|
Sodomy Hussein posted:It absolutely doesn't matter that they introduced a new character, because the games do that all the time, including a set of "second generation" characters at this point. The new guy gets a yellow Black Panther suit, because of course he does. I don't think the problem so much is that there's a new character as it is he's dull as dirt, and his motivation "I love my family" is super lame (and I still don't know if that's his wife or girlfriend and daughter, stepdaughter or little sister). Would've been more worthwhile if he got gibbed by Goro or something but that would require more self awareness than the film was allowed to have. Having said that I wasn't as offended as much as that part of the script as the time wasted on Arcana bullshit because NOBODY CARES.
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:04
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 14:51 |
|
|
I just want Enter the Dragon, but with supernatural stuff like magic ninjas. I guess that's too much to ask for, though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:07
|
|
|
Uncle Boogeyman posted:One nagging problem that I think illustrates this movie's failure of imagination as well as the common symptom that movies now just kinda suck at selling high-impact moments: Same reason Captain America doesn’t say “Avengers Assemble” until the last 45 minutes of the fourth goddamn Avengers movie - you save everything for the sequel. Edit: Marvel convinced Hollywood that the best way to build a franchise is to act like you already have one. Forget making your first movie entertaining and memorable - just cram it full of teases and coy little winks at what you MIGHT get to see next time and the hope is that an audience will beg you to finish it. It’s tantric filmmaking and it sucks out loud. This Mortal Kombat might be the most egregious example of this that I’ve seen in a long time. Splint Chesthair fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Apr 26, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:13
|
|
|
I prefer the Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm solution where Reptile appears to be a Green Ninja until he takes his mask off and reveals that he's an Acid Lizard Ninja. I would also like Sister Machine Gun to appear on the soundtrack again.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:17
|
|
|
Splint Chesthair posted:Same reason Captain America doesn’t say “Avengers Assemble” until the last 45 minutes of the fourth goddamn Avengers movie - you save everything for the sequel. This got an involuntary groan out of me because you’re absolutely right
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:26
|
|
|
Megaman's Jockstrap posted:The 55 million budget makes a lot more sense, but it still looks substantially worse than 1995's MK (which had a budget of 32 million, adjusted for inflation). I was going to say "to be fair Paul W.S Anderson is a pretty decent action director who had a lot of experience under his belt, Simon McQuoid hasnt done anything but commercials before this" but apparently MK95 was Paul's second movie. Huh, that's pretty good. There's enough to like about MK21 that I hope that the weak sets/set creativity and rough fight editing get smoothed over with experience. The crappy plot issues seem to mainly be a WB mandated thing (shock), and hopefully the unanimously negative/mediocre reception of Cole & the arcana nonsense makes the next gaggle of execs take a more hands-off approach. It's all on Russo & McQuoid that they opted to make Cole a Shirt Fighter instead of Scorpion 2, though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:32
|
|
|
Splint Chesthair posted:Same reason Captain America doesn’t say “Avengers Assemble” until the last 45 minutes of the fourth goddamn Avengers movie - you save everything for the sequel. The first Iron Man has none of that though, it's actually pretty good. It's gone steadily downhill since.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:39
|
|
|
The arkana stuff is weird because they're saying that Mortal Kombatants are a combination of Jedi, X-Men, and Highlanders.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:43
|
|
|
I hate the mentality of hopefully the sequels can iron things out. Because like they could have just made a good movie the first time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:46
|
|
|
It's also always flim-flam. The MCU ended with movies full of loose ends, unanswered questions, and a bunch of time-travel nonsense for good measure, just as a gently caress-you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:48
|
|
|
Senator Drinksalot posted:The first Iron Man has none of that though, it's actually pretty good. It's gone steadily downhill since. No, the first Iron Man is pretty much free of all that. But the studios have learned all the wrong lessons from its success. Instead of “make sure you cast an actor with the ideal amount of charisma for the part,” they put all their chips on “start teasing your third and fourth sequels immediately, even if it means you don’t make a whole movie.”
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:50
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:The arkana stuff is weird because they're saying that Mortal Kombatants are a combination of Jedi, X-Men, and Highlanders. And whatever else category Jax fits into with his being about powering up his arms.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:50
|
|
|
Sodomy Hussein posted:some points Just a couple of points of clarification: I don't think anyone thinks that MK 95 looks like an expensive movie. It's clearly not. But putting the the boat set forward as representative is doing a disservice. The scenes where they arrive on the island are very clearly real and look great. The feast hall, the temple, even the busted-up Cage vs Scorpion jungle gym (which, as real MK heads know, was made out of the torn up remains of the other sets) were exciting and interesting environments to have a brawl. The environments in MK 21 are just so bad compared to them, I can't believe the two biggest fights take place in a sand pit and a gym with ice. That's barely a step up from a quarry and an empty warehouse from DTV poo poo. Secondly, the problem with Cole Young is not that he's a new kharacter. I don't have any problem with that personally. The problem is the black hole of disinterest that he creates in the script. Since we're comparing the movie to the video game, tell me: what do you think the general reaction would be if MK 12 introduced a new good guy whose backstory is "MMA washup who loves his family" and whose kostume design is "has an intricate bronze shirt for upper body armor and wields two tonfas" and then spent an enormous amount of screen time and story beats on this character? Because I assure you after years of awesome kharacters with stories like "deadly bug lady assassin who is a living insect hive" and "indestructible sand golem that controls time" and "special forces Muay Thai expert that also has gun-hands and rocket-boots" that is not going to cut it. There is no need for a straight man in a Mortal Kombat movie anymoreso than there needs to be a "regular beat cop" in a John Woo movie. It just brings the whole thing down. "The new guy gets a yellow Black Panther suit because of course he does" well what do you mean here? This movie's script is lazy as poo poo and rip-offs the MCEU? That's not a point in its favor, and it's not cute or funny to me. By god there's enough money here and an R-rating to make something good. I want to see something good, not some weird cheap poo poo that can't even get me excited when they play the music sting from MK 95! I am not going to give them a pass or look at them with low standards, this needs to be a real-rear end movie that doesn't waste the considerable physical talents of the actors. I really hope they can get the sequel right because there's enough here for me to like a lot, but the script is just lousy and the spectacle largely falls short. Embrace the weirdness you cowards. AzureSkys posted:I just want Enter the Dragon, but with supernatural stuff like magic ninjas. I guess that's too much to ask for, though. It's absolutely not. Enter the Dragon with the kooky weirdness dialed up to 11 (a la Big Trouble In Little China) is literally Mortal Kombat. Megaman's Jockstrap fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Apr 26, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:52
|
|
|
Halloween Jack posted:It's also always flim-flam. The MCU ended with movies full of loose ends, unanswered questions, and a bunch of time-travel nonsense for good measure, just as a gently caress-you. The MCU isn’t over though?
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:54
|
|
|
As bad as this movie is I don't get how people are confused about Cole's family situation. The daughter calls him Dad constantly and they even casted a girl who at least looks like she could be bi-racial.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 21:57
|
|
|
Xenomrph posted:The MCU isn’t over though? Unfortunately
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:02
|
|
|
BTW since I have been relentlessly making GBS threads on the movie here I want to talk about some of the things I like: All the actors were well cast and it was only the script that let them down (Kano, btw, was improvised a whole bunch - which supports my point that the script is the problem, not the actors) Making Sub Zero a horror movie slasher was great The beginning fight was really good and managed to transcend how lovely it was shot and cut Bringing in jobbers like Reiko to be murdered was fun I basically already said this but I can't say enough good things about Joe Taslim, although his physicality probably would have made him a better Reptile than Sub-Zero. But he's gonna rip it as Noob!
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:05
|
|
|
It's hard to write interesting poo poo for something you clearly have no interest in, hence Cole. Honestly there were two ways off the top of my head that could have made Cole better: make him Stryker (who is the closest thing to "stupid loser everyman" in MK), then have him lose his match and die once he's been used to introduce the audience to the other kombatants (theres no Stryker fans so this would have worked fine). Alternatively, go in on making him the new Scorpion; he gets all the fan pop of being one of the cool revenge ninjas, he has additional interest & more development wrt learning that his family is dead/being killed because of Sub-Zero, and you get to give him something more interesting than "cheat shirt" and "tonfas". Hell, be weird and do both; Cole "Stryker" Young dies and the Shirai Ryu arkana is that he immediately returns as an angry revenge ghost. Neurolimal fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Apr 26, 2021 |
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:08
|
|
|
The whole movie would’ve been so much better if Cole was just Skorpion. That’s what I thought was being teased at first.
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:10
|
|
|
mistermojo posted:we need some personal stakes.... what if Sub Zero kidnaps this guys family Why didn't Sub Zero kills Cole's family? He killed Scorpion's family in the intro, but left Cole's family alive. And his goal seemed to be to kill the bloodline. Sub Zero didn't know that Scorpion was going to come back from hell and Cole's family would be a distraction, which kind of worked out in Sub Zero's favor, but still kind of nonsensical.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:21
|
|
|
I thought he was trying to lure him in?
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:25
|
|
|
I'm not sure how Cole's family survived the freeze attack that instantly killed Scorpion's family.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:31
|
|
|
JT Smiley posted:I'm not sure how Cole's family survived the freeze attack that instantly killed Scorpion's family. I believe Sub-Zero also put a icicle through their hearts. They're frozen in place with it sticking out of their chest. Why didn't he do that the second time? Ah well, you see...
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:32
|
|
|
Senator Drinksalot posted:I thought he was trying to lure him in? But the bracelet lured him in. Cole's family didn't need to be alive. Cole didn't even know if his family was alive or not when he jumped into the portal.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:32
|
|
|
Senator Drinksalot posted:Unfortunately I like the MCU a lot, but oh well.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:34
|
|
Megaman's Jockstrap posted:
Screen rant pitch meeting guy voice: “idunno”
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:34
|
|
|
Two good scenes in this movie: 1) Liu Kang beating Kano by spamming the leg sweep. 2) Kung Lao buzzsaw fatality. Otherwise the movie feels like a throwback to the terrible fighting game movies circa 2010, like Tekken, Legend of Chun Li, and Dragon Ball Evolution.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:41
|
|
|
Astro7x posted:Why didn't Sub Zero kills Cole's family? He killed Scorpion's family in the intro, but left Cole's family alive. And his goal seemed to be to kill the bloodline. Sub Zero didn't know that Scorpion was going to come back from hell and Cole's family would be a distraction, which kind of worked out in Sub Zero's favor, but still kind of nonsensical. I don't remember fully but did Sub Zero know Cole was Scorpion's descendant at that point, or was he just hunting people with marks? Edit: Oh wait d'you mean at the end when he just trapped them in ice? Yeah that doesn't make sense.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:44
|
|
|
pospysyl posted:Two good scenes in this movie: People keep making MCU comparisons but this poo poo is definitely has more in common with the movies you listed here. It feels like something you'd see on TNT after Elektra.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:53
|
|
|
I thought I was crazy when I saw it happen but this might have the worst edit choice/mistake I have ever seen in a movie like this. The split second shot of Kano on the ground before Liu Kang offers his hand to help him up is absolutely mind bogglingly terrible editing.  Id imagine this was entirely because of a lack of proper coverage to transition between these shots and angles but I for the life of me cannot figure out WHY they chose this "fix" when it actively makes it worse and was completely jarring to see. Its either bad coverage or just pure poo poo editing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 22:57
|
|
|
There were a lot of points in this movie where they could’ve made cooler, better choices and did not. I’m just stunned at the audacity of having no explanation of how Scorpion returned. He just was too pissed off to be in hell. There were no scenes of him leaving hell or anything. He just shows up. It works. I was sitting there feeling all cynical about Sonya fighting the wing lady - I thought this would be one of the movies where women only fight women. Absolutely stunned how that turned out. More of the cool stuff like that, less grounded every man.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:00
|
|
|
"I have returned from Hell to slay you" from a ghost fire ninja to an ancient ice ninja is a boss line from a boss kharacter that only bonkers-rear end Mortal Kombat could deliver. It was said in a frozen gym while a dork in a bronze shirt speed-punched a corpsesicle. This is why the movie frustrated me so much!
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:12
|
|
|
Coles corny MK name should be The Wicker Man
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:16
|
|
|
Xenomrph posted:I like the MCU a lot, but oh well. I just think action movies should have competent action scenes, something the MCU is very averse to
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:24
|
|
|
Senator Drinksalot posted:I just think action movies should have competent action scenes, something the MCU is very averse to I dunno what to tell you, I like the action scenes in the MCU. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:25
|
|
|
The guardians films are alright, I hate the rest. I dunno how that happened because I was a big Marvel reader when I was younger. Disney's cynical approach, probably.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:34
|
|
|
When they add Cole to the game they will make him top tier meta so gamers will have to begrudgingly use him to win
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:41
|
|
|
Isn't Robocop the top in the meta right now? He's incredibly boring to use and I would rather lose than pick him.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:42
|
|
|
Megaman's Jockstrap posted:"I have returned from Hell to slay you" from a ghost fire ninja to an ancient ice ninja is a boss line from a boss kharacter that only bonkers-rear end Mortal Kombat could deliver. Yeah, I still enjoyed the movie, but the best parts were when it was just shrugging and going, "you know what, it's time we have some fuckin fun here". Scorpion doesn't have to explain poo poo. I don't want an explanation, I want him to stab people, reel them in and do that sick clothesline move. This movie is dumb as hell, lean into it. Formally petitioning that the next Reptile design is exactly the same, but has a white gi and a headband.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:42
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 14:51 |
|
|
AccountSupervisor posted:I thought I was crazy when I saw it happen but this might have the worst edit choice/mistake I have ever seen in a movie like this. There's lots of weird cuts like this, even in the opening fight with Bi Han and Scorpion. Like, Bi Han has Hanzo pinned against a tree and the camera's zoomed in, and then for a split second there's a completely different composition where they're fighting with the camera zoomed out and a tree in the foreground.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2021 23:57
|
|