Who watched the film in theaters and what did you think about everything, from the visuals, to the changes. What were your opinions and thoughts in 1995 when the first movie dropped and Threshold introduced us to a huge abundance of changes?
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There's definitely a huge difference in opinions among the influencers who were given free attendance to the Hollywood Premier with the Cast and Crew and everyone else who had to pay their own ticket.
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It's even more sad when an influencer almost in tears has to say, "I wasn't paid but I was invited to the premiere but I feel like I need to say this because people will ask." And yes we did. And yes it explains why you hesitantly "enjoyed" the film you were freely invited to.
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At this point MK brown-nosers may say, "yea MKII may have failed opening weekend but remember 1997's Titanic? That was an initial bomb and became a huge success." And I say to them, Yes my friend it's true and keep having those delusions.
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No one can deny much of the visuals. It looks good and having a fight at the bottom of the pit was great. The Blue Portal scene reminded me of the retrocade level from MK11. I even laughed at the inclusion of UMK3's Scorpion lair (I mean, MK1995 did it so why not lol) and MK11's take on the Dead Pool. But the fights were less impressive than the first, the gore played a joke on itself by actually repeating itself (as if it were using sprites). I get the game modes since the first game allowed fighters to live but ever since Threshold entered in 1994/1995 it was pretty much given these should be fights to the death. I mean, even the movie itself established this rule this time. Yet we have deviations? Why? I'm not a huge fan of tossing MK11 and even, yes they did it, MK1 stuff into a game titled "Mortal Kombat II." Nor am I a huge fan of essentially changing the ending or moving back and forth (I mean, we basically skipped MK3 and went MK4-5 in story lore and that's if we want to use the Midway timeline and ignore that WB timeline from MK9-MK1 (since MK1 is essentially a "reboot within a sequel").
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I LOVED the film if I ignore that it is a MK film. I appreciate the fan-service - there was plenty - but I am left wondering why we can't have both - why can't we have a familiar timeline with fan-service and era-specific costumes yet we NOW have an entirely new timeline merging within the movie universe? And why no Shokans, even mentioning them by name? Yes I get it's too much money but shit bring back the animatronic. It still works to this day, it stands the test of time! It goes against its own rules - technically Earth doesn't even win. And basically MK1 ending is imitated in this film's ending.
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If you're wondering why there is so much negativity about the movie, search Youtube and look at the box office performance. It "could stand" a chance this weekend against another Disney film - the new Star Wars film - because speculation suggests the new Star Wars film will fail so MKII could see some success. The film is considered "woke" because Kitana is this film's chosen one, yet technically she is from Outworld. Yet somehow you can change your side and because of this she actually wins the tournament. Her story arc makes sense - she seeks revenge on her dad - but did they have to wrap the entire tournament around that? Don't get me wrong - the film did great at telling Kitana's story. But that's not what MK is. I feel like we fans did get shafted again - we got a tournament but we didn't. Most of the tournament had MKII fighters but then there's Cole Young and Sindel.
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Will I still buy this on 4K? yes but I may wait until it hits DeepDiscount if they don't already drop it to a lower price upon release.
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!! - Sorry I can't tell if this stupid website's spoiler shit is working so DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM - !!!SPOILER ALERT!!
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!! - Sorry I can't tell if this stupid website's spoiler shit is working so DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM - !!!SPOILER ALERT!!
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!! - Sorry I can't tell if this stupid website's spoiler shit is working so DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM - !!!SPOILER ALERT!!
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!! - Sorry I can't tell if this stupid website's spoiler shit is working so DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM - !!!SPOILER ALERT!!
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I just got out of the theater an hour ago. I am going to let it all soak in before I respond thoroughly. I will just start off by saying that you can't expect the movie to stick to lore as closely as a game "remake." The first film (1995) pretty much did that. How can you really expect to enjoy a film if it's just going to tell the same exact story all over again? So having said that, even the 1995 film took (and as Johnny Cage said) creative liberties. Talk about breaking the fourth wall. The ending where Cage said that was a huge hint to the audience: Don't get your panties in a bunch because the story was told differently!!! Did you happen to GET THAT HINT? It was directed at people like you (and I don't mean any offense by that). I mean, look at MK (2011)... fan service game but to make it fresh they twisted story elements but kept basic familiar things. That's what this film did. My initial thoughts are this movie was too condensed. It felt rushed and should have had a little bit more screen time for better pacing/story development. It may be my old brain, but I don't even remember Sonya mourning the loss of Jax. Maybe because she, at this point, just expects him to be a revenent in the Netherrealm that she can just go rescue in the next film? I definitely enjoyed it more than MK (2021).
Finally, an actual conversation on here. Haven't seen the movie yet, probably this weekend so sorry BS had to skim through your post.
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!! - Sorry I can't tell if this stupid website's spoiler shit is working so DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM - !!!SPOILER ALERT!!
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Definitely agree here. I appear to be blocked from using Discord, I can't upload my own avatar anymore, and even contacted Mick with no response.
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This movie was definitely rushed and too short. The fights were way smaller involume than initially hyped (weren't there supposed to be over 20) and many were just a few hits with pacing and finished. The Sonya/Sindel and Liu Kang/Kung Lao fights stood out the best choreographed and more involved, Cage vs Kitana wasn't too bad either. But by the time the final fight happened I was ready for it to end and literally almost screamed very loudly at the end of the film. Not in excitement but moreso as if I just watched somebody die for the first time.
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I will just start off by saying that you can't expect the movie to stick to lore as closely as a game "remake."
That's true but this film went way beyond that. Johnny Cage, for example, isn't even his name. We know that if we played since MK1(1992). But this film continuously uses his stage name as if it were real and just happenstance he says "That's my stage name." Not to mention they completely dropped the whole "Johnny Cage is trying to prove himself." Nope, in this film he specifically states he is an actor and doesn't care about the tournament. It's another attempt where they take a step back and say "It could have happened so what the hell?". No where in any game has Kitana ever been "the Chosen one" and while I understand keeping it fresh, much of the changes to lore was too much in one movie. When the hell was Baraka and Kano good guys? And since when was Baraka an emotional character? That feels too much like MK1(2023). Warner Bros needs to stop promoting Mortal Kombat films using the established titles if they are in fact not even using those games in the film. The film was Mortal Kombat II, not Mortal Kombat 12 (what MK1 really is as a "sequel reimagining" more than a reboot. I think Warner Bros should at least alert the fans and not promote the film as something it wasn't. Liu Kang IMMEDIATELY turning into what appears to be the Fire God without any reason other than "That was his ending in MK11".
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It may be my old brain, but I don't even remember Sonya mourning the loss of Jax.
I think she screams for him momentarily. The fact neither of us can fully remember is true to this film being just that, forgettable.
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It feels like Warner Bros first wrote the script how they wanted. They likely did include mentioning that Johnny Cage's arcana was him realizing he and him being an actor are one and the same. But they were careful to leave out arcana. Out of the blue the film centers around Shinnok's amulet. Quan Chi just exists, no rhyme or reason he just pops up. The film literally feels like they ignored MK3 and went MK4/Deadly Alliance. I get it. Threshold added the Shao Kahn ending last minute in MK1995 to promote MK3; Annihilation added Shinnok (and was supposed to include Quan Chi) but these inclusions were minor and more Star Wars related than MK. But this movie's story is just hish-hashed - we go from MK4/DA to MK1 but with elements from MK11 and MK1 (like costumes and stages). I'd even go as far to say there were even subtle hints of sexualizing the females like they did in MK9. Maybe not as far as it went there but in this film most of the revealing women were very busty.
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Ultimately one has to ask did Karl Urban nail it as Johnny Cage? I think he does, the new timeline version. Was he needed when Kano was already the comic relief? Maybe but perhaps with more time. I get it, I really do. When MK1-UMK3 were made, the developers were mainly making a game homaging their favorite films and media. Lore wasn't as defined but what was there was minimal and very specific. Now the developers - Ed Boon specifically - wants to extend the universe. And I agree - Mortal Kombat needs an expanded universe. BUT Mortal Kombat needs to have its flow. If they wanted to use the MK9-MK1's story, than they dropped the ball in the 2021 film. That film didn't feel like a MK9/MKX story. It felt like its own universe. Threshold barely challenged the lore. They did so in MK:Defenders of the Realm by leaving Johnny Cage out entirely. Notice that's the ONLY MK media from the Threshold media (excluding FOMA for good reason) that has never had a modern home media release - that's one of the reasons. BUT we got The Journey Begins on the 2011 Bluray? I mean, I loved that video, I watched it before the movie, but it had a place and purpose - to hype us up for the first film. It did YET it got its own release. There were other forms of media that challenged the lore - Novels, Comic books, but they kept the lore in their places and never dared to step on fans' toes.
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I definitely enjoyed it more than MK (2021).
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100% agreed. I'll accept MK2021 if it were merged with this film. It'd be convoluted mesh of shit but it'd make better sense than making MK2021 as they did with the intent they had and then changing it in MKII(2026) to try and appease the fans. I assure you the "superfans"that are loving this movie were the same ones who LOVED having Cole Young in the film because "it added something new."
