Mortal Kombat (2021)
This should come as no surprise to anyone but man, was I ****ing amped up for this movie. The first trailer made it seem like they had finally stayed faithful to the video game. The film from the 90s (Annihilation shall not be mentioned as a valid movie in any sort of way) severely diverted away from the violence of the video game. As amped as I was for this movie, I have to admit it is a bit flawed. Even with it being flawed, it's still an entertaining effort.
Warning: I don't know some of these character's names, so I did my best to describe them.
The good
Opening scene: That opening scene features so much violence that it immediately wipes the other two movies out of existence. On top of the expected violence, though, there were some very pleasant surprises from the director. He built some serious tension when Sub-Zero was taunting Scorpions family. Sub-Zero was perfectly played here, by the way. There was also a surprising amount of emotion here. Scorpion finding his frozen wife and child almost brought me to tears. Going into this, I would have put a million dollars on no way in hell would I almost cry during a Mortal Kombat movie. However, there I was fighting back some minors tears, saying Scorpion, you better **** him up.
The Fights: Gee, what a ****ing shocker that the fight scenes in a Mortal Kombat movie would be damn good. They got the violence right, and the over-the-top fatalities were pretty in line with the video games. The last 40 or so minutes of this movie was exactly what you would want from a Mortal Kombat movie. Kung Lao using his hat as a saw-blade on screeching wench (her character was outside my limited knowledge of Mortal Kombat characters) and cutting her in half was classic. Sonya sonic blasting a hole through Joker mouth lady was sweet. The fire dragon from Kang at the end got a lot of people in the theater (yes, I was one of those people) to let out some sounds of glee. The touch of over-the-top violence was good to see in the ending fight scenes. BBBuuttt ddammmnnn that final fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero was epic. It was perfect to start and finish the movie with these two. Both of the battles will be known as classics.
Kano: This man carried the middle section of the movie. He was a riot throughout the dull middle section. I don't know the broski that played him but bravo to you, sir. His one-liners were delivered to perfection, and he was a real highlight to this movie. Anytime he opened his mouth, you were guaranteed a good ole hardy laugh.
Sub-Zero: OOOOHHHH, you a bad, bad zombie man. Frosty the Snowman ain't got **** on Sub-Zero. First off, they cast the right dude to play this character. Something that can not be said for other characters in this movie. This Sub-Zero was menacing and just a straight-up problem for anyone to deal with. His fight scenes were the highlights of the movie. However, the way he toyed with other characters was terrific. His intro to Jax and Cole was cool as hell. Having him slam the ice down on everything was great. Then having him freeze Jax's gun as it was firing was awesome. They nailed everything about this character.
- I liked the casting of Scorpion, Shang Tsung, and Kung Lao as well.
- Yeesss, they included the theme song. I dug the theme, changing it up and making it more orchestral. Much respect for including the original version during the credits.
The bad
The casting: As much as this movie wanted to be a major blockbuster movie, the casting and acting at times made it feel like a B-level Mortal Kombat movie. Some of the castings were good, but other ones were questionable at best. Johnny Cole was lame and not interesting at all. Sonya Blade was just bland. Even the lady who played Cole's wife sucked. After she is attacked by Sub-Zero, there is 0 panic on her face whatsoever. Like lady, a dude who controls ice and **** is chasing your family; maybe you should have a little pep in your step and be concerned. Not this bitch thought she looked like she could care less that killer Jack Frost was on her family's tail. Even Liu Kang felt wrong. Looks-wise he was pretty accurate, but his acting could have been better. There were times when he was talking to another character, but he was looking at nothing like his eyes weren't focused on the character but gazing off into a distant future.
Rushed Ending: Dear writers and director of this movie, next time, don't spend so much time wandering around in a desert and spend more time on fights. A lot of the battles here in the end just didn't enough time to breathe. They rushed the final fights between almost all the contestants. The rematches were just too short. Liu Kang disposed of the knockoff Predator too quickly. Jax just needed about a minute to squish hammer bros head in (did they even say his name?).
Justice for Goro: This man/thing gets no respect. Between the 90s movie making him look like a tree of dildos. Seriously he looked awful in it. And then being taken out by a kick to the nuts. This dude gets no love. Even here, he isn't established enough. He looks good, but I would have rather have him not fight Cole and save it for the sequel. They could have established him as a badass here by doing something evil. My vote would be to rip some people in half, but what does my bloodthirsty ass know. They could have just established his badassery and then go balls to the wall in the sequel.
Johnny Cole: **** the new guy. Johnny Cole was a complete waste. They wasted a lot of screen time for it to go absolutely nowhere. They made it seem like he would eventually turn into Scorpion, but nope Scorpion was his own entity altogether. If I'm supposed to believe that some sort of third-rate MMA guy, who lost his fight, by the way, is gonna protect the earth, then I might as well get used to being a slave to Shao Kahn cause Johnny Cole ain't gonna save ****. They could have just easily shown glimpses of Scorpion killing demons in hell and then still have him come back in the end. Have him say I have conquered hell in order to kill you, Bi-Han. Bam, I'm a better writer than whoever wrote this movie (I'm well aware of how terrible my writing is, so **** off).
-Clarify beef between Sub-zero and Scorpion. What exactly was the original beef. I'll assume it was Scorpion wiped out Bi-Han's clan, but it could be he ****ed Bi-Han's mom, and now he is his new daddy, and he doesn't like that. It's probably option A, but hell, if I know
Ultimately this is an upgrade from the 90s movie, but it's still a disappointment. The fact that the Mortal Kombat tournament doesn't even happen here already discredits this movie. This should have either been re-titled Mortal Kombat: Beginnings or something, or it should have been a limited series leading up to the movie. Then that movie is actual Mortal Komabt. Besides the lousy plot, ****face newbie, and no actual Mortal Kombat, this movie is still a fun watch. There is enough lip service to fans with lines from the video games, and there is enough over-the-top violence to keep people happy. It's undoubtedly no Mortal Kombat Scorpion's Revenge, which if you want over-the-top violence, then go watch that. I set a high bar for an abundance of violence, and that movie still delivered way more of it. This movie though, is a solid jumping-off point for this franchise but for ****s sake, give us the tournament in the sequel. 7/10
for more review go to tjkellyrants.com
This should come as no surprise to anyone but man, was I ****ing amped up for this movie. The first trailer made it seem like they had finally stayed faithful to the video game. The film from the 90s (Annihilation shall not be mentioned as a valid movie in any sort of way) severely diverted away from the violence of the video game. As amped as I was for this movie, I have to admit it is a bit flawed. Even with it being flawed, it's still an entertaining effort.
Warning: I don't know some of these character's names, so I did my best to describe them.
The good
Opening scene: That opening scene features so much violence that it immediately wipes the other two movies out of existence. On top of the expected violence, though, there were some very pleasant surprises from the director. He built some serious tension when Sub-Zero was taunting Scorpions family. Sub-Zero was perfectly played here, by the way. There was also a surprising amount of emotion here. Scorpion finding his frozen wife and child almost brought me to tears. Going into this, I would have put a million dollars on no way in hell would I almost cry during a Mortal Kombat movie. However, there I was fighting back some minors tears, saying Scorpion, you better **** him up.
The Fights: Gee, what a ****ing shocker that the fight scenes in a Mortal Kombat movie would be damn good. They got the violence right, and the over-the-top fatalities were pretty in line with the video games. The last 40 or so minutes of this movie was exactly what you would want from a Mortal Kombat movie. Kung Lao using his hat as a saw-blade on screeching wench (her character was outside my limited knowledge of Mortal Kombat characters) and cutting her in half was classic. Sonya sonic blasting a hole through Joker mouth lady was sweet. The fire dragon from Kang at the end got a lot of people in the theater (yes, I was one of those people) to let out some sounds of glee. The touch of over-the-top violence was good to see in the ending fight scenes. BBBuuttt ddammmnnn that final fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero was epic. It was perfect to start and finish the movie with these two. Both of the battles will be known as classics.
Kano: This man carried the middle section of the movie. He was a riot throughout the dull middle section. I don't know the broski that played him but bravo to you, sir. His one-liners were delivered to perfection, and he was a real highlight to this movie. Anytime he opened his mouth, you were guaranteed a good ole hardy laugh.
Sub-Zero: OOOOHHHH, you a bad, bad zombie man. Frosty the Snowman ain't got **** on Sub-Zero. First off, they cast the right dude to play this character. Something that can not be said for other characters in this movie. This Sub-Zero was menacing and just a straight-up problem for anyone to deal with. His fight scenes were the highlights of the movie. However, the way he toyed with other characters was terrific. His intro to Jax and Cole was cool as hell. Having him slam the ice down on everything was great. Then having him freeze Jax's gun as it was firing was awesome. They nailed everything about this character.
- I liked the casting of Scorpion, Shang Tsung, and Kung Lao as well.
- Yeesss, they included the theme song. I dug the theme, changing it up and making it more orchestral. Much respect for including the original version during the credits.
The bad
The casting: As much as this movie wanted to be a major blockbuster movie, the casting and acting at times made it feel like a B-level Mortal Kombat movie. Some of the castings were good, but other ones were questionable at best. Johnny Cole was lame and not interesting at all. Sonya Blade was just bland. Even the lady who played Cole's wife sucked. After she is attacked by Sub-Zero, there is 0 panic on her face whatsoever. Like lady, a dude who controls ice and **** is chasing your family; maybe you should have a little pep in your step and be concerned. Not this bitch thought she looked like she could care less that killer Jack Frost was on her family's tail. Even Liu Kang felt wrong. Looks-wise he was pretty accurate, but his acting could have been better. There were times when he was talking to another character, but he was looking at nothing like his eyes weren't focused on the character but gazing off into a distant future.
Rushed Ending: Dear writers and director of this movie, next time, don't spend so much time wandering around in a desert and spend more time on fights. A lot of the battles here in the end just didn't enough time to breathe. They rushed the final fights between almost all the contestants. The rematches were just too short. Liu Kang disposed of the knockoff Predator too quickly. Jax just needed about a minute to squish hammer bros head in (did they even say his name?).
Justice for Goro: This man/thing gets no respect. Between the 90s movie making him look like a tree of dildos. Seriously he looked awful in it. And then being taken out by a kick to the nuts. This dude gets no love. Even here, he isn't established enough. He looks good, but I would have rather have him not fight Cole and save it for the sequel. They could have established him as a badass here by doing something evil. My vote would be to rip some people in half, but what does my bloodthirsty ass know. They could have just established his badassery and then go balls to the wall in the sequel.
Johnny Cole: **** the new guy. Johnny Cole was a complete waste. They wasted a lot of screen time for it to go absolutely nowhere. They made it seem like he would eventually turn into Scorpion, but nope Scorpion was his own entity altogether. If I'm supposed to believe that some sort of third-rate MMA guy, who lost his fight, by the way, is gonna protect the earth, then I might as well get used to being a slave to Shao Kahn cause Johnny Cole ain't gonna save ****. They could have just easily shown glimpses of Scorpion killing demons in hell and then still have him come back in the end. Have him say I have conquered hell in order to kill you, Bi-Han. Bam, I'm a better writer than whoever wrote this movie (I'm well aware of how terrible my writing is, so **** off).
-Clarify beef between Sub-zero and Scorpion. What exactly was the original beef. I'll assume it was Scorpion wiped out Bi-Han's clan, but it could be he ****ed Bi-Han's mom, and now he is his new daddy, and he doesn't like that. It's probably option A, but hell, if I know
Ultimately this is an upgrade from the 90s movie, but it's still a disappointment. The fact that the Mortal Kombat tournament doesn't even happen here already discredits this movie. This should have either been re-titled Mortal Kombat: Beginnings or something, or it should have been a limited series leading up to the movie. Then that movie is actual Mortal Komabt. Besides the lousy plot, ****face newbie, and no actual Mortal Kombat, this movie is still a fun watch. There is enough lip service to fans with lines from the video games, and there is enough over-the-top violence to keep people happy. It's undoubtedly no Mortal Kombat Scorpion's Revenge, which if you want over-the-top violence, then go watch that. I set a high bar for an abundance of violence, and that movie still delivered way more of it. This movie though, is a solid jumping-off point for this franchise but for ****s sake, give us the tournament in the sequel. 7/10
for more review go to tjkellyrants.com