Jigsaw Wrote:
Johnny Cage and Liu Kang, definitely. Their roles were very well written, and Linden Ashby in particular really nailed the performance, I think. Unfortunately, his martial arts skills weren't really up to par, IMO, but looking solely on the acting part, he was probably my favourite part of the first movie. Liu Kang, like Cage, stayed true to the Liu Kang of the games, and Robin Shou is great in the role.
IMO, many of the other characters - Raiden, Jax and Scorpion, for instance - was, despite decent performances from the actors, quite different from their game counterparts, mostly because of how they were written. So, as far as 'accuracy' goes, I think Cage and Liu Kang were the best. I really did like Lynn Willams's performance as Jax though, for some reason. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa wasn't too bad as Shang Tsung, either. |
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I would like to point out that I think Liu Kang's character in the movie, though very well done, was a bit different than the Liu Kang of the game. Let me explain why.
Liu Kang of the game is very confident from the first game onward. He knows his mission, and is determined, dedicated, and focused on achieving his goal. Liu Kang from the movie doesn't believe in the legends of Mortal Kombat, so he moves to America. His brother is killed, and he enters the tournament soley for revenge. He doesn't believe he's fighting for the fate of the world. When he later realizes the legends are true, he begins to doubt himself. He feels guilt because his absence resulted in his brother taking his place. So he goes through the movie overcoming his fears and doubts.
In the game, Liu Kang is considered a legend. He's highly skilled, and a very insightful warrior. For the movie, they wanted the lead role to seem more relatable with the general audience. Instead of making Liu Kang appear to be a legend, like a Bruce Lee type, they made him appear more like an average guy with fears and doubts to overcome, while learning and developing as the film goes on. This way, the audience can relate to the struggles and put themselves in his shoes. Therefore, though I think Liu Kang was excellently protrayed by Robin Shou, I don't really agree that the character matched his video game persona.
Same goes for Raiden, who was also excellently portrayed in the movie, but was very different from the character of the game. The game Raiden seems very serious, and often times very intimidating. The movie made him to be wise, but humorous. And I've also thought of Jax from the game as more serious than his movie counterpart. To me, it seemed like they needed another comic relief character for MKA since they killed off Johnny Cage and chose Jax to take that role.
Out of all the characters though, I think Robin Shou was just so awesome as Liu Kang. Yeah, since Liu's my favorate character I probably focus on his background more, but Robin Shou contributed to the first film so much, not only with his character, but fight choreagraphy and all. His presence and the role of Liu Kang made Mortal Kombat one of my all time favorate movies.
