Mortal Kombat (2021)
When I was a kid growing up the original Mortal Kombat movies were amazing. The first one came out in 1995 and by then I had already been studying martial arts for 7 years. To a 10-year-old they were great movies. I have since watched them as an adult and I still get great enjoyment from them. Then I heard that they would me remaking them and I did not know what to think. Most of the time when they remake movies the new version of them are not as good as the originals. One example is Power Rangers, but we’ll come back to that later. I still hoped that they would at least do some justice to the originals.
The first movies focused more on the character of Liu Kang where the new movie focused on Cole Young. Liu Kang was still there in a teach role. I had not looked up the cast before I saw the movie, but I did after. In the new version Liu Kang is played by Ludi Lin. I thought that he did a good job with the role and was surprised that it came out so well when you look at his previous work. His other big role right now was Zack in the new Power Rangers which was painful for many reasons including bad acting. This role actually made him stand out more and shows that he does have some acting ability. If there is a second mortal combat movie then I feel that his acting could continue to grow in the role. Of the chosen the person that stood out the most was Max Huang’s portrayal of Kung Lao. He has a background as a stunt performer (member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team), but this role showed that he can act as well. I think that he has a lot of potential and it will be interesting to see where he goes next.
One of the performances that stood out the most was Hiroyuki Sanada has Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion. He has been acting for so long and in so many different roles, that he really knows what he is doing. Most of the other acting in this movie was rather lack luster.
Tadanobu Asano’s portrayal of Raiden just no sense of presence when compared to Christopher Lambert’s. Raiden just seemed so weak where as in the old films Raiden was someone you didn’t want to mess with. Another key character to look at is Shang Tsung Outworld’s leader. The character in the old movies had Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa which made the character feel like you really did not want to mess with him. Then in this film we have Chin Han that makes the character feel like a spoiled brat that needs a good spanking. I feel that this movie could have been really good if it would have had better casting.
As to the movie itself, the storyline had promise. A friend of mine that had seen the movie before I did said that it ‘just felt like a mutant movie where they were discovering their abilities.’ In a way I agree with this. In the original movies it was more of their humanity that they used to win their fights and in this film they seem to need their powers in order to win. So, in a way that was disappointing. The one scene that I really enjoyed was the dinner scene in which Kano’s powers come out. You could so see that they were egging him on to see what would happen. I did enjoy the special effects, but they in themselves did not make the movie. As a movie by itself I thought it was good. As being true to the franchise I felt it fell short. 4 stars out of 5 or a B.
The film left of with a snap of the bottom part of a poster showing a hand and the name Johnny Cage. In the original film he was a smart as actor. If there is a second movie, there are a lot of pages and fans weighing in on who should play him. Personally, I’m a fan of Ryan Reynolds, but at the same time all of his characters are starting to resemble each other. He just does that type of character so well.
Here’s some articles on who people are talking about to fill the role:
https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/mortal-kombat-star-reacts-ryan-reynolds-johnny-cage/
https://movieweb.com/mortal-kombat-2-the-miz-johnny-cage/
https://movieweb.com/mortal-kombat-2-james-marsden-johnny-cage/
https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/why-johnny-cage-isnt-in-the-mortal-kombat-2021-movie/
https://www.tvovermind.com/yes-dwayne-johnson-should-play-shao-kahn-in-mortal-kombat-2/
Picture 1 From: https://www.pophorror.com/mortal-kombat-2021-is-coming-to-cinelounge-april-23/
Picture 2 From: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293429/
Picture 3 From: https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalKombat/comments/g1f4qz/the_fact_that_hiroyuki_sanada_is_scorpion_in_the/
Picture 4 From: https://screenrealm.com/mortal-kombat-movie-raiden-liu-kang-jax-mileen-cast/
Picture 5 From: https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2020/nov/24/mortal-kombat-movie-costumes/
Picture 6 From: https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2021/mar/29/scenes-mortal-kombat-movie-unique/
Picture 7 From: https://cinapse.co/mortal-kombat-2021-fatalities-do-not-a-compelling-narrative-make-954368f7384a
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