I must say that I kind of resent this. I have quite a lot of knowledge of MK. I don't have as much knowledge as others may, and there are other series that I know more about/are more intrigued by the story, but I know a good amount about MK. And I don't consider myself a noob at all around here.

I love MK mytho and canon and all that, but so far, in two movie attempts, it hasn't worked. Given that the first movie was a good attempt, it still had too many flaws. That is my main reason for wishing they would go the Rebirth route.

I also feel that more than one universe can exist from the same core idea. For example, we have the Nolan Batman universe, we have the video game Batman universe (Arkham Asylum, Arkham City), we have whatever Batman cartoon is on nowadays, and then we have the comic book. It's all Batman/Bruce Wayne, but each of them tell a different story.

I don't see why Mortal Kombat can't run with this same idea.

Oh, there is definitely no offense intended. I think the way I wrote that reflects a more general understanding of a very large group of diverse individuals. Thing is, data analysis always has the potential to offend someone. Which is why I started out by saying "Sorry guys..." I understand that doesn't really take the sting out of things but, I hope my true sentiment was felt anyway.

So to reiterate, I'm not calling any-one person a n00b, I'm saying that I've noticed character traits in the group of people that like Rebirth over Legacy are similar. They are a hotter color web-personality in general, they're typically younger in age, and they appreciate more of the blood and gore alot more...etc

Whereas, Legacy fans seem to kind of accept the absence of the blood and gore in lieu of the possibility of other substance that might be there, they seem to be older...etc Legacy fans are looking at the relationships between characters. ie Mentor/Pupil, Protagonist/Antagonist...
Legacy fans are generally the ones who are fussing over fighting style technique, speech impediments, and attire and garment selection....not just whether the color of saay Sub-Zero's vest was right.

It's not conclusive data or anything like that. So you can be a 40yr old woman who likes Rebirth over Legacy for your own reasons... I'm just saying I see the generality of the different groups.

If the producers are paying attention to us like I think they are, they'll use information LIKE this to put things in the movie to appeal to each very large group of MK fan movie watcher.

So, if they want to appeal to the Rebirth fan = Bloody, Dirty, Nasty, Gritty stuff, badass fight scenes, and a really dark and serious tone needs to have a huge presence in the film. If they want to appeal to the Legacy fan, badass fight scenes and a really dark and serious tone needs to have a presence in the film too but, first they'll need stuff like a competent script, great screenplay and cinematography, and editing needs to be top notch. All these things allow the the viewer to perceive the actors as behaving natural and intelligently with eachother on screen.

- Explosions won't make up for the lack of a great conversation between Kitana and Liu Kang to the Legacy fan. And no, I'm not talking about a good sex scene either. I'm talking team work, or using Liu Kang to find out more about Kitana's history after understanding Kitana is this hard core killer assassin with a demon twin sister that she hates.
- A live action fatality is cool but, I'd rather see an intelligent and methodical monster Baraka (I am Legend). Which would be one instance where they could take the actual games material, and improve it. Baraka as he is from the games doesn't need to speak a formal language necessarily, he's a monster...he doesn't need a completely new look either (Dr. Baraka? smh)....he just needs to think better, and behave better according to those thought processes....
- Disease ridden Reptile is not more interesting than ruthless, yet still "technically" aligned with good ("the greater good", not just "good guys") Raiden. Y'know, a pissed off God who wants the best for you is an idea that most folks have natural fear of. It's like, your parents being infuriated with people who keep screwing with your world....but you keep getting in the way because you only mean to help the situation. That's heavy. That's one way to perceive Dark Raiden.

What is already there is more complex in a lot of cases. Presumably making for a better live action interpretation of the actual games content. See what I mean? That has nothing to do with blood and gore necessarily. However, it reeks of the notion that hey, this is a great story to wrap a movie around...plain and simple.

Anyway, to close this post up (I didn't mean to write this much at all, really) they'll need all parties to have been at least temporarily immersed into the MK universe for a few months. I don't think it would hurt for the staff and actors to become MKO board members for a few months and let us educate them on the story element and character portrayals. It's free for them and it's what we do as fellow site members anyway...But that's just me.

But yea, no offense.

Ok cool, I get it now.

One thing that I really like in Rebirth is the fight scene between Baraka and Johnny Cage. I know a lot of people didn't like it because they didn't feel Baraka should fight that way because he never did in the games, and I understand that. But to me, for some reason, it just made sense that he would fight that way, and it looked cool to me. I thought it was a good fight, but a lot of people didn't agree.

All the fights in Legacy were just decent to me. They all did look pretty much the same to me, and only a few memorable things.

I agree that if they can meet in between the two, it would be good.

Noooooo! Not the dude that directed Legacy! Well great, there kills any interest I had in this film, though I'm sure a bunch of the more blood-thirsty fans will be hoping this is more in the mould of the director's initial "Dr. Baraka" short... which brings me to my major gripe with this whole thing:

A lot of Mortal Kombat fans don't seem to know wtf the series is really about--it's not really that dark and gritty, guys. It's cartoon violence, with a lot of dark humor thrown in. That's why I love this series, and is why I DON'T want an uber-violent MK film. I don't need to see Reptile get decaptitated and shoot a few hundred gallons of blood onto the floor to enjoy a film--I need a good story. If they go the hard-R route with this, I'll be sitting it out. Hiring the guy who wanted to make it over-the-top is an excellent way of ensuring it'll be just that. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

And there he falls into the "MK is dark and gritty!" trap. Seriously, do people who think that ever play ACTUAL dark and gritty games? Ihave zero faith in this guy.

See, I love gritty games, and I would even attest that MK has many gritty, dark, disturbing, outright horror-derived elements to it (beyond having "gritty reboot" Freddy in the game).

I don't see a problem with it. I don't mind it being different even. I can accept that MK can be as gritty as Rebirth and as childish as Defenders of the Realm and I can love them both for being totally unique, yet familiar, to the MK mythos.

If someone can't enjoy something else because it's unfamiliar or tries new things, that's their loss. But if the spirit of MK stays with the franchise, either in comics, cartoons, toys, movies, music, whatever, that's all that matters, and I think the heart of MK (unique warriors battle to the death for the sake of the world) is being kept very much alive, no matter how dark, or light-hearted, it can become.

Issues of tone (the ever referenced 'dark n gritty') really aren't a problem. There's nothing wrong with ascribing a harder edge to an MK presentation, more adult consequences, or a somewhat severe tone. Just as the series has quite comfortably sat in Saturday morning cartoons, B-movies and B-TV, it can certainly raise the stakes of it's violence etc.

The issue is basic relevance.

Change is fine, but if you can peel the label off without a single person batting an eyelid, you've got a problem. Fighting, fighting to the death, and fighting to the death in a tournament might be important facets of MK, but they're in no way original or uniquely associated with the series. They aren't even an enduring central premise for the series. MK didn't do it first, didn't do it first in video games, and aren't even close to having done it last.

It's okay and fine to like Rebirth and get something out of it.
It's not okay or at all logical to expect an MK fan to like it. Not in place of their subject of interest, with which this bares little to no resemblance. That isn't embracing change -- that's embracing other interests. Also fine, but not relevant to MK. Much like the material in Rebirth.


The key difference is that these things are all instantly recognisable as Batman. There is a central premise that is adequately reflected in each, which are all instantly recognisable as stemming from the source. The most significant difference is tone.

Really, it's a brilliant argument against Rebirth.
Batman, like most superheroes, has such a vital aspect of iconography that this is a very active and simplistic example of why Rebirth is an error of judgment. There is a simple truth in these Bat-adaptations that explains why the Bat brand is one of the biggest licenses in pop culture, and is completely absent in Rebirth.

Fortunately, Batman doesn't just have good brand management, but also a long association with very intelligent and strong creative talents. A bit of a tangent, but worth noting as an allusion to the significance of the specifics of the work, and also the fact that these people have learned from some of the less adequate representations of the character (ie; the sixties).

If you want to talk about the accumulation of references and the natural progression and evolution of characters and brand, you're much more apt to talk about Shaolin Monks, Special Forces, MK4 and the gradual evolution that separates 1992 palette swaps from MKDA characters. Rebirth doesn't further the development of things, it deviates into irrelevance. If MK is lucky enough to endure for seventy years and be honed the way Batman has been, Legacy (and Rebirth as a footnote) could just as easily be our Joel Schumacher moment, before wiser intentions prevailed. Because there certainly is a Batman Begins and Nolan-esque revival somewhere in MK! This just isn't it.

Ironically, as I recall the purists who were offended by Keaton-Batman killing people and wanted to return Batman to it't very first iteration...



Who carried a gun around and shot people.And machine gunned some poor sods down (undead or so...) and left a guy hang himself on the Batplane when his grappling wire was coiled around his neck.

You know what? I just go ahead and detest anything post MK1 because those things had babalities and were not true to the spirit of MK which is a modern wuxia ripoff with martial arts and tournaments...

Something which aside MK1 only one game had (DA). In a sense, the only true MK games are 1 and DA, since the others don't have tournaments and martial arts emphasis.


The trappings of this mentality is that you automatically assume your own personal preference to be axiomic and sugar-coat it. Just because I like MK2 I WILL NOT associate it with 100% true to the original idea (for a sec disregarding the obvious element of conceptual evolution of a series).

What do you have to loose from another iteration? And if anything, Legacy has shown that the guy can do some pretty standard tried and true methods of storytelling, which...

the
last
iteration
on
the
big
screen
fucking
lacked
big
time
!

So it differs from the original. Big. Fucking. Deal. Your point?

I think it would be a sophomoric mistake to overlook the deliberate throughlines that exist between MK and MKII. Further, it would be an even bigger mistake to confuse the lattitude afforded to a second, establishing installment in a continuously active franchise, with the reasonable expectations of a film adaptation almost twenty years later.

Off topic question:Was MK Legacy on Blu Ray and dvd?

Problem with MK Rebirth:

It was done on the fly. He wanted it to be dark, and he wnated it to be less silly, he already said the the D. Baraka thing was an on the spot decision.

Problem wih MK Legacy:

Budget. Length. It doesn't help the story when you have to compess everything into 15 mins. Which you have to do no matter what simply to attract casuals an not just MK fans.

With his new MK...

2 years is a lot of time for a movie, especially one that isn't high in demand, so it won't be too rushed.

Big budget, and look it up, this Uziel guy sits well with critics AND the general population. In other words, he is a good writer.

I love MK and the story of all the games.

And I also love Rebirth.

And I was okay with Legacy.


Most people expect and ask too much from an MK movie. Just take a step back, and look at the MK games.

There's no good narrative there. There's never been a main character worth a shit when it came to moving the stoy along, you go hopping from realm to realm fighting people in order to advance in a much larger story.

It may work for a game, but it's hard to turn that into a movie and leave everything EXACTLY how it was in the games.

I'm not saying that any recent MK film adaptions have made any headway with making the narrative work (Because they CERTAINLY have not) but when we do get there, a lot of you will be disappointed.

amen


^this too

I really hope he casts women who actually have some fighting ability.

That "there's no good narrative" claim is a matter of opinion simply because I'd think a tournament where fighters are in a concentration camp like tournament designed for Shang to collect souls to please his gods is pretty compelling. Add that to the kill or be killed doctrine the tournament seems to follow or how each human character both literally(having special powers) and metaphorically( disemboweling their enemies with no hesitation) are becoming less humane is also rather engaging. Also to add to that...it isnt even really going "realm to realm" while fighting either...especially not the first 3 games MK1 - Tournament set on an Island Fortress that's between Earthrealm and Outworld where the fantasy is almost entirely brought by the characters' themselves MK2 - False Tournament where the fighters are tricked into going to Outworld by Shang so Kahn can kill them himself MK3 - Kahn's invasion and merging of the real world with Outworld..... For some reason I have a feeling you dont know MK that well at all.

agree with you!

Rebirth was such an pile of crap to me- I've been anticipating a new MK movie for 13 years- following all of the rumours and getting my hopes up to be let down and if it finally comes out and has nothing to do with Mortal Kombat like Rebirth then I will be so pissed, Legacy episodes 1,2,3,7,8 and 9 were good but even then needed to go further in the direction of MK and not further away, I do want a new movie real bad and I want to support it so that it does well- but not if it has Dr Baraka or mental patient Raiden :(

I sware to god if they use Dr Baraka from rebirth there will be HELL to pay and although I'm ok for violence- I think Rebirth was more horror violence and needs to be more about brutal martial arts, but the director has said he is a fan of horror movies and so I know he's gonna continue to disrespect the fans who deserve a new MK movie and make it for his own interests :)

I'm open to a new take- but so long as it still feels and looks like Mortal Kombat- you CAN mix fantasy with dark/gritty it's just Kevin's Legacy episodes 4&5 were done really badly- with an Orc Baraka/ Helmetless Shoa Kahn, annoying narrator, a dull Sindel, Kitana and Mileena combined with a rushed episode that used cartoon that diddn't contrast well with the live action, I actually think he deliberatelly made those 2 episodes crap so he could show fantasy doesn't work when it can and does in many films

I want to see characters that missed out on the first two movies that have never been used in live action- the MK1 and 2 cast have all had more than enough attention and I want to see more Quan Chi, Kenshi, Tanya, Skarlet, Jarek, Reiko, Bo' rai cho, Kira etc

Quan Chi needs to be the main villain for a fresh evil plot because Shang Tsung (1st movie boss) and Shao Kahn (2nd movie boss) have had a shot and frankly bore me, or at least have Quan Chi as a side-villain

I want the characters to be easily identifiable from the MK games- costumes from MK9

I want character development with likable characters and a good story the original MK movie had a likable cast- Legacy alot of them seemed dull and depressed

I don't want Kevin Tancharoen to focus on the violence -it should be more about a good story and great fighting sequences

if you change the story aswell as the characters looks then it may aswel be a new movie altogether that is called something else- the whole point of having a new MK movie should mainly be that it has something more than just the same names to identify it with what MK is- the game

I hope Kevin Tancharoen doesn't disrespect us with more rebirth :(

I wanted to add that Kevin Tancharoen is a cool guy and Legacy had some great episodes, but a new MK movie that is actually like Mortal Kombat is far more important to me so I will speak up if it turns out that he wants to make it like crappy rebirth which was nothing like MK

Exactly, using the Rebirth concept would be equal to taking the Gone with the Wind story and while using the characters' names, making it a story about Race Cars.

I wonder is KT dropping a clue for his movie approach here: https://twitter.com/ktanch/status/126373527044636672

@Sweetre15 think that was just a joke, he's doing another real-take on MK it's just a case of worrying of how bad, if it's like Legacy episodes 7,8 or 9 then that's the best we can hope for, if he turns the MK cast into phycho killers and mental patients like in rebirth or Legacy episode 6 etc then I've waited all these years for nothing :(

I never thought we'd get a new MK movie and it's like now we finally are but it's not going to be like Mortal Kombat :(

Hopefully he realizes that none of us really want the fantasy completely jettisoned from MK at all especially in a way that changes all the characters.

But to be honest I have a feeling that it'll only range from the amounts of "realism"(seeing as how the rebirth concept isn't realistic at all) from episode 6 to episode 7 and 8

@ Sweetre

I know MK very well.

Anyway, I was mainly referening the series as a whole, because as I stated in a much earlier post, if it's not related to the games, it will most likely blanket the series when it comes to story.

In terms of just following MK1-3's story, (which wasn't what I was talking about anyway) I still think there's no narrative.

If you don't have a main character, it should be an ensemble (to very basically describe the rules of storytelling) The problem with MK1-MK3 is that not ONE character is big enought to be the main dude, but most characters are too weak to support an ensemble cast. That's based on the games, of course.

They could radically change the characters.

My point still stands; some will be dissapointed, for MK can not be turned into a film by using the exact same story as the games.

1. If that's the case they can easily go the Sin City route with the story.

2. Liu Kang - A character that's destiny has been planned for him since day one...... Most Obvious direction to take is to delve into his psyche of how he feels about this purpose and what it means for his fate when it's all said and done.

2. Johnny Cage - As long as the movie star that wants attention or prestige from MK angle or any inversion of it , there's room for creativity.

3. Scorpion - A man who made a deal with the devil to avenge his family's death but could easily feel angry that the curse stops him from being with them in afterlife .

3. I wouldn't call "Rebirth" a superior story to work from either because the characters are now nothing but "leather face " type killers and in the most implausible ways at that.

4. I don't expect the exact same story as the games but I do want the core story, characterizations, locations, and abilities to be intact.

Once again making MK a tournament about serial killer cannibals and crime lords = Making Gone With The Wind a story about racing.....why call it the namesake of those properties?

Street Fighter:The Legend of Chun-Li tried the "real world" approach and fell on its face critically and financially.

Why are you stuck on Rebirth?

I said it was made on the fly. He was trying to show that it could be "Not campy" as opposed to "overly ealistic" But since it was made in like a week, things had to be improvised.

That's all I said.

Because

1. a faithful MK film Can be as dark and gritty as anything.

2. The whole "No good narrative" argument is commonly used in favor of the Rebirth concept due to pushing the doctrine that turning MK into something different is acceptable.