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02 Sep

How Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Delivers a Real Mortal Kombat 2 Movie

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When Mortal Kombat II hit the arcades in 1993, it was a massive hit. It took the first game, improved the gameplay, and gave us more of the gore and dark humor we loved. Plus: more fighters, more ninjas, more Fatalities, more finishing moves, more secrets, and better visuals. It solidified the franchise’s hold on pop culture, and even convinced Nintendo that including a little blood and gore in a video game isn’t the worst thing in the world. Two other things that really helped kick things up a notch were the game’s atmosphere and story. The first Mortal Kombat…
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28 Apr

Mortal Kombat Sequel: What Should Happen Next

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IT HAS BEGUN! Or it will. Mortal Kombat came out and did all right for itself. The reboot has its highs and its lows, but one thing I will say it does a better job at is setting up a sequel. The 1995 original had a decent enough cliffhanger with a kaiju-sized Shao Kahn popping in and everyone ready to just kick his ass, but at the time, there weren’t too many promising places to take the sequel. The first movie was just so front-loaded that the second didn’t have enough to rope us in. That’s why it’s probably for…
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27 Apr

Mortal Kombat: Is the Box Office Good Enough for a Sequel?

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Warner Bros. and producer James Wan’s Mortal Kombat reboot had a very good weekend. Despite opening simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max—thereby allowing any North American fan to potentially watch the movie at home—the video game adaptation overperformed and blew past expectations when it grossed $23.3 million in three days. That’s well above lowball estimates on Friday, which were pegging the movie at closer to $18 or $19 million based on opening day attendance. Indeed, the much more limited anime release, Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, earned more on Friday. Nonetheless, Mortal Kombat spent the rest of the…
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24 Apr

Mortal Kombat (2021) vs. Mortal Kombat (1995): Which is Better?

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This article contains Mortal Kombat (2021) spoilers. “Test your might.” These are the words of a minigame in the original Mortal Kombat arcade fighter from 1992. They were meant to signal an interlude between the simple pleasures of digitized sprites spilling buckets of blood. Yet they’ve also become synonymous with a franchise that’s arguably the most popular video game fighter of all-time. The phrase is also a pretty apt description for the various filmmakers who’ve attempted the challenge of taming this crazy dragon on screen. More than any other video game series, Mortal Kombat has seen a plethora of live-action…
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24 Apr

Mortal Kombat Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

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This Mortal Kombat article contains spoilers. There’s a new Mortal Kombat live-action movie out on HBO Max, and it comes after nearly 30 years of games, cartoons, and movie adaptations. With such a long history to pick through, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the new movie has more than a few easter eggs and references to the series’ most famous moments and characters. Why wouldn’t there be? Why even make a new movie if you’re not going to throw your fans a bone or twenty exploding skulls? We’re keeping track of all the neat easter eggs that fill the 2021…
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23 Apr

Mortal Kombat Ending Explained

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This Mortal Kombat article contains spoilers. Simon McQuoid was given an interesting challenge directing the 2021 cinematic reboot of Mortal Kombat. While it does have an R-rating to help prop it up, this is hardly the first adaptation in this universe. The story has been told in movies, comics, novels, TV shows, and even the games, which were rebooted for the sake of retelling the first few chapters in a more detailed fashion. Hell, they just came out with an animated movie a year ago that explained the first game’s plot from Scorpion’s perspective. The new movie certainly finds its…
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23 Apr

Mortal Kombat: Biggest Changes the Movie Makes to the Games

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This article contains spoilers for Mortal Kombat. The Mortal Kombat movie may be one of the first true blockbusters of 2021, but for millions of fans of the games, it’s also another chance to “get it right.” Sure, 1995’s is a somewhat underrated live-action adaptation of a video game, but its irredeemable sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, left many fans doubting that we’d ever see another big-budget live-action Mortal Kombat movie much less one that comes close to capturing what makes the games special. You can read our review of the film itself for a better look at how close the new…
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22 Apr

Mortal Kombat

Max SchindlerMovie reviews,
In Mortal Kombat, MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family's safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with…
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22 Apr

Mortal Kombat Review: Video Game Movie Redefines Classic ‘90s Series

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Warner Bros. and director Simon McQuoid pull off a daring, high-wire balancing act (above a pit of spikes, no less) with their big screen take on Mortal Kombat. That is to say, it’s incredibly difficult to make a good, entertaining movie that stands on its own while at the same time remains faithful to source material with a rich, extensive history and passionate fanbase. Plus, it’s a video game movie. Yet 2021’s Mortal Kombat is both a loving homage to the blood-soaked arcade classics that started it all and a savage, devilishly fun martial arts flick. The film is actually…
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22 Apr

Mortal Kombat: 15 Most Powerful Characters

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At the end of the day, Mortal Kombat is about a bunch of characters beating the crap out of each other for supremacy. Sure, they toss in stories about tournaments to protect Earth and wars against invading realms, but it all boils down to martial artists brutally punching the hell out of each other until one explodes into a pile of viscera and five ribcages. Being a fighting game, you expect all the fighters to be on the same level. Even forgettable losers like Hsu Hao and Kai should stand a chance against gods and otherworldly overlords. A nigh-invincible megalomaniac…
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21 Apr

Mortal Kombat and Bloodsport: The Strange Connection That Changed Gaming

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As we eagerly anticipate the release of the latest Mortal Kombat movie, many find themselves looking back on Mortal Kombat’s 1995 big-screen debut. While that film has its charms and its fans (myself included), the movie has rightfully been criticized over the years for lacking many of the best qualities of the game as well as many of the best elements of the martial arts movies that clearly inspired it. Of course, the relationship between Mortal Kombat and martial arts films has always been close. Not only did the game utilize a then-revolutionary form of motion capturing that gave it…
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21 Apr

Mortal Kombat: An Ode to Johnny Cage and His $500 Sunglasses

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It might be the highest moment of tension in 1995’s Mortal Kombat. While the video game movie positions a wonderful, scenery-chewing Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as its big bad, I doubt many feared how Robin Shou would handle him in the ring. But Johnny Cage fighting Goro? It’s B-movie actor Linden Ashby playing B-movie actor Johnny Cage, and both the performer and character are entering the arena with a six-limbed demon—a bellowing banshee who just murdered a dozen other token “good guys.” The beast even has the cojones to steal Johnny’s signature sunglasses before the bout and crush them in his hand.…
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21 Apr

Mortal Kombat and the Man Who Gave Sub-Zero a Soul

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Mortal Kombat’s Joe Taslim (aka Sub-Zero) is one of the hottest martial artists on screen right now. It’s been a decade since his breakout film The Raid took the world by storm, and Taslim has consistently delivered high-octane action with dashing panache ever since. As movie martial arts masters go, few others are on Taslim’s level. While most action stars have some martial arts training in their bag of tricks, Taslim is more invested than most. Prior to The Raid, Taslim was a professional Judo athlete and a member of Indonesia’s National Judo team from 1997 to 2009. He won…
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20 Apr

Mortal Kombat: Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s Rivalry Explained

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Whether you’re a longtime Mortal Kombat fan or someone who is mostly just interested in the upcoming film’s status as one of the first proper blockbusters of 2021, you’re probably at least aware of the feud between the series’ resident ninjas: Sub-Zero and Scorpion. It’s a battle that almost transcends the already legendary franchise and has entered the public pop-culture consciousness in a way that makes many almost subconsciously think “rivals” whenever they see the two characters. While the truth is that nearly everything about Sub-Zero and Scorpion makes them natural rivals, only those who have dared dive into the…
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20 Apr

Mortal Kombat: Why the Movie Created New Main Character Cole Young

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To become a leading martial arts movie star, you must fight your way to the top. And Mortal Kombat star Lewis Tan has paid his dues. He’s a second-generation Hollywood martial artist, with his father Philip Tan being a British Taekwondo champion who’s been acting and working in stunts since the 1980s, eventually rising to be a distinguished action director in his own right. It gave Lewis an early start. He was only three when he appeared in his first film, China Cry: A True Story. He grew up in the business. His father set him on the martial path…
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18 Mar

Mortal Kombat: The Challenges of Making the Movie Reboot

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“Respect is the word I just kept using over and over,” says Simon McQuoid about his directorial debut, the Mortal Kombat movie reboot. “Elevate and respect the material. So it was all just born out of respect for the characters.” For McQuoid, it’s a challenging beginning to take on such a long-running and venerated franchise. Since 1992, there have been 14 editions of the video game, two animated films, two live action films, an animated series, live actions series for TV and the web, a novelization, and even a live stage show. McQuoid and 30+ year industry veteran, producer Todd…
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11 Mar

Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat: The Many Ways the Crossover Almost Happened

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Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, the game that really kickstarted the fighting game genre, has turned 30 this year. To celebrate, Ryu and Chun-Li are appearing in Fortnite. It’s par for the course for Ryu, who has been in so many crossovers to fight everyone from everywhere. Ryu has crossed over with the cast of Tekken, the guys from King of Fighters, the Marvel superheroes, just about everyone under the Nintendo banner, GI Joe, Power Rangers, and even Family Guy for some odd reason. Ryu and Street Fighter have crossed over with nearly everyone. Yet for some reason, the…
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03 Mar

Inside the Mortal Kombat Movie’s Bloody Love Letter to Martial Arts

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About 10 hours into a November 2019 flight to Australia and the set of Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat reboot, I started to ask myself whether this was all worth it. I loved the original Mortal Kombat movie about as much as anyone unironically can, but the fact remains that the history of live-action video game film adaptations is paved with disappointment. Even the best movies in that field have earned their reputation largely by exceeding low expectations. After nearly 30 years of failed attempts, it’s hard to even picture what a good live-action video game movie might look like. What…
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19 Feb

Mortal Kombat Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

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It’s taken 24 years, but we’re finally getting a new live-action Mortal Kombat movie. The R-rated reboot is set to come out in April, but outside of some casting news, a few recent stills, and a very brief appearance in a HBO Max ad, and some character posters, Warner Bros. has kept a lid on the movie. Fortunately, we finally have a trailer to dissect, and it’s quite the ride. Action-packed, dark as hell, and seemingly very faithful to the original games, the Simon McQuoid-directed movie seems on the right track.. Give the trailer a look below: Watch Sub-Zero literally…
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DVD Guide reviews current dvd releases of movies and TV shows. The reviews of these dvd releases are my thoughts and understandings of the movie, dvd releases or TV show and not be taken as fact.

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