The Marvel Cinematic Universe completely changed the game when it comes to big box office comic book films. Catching DC Comics are the right time as it was committed to the Dark Knight Trilogy. Despite The Dark Knight being the arguable greatest comic book film of all time, Marvel took the opportunity to begin a shared universe between the characters it still had the movie rights too. DC wouldn’t be able to begin theirs five years later, and DC was forced to play catch-up. (Yes, Iron Man did come out about two months before The Dark Knight, but the point stands.)
Grading super hero films comes at a bit of a different curve. Super hero films get a bit of a break because at times things happen (or should happen) in the film that happen because of a specific comic book storyline. Certain characters sometimes don’t need an introduction for the same reason. If you aren’t a fan of comic book films, you probably would disagree with all of these grades. With that being said, comic book films also invite comparison to themselves. Lastly, films within a shared universe can have their grade affected by how they treat storylines established by other films in the universe.
Released: May 2, 2008
First Seen: DVD, After I saw Avengers (Late 2012)
Last Watch: Disney+
It’s amazing that the very beginning discussions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe began as far back as 2000 (talks of this film go back even further, to 1990). Ted McCanlies, a writer for the film when it was being produced for New Line in 2000, looked to add Nick Fury in a cameo role in the film to lead to a film of his (McCanlies) own. Just really cool to see those seeds planted so early on. Also interesting in early pre-production is that New Line was on the clock to getting the an Iron Man film out in order to not lose the film rights (which had bounced from Universal to 20th Century Fox to New Line), but New Line couldn’t get it done and as 2005 Marvel retained full rights. There are so many what-ifs with that entire scenario that someone needs to do a youtube documentary or something.
I had actually reviewed this in 2015 on my old site after I re-watched the film last night. Funny enough, I don’t have much to add to what I wrote then and I feel pretty much the same way. So for anyone who remembers my original Iron Man review, I apologize for the lack of originality here.
What a bad ass look…
The first twenty (really fourty) minutes of Iron Man is absolutely fantastic. We quickly learn who Tony Stark is, how he is viewed by others (he absolutely intimidates other soldiers by his mere presence), and once he’s captured, why he decides to become Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is so strikingly perfect that you’d think Stark was created just so Downey could play him. Another what-if to throw in the MCU bag: what if Robert Downey Jr. didn’t get his life together and didn’t get a chance to play Tony Stark? Would the MCU have been able to reach the heights that it did? By the time Tony escapes his captives, we completely understand why he takes the path he does to become Iron Man. It’s worth noting that the MCU would have very strong minor supporting characters throughout it’s history, and Shaun Toub’s Ho Yinsen is a great start to that legacy. The first half of the film is one of the all-time best origin stories for a superhero film.
On the other side of the coin, midway through the film it’s revealed that Jeff Bridges’Obadiah Stane is the real mastermind behind Tony Stark getting kidnapped in the opening. While I think Bridges does a good job as Stane, I don’t love how the character is written. He’s not horrible or anything, but he goes from business man to cartoon villain pretty quickly once it’s revealed. I’d even go as far to say he’s rather cringeworthy in the final battle with some horrible one liners. With that being said I still think he’s pretty good overall. Just written somewhat poorly.
Before Stane turned into an absolute cartoon…
Iron Man does a great job with it’s supporting cast too. While this is the only appearance of Terrence Howard’s Col. James Rhodes, I find him to be fine. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts is almost as perfectly cast as Stark is with Downey. The chemistry they have from pretty much the first instance they are on-screen together is perfect. Other minor characters such as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Caulson are fun (Caulson is actually involved in the film much more than I remembered).
Some extra notes about Iron Man before I wrap up. Because Disney hadn’t owned the Marvel movie rights yet, you’ll notice Iron Man is darker than later MCU installments (well, for a while). I wonder if they were doing that based off the success of Batman Begins and the upcoming Dark Knight. Obviously the MCU switched directions and that worked better. I want to bring up Obadiah Stane again, because while I do think considering everything he’s a good villain, I’m still disappointed with the overall direction of the character. I also of course need to point out end credits sequence teasing the Avengers. Talk about something to get hyped over.
It all started here…
Best Scene: There are a lot of choices here, but I’ll go with Iron Man going back to the place of his capture and gaining a little revenge. It’s the first time we see the Iron Man we now all know and love in action and it’s pretty awesome.
Worst Scene: Once Obadiah is outed as the bad guy, he makes it a point to visit Tony and explain the whole plan to him with that stupid paralyzer weapon (never seen again in the MCU). It’s unnecessary and quite cliché.
Personal Story: It was odd seeing this after The Avengers and never on the big screen. Boy was I missing out.
Final Thoughts: Pretty great start to Iron Man and the MCU as a whole.
Disney’s live-action remakes have led to mixed reviews at best. Looking to cash in on nostalgia, Disney decided to release perhaps their greatest films in a live action setting. If the goal is to makemoney, it’s working as most of the live-action remakes have crossed the $1 Billion mark. Does it mean they’ve all been great films? Well, we’ll get to that…
Released: June 15, 1994
First Seen: In Theaters (Summer of 1994)
Last Watch: Disney+
This is the big one. Disney had done an incredible (and profitable) job rehabilitating it’s brand in the five years prior. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin all garnered critical acclaim and made big money. Those three films are so good that they re-invented the animated film genre. Would Lion King be a worthy follow-up? Well, sorry to spoil the review, but yes, yes it would.
The Lion King would smash the box office. It probably feels obvious that having a film full of cute animal characters in animated form would be easy money so there’s no surprise here. What really helps The Lion King though is just how memorable the main characters are. Twenty-six years later we still remember James Earl Jones’ voice as Mufasa. We remember Scar singing “Be Prepared”. We remember Simba and Nala as young children and when they reunited under “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”. Even the supporting characters are pretty strong and entertaining. Rafiki, Timon, Pumba, Zazu and the Hyenas are all remembered to this day.
Also, in terms of animation this is arguably the greatest looking film of all time, considering when it was released. Now I may be somewhat biased as the Disney+ version isn’t the very original version we saw 26 years ago, but I’ve seen enough videos on that to stand by that statement. It’s strikingly beautiful. Something else that the visuals really hit is that The Lion King is big. The opening scene while “Circle Of Life” plays shows the vast African horizon is one of the most iconic openings in cinema history. Early on you see Scar’s foot come down on a mouse and it’s huge. And don’t get me started on the stampede, which really needs to be seen in theatres to be truly appreciated.
While The Lion King isn’t based on a classic fairy tale as past Disney animated films are, it still tells a familiar story (especially to Shakespeare’s Hamlet). I find it interesting that Disney didn’t stick to a formulaic Disney princess line after Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. It went right ahead and tried different things with Aladdin and Lion King. The combination of cute animals + movie not jut for girls + deep story clearly works. So despite that it feels like Hamlet, The Lion King actually feels fresh and original.
Earlier I wrote that the film looked big, but it also sounds big. The songs with the accompanying visuals are loud, colorful and big. “Circle of Life”, “Can’t Wait to Be King”, “Be Prepared” and “Hakuna Matata” are all in your face songs and classics to this day. The only emotional song is “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (well, and the Stampede Instrumental) but that’s great too. The Stampede Instrumental is the hidden gem of the music though. Hans Zimmer truly is a musical genius.
Needs to be seen on the big screen to really feel how big this movie is…
The voice acting is actually hit or miss for me. James Earl Jones is obviously iconic as Mufasa, and I’m a fan of Jeremy Irons as Scar. I think Jonathan Taylor Thomas does really well as young Simba in the film’s most emotional moments. I also like Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi. Otherwise, I don’t really think much of the voice acting. I actually don’t care at all for Nathan Lane as Timon, or Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa…but that may be because I don’t care for the characters either. Matthew Broderick as Adult Simba also feels forgettable other than one scene. The reasons for this are two fold. The first one we will get to in a moment, and the second is he has to basically live up to Jones as Mufasa and quite frankly that’s some big shoes to fill.
I believe you can split The Lion King into two parts (and frankly am almost surprised Disney didn’t try to milk us with two films with the remakes). The first part is the opening through Mufasa’s death. To me this half of the film to me is up there with the greatest work ever put up on the big screen. It’s fun, it’s emotional, it has great characters. The bond between Simba and Mufasa is perfectly crafted. The music is awesome. It’s especially hard to not be emotionally invested at the very end of this half. It’s a complete masterpiece.
One of the most emotional scenes ever put to film…
Then The Lion King really takes a dip in quality. I know that may not be a popular opinion, but we leave this emotional and gripping story to watch Simba pal it up with Timon and Pumbaa while Scar takes control of Pride Rock. While I understood why Simba ran (Scar made it seem like the whole thing was Simba’s fault), as I got older I never really connected with Simba here. As he gets older it never hit him that he deserted his mother, his friends and I find that to be complicated but also a bit horrible. Not sure, Simba clearly doesn’t think Scar is a horrible person and thinks Pride Rock is still fine, but I can’t really draw the emotional connection between Simba and his mother and Simba and Nala. I get that the Hakuna Matata part of the film is for kids and such, probably to get them to stop crying after seeing Mufasa dead on the big screen (which was jarring to me as a kid). I truthfully don’t recall how I felt back then. Scar is no better. Scar goes from a clever, conniving and sarcastic villain to an absolute whiner. Whether it’s asking Zazu to sing tor complaining about the lioness’ ineffectiveness at hunting, the Scar of the first half is clearly gone for whatever this is. The only part that really gets me back into things in the second half of course is the Mufasa in the clouds scene and the very ending is solid (although, Simba’s family seems to just let Scar walk Simba off a cliff, which is a direct slap in the face of the message of confronting your past).
No one had Simba’s back here…
The Disney Renaissance peaked here. Lion King made all the money and if Youtube existed back then “Hakuna Matata” would have been as popular as “Let It Go”. This was obviously the big success for Disney in the 90s. I actually find it curious that they went back to human-like characters to tell future stories.
Best Scene: Gotta go with two: The entire “Be Prepared” sequence is so ridiculously over the top it’s incredible and the Stampede is one of the greatest scenes in cinema history.
Worst Scene: Hearing Scar whine and complain once he was in charge is such a let down. Making Zazu sing songs? What the heck happened?
Personal Story: I don’t really have one. Hearing “The Morning Report” through in a future special edition almost made me sick though.
Final Thoughts: This is half an S film and half a B. I actually find it to be the weakest of the big four, although I give different credit to The Little Mermaid.
Grade: A-
Released: July 19, 2019
First Seen: In Theaters, Near Opening Night
Last Watch: Disney+
When reviewing Aladdin we went over Disney’s motivations for making these live-action remakes. I’ve generally found the remakes to be somewhat better than public perception. That changed with The Lion King.
There were two common critiques with 2019’s Lion King. The first is that it is a shot by shot remake. I don’t really understand this. While I think it takes much less chances and makes much less changes than the other Disney remakes had, there are still many moments different here than the original. Unfortunately, most of these changes are pretty bad. While I could compile a list, I’ll point out the three worst examples. For one, “Be Prepared” is absolutely butchered (while I still enjoy the scene for different reasons, not having the song and the original scene with it is still a massive downgrade). I find it odd that this decision was made as there are still other songs that remained in the film (also, clearly Chiwetel Ejiofor can sing, as evidenced by what was left of “Be Prepared”). Second, Rafiki in the original tells Simba that “the past can hurt, you can either run from it, or, learn from it”. It’s an iconic line that precedes the scene where Mufasa appears in the clouds. For some reason that’s removed which is quite mind-boggling to me. Third, there whole entire visual representation of the circle of life ends up being a 3 minute expedition of Simba’s fur going through various situations, one of which being rolled into a ball of dung. Language warning here: but I said outloud in the theatre “what the fuck am I watching?” (definitely felt bad because children were in the theater, although I got a laugh and no complaints from other crowd members).
I didn’t even get to the second critique, which was that the film seemed lifeless. And well, yes. Yes it does and it’s distracting. It also ruins any appreciation for the voice acting (which, despite an all-time stellar cast somehow ends up as completely forgettable, even James Earl Jones can’t save it). It also ruins some of the more heart-wrenching moment of the film. In another clearly audible moment I laughed pretty hard at Simba yelling “NOOOOO!” when his father died. It’s done ridiculously bad and it’s truly an embarrassing feat that Disney even put that on the big screen. This critique also puts forth another question. Why did Disney decided to do this film as photo-realistic? Yes, it’s called the live-action Lion King and even I referred to it as that, but other than some shots this film is completely animated. The insistence to have this film be “realistic” when it’s animated is a bizarre choice artistically to say the least. I mean where are the colors? Pride Rock looks lifeless on it’s best shots. Again, this is animated, so what the heck happened? Africa is one of the most beautiful places in the world!
All the color is gone…
I don’t really have much else to say about the characters or the vioce acting that I haven’t already (again, the look of the film totally distracts from it). Scar is more intimidating but also bland and boring. I actually like Timon and Pumbaa a little bit more. I got some laughs this time from Billy Eichner’sTimon, especially with the “Be Our Guest” bit. Beyonce and Donald Glover amazingly are both forgettable, and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” doesn’t hold up to the original. John Oliver as Zazu unfortunately is more annoying than funny (which really disappointed me as an Oliver fan). The great James Earl Jones can’t save his scenes either for the previously mentioned visual issues. I do like Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar as Scar does come off as more vicious, but I don’t like him nearly enough to really make a difference.
Look, I know a wrote a lot more about Aladdin, but there I felt like that needed more of a defense. Quite frankly, the 2019 version of The Lion King sucks. I get that it hit a lot of people on that nostalgic level, trust me, I’ve been there. But my feeling when I left the theater was that I was offended Disney even released the film. The original Lion King was an animated masterpiece, full of striking colors and amazing character designs. And the story ranged on good to amazingly great. This was just an insulting money grab. Unfortunately, because it worked we’re getting a sequel. I didn’t feel this way about Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast or The Jungle Book. I thought all of those were goodish or at least brought something to the table (yes, that’s my defense of Alice). This didn’t do any of that and it’s a shame.
Why is this even in the film?!
I didn’t want to end this on a completely negative note, so I will praise two things about the film. One, Hans Zimmer somehow came up with a stronger Stampede instrumental, which insane considering the original is one of the greatest pieces of music to ever hit the big screen (and well now this is). Find it on Youtube and watch it. I also have come to appreciate the version of “Be Prepared” in this film. No, it doesn’t hold a candle to the original and apparently it was added last minute. But it’s still a strong scene. Lastly, Disney has been looking to give women characters stronger roles overall. You see it especially in the remakes, and while I am all for it it’s admittedly hard to make it work with the original story (the issues with Jasmine becoming Sultan in Aladdin, for example). Here Nala is given a little more screen time as she takes initiative into escaping the Scar led Pride Rock to find help. I find that to be a positive change for sure and at least adds some character for her. Sarabi and Shenzi also have a bit of a feud which isn’t expanded upon, but again at least it’s something different and not detrimental to the film or the vision of the original.
Best Scene: Actually going to go with the “Be Prepared” scene. One of the only times I felt anything regarding emotion in this film (yes, that even includes Mufasa’s death, Simba’s scream ruined that).
Worst Scene: The three minute scene of Simba’s fur getting to Rafiki. Some of it is fine for visual reasons, but I didn’t need to see giraffe dung rolled by a beetle to get my nostalgia going. I don’t understand at all why that’s in the film.
Personal Story: Not much to say here. The original Lion King wasn’t one of my favorite films and I’m still offended by this. What should that tell you.
Final Thoughts: $1.6 Billion. Money talks. This is Disney now. It’s not the worst film I’ve ever seen or anything so there’s that, but I wish Lion King fans were more frustrated and frankly not sucked in by nostalgia here. We’d get better results. But I can’t blame Disney. This will certainly pay for other projects and that’s how it goes.
First Seen: I really couldn’t tell you, but it was on VHS in the 90s.
Last Watch: Disney+
This probably won’t be a long review, I didn’t think ahead of time how difficult reviewing something from 1937 would be until I started thinking about this.
First thing worth mentioning: I actually enjoyed watching this! I wasn’t expecting much, just a prototype of the Disney formula we’re still getting to this day (and that Disney’s made billions off of). And while yes, that’s exactly what it is, there’s much more personality in the characters than I expected. Especially in the titular character Snow White herself. She’s cheerful and pretty much emotes for everything. One hilarious moment is that when one of the dwarves, Grumpy, looks to not take a liking to her she outright mocks him for it. I did not expect this film to make me laugh but here we are.
The story here isn’t particularly deep, but I don’t know what films had deep stories in 1937. The Queen is told by a magic mirror that Snow White is the fairest one of all, so she (the Queen) formulates a plan to have Snow White killed. She sends her Huntsman to do it, but he cannot and instead warns Snow White about the Queen’s plan. Snow White meets some woodland creatures that lead her to the Dwarves cottage where she decides to just make herself at home. The Dwarves do welcome her presence though (well, except for Grumpy at first) and we actually spend some time with them having fun and dancing. That scene is actually quite nice to see, you don’t often see characters get closer to one another like this in a Disney film anymore.
She talks to animals and it always impresses…
The Queen finds out where Snow White is, transforms into an old hag and creates a poison apple. She goes to a cottage and gets Snow White to eat the apple, which kills her. The Queen ends up getting struck by lightning though, ending her story. The Prince comes to kiss Snow White to wake her up, which breaks the spell of the apple and they live happily ever after.
Obviously not much of a story but it serves as a template for many if not all of the Disney princess fairy tales over the next century. But, in contrast my expectations were succeeded. It does have some outdated ideas (especially the kiss at the end waking up Snow White and Snow White’s “I’m so alone” mantra) but I keep feeling like I need to go back to “it’s 1937”. It’s also a shame the Queen is nameless, because she becomes a fun villain when she transforms into the old hag and makes the poison apple. I also feel like I haven’t really wrote about the Dwarves, but they’re all fun supporting characters (and see you see characters like Dopey all the time to this day as well).
Basic, but fun villain.
The fact that this film is still an enjoyable watch 81 years later is very impressive. Sure the animation has been updated but everything still works overall.
Best Scene: The Queen’s transformation to the old hag is just fun.
Worst Scene: I cringed at the idea of Snow White just entering the Dwarves’ home and touching their belongings.
Final Thoughts: She’s the original princess. Even if it’s for pure historical reasons, this has to get a good grade. Maybe it could get an S on those merits alone but I can’t go that far.
Coming off the heels of atrocious The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the video game movie business was already in trouble. The Mortal Kombat series had already seen controversy in the video game industry due to it’s ridiculous level of violence (which would spawn the Entertainment Software Rating Board). So how the heck was a Mortal Kombat movie going to work? Well, we ultimately got two of them.
Released: August 18, 1995
First Seen: In Theaters (Near Release Date)
Last Watch: Netflix
Right away we need to set some boundaries and make an exception. In order for video game films to work the film itself doesn’t necessarily need to be great as a film. It can have story issues, weakish plots, etc. as long as it caters enough to the audience of the gaming series. This is what The Super Mario Bros. Movie failed to do. Mario attempted to give us an in-depth story (which failed on it’s own merits) and then strayed way too far away from what made the Super Mario Bros. gaming franchise fun.
For Mortal Kombat in 1995, I think of three things: a fighting game, ridiculous gore and violence and a diverse cast of characters that actually have interesting backstories. The first question mark is the ridiculous gore and violence. There was just no way that was going to make it into this movie with it being rated R. And if you listen to some reviewers on Youtube now, that’s where a lot of their disappointment lies. Hey I get it, but a rated R video game movie in 1995 just wasn’t going to make any money. The storyline we’ll get to later the review, but it’s fine for what it is. Lastly, we get more than enough fighting scenes that perhaps the film can almost be judged for that alone (and it’s what tips the movie into a positive direction).
An iconic logo.
Mortal Kombat’s story is simple and it works for the film. Three of Earth’s warriors must stop the evil Shang Tsung and his warriors from winning a 10th straight Mortal Kombat tournament. If they fail to do so, Tsung and Outworld take over the Earth. The three warriors, Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage all have their own issue to face (Kang’s out for revenge as Tsung killed his older brother, Blade is a police officer looking for a criminal, Kano, who killed a former partner of hers, and Cage is a movie star that everyone thinks is a fake, so he’s out to prove he’s the real deal) and Raiden, the Elder Thunder God, helps them face these issues. That’s all you need to know to get to the conclusion of this story. It’s simplicity will never win an Oscar, but it’s a story that’s easy to follow and you know where the endgame is.
What Mortal Kombat does well is that it makes it’s characters feel like big deals. Right from the get-go we see what Shang Tsung is all about. We get introductions to Kang, Blade and Cage. In a nice surprise Liu Kang isn’t a one dimensional “destiny” character, he in fact doesn’t believe in all this stuff and just wants a shot at Tsung. Raiden proves to be larger than life as Shang Tsung even seems to fear him. Even secondary characters (and fan favorites) Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kitana, and Goro all get introductions that make them feel special. By the time the movie gets going you are ready to see what the fate of all these characters are and how they do in battle.
While it’s not award winning acting or anything I also don’t mind the portrayals of all the primary characters. I find Robin Shou pretty funny at times (especially early on) as Liu Kang, Bridgette Wilson pretty much is Sonya Blade and Linden Ashby plays an annoying Johnny Cage (which is just fine). Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa went for an over the top performance for Shang Tsung and it’s arguably the 2nd best thing in this film. Tagawa is so good that he’d been asked to reprise the role for Tsung for TV and games in the future (including Mortal Kombat 11, which came out in 2019). Trevor Goodard’s Kano was also so memorable that the character adopted an Australian accent for the games later on. Your milage probably varies with Christopher Lambert’s Raiden. I’m a fan of the raspy voice with some sarcasm thrown in. The only miss really is Talisa Soto’s Kitana, which is as wooden as it gets.
Shang Tsung was played perfectly by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.
The fight scenes are the make or break for Mortal Kombat. Sub-Zero looks awesome in a preliminary fight where he just freezes a guy and he explodes. Liu Kang wins a fight against an unnamed opponent, and Sonya takes out Kano (which oddly takes place rather early in the film). The first great fight takes place as Johnny Cage faces off with Scorpion, which ends with a fantastic Easter Egg. But then it once again slows down to a crawl to which we are just waiting for the fights with Goro and Shang Tsung himself. Kang vs. Kitana is a waste of time and Kang vs. Sub-Zero is disappointing. Shang Tsung’s had enough though, and Goro starts wasting people left and right (including Art Lean, a random character thrown in who I’m guessing was just here to take a “meaningful” loss to Goro). For 1995 the effects used for Goro are actually pretty cool. Johnny Cage challenges Goro and the fight itself is entertaining but admittedly disappointing. It’s mostly played for a joke, yet it’s memorable (I can still recite Cage’s line about his sunglasses). It’s cool to see Goro outsmarted like that, but also disappointing as this was supposed to be the sub-boss to Shang Tsung. If we went straight to Tsung here I probably would be disappointed overall.
Scorpion tries to “TOASTY” Johnny Cage.
Here’s where effort and a love for the franchise come into play to tilt Mortal Kombat into the positive. Throughout the film a cgi lizard that Tsung calls “Reptile” pretty much antagonizes Liu Kang anytime he gets close to Kitana. What a good way to pay tribute to Reptile, the secret character from the first game and a wonderful Easter Egg. But it doesn’t stop there. As Liu Kang and Johnny Cage chase Tsung (who had captured Sonya) into Outworld…Reptile makes one last appearance, only this time he comes out as the full character and it’s absolutely awesome to this day. The fight between Liu Kang and Reptile more than makes up for the Goro gaffe (it also led to a couple of broken ribs for Shou). It’s also the one of the only things I remember seeing as a kid in the movie theater itself. Keith Cooke, the actor who plays Reptile, also has a unique moving style that made Reptile feel special. When the film needed a big moment before the end, it delivered. Kang vs. Tsung is a fine finish as well. We do get a teaser for a sequel at the very end, but no doubt that Mortal Kombat finished strong.
One last thing to mention. I don’t know if overall the film had good cgi for 1995, but it doesn’t look terrible. The soundtrack of course is one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all-time. Just listen to Liu Kang vs. Reptile’s battle theme (an instrumental of Traci Lords’ “Control”). Amazing.
Best Scene: Well obviously it’s the entirety of Liu Kang vs. Reptile. Not even close really. If you never watch the movie just watch this!
Worst Scene: Shang Tsung capturing Sonya Blade is a bit lazy to get to the end.
Final Thoughts: While some contenders have come out in recent years, I’m still perfectly fine with calling this the greatest video game movie adaptation ever. It wouldn’t be my pick anymore, but I wouldn’t argue against it. If you aren’t a big fan of the games or were into Mortal Kombat for the gore then you probably don’t care for this. Otherwise, it’s a lot of fun and you can tell everyone involved cared about the film.
Grade: B
Released: November 21, 1997
First Seen: In Theaters (Near Release Date)
Last Watch: Amazon Prime Video
What has to be considered about the success of the first film is how close it was to being an absolute disaster. Mortal Kombat took care care of it’s characters and as a result got away with some stuff that would be considered bad. Annihilation doesn’t do the same and it suffers as a result.
First thing to note is that a lot of the main characters had been recast. We have new actors/actresses for Sonya, Raiden and Johnny Cage. With Cage is hardly matters, he’s gone in the first five minutes. But with Sonya Blade and Raiden it’s too distracting, especially since James Remar and Sandra Hess are nothing like Christopher Lambert and Bridgette Wilson. Blade’s character specifically seems to be a bland good character now as opposed to the bad ass she was in the first film. Speaking of changes any personalty Liu Kang showed in the ’95 film is wiped away here for just another bland character.
Remember how everyone in Mortal Kombat was treated as a big deal? That’s not the case here. Now we have characters just thrown at us to either fight or to just exist (poor Rain) just because they existed in the video game universe. The ones that are treated as a big deal: Jade, Sindel, Jax, Shinnok and Shao Kahn each have their own issues as compelling characters. I actually don’t mind Lynn “Red” Williams’ Jax, he’s easily the most entertaining of the good characters even if he’s making jokes about how ridiculous the world is. His “lesson” is just dumb. Jade ends up just being a throw-away.
One of the lamest set of generals ever
Let’s quickly just get to one of the two biggest offenses in this film. The first is the whole Shao Kahn-Sindel-Shinnok (and Raiden) arc. I wrote about how Mortal Kombat had a simple story, which is why it worked out so well. Here we have to justify why Kahn (Tsung’s emperor from the first film that was mentioned) was able to break the rules and invade Earth even though his forces lost the 10th Mortal Kombat. Well, the legend is that Queen Sindel (Kitana’s mother) is the key to keeping the portal open. So if they reunite Sindel and Kitana, perhaps the portal will close. That alone would perfectly be fine and simple. But no, it turns out the legend is a lie. So we waste 75% of the film on the Sindel/Kitana reuniting plan and then it’s suddenly revealed that Raiden and Shao Kahn are brothers and their father, Shinnok, is an Elder God. This twist was horrible for two reasons. One, that’s not how it worked in the games so this didn’t appease fans. Two, it comes up completely out of nowhere. Worst yet, viewers KNOW that Sindel/Kitana isn’t the key, because Shinnok tells Kahn early in the film that he broke the rules to keep the portals open. Horrendous all around.
There’s nothing to save the film either. Kahn’s actor, Brian Thompson, went the over-the-top route but absolutely pales in comparison to Shang Tsung in the ’95 film. Worst yet, Shinnok existing neuters the character anyway. There’s exactly one memorable fight scene in Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero (with Keith Cooke as Sub-Zero this time so that makes him 2 for 2). Storyline wise that’s a bit of a mess too. Special effects also range from alright to laughable. There’s a moment where Raiden pops out of the sky with no theatrics whatsoever and I can’t help but laugh. Speaking of laughing, just try to take the animality part of Shao Kahn vs. Liu Kang seriously, just try.
How could anyone take this seriously
Some of the fights overall are okay to even good, but they don’t have the same effect they did in ’95. Kahn vs. Raiden is short but cool. Scorpion and Sub-Zero is fun, but both characters are nobodies in this film. Sub-Zero’s story is especially butchered as he’s the younger brother of Sub-Zero (which is good), but Noob Saibot shows up later as a throw-away (who is supposed to be the original Sub-Zero). It’s stuff like that which alienates fans. Cyrax and random warriors vs. Jax and Sonya is also fun (and Sonya gets a good Easter Egg in at the end with a fatality). But after that I don’t care about any of it. Liu Kang vs. Baraka is whatever (speaking of lazy, watch Rain and Baraka’s death scenes and tell me if you see something similar). Raiden fights three Reptiles for some reason. Sheeva dies when a cage falls on her. Sonya faces off with Mileena (the biggest waste of the film, as this is Kitana’s half-sister) in a mud fight which is completely insulting (and even from a movie perspective, she doesn’t have a mark of mud on her a scene later). As for the final battles Jax vs. Motaro is alright, I don’t care about Sonya vs. Ermac/Saibot, Kitana vs. Sindel is boring and we already laughed at Kahn vs. Kang.
This film sucks and everyone knew it. There was supposed to be a third film with Quan Chi and it got scrapped because of this mess. When you have a delicate franchise and don’t take delicate care of the characters, this is what happens.
But the music is pretty good! Make sure to listen to Panik Control! (Raiden vs. Three Reptiles theme).
Best Scene: Has to be Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero. It’s not better than Scorpion vs. Cage or Reptile vs. Kang from ’95 but we don’t have a lot to work with.
Worst Scene: Raiden revealing that Shao Kahn is his brother. Horrible.
Last Thoughts: There’s potential with a Mortal Kombat story for sure. But not everyone is going to like these characters. And if you alienate the fanbase, you know, the people who do like these characters, then you’re left with nothing. The music and some decent fights save this from F but it was close.
