Mortal Kombat

[Drunk Monk]

It's a fair cop.

I am a thread hijacker enabler.

[Drunk Monk]

And we’re back in the waiting room, waiting for the director. I was already in a previous panel interview with him which was the source of my previous article. I don’t have a lot to ask. This is more of a face interview - something the pr peeps sent my way which I’ll use to pad the interviews for Joe & Lewis.

I’m up in 10 mins so not the hour long wait like this morning. Hopefully ...

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The WB reps look burnt. They’ve been at this all day. The other three reporters look okay. Two of them were with me this morning. We all look bored...

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Well that wasn't too bad. He seemed a bit burnt out. He was in Oz and I don't know what time it is there now. The interview went a totally different direction than I had planned but I got one sweet pull quote about blood so it's all good.

[Drunk Monk]

I got in quick by telling him that I've seen all of his films except for Hit & Run (which is true). 

Okay I lied. Looking into his background, there are several of his films I have yet to see. 

Joe Taslim was super cool. 

Luv this guy

[Drunk Monk]

This was half of those first 15 mins that gave me such tribulations at the start of my journey with this film. It's the prelude to Sanada v Taslim. 

Believe it or not, but the second half of those 15 mins is another fight scene.

FIGHT!

[Greg]

I might have missed it, but they never say 'Finish Him' in the film although I did hear it during the credits.

You would think I would know after umpteen years that movies based on video games aren't going to be very good. And I have learned that lesson again. Yes, it was fun to see the game characters brought to life. It was fun to see the game graphics brought to life. It was fun to hear some of the lines from the game like 'Come Here' and there was another line I can't remember.

But the center is hollow. It's all about getting to the next fight. And there is a fight. Then we wait to see how we can get to the next fight. And the fights were fine but all have the same arc. I'm going to beat the guy until he's almost dead, then the almost dead guy will find the strength within himself to rise up and defeat his opponent. I guess it's a three act structure at it's most basic form.

So, meh. I accept your scorn.

[Drunk Monk]

You would think I would know after umpteen years that movies based on video games aren't going to be very good. 

Yeah, you'd think. If you went in expecting more, you deserve to be miserable. There was no more. There was no less either. Surely the 'Flawless Victory' got a little DOOM chuckle out of you? That's all I asked of this, that and some sword fights. 

For me, the bottom line here was I made some cash, got to talk to my hero Joe and reconnect with Lewis, and got a nice schwag box. 

Now I'm trying to recall any videogame movies that rose to Greg's cinematic expectations. Tomb Raider maybe? Did you see Double World?

This delivers exactly what it promises.  

And this film is a whole lotta dumb in the sense that it's a videogame, one of the first and foremost fight games. 

Told ya.

This is the kind of film that amuses DM and the Yeti but offends Greg for its dumbosity. Too bad Greg. You weak pathetic fool. 

I am a prophet. Now if I could only sort out lotto numbers...

[thatguy]

Super Mario Bros with its all-star cast!

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Super Mario Bros with its all-star cast!

You know, I've never watched that one. And I luv BobOskins. Was it as good as PacMan?

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

Mortal Kombat II Popcorn Bucket
You wanna know what makes a hero? A legendary popcorn container. Don't miss the Shao Kahn Collectible Container when you see Mortal Kombat II at Regal starting May 8. Plus, you get a free large popcorn with your purchase of the container.

[Drunk Monk]

Just rewatched MK1 & reread this thread. I forgot that I got to interview Taslim about this. I need to revisit my DoG articles on this. I’m going to the screener for MKII tomorrow night.

The MK press box was great. I need to find the MK hat that was in it. There was a mini-video-game shaped like an old arcade game that I gave to Tara. There was a BevMo card that I spent on booze and some fine of drink mixes thst I still have because I don’t know what to do with them. The box itself was cool - black with the MK logo embossed and a plastic Ruby for the dragon’s eye. I keep my tax receipts in it. 

The rewatch reminded me of how forgettable most of this film was. I remember the Sanada scenes and some of Taslim’s but forgot about the other fighters. It does set up the sequel well. How characters come back to life was unclear but then I remembered it’s a video game so it just takes dropping another token in the machine, right? 

Hopefully Johnny Cage will level up the story.

[Greg]

From i09

Mortal Kombat II

Speaking with Comic Book, Mortal Kombat II screenwriter Jeremy Slater discussed why (though not how) Kano and Kung Lao are back for the sequel despite being killed in the first movie.

I think it’s the fun of Mortal Kombat, honestly, it’s, it’s like, you know… before I took the job, one of the things I was like, ‘You have to let me bring Kano back to life’, because Josh Lawson was my favorite thing about the first movie. I was like, ‘he’s the guy who understood the assignment, and that tone that he is hitting in this movie is the tone that I want this entire movie to have’. So I’m like, ‘I have to bring Kano back. I have to bring Kung Lao back. I’ve got to get that hat in a fight scene and, and play with it. It’s too much fun, and he’s too cool of a character.

It’s my job to figure out how do we get some of them back in, but maybe how do we get them back in, in ways that the audience is not necessarily expecting. How do we use those deaths as a jumping-off point to tell interesting stories for some of these characters or to take them on new journeys? How do we use something that could be a liability—the sort of the resurrections—and make that a strength in this universe that, yes, there are, there are ways to bring people back, but sometimes there are consequences to those ways, or sometimes it’s not as, as clear cut or as simple as you may hope? So, that’s always the goal. We have a lot of toys in the toy box, and the audience wants to see their favorite characters, so how do we balance the weight? We still want it to hurt when you lose them. We still want the audience to be upset in those moments when your favorite character gets taken out. But at the end of the day, we do always have that sort of escape hatch built into the franchise because they’ve been killing people and bringing them back to life for 34 years now.

[Drunk Monk]

From i09

Mortal Kombat II

Speaking with Comic Book, Mortal Kombat II screenwriter Jeremy Slater discussed why (though not how) Kano and Kung Lao are back for the sequel despite being killed in the first movie.

I think it’s the fun of Mortal Kombat, honestly, it’s, it’s like, you know… before I took the job, one of the things I was like, ‘You have to let me bring Kano back to life’, because Josh Lawson was my favorite thing about the first movie. I was like, ‘he’s the guy who understood the assignment, and that tone that he is hitting in this movie is the tone that I want this entire movie to have’. So I’m like, ‘I have to bring Kano back. I have to bring Kung Lao back. I’ve got to get that hat in a fight scene and, and play with it. It’s too much fun, and he’s too cool of a character.

It’s my job to figure out how do we get some of them back in, but maybe how do we get them back in, in ways that the audience is not necessarily expecting. How do we use those deaths as a jumping-off point to tell interesting stories for some of these characters or to take them on new journeys? How do we use something that could be a liability—the sort of the resurrections—and make that a strength in this universe that, yes, there are, there are ways to bring people back, but sometimes there are consequences to those ways, or sometimes it’s not as, as clear cut or as simple as you may hope? So, that’s always the goal. We have a lot of toys in the toy box, and the audience wants to see their favorite characters, so how do we balance the weight? We still want it to hurt when you lose them. We still want the audience to be upset in those moments when your favorite character gets taken out. But at the end of the day, we do always have that sort of escape hatch built into the franchise because they’ve been killing people and bringing them back to life for 34 years now.

The first one never really explains why Hanzo came back but It's Sanada, so we're ok with it.

[Drunk Monk]

Well now. That levelled up on every front. Better production. Better action. Better splatter. Better special effects. Better costumes. Better Easter eggs (based on audience reaction). The story is about the same, but this is so not about story. It's about spectacle and fan service and on those fronts, it delivers satisfactorily. It's at the level of a fun MCU flick, with a lot more gore and profanity. Urban hams it up as Cage. He's a totally unbeleivable character but he's funny throughout so forgiven. I was thoroughly entertained. The audience was hooting, guffawing and cheering it on. 

They gave us some schwag. Johnny Cage sunglasses. A nice acid washed T-shirt (which I refused because I'm trying to quit, but my +1 was delighted) and a mini poster (which I also refused). I'm down with the sunglasses tho. I guess I'm addicted to cheap sunglasses too. There were five cosplaying dogs that were super cute, especially the shiba inu. Had a nice chat with the long time press rep, who said he expected to see me there. 

Had a lovely dinner beforehand and picked up a nice Japanese for Travellers pocket book. Checked out the shops, including the new anime shop that replaced that treasured video store. It has so much stuff for animes that I didn't know. But other shoppers were freaking out at some of it, so I guess I'm just not hip enough.