RandomKhaoz
Since: Jan, 2019
05/09/2021 22:37:42
•••
- 'PROS' -
- CONS -
So yeah, my rating out of five for this movie: 3/5 If I rated this out of ten, then it would be: 5/10
Film What a missed opportunity to be a great movie
I still support this movie, but damn it, there was so much this movie needed in order to be a great video game movie.
WARNING: This Review Contains Spoilers.
- 'PROS' -
- Scorpion and Sub-Zero's Fight Scenes (Basically the beginning and ending of the movie).
- Kung Lao executing an awesome Buzzsaw Fatality on a character who doesn't say anything.
- Liu Kang doing a Fatality that involves a Dragon. Also, he shoots some serious fireballs.
- Sub-Zero being a badass antagonist who instantly breaks both of Jax's arms off in their fight.
- Scorpion saying "Get Over Here!" in a better way than how he did in the official movie trailer.
- Kabal is way funnier than Kano, kinda wish he got more screen time even though he was a bad guy.
- All of the Mortal Kombat Characters instantly overtake the bland new guy.
- CONS -
- Cole Young being the lead character instead of Liu Kang or Sonya Blade.
- Goro being easily defeated by the new guy, like what the actual f%#k!
- Mileena finally getting to show her sharp teeth, but dies quickly by Sonya.
- Kung Lao getting his soul sucked by Shang Tsung. He didn't deserve that.
- Reptile deserved more screen time. Like he was defeated way too early.
- Kano has a few funny moments, but after a while, he just ends up annoying.
So yeah, my rating out of five for this movie: 3/5 If I rated this out of ten, then it would be: 5/10
Film So Close, And Yet So Far
It's the present day. People who are supposed to take part in the Mortal Kombat tournament have a Birthmark of Destiny. One of them, Major Jackson Briggs, is trying to brief another, Original Generation Cole Young, on the subject, but has to Hold the Line against Sub-Zero. Cole instead ends up traveling to Indiana by himself, where he meets Lt. Sonya Blade, The Heart, and her captive Kano, the Plucky Comic Relief and Deadpan Snarker. Sonya explains that the birthmarks are fungible, but that she doesn't have one because she hasn't killed someone who had one; she also explains that the Big Bad, Shang Tsung, wants to cheat, and is having the entrants killed before they can enter. Since there's two of them in this scene alone, they are interrupted by Reptile, who carries his signature Invisibility Cloak and Acid Attack, and the three Badass Normals must band together to fight off this Outside-Context Problem. They stab Reptile with knives, and eventually a flare, to track him, but Conservation of Ninjutsu is still in effect. As a Desperation Attack, Sonya lodges a knife in his sternum, and Kano, seizing the opportunity, slices him open and then delivers his Signature Move: the And Show It to You fatality that has been his calling card since 1992.
These are the only good 10 minutes of the film... Which is a shame, because these 10 minutes have every ingredient you need for a good Mortal Kombat movie.
As mentioned, Sonya is The Heart; the fact that she's a Hypercompetent Sidekick but doesn't have a birthmark, and therefore is ineligible for the tournament, is her Character Arc, and would've been enough to make her into a Main Character. (Cole, despite being having the Secret Legacy of being descended from Hanzo "Scorpion" Hasashi, is nowhere near as compelling.) The banter between the three characters, and particularly the Enemy Mine situation, makes for compelling drama and gives each character a chance to shine in the fight. And the human characters being so outclassed means that the Fatality is just part of the Lensman Arms Race, feeling not gratuitous but justified. (Also, Josh Lawson steals the movie.)
After this promising start, the film derails into a standard Super Hero Origin where each character has an "Arcana" to unlock, a new addition to the canon that doesn't feel necessary. Most of the fights are straight-up one-to-one brawls, without any of the creativity or choreography of, say, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — undermining the David Versus Goliath narrative that the film is trying to set up. And Lewis Tan, playing Cole, simply isn't interesting, and his presence takes time away from other characters, particularly Liu Kang, Raiden, Sub-Zero, Shang Tsung, Mileena and particularly Goro, who basically gets only one scene.
The film proves that it's possible to do Mortal Kombat well on the big screen. Unfortunately, the film doesn't seem to realize they did it. Hopefully the sequel will be better.