I must admit that I thought the first movie was ok at best. So I think the quality and entertainment value here create such a gap that it makes this look better than it actually is and the prior film worse than it actually was. They both have the same director so it’s crazy to me how different they went with a new writing team, but at the same time, thank goodness!
I’m gunna be honest, I don’t think the first one was terrible, it’s a COVID movie and WB executives were all on drugs during that regime so the bar wasn’t exactly something that was percolating excellence. They made some bangers still during that time, but MK was not one of them. I also didn’t hate the character of Cole Young; I think he was cool and was even hoping for an addition to the main games! He himself wasn’t even an issue, it was just that when you create an original character in a very established IP and make that person the main character… typing that and hearing it out loud makes zero sense, why did they do that??? So yeah, going from main character in one movie to a jobber with 3 minutes of screen time in the next does suck, and it’s funny because I did think he was undeserving of his main character status... and then I ironically didn’t want him to die here. That want for him to be gone was because we didn’t have Johnny Cage and others, and now that he was pushed aside to side character status I was like “NOOOOOOOOOO” when he died.
Btw spoilers. But just like what they did in the movie, we will move on from Cole unceremoniously. Subjective things aside, I really enjoyed this movie. I grew up playing Mortal Kombat and it was one of the few games I would pre order or even line up for at GameStop to get, just to play it and get my ass whooped because I can’t game. The prior movie did not do the franchise justice, here, they get the aesthetic SO right. There are actual arenas here and it feels like you’re watching people play the game competitively. For IPs like this, I personally don’t care what paper-thin story you need to get to put these characters on screen together as long as it recreates the feeling of what made you a fan in the first place. The first movie failed miserably by comparison; a majority of that film was in a sandcastle. Here there’s meaning on morals behind the decision making of the what and the why.
I think this will boil down to what you want from the movie to determine how you feel about it. If you wanted a continuation of the first movie, you’ll be let down, you literally will not understand like maybe 1 or 2 things in this movie that don’t matter. If you want a more faithful adaptation for the game, you’ll probably score higher on rotten tomatoes. The fight scenes are the focus, and, to me, they nailed it. Come for the IP and stay for the slicin’ and dicin’. The one thing that prohibits me from rating it just a little bit higher is the fact that they didn’t use the theme song enough, some beats here and there and then they save it for the end credits. This applies to all major IP movies, but I will never understand the executive decision to limit the usage of popular theme songs that are probably the most recognizable thing about these franchises. I’m not saying use it every fight, but the gravitas HITS harder when you use it on the right spots.
Mortal Kombat II is a fun and entertaining movie for fans of Mortal Kombat. Although it can be just blind fun focused on the action, that’s all I wanted.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
Add comment
Comments