That's partly because it didn't just try to copy the source material; there was also some innovation and creativity that went into it, like the iconic Immortals track, or having Christopher Lambert portray Raiden.
How so? Because you grew up with it???? I did too but i grew up. I'm not a kid anymore. 1995 had Scorpion and Sub Zero as pet dogs to Shang Tsung. No backstory for them. Scorpion die by Johnny Cage. No fatalities. No gore. Rated PG-13. I guess you guys like that PG-13 stuff
@@hangguy209 fatalities aside. Its inconsistent and characters I'm suppose to care I dont give a damn. Character like Kano I wasn't supposed to somehow I was invested in. Like wtf lol.
Yeah, to me he was always kind of a mascot of the series (Scorpion notwithstanding). You've got Dragons, Dragon Emperors and Dragon logos - it makes sense to have a prominent reptilian character, but they treat him like a footnote in both the games and movies.
@@CynicalWarlock I really don't see reptile as the mascot of mk, that's belong to scorpion. Even though they mistreat reptile, I'm still of a fan of him
it wasn't Reptile, in the scene between Mileena and Shang Tsung walking through Outworld Shang tells her to "send the reptilian Zataran" thank God it wasn't Reptile
The original Mortal Kombat had a strong atmosphere, a unique and original score, passable acting, some ACTUALLY decent filmmaking and some great fight choreography. This one had.... Cole Young.
They disrespected goro in this film badly, not only did he have little screen time, but he got beat by a nobody, were talking about the prince of the shokan who had an unbeatable streak 🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️
For the sequel, i heard they killing off Sonja and Jax because they don't want to diverse the characters too much. They will replace them with 2 more asian made up characters like Cole.
@@blessethishe If that happens then I'll just abandon all hope for the movie franchise. At some point Liu Kang is gonna fight Raiden, it was already eluded to and most likely how Liu Kang is gonna die because he will die.
This movie was to Mortal Kombat what the resident evil movies were to the resident evil games. It felt like it was written by a person who only knew the tropes of Mortal Kombat and not the story
@@guidopasquetto911 I mean, Joe Taslim reportedly signed on for 4 movies as Sub-Zero so I guess the best outcome would be that enough people like it for them to make a sequel but also that enough people dislike it for them to understand they need to drastically change the approach for the next one.
@@g_ho_st i doubt they'll change. The movie was pure cringe. Cole young's family, specially his daughter telling him yo hit giro with a Hook i just can't believe someone thaught this movie was a good idea. It's the actual worst script i've ever seen. It's a damn Shame because the cast is awesome, specially Joe Taslim
I feel like the movie should have opened with an "Optimus Prime"-ish naration with a more understandable Raiden voice who explains how the tournament was created and how it occurs every 50 years. Maybe show a visual of older characters fighting like Nightwolf vs. Drahmin or something. It could show an Older Shang Tsung become slightly younger as he steals the soul of the loser.
It made me angry when Cole interfered into Sub Zero and Scorpion fight. Sub Zero was already tired and at that moment Cole joined. Seemed unfair. Cole seems like not even worthy to fight a seasoned fighter like Sub Zero.
All because we need to adhere to the 'new generation' bullshit trends. It felt like wiping the floor with a grandmaster (pun intended) at chess, then bringing in your kid sister and letting her check mate him.
@@CynicalWarlock i felt the same, thank you for giving this comparison, then Scorpion thanked Cole for bringing him back to life, which was not even what Cole had thought would happen. During the fight, Cole was not much help as he was trying in the background to get thru ice to his wife (notice he had his back towards Sub Zero , so he had luck/plot armour not to have been killed from the back like a fly). He joined in the very last moment where Sub Zero was barely standing. I 'm very surprised Cole's girls survived. Felt like cartoonish ending.
@@fantasiazplatkami the structure of that fight is all over the place: one moment, Cole is teaming up with Scorps against Sub, the next, he's trying to thaw his family, then we're fighting again, but wait, I should help my family. Just comit to something, man! Felt like that random Starcraft or DotA teammate who plays for a minute, then goes to take a leak, then he's back again. All the while, you're 2v1-ing with every ounce of skill you can muster.
it was like they only had 3 sets to use during the whole movie... except the first 7 min.. someone else must have directed that... that first scene was a flawless victory
Apparently, they shot a lot on location. It does feel like a small set, though, because of the way it's shot, the lack of worldbuilding and lack of weight of the scenes.
Blame that on the lack of creative use of the $50 million dollar budget and WB micromanaging this project to death with Yes Men and inexperienced newbies in key roles of writing, directing, and of course, editing.
@@theprowler18 I can imagine their 'micromanaging', vividly: "So, uh, we would like to add a new character, that younger audiences can relate to, and make him the protagonist; make sure you get at least 30 different references to the games, so we can ensnare the hardcore fans.. oh, and we'd also like to shoot for an overall Marvel aesthetic, since they're making truckloads of money, with their films."
@@CynicalWarlock Bingo. They wanted their own Marvel style franchise yet again, after blowing it hard with DC films and no doubt are looking for any series to turn into a cash cow. So they went with the next best thing, make it like those "Resident Evil" films with Alice in it for the newbies, screw the fans...they don't make us money (the unfortunate truth), the general normies do! That's what really sucks about this film, it exists as a cash grab for sure.
@@crazycat1232 They went for the cheapest option since the beginning: a noname Australian town. According to them, this $50 mil film is the biggest one in South Australian history, I dont think they got experienced contractors.
Why won’t they study what worked in the Mortal kombat 95 movie??? A. Dark elements B. Uncertainties C. Suspense D. Better camera cuts and editing E. Mysterious F. Proper Character Development G. Rational character motivation H. Great fight choreographer I. Believably scary challenging bad guy J. Real land scouted locations no green screen but more believable sets K. Better back stories to help rationalize a good logic in how the characters came into being who they are, the characters that we know. L. Better more fitting score and sound tracks better fitted to match each scene and it’s characters. M. Better more believable dialogue even if it is improvised by the actor N. Put the actors on workout plans to better resemble the looks of their characters O. Don’t worry about pleasing younger audiences they will comply if adults like it and if not, it’s a movie about a tournament and it’s fighters fighting to the death, which shouldn’t be marketed towards kids anyway
I think with the huge surge of Marvel/DC movies in the last 10-12 years, film studios really lost what made Mortal Kombat "feel" like Mortal Kombat. It had this mysterious, dark, and ancient orient feel to it. Not this kiddy bullshit.
Heck, I'd settle for any 3 of these! Your last point really hits home, in my opinion: casuals - especially young people - will go see whatever people say is good, or like the hottest thing of the moment; no need to cater too much to them.
@@colinj5291 Just re-watched some scenes, recently - it really does look, sound and feel like a Marvel movie (blood not withstanding). Heroic music, bland color grading, fast pacing... Very by-the-numbers. Guess that's the downside of Marvel's success: everyone's tryina copy it.
The "birthmark" perhaps murdered more audience than Thanos' finger snap. The prologue scene tried too hard to "narutonize" just because...it's a ninja fight...
This movie definitely didn’t live up to the hype. It is better than Annihilation, but that’s a pretty low bar. To me, the 1995 original is still hands down the best. Shang Tsung, Raiden, and Goro were all completely worthless in this new movie. And everyone keeps praising Kano, but I found him really annoying after awhile. Less is more sometimes. Also, I don’t know why anyone would include Mileena in a movie where Kitana was never introduced or even referenced yet. It made Mileena just a boring henchman, who they then killed off needlessly. Cole Young was also a boring and worthless character. Completely unnecessary, and making him the lead dragged everything else down.
You read my mind. Mileena could've been literally any other jobber, from the roster. They brought in f-ing Nitara, but thought it just as appropriate to off Mileena in the first movie, for some reason. MKX made that same mistake, killing her off before she had the chance to get any kind of screen time with Kitana. Wasted potential, as Subs would say. Kano, I already talked about him in the video. Agree completely.
I don't even think it's better than Annihilation. I watched Annihilation again, the next day after watching this, and think it is, hands down, the better film. It has a lot of flaws (bad cgi, etc, which is the fault of new line cinema for having a test screening of a non final edit/film that had not gone thru post production, but the audience liked it, so they released it as was), but it also has a lot of characters and special moves from the actual games and looks and feels like the games. The games themselves don't take themselves seriously and have many jokes like "toasty," "friendship," etc. So, I don't feel like Annihilation is that much cheesier than the actual games, don't feel like it needs anymore storyline than it has, as you already know the story as an MK fan, and I find it highly entertaining. I don't like that they killed Cage off in the beginning and the CGI at the end is not great, but if you grew up watching Ninja Turtles, Ghost Busters, and Power Rangers, like me, it doesn't matter much. It's cool that they included fatalities in the new one, but other than that, and Mileena, It's not worth seeing. Mileena is by far, the best thing you will see in this new Mortal Kombat film. They just need to put Mileena from this film into the older MK films (with a sex scene, and not have her killed off) and put Cole into a retail position at Kohl's (instead of in this movie) and we'd be good. lol. It's worth watching this movie once, then watching the old ones/playing the games, and hearing Shao Kahn from MK3 in your head saying , "That was pathetic." Oh, and Raiden has no personality in this film and looks like Tom Hanks with glowing eyes. Liu Kang looks and acts like a puny bitch who uses his powers to light his hand on fire just to light the way for the others. Finally, it is pronounced "Rye-Co," not "Rake-Oh," and Sub Zero looks like captain picard in ninja garb; since when did ninja's upgrade their kung fu uniforms from ones with cloth hoods and face masks to Darth Vader helmets?
@@user-lg9hc1nl9u Maaaany good points. +1 for the "Tom Hanks with glowing eyes" bit. It's interesting that you liked Mileena, in this; most people hated her. I've been meaning to rewatch Annihilation, but kept putting it off. Guess I should get to it.
@@CynicalWarlock Lol. Yeah, a friend of mine also liked her in it. We think she looks sexy. I like her eyes, the bloody mouth, and her licking the sais. I think she provided some much needed eye candy. I like Sonya in Annihilation a lot too. I think the original 1995 movie is best as for the story, acting, cohesiveness, etc, but Annihilation is fun because it has almost all the characters from Ultimate MK3 and a lot of their special moves are in it as well. I understand why people don't like it because of the cheesiness/bad cgi, etc, but I like it in spite of that. I think the fights with the robot characters (Jax vs. Cyrax) are really cool. The techno/Metal soundtrack (KMFDM, Pitchshifter, etc.) is cool too.
@@user-lg9hc1nl9u I think the chick who plays Mileena in 2021 definitely has sex appeal; I just wish she'd have been portrayed as less of a serious, obedient jobber. And she seemed too in control of herself to have Tarkatan blood in her. As for MK: Annihilation, honestly, the only weird thing I remember about it was the hamster wheel teleporters, in the center of the earth, or whatever those were.
Here's the spoiler: Cole Young is totally irrelevant. Mortal Kombat 95 is still better than this, and that's PG-13. CG Blood look so fake, and gore didn't faze me at all. I had high hopes for this. Well at least I didn't money in the movie theatre. The only thing I like was the fight between Subzero and scorpion.
That's such an interesting point. This movie highlights how violence/intensity and gore/ratings aren't tied together as closely as we think. Seeing a quick CG blood splatter can leave you feeling numb, while the Joker's pencil trick (which was PG) can make your butt cheeks clench every time you see it.
This was a Mortal Kombat Annihilation reboot. The 1995 film had a bunch of plot holes and deviations from the source material as well, but Annihilation was completely disrespectful. The only things that were better in this film than the others were the special effects, more fleshing out of Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and the inclusion of Kung Lao and how well he was done.
Yeah, someone else mentioned it, as well: this really is Annihilation 2.0 Kung Lao was expertly cast and could've done a lot more. I think they should've saved the monks for the sequel; give everyone more space.
I was worried about the MK fans themselves wanting to FINISH the writers with a brutality or fatality of their choice. It just makes Sindel's case in the games slightly tolerable compared to this
I assume you're talking about Cole, and I agree. I'm sick to death of the 'new generation' trend. You have damn-near 100 characters, in the MK universe! USE EM!!
@@CynicalWarlock It should have started out how it was meant to be Lu Kang, Sonya and Cage gathering champions with Raiden having each character introduction after the first 10 min of that Scorpion background. The intro to this movie was the best part. It was pointless throwing in Reptile like that. Coles little family should have been dead if Sub Zero got to them first. Cole should have been Johnny Cage at least. Like I don't get it.
@@dre10blood Ooooh man, I couldn't get into specifics, because of the non-spoiler tag, but Cole's family surviving in the exact circumstances in which Hanzo's family didn't *infuriated* me! Plot armor of the thickest kind! And don't even get me started on Reptile. I'm a Reptile main so.. yeah... I've been sad for a while. 😅 Definitely gonna do a spoiler video on this turd of a movie.
Start the movie with Bi-han murdering scorpion in the shaolin temple in the search for the map of the elements ( this means 21th century) Follow up with the beginning of the tournament where each character would have a moment to shine culminating with Liu Kang defeating Goro and Shang Tsung End it with bi-han`s death by the hand of an enraged scorpion
@@sandrothenecromancer6810 Would've been a far better structure. Also, it kind of irks me that everyone accepts this new Sub-Zero/Scorpion origin as canon, forgetting the OG MK: Mythologies storyline.
@@johnnybrix5308 Yep. MK4 is an interesting game, because the character sounds and animations are the funniest they've ever been (with characters yelling things like "AAi, Mommy!" when they get hit), but it's paired with a dark, creepy atmosphere, courtesy of the stages, intro cinematic and some of the music.
Between their mishandling of DC properties, Zack Snyder's treatment and the steady decline of quality in the MK games, Warner Bros. are a worthy contender for the title of 'Worst Entertainment Company of the Decade', alongside EA.
That was 1st Gen Sub Zero in the movie, who will eventually become Noob Saibot, and yeah they didn't put in the effort and jump straight to his "next outfit" instead of retaining the original blue. Feel for ya, man, how they just casually butchered Reptile ( | __ | )
Yeah, similar joke’s were made dozens of times already; I can’t stop imagining a what if scenario of killing someone with a mark. If a drunk driver gets the mark after running someone over, does that mean this man or woman must be broken out of jail to defend Earthrealm? It’d be a fun parody at least. Probably more interesting than what we got.
As you said, a lot of people have rightly pointed out the flaw in that logic. Here's an idea: have Cole be the 'drunk driver'. Make it so he gets his mark by accidentally killing a champion, before the movie starts. Would make more sense with him being a failed MMA fighter - he's not a champion, he's not a gifted fighter, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has to survive the hand he's been dealt. At the very least, it would be more interesting to watch an underdog, rather than a fated champion, with cheat codes always on.
Thanks, you're voicing all my concerns about this movie better than I've done. I went on reddit to share my review and I got way too many comments telling me that I was taking it too seriously, but as you said, the MK movies have to start taking themselves a bit more seriously if they want to amount to anything. That, and I am tired of people, gamers included, using the pretext of the source material being a game in order to justify mediocre flicks. It's not because we game that we can't appreciate other media.
Spot on, with your end remark: games still aren't taken seriously as a medium, despite making some strides, in that sense. Reddit tends to be flooded with fanboys - hard to get to like-minded people, sometimes. Feel free to mail me your post (as links in comments get auto-removed by UA-cam); would love to read through your points.
I wouldn't say it sucked. If you judge it entirely from a fan service point of view, it might actually pass off as a generic video game adaptation. But it was supposed to be more than that.
@@g_ho_st Reason this film was bad is because Warner Bros and new line Cinema Gave this film a low budget and hired a first-time director and screenwriter for the movie along with hiring a Cove screenwriter who is responsible for the Doom (2005) movie and WW1984
Exactly! When I saw the trailer, that one line and the way he says it made me cringe. Sub-Zero wouldn't care about his damned moniker that much. Plus, it's not like his name is something elegant, like Aragorn, or Gandalf the Grey; he's just a freakin' temperature.
Pacing was terrible, actors just didn’t have the charisma to carry the movie and a lot of the fights felt lacklustre imo Also the mouth masks for subzero and scorpion looked to clunky and silly, They didn’t fit their faces as well as the game versions.
This here will sum up the movie for anyone on the fence SPOILERS: Cole a failed MMA fighter with no wins under his belt kills Goro before the tournament even takes place. Also no tournament takes place in this movie.
This movie pissed me off immensely. Raiden was literally just Alice Cullen from "Twilight." His powers work whenever the plot needs the heroes to be saved, and subsequently, they just forget his powers exist whenever the plot needs the bad guys to take some kind of advantage. They literally SAY he can teleport anyone anywhere at any time, so why does he not just teleport Shang Tsung and his underdeveloped goon squad away the second they arrive???
The Twilight comparison made me chuckle. Raiden could've intercepted Reptile, saved Kung Lao, ported the heroes to the desert, stranded Shang Tsung into a wormhole and teleported to Japan just 5 minutes earlier, to save Hanzo and his family, but I guess he was too busy practicing his English in Duolingo... ...fruitlessly, of course.
This is what happened: Step 1 - Writer decided to make Cole Hanzo's son, in the modern world. Step 2 - Writer realized there's a 4 century gap between Hanzo's time and Cole's time. Step 3 - Writer retcons Cole to being a descendant, while still keeping him an orfan, for no good reason. Step 4 - This movie happens. I jest, but, for all we know, it could've went down this way.
@@jeremiahcrain7023 he wasn't in this movie either. But, in MK lore, he was a descendent of Kung Lao, the last earth fighter to win the tourney before him. This movie turned him into some bs orphan that Bo Rai Cho took in.
@@riteousrighthand6144 Correct me if I'm wrong but Liu Kang isn't actually related to the Great Kung Lao. If he was than he wouldn't be an orphan since he was taken in from the white lotus from a young age and wasn't born into it when Kung Lao was. If he was related to the Great Kung Lao than why'd Liu Kang have to be adopted into the white lotus society and Kung Lao be born into it.
Nice review. I agree hundred percent with what you said; i was waiting for this film to add a layer of seriousness and depth to mk, i didnt want to watch a list of references that even for the game i grew a bit tired of. i wanted this to be as interesting as "legacy" adaptation. Thank you for the review!
Glad you liked it. Admittedly, it's tough to balance seriousness and silliness, in a franchise that has both, but they should've been able to do better than this.
@@melvingenao550 I really wanted to like this Liu Kang portrayal. In some ways he was much better than the Robin Shou version. Unfortunately the story did not help him one bit.
@@g_ho_st I agree. Robin Shou was less Liu Kang and more generic 90s protagonist. Liu Kang, as a character, is more of a comic book version of Superman, or Captain America: he's just an unassuming, morally forthright, mellow dude, who happens to be ridiculously good at fighting. And this new guy definitely looks the part. That's about where the similarities end, though.
😆😆😆😆😆😆 so you wanted to watch Scorpion and Sub Zero be slave buddies to Shang Tsung and Johnny Cage killing Scorpion. Got it. You guys are clowns. Stop the nostalgic bullsh!t. I loved 1995 as a kid because i didn't know any better nor did i care for lore and story. I liked it because it looked cool. But as i mature, it was trash. Trash storyline and cheesy script. Rated PG-13 damn it. You guys are clowns and obviously biased.
Love how everyone is too scared to talk about how Mileena isn't Mileena. You know I wouldn't care if Mileena was black even though she's suppose to be Asian. No, all I want is for her to look like Mileena. Please, have some pink on her, give her the correct hair style, give her a personality, and please give her the correct mouth with some lines. All that she has is her weapons and that's it. Regardless of what race she is, Mileena needs to be done better in terms of a character just like everyone else. This movie I would not give even a star because it does not please the fans.
I wouldn't give it a star because it's not much of a movie, in a vacuum. Mileena was trash. Definitely one of 3 bad portrayals, in the movie, alongside Raiden and Reiko. You're right, though: race and looks are secondary to character and personality. The biggest blunder with her is introducing her this early, only to kill her off, before she had a chance to develop her character and interact with her sister or her "father" at all.
For the sequel, i heard they killing off Sonja and Jax because they don't want to diverse the characters too much. They will replace them with 2 more asian made up characters like Cole.
Bro 2021 Liu Kang was like a home health care nurse lol he was too passionate lol, 1995 Liu Kang was gangsta, I will never forget when 1995 Liu Kang threw Johnny Cage luggage in the lake. That was gangsta and funny as hell. This 2021 new Liu Kang may as well been a psychologists slash social worker lol
Nurse, lol :)) I think both versions can work. MK '95 mashed Liu Kang and Kung Lao into one character, which worked well for that movie. 2021 Liu Kang is more like the pacifist version from the first game, but he's hollow; they didn't flesh him out at all.
I would say I have seen far worse (unfortunately), but I agree: the exposition in feudal Japan feels like it was actually directed by someone while the rest was just a long list of "send in the characters".
@@g_ho_st i havent seen a Lot of terrible movies in my life but i think i hate this one so much because it's a movie from 2021 and it's filled with cringy dialogue, cliché stuff frome the 80s with Cole's daughter telling him what to do amd him actually killing goro
When Raiden showed up at Scorpions home I was like WTF?! That didn't make any damn sense unless Raiden was looking to recruit scorpion for the tournament then it would make sense. Cole should've been the next Scorpion to fight against Subzero and get revenge for his ancestors and for the death of his wife and kid. That would have been even darker and worth the money to watch as blood and gore fight scenes would be more satisfying to watch as we see Cole kill so many of the enemies. But nope they went a different route which made no sense at all.
This was pretty much a Mortal Kombat Annihilation reboot. i’m surprised more don’t recognize that. Same storyline, same issues & complaints from us fans. Some of these characters that died we didnt even get to hear them speak. But at least with Annihilation the music was on point.. Goro got killed by a rookie in a trailer park... 😑😑.. i’ll just leave it at that.
Been thinking about that a lot, actually. Still tough for me to decide which one's worse. I think I'll coin that term, actually: 'MK: Annihilation - The Reboot' sounds more appropriate than MK 2021.
@@CynicalWarlock This one was better after others informed me of the fact that the actual tournament was saved for the sequel film. Before that i rated this film a 3/10.. now i give it a 5-6/10...
@@romainejohnson7008 That may be a misconception, from the games. I like how MK: Conquest did it, where Shang tried to take Kung Lao's soul, mid-fight, but Lao proved to strong.
The movie just felt too jarring whenever they go to different places or fight. Characters felt as flat as the pancakes I ate this morning, even though I already knew who they were. The fan service and references was corny, cringey, and/or unnecessary. Way too many characters for how long the movie is if you ask me. But I do think the actor for Kano did a pretty good job in my opinion tho.
Agreed - they could've done with way less characters and really focused on them. The story seems structured to support such an approach, too. Also, now I wanna eat pancakes...
I'm a hardcore mortal Kombat fan, but I'll not give this movie more than 5. Movie feels rushed. Why subzero killed scorpions family is not established. In game it's quanchi who transforms as subzero to kill scorpions family to recruit scorpion to their side. Subzero is one of the good guys fighting for earthrealm being a ninja from the earth. Then yes definitely the fights, they were so bland and empty. They clearly just focused on the fatalities, which is good but where are the fights which lead to those fatalities. They killed kung lao too quickly and Liu Kang was the shaolin champion and kung lao idealized liu not the other way round. Liu ran away from shaolin. Johnny cage should've been introduced in this being an og character with Sonya and liu. I would have preferred if they just introduced characters and their bonds for the movie runtime and kept fighting for the next part. The establishment of characters seem so abrupt, it's like movie expects the audience to know every character already. This movie reminds me so much of Dragonball z.
I'll be completely frank, I even forgot Lao dies in this, that's how little weight the scenes in this movie had, for me. So many things are talked about but not properly explored: Sub-Zero talks about finally ending the Shirai Ryu, yet comes across as a psychopath who's just doing this for fun. Goro is referred to as a Shokan prince, then proceeds to be the same mindless monster he's been portrayed as in mainstream MK, for the past 20 years. Oh, and saving Johnny for the sequel was a classic case putting the cart before the horse.
The issue is not black mileena, the issue is mileena called Shang tusung "Master". Mileena is the daughter of an emperor to whom Shang serves. So she is the princess of outworld. If anything, hierarchy dictates that mileena is superior to shang tusung. Although Shang never called mileena princess, they both consider each other equal in combat hence call each other by name.
Raiden should've had the actor that played ip man cause he's old with wisdom, this actor they had was stupid and mileena is a sexy asian mouth hungry gal, it's r-rated so use that character look from mortal kombat 9
“Fan service” at the expense of the fans who actually have been paying attention to the lore of the games. This movie felt more like a great big “fuck you” to the fans who don’t fit into the demographic of people with no attention span who will sit there picking their nose and saying, “ Huh huh, fatalities,” with the voice of Mongo from Blazing Saddles.
This. This was just for "fans" that think that MK is just gore, scorpion and sub zero, and nothing else. People that call Liu Kang "the Asian dude" and don't even know he was the one who beat Goro in the first game.
Well you have to kill the guy with the mark. Which basically means if an old woman accidentally runs me over.... well she's our next champion. Grandma with the arcana 😁
Agreed, man. This movie was average at best and the story was poorly written. People then try to defend it with the 'its a video game movie' line which is stupid. Its still a movie, of course I expect basic storytelling rules to apply. The writers failed to make Cole relatable to me, the arcana subplot as a whole was flimsy, and overreliance on Kano to convey humour did not sit well with me. Which is such a shame, because I really liked the cast. I think they did the best with what they were given.
The way they explained how their power works was so bad I couldn’t stop laughing. Also the “character” cole was so poorly written you’d think a low capacity child made it up. His powers were literally plot armor and looked terrible
Honestly all the fan service in this to me just came off as insulting because someone clearly took the time to look up some imagery that would be important to fans or you know the fans would like but not even a tenth of that effort was put in to making the story accurate or the characters
How was this movie so bad? Especially compared to the 1995 movie. It could have been so good, they slapped original fans right across the face, and all the other reviews I see love this movie. It's almost like they are getting slapped in the face and begging for more of this whackness.
Haven't seen other reviews. I've heard the argument that people are so desperate for MK films, that they'll accept anything. There may be some truth to that... ...or they got paid.
Quick people petition Zac Snyder to redo this and make it better asap... Hes the only hope for these crappy WB movies.... Maybe give Tarantino a call he the gore king...js
The movie plot is not even like what other mortal kombat media were, its also like an oc insert in the world of a popular franchise, the studio cared more on mortal kombat, but they never thought that its MORTAL KOMBAT.
True, it didn't feel like an MK movie, somehow. P.S. I like your name - I, too, sexually identify as an attack helicopter. Not a Celestial, though... :(
I don’t hate this movie but damn it disappointed me, the opening fight was genuinely good imo but every fight later finishes in 1 minute and barely have any memorable moments. This movie just felt bland, it’s not awful but I won’t be remembering much from it. I wish this had just been a short film of the first 7 minutes and then end it.
@@CynicalWarlock directors love hiring that actor ( nathan jones) for his physical prowess and physique because in all honesty he does look intimidating, but you're right he looked nothing like said character.
@@Hopium500 I get why they went with him: they wanted to further the parallels between Reiko and Shao Kahn, that are implied in the games, but all that accomplished was taking away what little uniqueness the character had and turning him into discount Shao Kahn.
Text scroll, what hell? What is this, starwars? Damn it. I hate spoilers but thanx for giving it away to minimize my disappointment when i had the opporunity to watch this fan service. And the script, yup thanks for this precaution. Now I can finally enjoy the play, I mean the scenario by ignoring their scripts. --- And raiden's line before vanishing shang tsung by a lighting bolt is a disconnect to what shang tsung is trying to say about bringing an army at his return. Yup, and Jax when seeing, NOT FEELING, his arms are frozen by Subzero's fistgrab, simply looks as if a venomous tarantula is crawling, NOT BITING, on his arms. As if he did NOT FELT the pain of a frostbite that has already bitten his arms, he could have yelled painfully at the immediate moment when the frostbite consumed both of his fists EVEN BEFORE subzero broke them entirely. --- Looks like the director is focused on the scenario and easter eggs, and NOT on the acting nor the script. And boy, Gorro's CGI moves too slow with lesser script making him a dumb brute than a supposed shrewd shokan prince that I'd rather justify the 1995's animatronic for being slow yet fully scripted (totally articulate), than to watch such lame and dumb CGI that was supposed to defy reality. --- Boy how disappointed am i to find out that Goro's Leap was not gonna be His Iconic Trampling Stampede.
I tried to make it as spoiler-free as possible, but figured spoiling the fact that there's a text crawl wasn't that big a deal. Then again, I did kind of jokingly give away the text, even if U paraphrased, so apologies for that. The Jax-tarantula comparison is spot on, and yes, animatronic Goro was a technical achievement, at the time. I guess knowing what you're in for allows you to enjoy it a bit more.
Biggest flows of the movie were Cole Young (who could be the next Alice from the Resident Evil movies) and killing Kung Lao and Goro. That was just BS. And Raiden in the movie was plain boring.
@@jsb6975.ah.crapbaskets Heh, that's true. I never liked game Raiden much, but at least he has a commanding presence, whereas the guy from 2021 reminds me of Mr. Filch, from the Harry Potter series. Acts like a disgruntled caretaker.
They didn't put Johnny Cage in the movie because he's white, this movie has too many diversity woke garbage in it! I wish there was another director that respects mortal kombat and the lore, I guess we have to wait for another sequel. For the Lin Kuei!❄️
Yes, that infuriated me! The movie digs a hole for itself by placing Cole's and Hanzo's families in the exact same situation, but with opposite outcomes.
@@Jfazed It would've been AWESOME, for Cole. Would've given him *something* to work with: setting him down the same path of vengeance as Scorpion, but having him resist it.
Can we talk a sec. about the extreme difference in quality for the 2 Scorpion vs Sub-Zero fight scenes, compared to the rest of the action sequences here? It's pretty obvious that these 2 fight scenes were shot by a different director or maybe the second unit director/stunt coordinator did them, while the rest were done by the newbie director.
Recently re-watched the intro; that fight scene between Bi-Han and Hanzo is, indeed, somethin' else. It's quite good. Maybe the producer (James Wan, who directed Aquaman) took a more active role in handling that fight. Aquaman was far from my favorite movie, but it had some great action scenes and stylish choreography.
@@CynicalWarlock If I was the director of this movie, I would have references from MortalKombat 9, we need klassic characters like Kitana, Baraka, Johnny Cage, Sindel, Shao Kahn, Ermac, Jade, Skarlet, Kenshi, Kintaro, Smoke, Cyrax, Sektor, Quan Chi, Sheeva, Nightwolf, Shinnok and Rain. Also we don’t need any new character, and Warner Bros should focus on personal vendetta between Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
@@avengersearthsmightiesther9777 We definitely need all of those characters, just not all in the same movie, cause that's way too many to give each their due. I agree about Cole - he shouldn't have been a thing (I like Lewis Tan, but for the love of the Elder Gods, give him an existing character to play). Marvel-style origin stories would also work, for a lot of the characters, then ensemble films - that way you can totally have a Scorps vs Subs origin/rivalry film.
Its weird that mk follows tropes of enter the dragon and they still run the shitty fanfic play. I had to miss this from the trailer, more cg than martial arts it appeared.
The movie suffers from what most Video Game based films all suffer from. Lets put as much shit in this form the games as we can. When had it just scaled it down a bit esp. with such a small budget and focused more it could have been a better film. For one Cole was a stupid idea and with there literally being close to 100 characters in the MK universe ur telling me not one is a blank enough state to use. I agree the writing is atrocious and fully idiotic and the line where Tsung says that death is only another portal just negates the entirety of the film and everything that happened. After the entire intro of Scorpion and Sub-Zero all I thought, was can we go back to that movie, BC LBRH they could have made a whole movie all about those two establishing their feud, even include the revelation from the games about Quan CHi's manipulations and fans would have loved it and it would have even been a far better story and film.
Well written. I think there's a reason why superhero films are adaptations and not a 1 on 1 reproduction of the comics - because they need to work as films, first and foremost, and as comic book fiction second. Video game films still haven't learned that lesson, and so they cram too many references and video game-y things into themselves. And yeah, Johnny Cage would've been the perfect audience surrogate, but they got greedy and decided to save him for the sequel.
@@CynicalWarlock That is 100% correct. There is a reason Marvel has done so well these past 10 years. They make movies that star superheroes instead of making superhero films. They understood that if you have to place their character within the genre they would exist in such as how Ant-man was a heist movie and Guardians of the Galaxy was a Space Opera. I know its becoming cliché to now to make cinematic universes, but had they made one solid film building and establishing just a couple characters they could have been able to continue making a few films doing that to build up to the tournament, so when a character dies it holds a form of weight to it. The audience should have felt a form of empathy and sadness at Kung Lao's death, but BC we never actually saw the two become just close friends we just don't care. I better stop lol BC I could go on... I also agree they could have used Cage and even still kept Cole's backstory. Aftercall in the game Cage discovers he has power that is derived from his lineage as well. They could have easily just added that he was a washed up actor and now washed up MMA fighter too. No one would have even cared if Lewis Tan played him either BC nothing says Cage can't be half Asian. Anyway good review...
@@innocenceUnknown Pretty much how I see things. Talked to a loooot of people and we all agree that a cinematic universe with solo films and a slow buildup was the way to go here; MK has the roster and the lore to support it. But WB has consistently shown that it wants a cinematic universe but lacks the patience required to build one. Glad you enjoyed the review. Cheers!
@@CynicalWarlock WB not only lacks patience they also lack the ability to leave film makers the hell alone. I heard somewhere there is an interview with the writers that they basically admitted that Cole was a forced element onto the writing staff.
first 7 minutes seems shot by somebody else hhhhh very poorly made, + opening is amazing +great subzero and kano +brutal fatalities -bad pacing and editing -bad acting -main character sux like shit -music choise and the new remix theme is bullshit
Blows me away that so many people like this movie and cite reasons like "Kabal is in it, he is my favorite." or "Kano was sooo funny lol." They took a huge dump on the MK lore and nobody even cares because they got to see a Fatality... i compare it more to Fantastic Four (2015) and Dragonball Evolution... It's that bad. As a movie, but even worse as a MORTAL KOMBAT movie. I didn't see Rise of Skywalker either, but I've heard the pacing is about the same. Stuff happens because they have to move the plot forward, but when you stop to think about it, none of the stuff that happens makes any god damn sense. The movie just tries to throw so much at you because it wants you to not stop and think about anything... Funny story, my first clue that this movie would be bad was when Jax said "You have to get to Gary, Indiana"... Gary Indiana? Why not Chicago? Indianapolis, or any place that Sonya might actually live. She is a special forces operative and lived in a shit hole trailer her whole life? Military pays better than that btw...
Pretty much what you said. Lovely ol' Gary, Indiana... More like "You have to get to this cheap-ass location the budget could afford". And please, refer to that movie by its proper title: 'Fant4stic'.
this movie is like a meal that was made without a ingredient it taste ok but now I have to add salt and pepper but I'm all out so I'll just eat it because I'm hungry
Why didn't I think of that comparison? It's like "Here's some dry, unsalted meat (accurate-looking characters) and some potatoes (fan service). Bon appetit." Gee, thanks.. So glad I payed for this meal. -_-
Even though I kind of agree with you I still thought scorpion and sub zero were the best parts. The final battle between them I thought was cool at least till cole young joined in. Like couldn't we just see scorpion and sub zero fight without cole having to try to help him. One thing I agree with everyone is i'm not a fan of Cole Young like why did we even need him he's not even from the games they seriously removed Johnny Cage for him
It's sequel-bating. They withheld their most promising character for the sequel, hoping to build a franchise, and it ended up being the film's downfall instead. Ironic, I guess. I agree that the Scorpion-Sub-Zero stuff had potential; I just feel like that could've been its own movie, instead of being sidelined for most of this one. And I do have another video where I try to highlight this movie's strengths and weaknesses more objectively, while comparing it to the 1995 version. TL;DR - it has some redeeming qualities.
![The Main Problem with Mortal Kombat 2021 [SPOILERS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZRE5N__89Ug/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Main Problem with Mortal Kombat 2021 [SPOILERS]](/img/tr.png)
As a Mortal Kombat fan, I felt like this movie was insulting to the intelligence of Mortal Kombat fans
Yes. The more you know about MK lore, the more liable you are to not like this movie.
@@CynicalWarlockexactly, it isn't for the fans. Majority of people who liked it were newcomers
@@syki-tp1tn Which is fine, but the problem is that this is, then, what Mortal Kombat becomes - a watered down version of itself.
1995 Mortal Kombat still the best one.
Yeah the least smelly turd of them all. 😂😂😂
@@dankhelmet9973 It's a smell you get used to, yeah.
That's partly because it didn't just try to copy the source material; there was also some innovation and creativity that went into it, like the iconic Immortals track, or having Christopher Lambert portray Raiden.
How so? Because you grew up with it???? I did too but i grew up. I'm not a kid anymore. 1995 had Scorpion and Sub Zero as pet dogs to Shang Tsung. No backstory for them. Scorpion die by Johnny Cage. No fatalities. No gore. Rated PG-13. I guess you guys like that PG-13 stuff
@@hangguy209 fatalities aside. Its inconsistent and characters I'm suppose to care I dont give a damn. Character like Kano I wasn't supposed to somehow I was invested in. Like wtf lol.
Bru Reptile was one of go-to’s growing up because his acid attacks and invisibility. But he ended up lookin like a BOOTLEG GODZILLA
Yeah, to me he was always kind of a mascot of the series (Scorpion notwithstanding). You've got Dragons, Dragon Emperors and Dragon logos - it makes sense to have a prominent reptilian character, but they treat him like a footnote in both the games and movies.
@@CynicalWarlock I really don't see reptile as the mascot of mk, that's belong to scorpion. Even though they mistreat reptile, I'm still of a fan of him
I cant believe I am going to say this, but repitle from the 1995 mk was better.
@@alessandrobispoavelar519 Agreed.
it wasn't Reptile, in the scene between Mileena and Shang Tsung walking through Outworld Shang tells her to "send the reptilian Zataran" thank God it wasn't Reptile
The original Mortal Kombat had a strong atmosphere, a unique and original score, passable acting, some ACTUALLY decent filmmaking and some great fight choreography. This one had.... Cole Young.
They disrespected goro in this film badly, not only did he have little screen time, but he got beat by a nobody, were talking about the prince of the shokan who had an unbeatable streak 🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️
Can't match that sweet sweet MMA training.
They shouldn't put Goro in it
@@CynicalWarlock I’m bugging 😂😂😂
the biggest issue is Goro should have been saved for the tournament movie , since he's a HUGE part of that. I guess they'll use Kintaro then
@@abrown4835 Goro has a huge connection to Kung Lao, that other Shokan don't, which is why killing both of them this early baffles me.
Cole is like Alice of Resident Evil Franchise. Another character that has nothing to do with the franchise itself.
He's a Canon Foreigner.
For the sequel, i heard they killing off Sonja and Jax because they don't want to diverse the characters too much. They will replace them with 2 more asian made up characters like Cole.
@@blessethishe If that happens then I'll just abandon all hope for the movie franchise. At some point Liu Kang is gonna fight Raiden, it was already eluded to and most likely how Liu Kang is gonna die because he will die.
@@blessethisheu lying, or who ever told u that is lying, probably a redditor
This movie was to Mortal Kombat what the resident evil movies were to the resident evil games. It felt like it was written by a person who only knew the tropes of Mortal Kombat and not the story
Worst part is, people are pretending to like it so we'll get sequels
@@guidopasquetto911 I mean, Joe Taslim reportedly signed on for 4 movies as Sub-Zero so I guess the best outcome would be that enough people like it for them to make a sequel but also that enough people dislike it for them to understand they need to drastically change the approach for the next one.
@@g_ho_st i doubt they'll change. The movie was pure cringe. Cole young's family, specially his daughter telling him yo hit giro with a Hook i just can't believe someone thaught this movie was a good idea. It's the actual worst script i've ever seen. It's a damn Shame because the cast is awesome, specially Joe Taslim
@@guidopasquetto911 This.
Great casting + inept script = MK 2021
@@g_ho_st 4 movies?? By the Elder Gods!
The character of Cole young is completely unnecessary.
The OC had literal plot armor as his power.
Also a Mortal Kombat movie without the 90s trance should be considered a crime against humanity.
Trance is what makes me dance.
I feel like the movie should have opened with an "Optimus Prime"-ish naration with a more understandable Raiden voice who explains how the tournament was created and how it occurs every 50 years. Maybe show a visual of older characters fighting like Nightwolf vs. Drahmin or something. It could show an Older Shang Tsung become slightly younger as he steals the soul of the loser.
Nono, have the real Optimus narrate it..
Cole had to be one of the most boring beta characters I've ever seen in a film.
That got a good chuckle out of me.
It made me angry when Cole interfered into Sub Zero and Scorpion fight. Sub Zero was already tired and at that moment Cole joined. Seemed unfair. Cole seems like not even worthy to fight a seasoned fighter like Sub Zero.
All because we need to adhere to the 'new generation' bullshit trends. It felt like wiping the floor with a grandmaster (pun intended) at chess, then bringing in your kid sister and letting her check mate him.
@@CynicalWarlock i felt the same, thank you for giving this comparison, then Scorpion thanked Cole for bringing him back to life, which was not even what Cole had thought would happen. During the fight, Cole was not much help as he was trying in the background to get thru ice to his wife (notice he had his back towards Sub Zero , so he had luck/plot armour not to have been killed from the back like a fly). He joined in the very last moment where Sub Zero was barely standing. I 'm very surprised Cole's girls survived. Felt like cartoonish ending.
My fears confirmed, Resident Imbecile (the film) identical like Alice
@@fantasiazplatkami the structure of that fight is all over the place: one moment, Cole is teaming up with Scorps against Sub, the next, he's trying to thaw his family, then we're fighting again, but wait, I should help my family. Just comit to something, man!
Felt like that random Starcraft or DotA teammate who plays for a minute, then goes to take a leak, then he's back again. All the while, you're 2v1-ing with every ounce of skill you can muster.
@@Samizouza resident weasel.
it was like they only had 3 sets to use during the whole movie... except the first 7 min.. someone else must have directed that... that first scene was a flawless victory
Apparently, they shot a lot on location. It does feel like a small set, though, because of the way it's shot, the lack of worldbuilding and lack of weight of the scenes.
Blame that on the lack of creative use of the $50 million dollar budget and WB micromanaging this project to death with Yes Men and inexperienced newbies in key roles of writing, directing, and of course, editing.
@@theprowler18 I can imagine their 'micromanaging', vividly:
"So, uh, we would like to add a new character, that younger audiences can relate to, and make him the protagonist; make sure you get at least 30 different references to the games, so we can ensnare the hardcore fans.. oh, and we'd also like to shoot for an overall Marvel aesthetic, since they're making truckloads of money, with their films."
@@CynicalWarlock Bingo. They wanted their own Marvel style franchise yet again, after blowing it hard with DC films and no doubt are looking for any series to turn into a cash cow. So they went with the next best thing, make it like those "Resident Evil" films with Alice in it for the newbies, screw the fans...they don't make us money (the unfortunate truth), the general normies do! That's what really sucks about this film, it exists as a cash grab for sure.
@@crazycat1232 They went for the cheapest option since the beginning: a noname Australian town. According to them, this $50 mil film is the biggest one in South Australian history, I dont think they got experienced contractors.
Why won’t they study what worked in the Mortal kombat 95 movie???
A. Dark elements
B. Uncertainties
C. Suspense
D. Better camera cuts and editing
E. Mysterious
F. Proper Character Development
G. Rational character motivation
H. Great fight choreographer
I. Believably scary challenging bad guy
J. Real land scouted locations no green screen but more believable sets
K. Better back stories to help rationalize a good logic in how the characters came into being who they are, the characters that we know.
L. Better more fitting score and sound tracks better fitted to match each scene and it’s characters.
M. Better more believable dialogue even if it is improvised by the actor
N. Put the actors on workout plans to better resemble the looks of their characters
O. Don’t worry about pleasing younger audiences they will comply if adults like it and if not, it’s a movie about a tournament and it’s fighters fighting to the death, which shouldn’t be marketed towards kids anyway
I think with the huge surge of Marvel/DC movies in the last 10-12 years, film studios really lost what made Mortal Kombat "feel" like Mortal Kombat. It had this mysterious, dark, and ancient orient feel to it. Not this kiddy bullshit.
Heck, I'd settle for any 3 of these!
Your last point really hits home, in my opinion: casuals - especially young people - will go see whatever people say is good, or like the hottest thing of the moment; no need to cater too much to them.
@@colinj5291 Just re-watched some scenes, recently - it really does look, sound and feel like a Marvel movie (blood not withstanding). Heroic music, bland color grading, fast pacing... Very by-the-numbers.
Guess that's the downside of Marvel's success: everyone's tryina copy it.
The "birthmark" perhaps murdered more audience than Thanos' finger snap. The prologue scene tried too hard to "narutonize" just because...it's a ninja fight...
"narutonize" - good word.
This movie definitely didn’t live up to the hype. It is better than Annihilation, but that’s a pretty low bar. To me, the 1995 original is still hands down the best. Shang Tsung, Raiden, and Goro were all completely worthless in this new movie. And everyone keeps praising Kano, but I found him really annoying after awhile. Less is more sometimes. Also, I don’t know why anyone would include Mileena in a movie where Kitana was never introduced or even referenced yet. It made Mileena just a boring henchman, who they then killed off needlessly. Cole Young was also a boring and worthless character. Completely unnecessary, and making him the lead dragged everything else down.
You read my mind. Mileena could've been literally any other jobber, from the roster. They brought in f-ing Nitara, but thought it just as appropriate to off Mileena in the first movie, for some reason. MKX made that same mistake, killing her off before she had the chance to get any kind of screen time with Kitana. Wasted potential, as Subs would say.
Kano, I already talked about him in the video. Agree completely.
I don't even think it's better than Annihilation. I watched Annihilation again, the next day after watching this, and think it is, hands down, the better film. It has a lot of flaws (bad cgi, etc, which is the fault of new line cinema for having a test screening of a non final edit/film that had not gone thru post production, but the audience liked it, so they released it as was), but it also has a lot of characters and special moves from the actual games and looks and feels like the games. The games themselves don't take themselves seriously and have many jokes like "toasty," "friendship," etc. So, I don't feel like Annihilation is that much cheesier than the actual games, don't feel like it needs anymore storyline than it has, as you already know the story as an MK fan, and I find it highly entertaining. I don't like that they killed Cage off in the beginning and the CGI at the end is not great, but if you grew up watching Ninja Turtles, Ghost Busters, and Power Rangers, like me, it doesn't matter much. It's cool that they included fatalities in the new one, but other than that, and Mileena, It's not worth seeing. Mileena is by far, the best thing you will see in this new Mortal Kombat film. They just need to put Mileena from this film into the older MK films (with a sex scene, and not have her killed off) and put Cole into a retail position at Kohl's (instead of in this movie) and we'd be good. lol. It's worth watching this movie once, then watching the old ones/playing the games, and hearing Shao Kahn from MK3 in your head saying , "That was pathetic." Oh, and Raiden has no personality in this film and looks like Tom Hanks with glowing eyes. Liu Kang looks and acts like a puny bitch who uses his powers to light his hand on fire just to light the way for the others. Finally, it is pronounced "Rye-Co," not "Rake-Oh," and Sub Zero looks like captain picard in ninja garb; since when did ninja's upgrade their kung fu uniforms from ones with cloth hoods and face masks to Darth Vader helmets?
@@user-lg9hc1nl9u Maaaany good points. +1 for the "Tom Hanks with glowing eyes" bit.
It's interesting that you liked Mileena, in this; most people hated her.
I've been meaning to rewatch Annihilation, but kept putting it off. Guess I should get to it.
@@CynicalWarlock Lol. Yeah, a friend of mine also liked her in it. We think she looks sexy. I like her eyes, the bloody mouth, and her licking the sais. I think she provided some much needed eye candy. I like Sonya in Annihilation a lot too. I think the original 1995 movie is best as for the story, acting, cohesiveness, etc, but Annihilation is fun because it has almost all the characters from Ultimate MK3 and a lot of their special moves are in it as well. I understand why people don't like it because of the cheesiness/bad cgi, etc, but I like it in spite of that. I think the fights with the robot characters (Jax vs. Cyrax) are really cool. The techno/Metal soundtrack (KMFDM, Pitchshifter, etc.) is cool too.
@@user-lg9hc1nl9u I think the chick who plays Mileena in 2021 definitely has sex appeal; I just wish she'd have been portrayed as less of a serious, obedient jobber. And she seemed too in control of herself to have Tarkatan blood in her.
As for MK: Annihilation, honestly, the only weird thing I remember about it was the hamster wheel teleporters, in the center of the earth, or whatever those were.
Here's the spoiler: Cole Young is totally irrelevant. Mortal Kombat 95 is still better than this, and that's PG-13. CG Blood look so fake, and gore didn't faze me at all. I had high hopes for this. Well at least I didn't money in the movie theatre. The only thing I like was the fight between Subzero and scorpion.
That's such an interesting point. This movie highlights how violence/intensity and gore/ratings aren't tied together as closely as we think. Seeing a quick CG blood splatter can leave you feeling numb, while the Joker's pencil trick (which was PG) can make your butt cheeks clench every time you see it.
And cole...coleand scorpion jumped sub zero making scorpion a complete loser without help thats not the scorpion i remember at all
@@CynicalWarlock
Mortal Kombat Conquest is better than this movie
@@CynicalWarlock
Here's an idea review MK Conquest in a future video
@@naquingreen1603 I might.
This was a Mortal Kombat Annihilation reboot. The 1995 film had a bunch of plot holes and deviations from the source material as well, but Annihilation was completely disrespectful. The only things that were better in this film than the others were the special effects, more fleshing out of Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and the inclusion of Kung Lao and how well he was done.
Yeah, someone else mentioned it, as well: this really is Annihilation 2.0
Kung Lao was expertly cast and could've done a lot more. I think they should've saved the monks for the sequel; give everyone more space.
@@CynicalWarlockthat is actually a good idea. But could I survive a movie without Lui ? If it's good, yes
Mortal Kombat is my childhoods favorite movie, this 2021 version made me want to give the writers a fatality
It pretty much fatality-ed itself.
I was worried about the MK fans themselves wanting to FINISH the writers with a brutality or fatality of their choice. It just makes Sindel's case in the games slightly tolerable compared to this
@@Samizouza Honestly, the games don't do a much better job, nowadays.
Any would’ve come up with a better script than this garbage.
They ruined Mortal Kombat. Destroyed the lore completely.
I assume you're talking about Cole, and I agree. I'm sick to death of the 'new generation' trend. You have damn-near 100 characters, in the MK universe! USE EM!!
@@CynicalWarlock It should have started out how it was meant to be Lu Kang, Sonya and Cage gathering champions with Raiden having each character introduction after the first 10 min of that Scorpion background. The intro to this movie was the best part. It was pointless throwing in Reptile like that. Coles little family should have been dead if Sub Zero got to them first. Cole should have been Johnny Cage at least. Like I don't get it.
@@dre10blood Ooooh man, I couldn't get into specifics, because of the non-spoiler tag, but Cole's family surviving in the exact circumstances in which Hanzo's family didn't *infuriated* me! Plot armor of the thickest kind! And don't even get me started on Reptile. I'm a Reptile main so.. yeah... I've been sad for a while. 😅
Definitely gonna do a spoiler video on this turd of a movie.
Start the movie with Bi-han murdering scorpion in the shaolin temple in the search for the map of the elements ( this means 21th century)
Follow up with the beginning of the tournament where each character would have a moment to shine culminating with Liu Kang defeating Goro and Shang Tsung
End it with bi-han`s death by the hand of an enraged scorpion
@@sandrothenecromancer6810 Would've been a far better structure. Also, it kind of irks me that everyone accepts this new Sub-Zero/Scorpion origin as canon, forgetting the OG MK: Mythologies storyline.
After 26 years of waiting we get this...No,just no...
I feel your pain, man.
@Hyvarn Still haven't watched it.
I feel like Quan chi would have been a better villian
Yeah, no idea how they're gonna shoehorn him into it now, and retroactively make him responsible for the murder of Scorpion's clan.
@@CynicalWarlock they will probably make out that he just sent bi Han to do it or some shit
@@Brentonius_III pretty lame.
How about Quan chi killing Cole n his family, frame Kwai liang and get scorpion on his side?
@@mohammedsameer5705 Not bad.. Not bad at all.
Reiko doesn’t even look like reiko... one of my favorite characters got done bad
Dat roundhouse kick... So many fond MK4 memories.
Also, I quite liked Reiko's portrayal in MK: Conquest.
@@CynicalWarlock MK4 had that dark mystic ancient feeling, it was scary and felt like a war brewing.
This Reiko looked like a clown.
@@johnnybrix5308 Yep. MK4 is an interesting game, because the character sounds and animations are the funniest they've ever been (with characters yelling things like "AAi, Mommy!" when they get hit), but it's paired with a dark, creepy atmosphere, courtesy of the stages, intro cinematic and some of the music.
Reiko looked fucking hideous! Moved stupid, and all his dialog was "aghhh"
@@enriquerenteria6089 "aghhh" is an important word...
...if you're Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Good thing I didn't bother to see this cinematic trash because Warner Bros. (who murdered New Line) is using New Line Cinema as their slaves.
Between their mishandling of DC properties, Zack Snyder's treatment and the steady decline of quality in the MK games, Warner Bros. are a worthy contender for the title of 'Worst Entertainment Company of the Decade', alongside EA.
Is it me or Sub-Zero don't have blue on him And I cry when I saw a reptile. It broke my heart and I was mad.
I'm a Reptile main, so... I can relate.
They massacred my poor boy
Reptile is my main and they put him in like that?
@@Brentonius_III To be fair, the games don't even give him any importance, so I wasn't expecting anything from an adaptation of said games.
That was 1st Gen Sub Zero in the movie, who will eventually become Noob Saibot, and yeah they didn't put in the effort and jump straight to his "next outfit" instead of retaining the original blue. Feel for ya, man, how they just casually butchered Reptile ( | __ | )
Yes, I was upset about Sub-Zero's costume going straight to Noob. They definitely could've done more with Reptile.
Yeah, similar joke’s were made dozens of times already; I can’t stop imagining a what if scenario of killing someone with a mark. If a drunk driver gets the mark after running someone over, does that mean this man or woman must be broken out of jail to defend Earthrealm? It’d be a fun parody at least. Probably more interesting than what we got.
As you said, a lot of people have rightly pointed out the flaw in that logic.
Here's an idea: have Cole be the 'drunk driver'. Make it so he gets his mark by accidentally killing a champion, before the movie starts. Would make more sense with him being a failed MMA fighter - he's not a champion, he's not a gifted fighter, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and has to survive the hand he's been dealt.
At the very least, it would be more interesting to watch an underdog, rather than a fated champion, with cheat codes always on.
Thanks, you're voicing all my concerns about this movie better than I've done. I went on reddit to share my review and I got way too many comments telling me that I was taking it too seriously, but as you said, the MK movies have to start taking themselves a bit more seriously if they want to amount to anything.
That, and I am tired of people, gamers included, using the pretext of the source material being a game in order to justify mediocre flicks. It's not because we game that we can't appreciate other media.
Spot on, with your end remark: games still aren't taken seriously as a medium, despite making some strides, in that sense.
Reddit tends to be flooded with fanboys - hard to get to like-minded people, sometimes. Feel free to mail me your post (as links in comments get auto-removed by UA-cam); would love to read through your points.
This movie sucked. We needed a good movie not this trash.
I wouldn't say it sucked. If you judge it entirely from a fan service point of view, it might actually pass off as a generic video game adaptation. But it was supposed to be more than that.
@@g_ho_st Guess a couple fights are rewatchable...
We needed *a* movie; any movie - this felt more like a sitcom episode with CGI.
@@g_ho_st no it actually SUCKED
@@g_ho_st
Reason this film was bad is because Warner Bros and new line Cinema
Gave this film a low budget and hired a first-time director and screenwriter
for the movie along with hiring a Cove screenwriter who is responsible for the
Doom (2005) movie and WW1984
Only others would call him sub zero.
He would never call himself that. 🤬
Exactly! When I saw the trailer, that one line and the way he says it made me cringe. Sub-Zero wouldn't care about his damned moniker that much. Plus, it's not like his name is something elegant, like Aragorn, or Gandalf the Grey; he's just a freakin' temperature.
You, sir, get my top vote for this comment. Perfectly sums up the amount of "knowledge" the writers gathered.
@Moose Bolton Even the games are getting worse and worse, so I'm not expecting better from movie adaptations.
@The Batman The games don't even take em seriously.
@Moose Bolton Also, +1 for the name.
Pacing was terrible, actors just didn’t have the charisma to carry the movie and a lot of the fights felt lacklustre imo
Also the mouth masks for subzero and scorpion looked to clunky and silly,
They didn’t fit their faces as well as the game versions.
Or even as well as the original movie's masks did.
This here will sum up the movie for anyone on the fence SPOILERS:
Cole a failed MMA fighter with no wins under his belt kills Goro before the tournament even takes place. Also no tournament takes place in this movie.
@The Batman Literally, yes! I am now convinced that the Cole armor thing was hardcore trolling from the writers.
Talk about blowing your load early.
The spoilers seem more tolerable though since the movie got fucked by the writers
Cole has had wins under his belt. Just not so much anymore. It’s mentioned that he’s beaten people before.
@@GuyWithNoNickName That's true. You don't just magically get good again, after a losing streak, though.
Well, with an Arcana, I guess you do.
This movie pissed me off immensely. Raiden was literally just Alice Cullen from "Twilight." His powers work whenever the plot needs the heroes to be saved, and subsequently, they just forget his powers exist whenever the plot needs the bad guys to take some kind of advantage. They literally SAY he can teleport anyone anywhere at any time, so why does he not just teleport Shang Tsung and his underdeveloped goon squad away the second they arrive???
The Twilight comparison made me chuckle.
Raiden could've intercepted Reptile, saved Kung Lao, ported the heroes to the desert, stranded Shang Tsung into a wormhole and teleported to Japan just 5 minutes earlier, to save Hanzo and his family, but I guess he was too busy practicing his English in Duolingo...
...fruitlessly, of course.
Sonja beat kano and she had no birthmark
This whole birthmark thing makes zero sense
Am I missing something? Raiden rescued Hanzo's daughter so how the hell Cole is an orphan?
BTW whole show was even worse that I expected ... sad times
This is what happened:
Step 1 - Writer decided to make Cole Hanzo's son, in the modern world.
Step 2 - Writer realized there's a 4 century gap between Hanzo's time and Cole's time.
Step 3 - Writer retcons Cole to being a descendant, while still keeping him an orfan, for no good reason.
Step 4 - This movie happens.
I jest, but, for all we know, it could've went down this way.
Sam reason Liu Kang was an orphan.
@@riteousrighthand6144 Yea but Liu Kang wasnt a descendant of a living child of Scorpion.
@@jeremiahcrain7023 he wasn't in this movie either. But, in MK lore, he was a descendent of Kung Lao, the last earth fighter to win the tourney before him.
This movie turned him into some bs orphan that Bo Rai Cho took in.
@@riteousrighthand6144 Correct me if I'm wrong but Liu Kang isn't actually related to the Great Kung Lao. If he was than he wouldn't be an orphan since he was taken in from the white lotus from a young age and wasn't born into it when Kung Lao was. If he was related to the Great Kung Lao than why'd Liu Kang have to be adopted into the white lotus society and Kung Lao be born into it.
Didn’t give a shit about the main character.
Nice review. I agree hundred percent with what you said; i was waiting for this film to add a layer of seriousness and depth to mk, i didnt want to watch a list of references that even for the game i grew a bit tired of. i wanted this to be as interesting as "legacy" adaptation.
Thank you for the review!
Glad you liked it.
Admittedly, it's tough to balance seriousness and silliness, in a franchise that has both, but they should've been able to do better than this.
All i wanted after watching this was to watch the original one... Hell, even the sequel! Something to wash it off..
Ouch! :))
They should have kept liu kang as the main chosen one. Smh
@@melvingenao550 I really wanted to like this Liu Kang portrayal. In some ways he was much better than the Robin Shou version. Unfortunately the story did not help him one bit.
@@g_ho_st I agree. Robin Shou was less Liu Kang and more generic 90s protagonist. Liu Kang, as a character, is more of a comic book version of Superman, or Captain America: he's just an unassuming, morally forthright, mellow dude, who happens to be ridiculously good at fighting. And this new guy definitely looks the part. That's about where the similarities end, though.
😆😆😆😆😆😆 so you wanted to watch Scorpion and Sub Zero be slave buddies to Shang Tsung and Johnny Cage killing Scorpion. Got it. You guys are clowns. Stop the nostalgic bullsh!t. I loved 1995 as a kid because i didn't know any better nor did i care for lore and story. I liked it because it looked cool. But as i mature, it was trash. Trash storyline and cheesy script. Rated PG-13 damn it. You guys are clowns and obviously biased.
Love how everyone is too scared to talk about how Mileena isn't Mileena. You know I wouldn't care if Mileena was black even though she's suppose to be Asian. No, all I want is for her to look like Mileena. Please, have some pink on her, give her the correct hair style, give her a personality, and please give her the correct mouth with some lines. All that she has is her weapons and that's it. Regardless of what race she is, Mileena needs to be done better in terms of a character just like everyone else. This movie I would not give even a star because it does not please the fans.
I wouldn't give it a star because it's not much of a movie, in a vacuum.
Mileena was trash. Definitely one of 3 bad portrayals, in the movie, alongside Raiden and Reiko. You're right, though: race and looks are secondary to character and personality. The biggest blunder with her is introducing her this early, only to kill her off, before she had a chance to develop her character and interact with her sister or her "father" at all.
For the sequel, i heard they killing off Sonja and Jax because they don't want to diverse the characters too much. They will replace them with 2 more asian made up characters like Cole.
Bro 2021 Liu Kang was like a home health care nurse lol he was too passionate lol, 1995 Liu Kang was gangsta, I will never forget when 1995 Liu Kang threw Johnny Cage luggage in the lake. That was gangsta and funny as hell. This 2021 new Liu Kang may as well been a psychologists slash social worker lol
Nurse, lol :))
I think both versions can work. MK '95 mashed Liu Kang and Kung Lao into one character, which worked well for that movie.
2021 Liu Kang is more like the pacifist version from the first game, but he's hollow; they didn't flesh him out at all.
@@CynicalWarlock lol 100
First 10 minutes are perfection. After that, this is the worst movie i have ever seen
I would say I have seen far worse (unfortunately), but I agree: the exposition in feudal Japan feels like it was actually directed by someone while the rest was just a long list of "send in the characters".
@@g_ho_st i havent seen a Lot of terrible movies in my life but i think i hate this one so much because it's a movie from 2021 and it's filled with cringy dialogue, cliché stuff frome the 80s with Cole's daughter telling him what to do amd him actually killing goro
Would have loved to have seen a Sub-Zero-Scorpion origin story, all of it set in feudal Japan, instead of this.
@@guidopasquetto911 Pop quiz: is this better or worse than MK: Annihilation?
@@CynicalWarlock worse. This is a 2021 movie so they have no excuse for such a Bad adaptation.
When Raiden showed up at Scorpions home I was like WTF?! That didn't make any damn sense unless Raiden was looking to recruit scorpion for the tournament then it would make sense. Cole should've been the next Scorpion to fight against Subzero and get revenge for his ancestors and for the death of his wife and kid. That would have been even darker and worth the money to watch as blood and gore fight scenes would be more satisfying to watch as we see Cole kill so many of the enemies. But nope they went a different route which made no sense at all.
They wanted to have their cake (Scorps) and eat it (Cole)...
It was too much to chew.
This was pretty much a Mortal Kombat Annihilation reboot. i’m surprised more don’t recognize that. Same storyline, same issues & complaints from us fans. Some of these characters that died we didnt even get to hear them speak.
But at least with Annihilation the music was on point..
Goro got killed by a rookie in a trailer park... 😑😑.. i’ll just leave it at that.
Been thinking about that a lot, actually. Still tough for me to decide which one's worse. I think I'll coin that term, actually: 'MK: Annihilation - The Reboot' sounds more appropriate than MK 2021.
@@CynicalWarlock
This one was better after others informed me of the fact that the actual tournament was saved for the sequel film. Before that i rated this film a 3/10.. now i give it a 5-6/10...
"Goro got killed by a rookie in a trailer park" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@taoloveu with telekinetic Tonfas, mind you.
@@markd5727 Wouldn't give it points for sequel-bating, but ok.
About time! I was getting tired of all these Damm MK wannabes thinking this movie is good! Glad to know there are still real fans out there
Just telling it how I see it.
And then y’all kill off my boy kung lao way too soon, like what were they thinking.
Didn't have the balls to off Liu Kang, instead - not that it would've helped.
I thought shang sung could only get the soul of beaten opponents? 🤨
@@romainejohnson7008 That may be a misconception, from the games. I like how MK: Conquest did it, where Shang tried to take Kung Lao's soul, mid-fight, but Lao proved to strong.
Somebody please tell me when does scorpion ever need help to fight sub zero 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
Sick burn.
@@CynicalWarlock worse than the scorpion's fatality
@@sarubet8725 Burnality!
The movie just felt too jarring whenever they go to different places or fight. Characters felt as flat as the pancakes I ate this morning, even though I already knew who they were. The fan service and references was corny, cringey, and/or unnecessary. Way too many characters for how long the movie is if you ask me. But I do think the actor for Kano did a pretty good job in my opinion tho.
Agreed - they could've done with way less characters and really focused on them. The story seems structured to support such an approach, too.
Also, now I wanna eat pancakes...
I dont even think Kano had a script thats just how we talk in australia
The scene where you can see shinnok amulet and Kano easily takes I knew this movie is bunz lol
I'm a hardcore mortal Kombat fan, but I'll not give this movie more than 5. Movie feels rushed. Why subzero killed scorpions family is not established. In game it's quanchi who transforms as subzero to kill scorpions family to recruit scorpion to their side. Subzero is one of the good guys fighting for earthrealm being a ninja from the earth. Then yes definitely the fights, they were so bland and empty. They clearly just focused on the fatalities, which is good but where are the fights which lead to those fatalities. They killed kung lao too quickly and Liu Kang was the shaolin champion and kung lao idealized liu not the other way round. Liu ran away from shaolin. Johnny cage should've been introduced in this being an og character with Sonya and liu. I would have preferred if they just introduced characters and their bonds for the movie runtime and kept fighting for the next part. The establishment of characters seem so abrupt, it's like movie expects the audience to know every character already. This movie reminds me so much of Dragonball z.
I'll be completely frank, I even forgot Lao dies in this, that's how little weight the scenes in this movie had, for me.
So many things are talked about but not properly explored: Sub-Zero talks about finally ending the Shirai Ryu, yet comes across as a psychopath who's just doing this for fun.
Goro is referred to as a Shokan prince, then proceeds to be the same mindless monster he's been portrayed as in mainstream MK, for the past 20 years.
Oh, and saving Johnny for the sequel was a classic case putting the cart before the horse.
Pffft asian Raiden but black mileena cmon man
Ultimately, that was bad casting too. Good point.
Ok boomer
The issue is not black mileena, the issue is mileena called Shang tusung "Master". Mileena is the daughter of an emperor to whom Shang serves. So she is the princess of outworld. If anything, hierarchy dictates that mileena is superior to shang tusung. Although Shang never called mileena princess, they both consider each other equal in combat hence call each other by name.
Raiden should've had the actor that played ip man cause he's old with wisdom, this actor they had was stupid and mileena is a sexy asian mouth hungry gal, it's r-rated so use that character look from mortal kombat 9
@@lonewolf5054 Too bad Donnie Yen is Chinese in contrast to Raiden being Japanese. Could've been another good subzero if not John Taslim.
This movie would of been better if I knew nothing about MK going in to it.
Fact! My theory, though, is that even then I'd enjoy parts of it, then promptly forget about it.
“Fan service” at the expense of the fans who actually have been paying attention to the lore of the games. This movie felt more like a great big “fuck you” to the fans who don’t fit into the demographic of people with no attention span who will sit there picking their nose and saying, “ Huh huh, fatalities,” with the voice of Mongo from Blazing Saddles.
+1 for Blazing Saddles.
This. This was just for "fans" that think that MK is just gore, scorpion and sub zero, and nothing else. People that call Liu Kang "the Asian dude" and don't even know he was the one who beat Goro in the first game.
Finally someon said something about Raiden . This guy doesnt look like thunder god , looks like drunken beggar
Shoulda cast him as Bo' Rai Cho, then.
Just glad i wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Movie sucked
Oh, you are definitely not alone!
This was a movie made for people that know 0 about Mortal Kombat.
That's who most movies are made for, if you think about it.
The best part is in order to get a mark you need to defeat a person that has it. Cole losing every mma fight and still keeps a mark lol.
Well you have to kill the guy with the mark. Which basically means if an old woman accidentally runs me over.... well she's our next champion. Grandma with the arcana 😁
Yeah, thought the mark was supposed to be a mark of strength, not signify you're a loser.
@@robbylebotha To think we missed the opportunity to see an old woman vs Shang Tsung, in the finals...
@@CynicalWarlock Thats super funny I am dead
Agreed, man. This movie was average at best and the story was poorly written. People then try to defend it with the 'its a video game movie' line which is stupid. Its still a movie, of course I expect basic storytelling rules to apply. The writers failed to make Cole relatable to me, the arcana subplot as a whole was flimsy, and overreliance on Kano to convey humour did not sit well with me. Which is such a shame, because I really liked the cast. I think they did the best with what they were given.
All true.
Fixing any one of these aspects would've greatly improved the movie.
The way they explained how their power works was so bad I couldn’t stop laughing. Also the “character” cole was so poorly written you’d think a low capacity child made it up. His powers were literally plot armor and looked terrible
Yeah, I think my Arcana is to make fun of this movie.
Also, the plot armor thing will haunt the movie forever.
The only scene I really liked was when Kung Lao teleported… and that was about to 2 seconds.
Would make for a hilarious review: "MK 2021 was great.. for about 2 seconds".
@@CynicalWarlock 😆😅😂🤣
Honestly all the fan service in this to me just came off as insulting because someone clearly took the time to look up some imagery that would be important to fans or you know the fans would like but not even a tenth of that effort was put in to making the story accurate or the characters
It's the disney star wars type of fan service: "look, everyone, it's Luke, Chewie, R2, 3PO, Han, Leia, and Anakin's lightsaber. Ok, moving on."
How was this movie so bad? Especially compared to the 1995 movie. It could have been so good, they slapped original fans right across the face, and all the other reviews I see love this movie. It's almost like they are getting slapped in the face and begging for more of this whackness.
Haven't seen other reviews.
I've heard the argument that people are so desperate for MK films, that they'll accept anything. There may be some truth to that...
...or they got paid.
Quick people petition Zac Snyder to redo this and make it better asap... Hes the only hope for these crappy WB movies.... Maybe give Tarantino a call he the gore king...js
Daaamn, I'd spank a bull to see what Tarantino would do with this franchise!
The movie plot is not even like what other mortal kombat media were, its also like an oc insert in the world of a popular franchise, the studio cared more on mortal kombat, but they never thought that its MORTAL KOMBAT.
True, it didn't feel like an MK movie, somehow.
P.S.
I like your name - I, too, sexually identify as an attack helicopter.
Not a Celestial, though... :(
The dislikes are the kids that don't know what a good movie is
and they literally gave cole young plot armor. i thought he was asian aquaman
And he can't even talk to fish.
I don’t hate this movie but damn it disappointed me, the opening fight was genuinely good imo but every fight later finishes in 1 minute and barely have any memorable moments.
This movie just felt bland, it’s not awful but I won’t be remembering much from it.
I wish this had just been a short film of the first 7 minutes and then end it.
I think they tried to cram in too many fights. Less fights with more breathing room and a more elaborate choreography would've been better.
You bodied me at Will Ferrell 😅
I mean tell me that doesn't look like the dude!
To be honest, I think I'd have appreciated it more if they'd actually gotten Will to play the part.
@@CynicalWarlock you're going to catch alot of slack but thank you for not giving this a pass... fights were ass water
@@CynicalWarlock They butchered my boy Reiko. 😥
@@CynicalWarlock directors love hiring that actor ( nathan jones) for his physical prowess and physique because in all honesty he does look intimidating, but you're right he looked nothing like said character.
@@Hopium500 I get why they went with him: they wanted to further the parallels between Reiko and Shao Kahn, that are implied in the games, but all that accomplished was taking away what little uniqueness the character had and turning him into discount Shao Kahn.
They butchered the lore so bad that it is unsalvageble
Name-dropping Tobias, then proceeding to ravage the lore he created was pretty nasty.
Also, Sandro is best Hero.
It's a movie dude they have to change things🤦🏾♂️
@@zenotheomniking4038 Like I said, in the video, I see the potential in this whole Cole idea; I just think the execution could've been better.
Thanks for the ACTUAL honest review.
Happy to help.
Text scroll, what hell? What is this, starwars? Damn it. I hate spoilers but thanx for giving it away to minimize my disappointment when i had the opporunity to watch this fan service. And the script, yup thanks for this precaution. Now I can finally enjoy the play, I mean the scenario by ignoring their scripts.
---
And raiden's line before vanishing shang tsung by a lighting bolt is a disconnect to what shang tsung is trying to say about bringing an army at his return. Yup, and Jax when seeing, NOT FEELING, his arms are frozen by Subzero's fistgrab, simply looks as if a venomous tarantula is crawling, NOT BITING, on his arms. As if he did NOT FELT the pain of a frostbite that has already bitten his arms, he could have yelled painfully at the immediate moment when the frostbite consumed both of his fists EVEN BEFORE subzero broke them entirely.
---
Looks like the director is focused on the scenario and easter eggs, and NOT on the acting nor the script. And boy, Gorro's CGI moves too slow with lesser script making him a dumb brute than a supposed shrewd shokan prince that I'd rather justify the 1995's animatronic for being slow yet fully scripted (totally articulate), than to watch such lame and dumb CGI that was supposed to defy reality.
---
Boy how disappointed am i to find out that Goro's Leap was not gonna be His Iconic Trampling Stampede.
I tried to make it as spoiler-free as possible, but figured spoiling the fact that there's a text crawl wasn't that big a deal. Then again, I did kind of jokingly give away the text, even if U paraphrased, so apologies for that.
The Jax-tarantula comparison is spot on, and yes, animatronic Goro was a technical achievement, at the time.
I guess knowing what you're in for allows you to enjoy it a bit more.
Biggest flows of the movie were Cole Young (who could be the next Alice from the Resident Evil movies) and killing Kung Lao and Goro. That was just BS. And Raiden in the movie was plain boring.
Raiden's hat had more charisma than him.
@@CynicalWarlock movie Raiden makes game Raiden look like Johnny Cage by comparison.
@@jsb6975.ah.crapbaskets Heh, that's true. I never liked game Raiden much, but at least he has a commanding presence, whereas the guy from 2021 reminds me of Mr. Filch, from the Harry Potter series. Acts like a disgruntled caretaker.
There were apparently more fight scenes that were cut according to the actor who played Cole Young
I mean most of the fights weren’t anything special apart from the opening, so I doubt they’d improve the film
I don't wanna hear it,YOU ALL said it was gonna be "epic" YOU ALL had NOTHING bad to say about the casting,costumes,fights...etc
It turned me off when the guy at the end of the trailer goes: "Kaaayno wins, you farken beeaudy." And, I'm Aussie. It was just pure cringe.
The character was a bit too telegraphed, yes.
Agree with everything you said. But we're fucking haters for critiquing this movie. Yet people are allowed to hate on MK 1995 and MK Annihilation.
Thank u finnally someone agrees with how i feel about this film
You're in good company, here.
Movie was embarrassing. Shitty lifeless characters, no cohesion between them, bad pacing, bad acting.
Yep. I can forgive and deal with 2, maybe even 3 of these, at a time, but not all 4 put together.
They didn't put Johnny Cage in the movie because he's white, this movie has too many diversity woke garbage in it! I wish there was another director that respects mortal kombat and the lore, I guess we have to wait for another sequel. For the Lin Kuei!❄️
Coolest clan around. 💪
It was ok. Some good fights. Kano was funny. The part that rekt me was Cole's family surviving being frozen. 😠
Yes, that infuriated me! The movie digs a hole for itself by placing Cole's and Hanzo's families in the exact same situation, but with opposite outcomes.
@@CynicalWarlock during the fight, i was like. "Please there's no way they could survive! This would be tragic but good for cole"
@@Jfazed It would've been AWESOME, for Cole. Would've given him *something* to work with: setting him down the same path of vengeance as Scorpion, but having him resist it.
I feel like they should have straight up been dead would have made a sequel with noob much more compelling
Honestly dont even do a sequel. The movie was so bad so you just dont build up from there.
I have to agree. Better to reboot the reboot.
Can we talk a sec. about the extreme difference in quality for the 2 Scorpion vs Sub-Zero fight scenes, compared to the rest of the action sequences here?
It's pretty obvious that these 2 fight scenes were shot by a different director or maybe the second unit director/stunt coordinator did them, while the rest were done by the newbie director.
Recently re-watched the intro; that fight scene between Bi-Han and Hanzo is, indeed, somethin' else. It's quite good. Maybe the producer (James Wan, who directed Aquaman) took a more active role in handling that fight. Aquaman was far from my favorite movie, but it had some great action scenes and stylish choreography.
@@CynicalWarlock If I was the director of this movie, I would have references from MortalKombat 9, we need klassic characters like Kitana, Baraka, Johnny Cage, Sindel, Shao Kahn, Ermac, Jade, Skarlet, Kenshi, Kintaro, Smoke, Cyrax, Sektor, Quan Chi, Sheeva, Nightwolf, Shinnok and Rain. Also we don’t need any new character, and Warner Bros should focus on personal vendetta between Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
@@avengersearthsmightiesther9777 We definitely need all of those characters, just not all in the same movie, cause that's way too many to give each their due. I agree about Cole - he shouldn't have been a thing (I like Lewis Tan, but for the love of the Elder Gods, give him an existing character to play). Marvel-style origin stories would also work, for a lot of the characters, then ensemble films - that way you can totally have a Scorps vs Subs origin/rivalry film.
I agree 100% with everything you said in the video. Whole movie was cringe.
'Cringe' is a word that's thrown around a lot, but in this case, I feel like that is, indeed, the best way to describe it.
@@CynicalWarlock I hate using the word but I literally had to fast forward certain parts lol
@@CynicalWarlock subzero and scorpion are the only worthy parts to see.
@@69_bit I know, right? I got the same urge, several times. Like just get tot the fighting, so I don't have to listen to this shit.
@@melvingenao550 Too bad they're barely in it.
Its weird that mk follows tropes of enter the dragon and they still run the shitty fanfic play. I had to miss this from the trailer, more cg than martial arts it appeared.
Liu Kang said he was an Orphan but he akso mention Kung Lao is his cousin haha
Lol, that's true.
Let's get you to 100 subs! Keep up the great work 💯
Much appreciated! That warms my black heart.
Scorpions fucking spear got more back story than anyone but the two ninjas...
Preach!
Honest review. I thought i was the only one. thanks
You most definitely are not the only one. :)
Dude all of these points are great!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
The movie suffers from what most Video Game based films all suffer from. Lets put as much shit in this form the games as we can. When had it just scaled it down a bit esp. with such a small budget and focused more it could have been a better film. For one Cole was a stupid idea and with there literally being close to 100 characters in the MK universe ur telling me not one is a blank enough state to use.
I agree the writing is atrocious and fully idiotic and the line where Tsung says that death is only another portal just negates the entirety of the film and everything that happened.
After the entire intro of Scorpion and Sub-Zero all I thought, was can we go back to that movie, BC LBRH they could have made a whole movie all about those two establishing their feud, even include the revelation from the games about Quan CHi's manipulations and fans would have loved it and it would have even been a far better story and film.
Well written.
I think there's a reason why superhero films are adaptations and not a 1 on 1 reproduction of the comics - because they need to work as films, first and foremost, and as comic book fiction second. Video game films still haven't learned that lesson, and so they cram too many references and video game-y things into themselves.
And yeah, Johnny Cage would've been the perfect audience surrogate, but they got greedy and decided to save him for the sequel.
@@CynicalWarlock That is 100% correct. There is a reason Marvel has done so well these past 10 years. They make movies that star superheroes instead of making superhero films. They understood that if you have to place their character within the genre they would exist in such as how Ant-man was a heist movie and Guardians of the Galaxy was a Space Opera. I know its becoming cliché to now to make cinematic universes, but had they made one solid film building and establishing just a couple characters they could have been able to continue making a few films doing that to build up to the tournament, so when a character dies it holds a form of weight to it. The audience should have felt a form of empathy and sadness at Kung Lao's death, but BC we never actually saw the two become just close friends we just don't care. I better stop lol BC I could go on...
I also agree they could have used Cage and even still kept Cole's backstory. Aftercall in the game Cage discovers he has power that is derived from his lineage as well. They could have easily just added that he was a washed up actor and now washed up MMA fighter too. No one would have even cared if Lewis Tan played him either BC nothing says Cage can't be half Asian.
Anyway good review...
@@innocenceUnknown Pretty much how I see things. Talked to a loooot of people and we all agree that a cinematic universe with solo films and a slow buildup was the way to go here; MK has the roster and the lore to support it. But WB has consistently shown that it wants a cinematic universe but lacks the patience required to build one.
Glad you enjoyed the review. Cheers!
@@CynicalWarlock WB not only lacks patience they also lack the ability to leave film makers the hell alone.
I heard somewhere there is an interview with the writers that they basically admitted that Cole was a forced element onto the writing staff.
@@innocenceUnknown Heard the same thing.
Aqua man should call himself water man.
And Julius Caesar should be Joe Cesar.
Hello, I am Raiden and my main power is to teleport you to wherever you want...or not I teleport you anyway
first 7 minutes seems shot by somebody else hhhhh
very poorly made,
+ opening is amazing
+great subzero and kano
+brutal fatalities
-bad pacing and editing
-bad acting
-main character sux like shit
-music choise and the new remix theme is bullshit
Sounds about right.
Nah suicide squad if way worse than this
Tough for me to pick a least favorite; they both have SOME redeeming qualities.
Blows me away that so many people like this movie and cite reasons like "Kabal is in it, he is my favorite." or "Kano was sooo funny lol."
They took a huge dump on the MK lore and nobody even cares because they got to see a Fatality...
i compare it more to Fantastic Four (2015) and Dragonball Evolution... It's that bad. As a movie, but even worse as a MORTAL KOMBAT movie.
I didn't see Rise of Skywalker either, but I've heard the pacing is about the same. Stuff happens because they have to move the plot forward, but when you stop to think about it, none of the stuff that happens makes any god damn sense. The movie just tries to throw so much at you because it wants you to not stop and think about anything...
Funny story, my first clue that this movie would be bad was when Jax said "You have to get to Gary, Indiana"... Gary Indiana? Why not Chicago? Indianapolis, or any place that Sonya might actually live. She is a special forces operative and lived in a shit hole trailer her whole life? Military pays better than that btw...
Pretty much what you said.
Lovely ol' Gary, Indiana... More like "You have to get to this cheap-ass location the budget could afford".
And please, refer to that movie by its proper title:
'Fant4stic'.
this movie is like a meal that was made without a ingredient it taste ok but now I have to add salt and pepper but I'm all out so I'll just eat it because I'm hungry
Why didn't I think of that comparison?
It's like "Here's some dry, unsalted meat (accurate-looking characters) and some potatoes (fan service). Bon appetit."
Gee, thanks.. So glad I payed for this meal. -_-
Not surprised if the movie fell flat in the writing, and I thought Sindel's character development was a major fuck up in the games.
They did her dirty, in mk11.
I enjoyed Rise Of Skywalker more than this movie
Noted. Thanks for sharing.
Also, ouch - poor MK 2021
They replace Liu Kang as the main hero with this bland ass brass armadillo. Fuck this movie!
Even though I kind of agree with you I still thought scorpion and sub zero were the best parts. The final battle between them I thought was cool at least till cole young joined in. Like couldn't we just see scorpion and sub zero fight without cole having to try to help him. One thing I agree with everyone is i'm not a fan of Cole Young like why did we even need him he's not even from the games they seriously removed Johnny Cage for him
It's sequel-bating. They withheld their most promising character for the sequel, hoping to build a franchise, and it ended up being the film's downfall instead. Ironic, I guess.
I agree that the Scorpion-Sub-Zero stuff had potential; I just feel like that could've been its own movie, instead of being sidelined for most of this one. And I do have another video where I try to highlight this movie's strengths and weaknesses more objectively, while comparing it to the 1995 version.
TL;DR - it has some redeeming qualities.
Best version of mortal Kombat everrrrrrrrr...
Best MK movie this yearrrrrrr...
Yeah, right.
i couldnt agree with you more! the movie was a sucker. surprised? no because Warner Brothers studio is a sucker
Warner Bros should rebrand to 'Sucker Bros'.