Post by Zira Firestone on Aug 11, 2010 3:41:29 GMT -6
In the summer of 1995 a movie adaption based on the popular video game series by Midway, Mortal Kombat, was released.
Mortal Kombat originally came out to arcades in 1992 shocking people with its excessive blood and violence never before seen in video games at the time. It was such a huge success that it earned two video game sequels. So naturally Hollywood decided to make a film.
I watched this film for the first time in ages and now, what do I think of it?
Well in short: it sucked balls.
I cannot understand why so many people liked this movie. It was filled with bad Johnny Cage one-liners and certain characters from the games, at least IMO, were ruined by this film. Sure, compared to the sequel that came out in 1997 this film was a masterpiece but that doesn't mean it's good. It just means it's not as BAD. There's a difference. Batman Forever was better than Batman & Robins but it still sucked!
That said please remember that this is just my opinion. If you enjoyed the movie then good for you. Now to explain what I didn't like about the movie.
First off is Liu Kang. Now don't get me wrong, I think Robin Shou made a great Liu Kang. But I did not like the film adaption version of this character. In the film Liu Kang turns his back on the temple and his brother gets killed by Shang Tsung (Played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) making the only reason for joining the tournament being about revenge.
Gee, isn't there another Mortal Kombat character who only joined the first tournament for a chance at revenge? I wonder who that could be....
SCORPION! How are you? Yeah, Liu Kang is trying to steal your thunder. Doesn't that piss you off?
Now in the video games Liu Kang was in the tournament to protect Earthrealm, not for revenge. Liu Kang is about honor, respect, fair fighting and protecting his realm. That should have been his reasons for joining Mortal Kombat. IMO!
At least Sonya and Johnny Cage reasoning for joining the tournament were the same as the games. Sonya (played by Bridgette Wilson) is only there to get Kano (Trevor Goddard) and Cage (Linden Ashby) is there to prove that he's not a fake. He really does know all the things you see in the movies. I'll give them that. Although Sonya was forced because Shang Tsung threatened her unit. But it was still closer than Liu Kang.
Christopher Lambert plays a great Raiden but I was disappointed they didn't have him in the actual tournament. I can understand the reasoning but I wanted to see him actually fight, like in the first game. But oh well, can't win them all.
Now what really pisses me off is how they handle Sub Zero and Scorpion in this movie. They're slaves to Shang Tsungs power.
BULLSHIT!
Sub Zero was there to assassinate his ass and Scorpion is there for revenge on Sub Zero. They do not work for Shang Tsung! If anybody should have acted as Shang Tsungs fists on that boat scene it should have been Reptile. Because Reptile was Shang Tsungs personal assassin in the first game.
I also must ask why does Scorpion have a snake come out of his hand? Why couldn't it just be a spear on a rope like in the games?
Out of all the characters they've screwed up though IMO, none was as terrible as Goro. Oh my god! They made a laughing stock out of Goro! The great Mortal Kombat Champion, the man who defeated the great Kung Lou was taken out by Johnny Cage?
If that wasn't bad enough Goro gets punched in the balls and falls off to his death after chasing Johnny Cage to a ledge. That was just pathetic. By this point I wanted to say, "GET OVER HERE!" use the spear to stab the writers, pull them in and then uppercut them off a bridge onto a pit of spikes. But I digress.
First off I don't believe Johnny Cage should have faced Goro. It should have been Liu Kang. I would have loved to see Liu Kang face Goro and for Goro to say something along the lines of, "We're reliving history, Liu Kang. You will meet the same fate as your ancestor." referencing his killing Kung Lou to become Champion.
Oh and since Johnny Cage killed Goro doesn't that make him Mortal Kombat Champion? Well the movie doesn't care about that.
Another big mistake was making this film PG-13. Why did they make it PG-13? Mortal Kombat became popular because of its gore so shouldn't it be rated R? Who thought of that? What would I have done to make it better?
Well for starters I would have made it rated R.
Liu Kang would have been told the story about Kung Lou and how he died at the hands of Goro setting up their battle for the championship.
Sonya Blade would have kicked Johnny Cages ass in the first round, because you can just tell she wants to hit him.
Raiden would face Liu Kang and near the end forfeit because he believes Liu Kang to be Earths Champion.
Sub Zero and Scorpion would have not been working for Shang Tsung. While Sub Zero was attempting to kill Shang Tsung Scorpion would appear, they would have an awesome fight scene and Scorpion would claim his revenge on Sub Zero with an awesome and very bloody death. Or at least have him rip off Sub Zeros head and hold it up in victory in order to mock Sub Zeros fatality, which he would have used on that guy he kills in the first film instead of using his ice.
Overall I thought the dialog was flat, they ruined more characters than they got right and the only way I can enjoy this movie is if I don't take it serious at all.
Discuss.
