I really hope it's good, the world deserves a truly good MK movie. Not that the first one wasn't, but... well, the "flaws" have already been discussed to death.

[CyberCubed]

Wasn't the whole leaked script posted on reddit and people said it sounds terrible?

[AquaParade]

The original character protagonist doesn't really bother me, as I've never been invested in the particular character's story so much as I am the surface level mythology. The Sub-Zero & Scorpion rivalry can be played up a bit and other characters have interesting backgrounds, but I don't need those to be the focus.

[Sumac]

It irritates me, though, since MK have enough characters that can provide "everyman" perspective. Heck, first movie did it with Cage (albeit following original comic book, written by game's writer). And if that's not enough there are Jax, Sonya, Stryker. Even Kabal and Kobra (lol) can work.

There is a theory, that Cole will end up some significant MK character in the end (Cage or Sub-Zero Junior), but than I will be even less sure, why would they need this masquerade.

[Andrew NDB]

Yes... while I applaud the R rating (what a shocker! a Mortal Kombat movie that gets to have real Fatalities! it only took us 25 years) it is clearly very cheaply made. Like, it looks like some indie filmmakers made this with $10,000, local actors and After Effects.

Unless they're hidden in there, I'm not seeing any name actors in it. That means they're not really taking this seriously. C'mon, they need to at least have a Name for Johnny Cage or Rayden or something.

[Leo656]

Nah, I disagree. I generally (not always) hate that sh*t and find it distracting. Donner had it right when he was originally casting for Superman back in the 70s: "You can hire Dustin Hoffman and put him in a Superman costume, but people watching the movie won't see 'Superman', they'll just see Dustin Hoffman dressed up like Superman." I have similar problems with much of the MCU's star-studded casting; the performers very much outshine the characters they're playing. Like Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr. have very little in common aside from facial hair, but now Stark just plain IS Downey in everything because the movie version overshadowed everything else.

It works alright SOME of the time but I definitely don't think you ALWAYS need a "name" to sell a project. That's ultimately only for the studios to try and recoup their investment because they believe the general audience only shows up to see movies with "names" in them. Maybe that's true of the super-duper casual audience but probably not true for the kind of audience that would pay to see a Mortal Kombat movie. I think the purists and hardcores would be very annoyed by that kind of thing.

I mean, we already kind of saw that when they had Rousey "play" Sonya in MK11. People hated it and found it distracting - "That's not 'Sonya Blade', that's just Ronda Rousey kinda-sorta playing Sonya Blade." Doesn't always work.

Originally Posted by Sumac

It irritates me, though, since MK have enough characters that can provide "everyman" perspective. Heck, first movie did it with Cage (albeit following original comic book, written by game's writer). And if that's not enough there are Jax, Sonya, Stryker. Even Kabal and Kobra (lol) can work.

There is a theory, that Cole will end up some significant MK character in the end (Cage or Sub-Zero Junior), but than I will be even less sure, why would they need this masquerade.

I agree. And I really hope that theory doesn't come to pass, that would be kinda sh*tty.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by frank_one

Can a Mortal Kombat movie possibly be good? James Wan is producing it so there's still hope but I wouldn't bet on it. The pics look ok.

The first one was considered to be very good back in the day. I remember seeing it in theaters and people were blown away by what they pulled off. And then the second one came out and it was so exciting - until you were sitting in the empty theater watching that awful sequel feeling as if someone tricked you into coming to a party that no one was going to be at. LOL!

There were some MK web films a few years back that were pretty good actually. I'm looking forward to this new flick.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Nah, I disagree. I generally (not always) hate that sh*t and find it distracting. Donner had it right when he was originally casting for Superman back in the 70s: "You can hire Dustin Hoffman and put him in a Superman costume, but people watching the movie won't see 'Superman', they'll just see Dustin Hoffman dressed up like Superman."

I don't mean an A-lister... but it needs some kind of star power. How about Scott Adkins for Johnny Cage? He's kind of king of B-movie action/martial arts movie. There you go -- bam, perfect Johnny Cage.

I mean, we already kind of saw that when they had Rousey "play" Sonya in MK11. People hated it and found it distracting - "That's not 'Sonya Blade', that's just Ronda Rousey kinda-sorta playing Sonya Blade."

I think that's more because while Ronda Rousey has a "certain kind of charm" (at least, to me), she definitely doesn't look like this:



And fans know that.

Also, in the same game where suddenly all the female characters are "covering up," that making her more masculine and literally into Ronda Rousey was largely taken as just more PC crap.

[The Deadman]

Trailer is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYH2...ab_channel=IGN

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by The Deadman

Trailer is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYH2...ab_channel=IGN

Not bad.

Best Buy will be releasing a steelbook set with the first two movies on March 30th, which will also include a digital code.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/mortal-...0&mpid=1310690

I might get it so I can use the digital code, but it would be nice if they were released on 4K.

[sdp]

Movie looks very hollywood for better or worse, but we've seen the original Mortal Kombat story re-told so many times I'm ok with that.
I hope it's good, reminds me of Mortal Kombat Legacy a bit, I hope we get more stuff and create a new Mortal Kombat shared universe like in the 90s

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by sdp

Movie looks very hollywood for better or worse, but we've seen the original Mortal Kombat story re-told so many times I'm ok with that.
I hope it's good, reminds me of Mortal Kombat Legacy a bit, I hope we get more stuff and create a new Mortal Kombat shared universe like in the 90s

I feel like they took too many liberties with the ninja's costumes. Honestly, the web shorts from some time back where better than this.

[Coola Yagami]

This is gonna be cool. I don't think back in the 90s the world was ready for fatalities. You have to admit the idea of them was gorier than what the older games showed you. Back then kids played MK and we still had the 'adults shouldn't care about video games' stigma. Parents would be dragged to watch the movie with their kids and if they saw heads ripped off with glee they woulda put the kibosh on playing MK at home.


But now those kids grew up, gaming grew up, adults play MK and the fatalities of MK9-11 have gotten increasingly more violent and intense. Youtube won't even show fatalities of MK 11 unless they're black and white or done on inhuman characters with green blood. For or better or for worse we've gotten desensitized to MK by now so the world is more than ready for a R-Rated Fatality filled 'Sub-Zero stabbing someone with their frozen blood's craziness.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

But now those kids grew up, gaming grew up, adults play MK and the fatalities of MK9-11 have gotten increasingly more violent and intense. .

Blood and gore isn't "grown up" either.