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Wait, you're telling me there is no camp in being stabbed in the eye by a lawn gnome that you, yourself spat a loogie on earlier in the film... What are you trying to sell me here Wisecrack?
Guys, "If you don't know"? Who the hell doesn't know freakin RAID SHADOW LEGENDS! They sponsor everyone and their grannies. Even my local drug dealer is sponsored by Raid
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@@Kentrc11 yeah and it was horribly executed. Would have been better had they left him out to begin with but if they had to add an original character his journey should have been spread out between the movies rather than being a shitty fighter to being a god tier combatant with op power
If the actor himself was anywhere near convincing or just decent at his job, the character might have added value even with the stupid plot. I'm sure he's a good guy and all but he sucked and so did his story, that's an unblockable combination and you're going directly into a spike pit. With few exceptions like the actors who played Kano, Sub Zero, Scorpion and hell even Cole's wife, the rest were terrible hiring choices. Sonya was played by, at best, an experienced extra. That character needed a whole lot more depth that only comes from an actual actor who knows what they're doing. Dude who played Jax wasn't the worst and has a lot of potential. Dude who played Raiden also has potential, maybe we'll see more than 5 minutes of them in the next one. But they need to overhaul just about the whole cast and get new writers if they want to have any shot of a successful part 2.
@@Yo_AB_Breaks Try to bear in mind that an actor is only as good as the script they are given, and the protagonist of this film was given the writing equivalent of stale bran cereal.
I think the rejection of Camp is more in line with the story modes of recent games with more self serious stories. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, but you simply need to get an actual story right or all you’ve got is disconnected moments.
ever since last of us came out, game developers that have no business writing serious stories are trying to write serious stories into their games, sometimes it's a surprising success (god of war), but most times not
I disagree, i find the storyline of the recent games to be super camp. It's just leaning into the "no, guys I'm serious this time" but try and explain the story line to someone unfamiliar (unconditioned) to the franchise, and you'll see how camp it really is; it's just evolved into an onion of camp!
I think the rejection of camp had more to do with kneejerking against MK Annihilation. Which was more cringe than camp, but they took the wrong lessons from that.
Ya know what would be campy as f*ck? Having the main character be a famous movie star with a giant ego, suddently coming in contact with monsters, evil sorcerers, rainbow palette ninjas, shaolin monks and Gods in another world, all fighting for the fate of humanity in a giant murderfest... and thinking "Shit, someone's payin' a lot of money on those props!" instead we got random family man...
This is great context. I'm realizing that even the theme song is camp - badass, but still camp. Like, it's not gritty and dramatic, it's just a fun, "let's kick ass" hype song.
BRING BACK PUPPETS! One problem with CGI i think is that it destroys all impediments to the final vision. In struggling with those impediments your creativity is continuously actived, and your often surprised by “mistakes” or missteps that are often reincorporated into a greater vision.
It’s not even a good game, they have to literally tell the people they sponsee they have to play the game before the plug, because they know nobody would touch it willingly.
@MAGAT slayer look up fact fiend raid shadow legends. They approached the channel for a sponsee deal, the channel said no and made a video outlining how they do their sponsors and why they’re a terrible business to work with
they really shot themselves in the foot with the screenplay here, Cole's story and the whole 'cheating to take over the earth' plot was just so trash and they chose to do 3 second fights instead of real ones like at the beginning
Also that is the problem you saw? The camp?? Not the fact that there was no actual mortal kombat tournament?! I mean, what I felt was empty at the end credits was that there was no Mortal Kombat in the Mortal Kombat movie!
Fr there are a million problems before “it isn’t camp enough”. If anything I’d prefer a more serious MK movie, but it just has to have more thought put into it
Considering that the parts of the new movie that many people found to be most endearing largely seem to be Kano and also Kabal's voice, they really should have leaned into the ridiculous a bit more. Hope for the sequel.
@@aaronsirkman8375 I can see there's no fooling you, Aaron. I only need to make one person laugh, and that person is the lucky one, wouldn't you agree?
The 1995 version felt made with the core audience in mind, the remake is a business decision supposed to capture wide appeal while its title alone drags in long time fans
Except Mortal Kombat was a lot more popular in 1995 than now, and that movie was made pg13 to target a broader audience, even though blood and gore are key elements of the game. It doesn't get more business decision than that. The remake is a cheap excuse to cram okay fight scenes (some better than others), but the original is honestly a piece of garbage, it's only "redeeming" feature being that people that like it were children when they saw it.
What went wrong? A story that somehow felt both rushed and slow, a random OC that went from being a bad fighter to a discount power ranger, magical robo arms, and just generally weak writing all around. Not as much care was put into setting up the world as it was setting up the sequel.
Cole was added to replace cage, because "cage is too problematic and white to be a protagonist". Decisions like that are why it was such a terrible movie. Woke points > storytelling, writing and characters
NOBODY is going to say anything about how the new MK movie completely missed the mark when it came to soundtracks?? The first 2 MK movies easily added a whole new level of badassness when characters would be duking it out and this new movie just said “meh, add a techno beat to every fight and move on”
YESSSSS my partner and I sat there going “is this it?!” every time something vaguely like the theme piped up - unfortunately it never arrived and we left very disappointed
To me it’s more they do embrace the camp at times, see Kano and shouting flawless victory, but they they just as quickly want to go back to a safe mediocre movie. And the camp is the best parts of the movie.
@@Fulphilment is it me or was the protagonist's power just a copy-paste of Batista's power in The Man with the Iron Fists, which was coincidently a much better 'Mortal Kombat' flick.
Mortal Kombat lore is actually pretty extensive and I think it'd be worth it for the Wisecrack writers to take a deep dive. Mortal Kombat, as a game itself, has been about at least a little more than just fatalities and all that.
One problem was adding scorpion in with his story having nothing to do with the main story they were juggling two stories or trying to connect two pieces that don't belong with each other
@@keraatkins7833 yes but only in latest games. The first games of the franchise are related to the tournament and are a great form to introduce the lore and characters to the audience. I think.
What went wrong from the beginning was the fans hyping themselves up that this was a second coming or frothing at the idea that hyper violence would make up for a shallow film.
Nothing went wrong, this is a good movie imo. A direct fight to fight sequence would not be a movie but a live action video game. I loved the story around this & the fall/rise of the characters. The moves were executed beautifully. I loved it...just my opinion tho
I feel you didn't really mention the two big problems: a lack of the tournament format (to be honest the games have left that behind), but most important the way the fight scenes are shot and edited. That's the big problem. It's all about the editing and shot selection.
THIS!!!! Man, I keep insisting that the editing of the movie is just so awful. Neither of the fighting moves are shown completely, it's always changing the shot whenever they touch each other. I think they wanted to create tension by having a quick montage, but the result it's just flawed and confusing.
The same thing that goes wrong with all video-game movies: they are caught up in the aesthetics of video-games and do not seek to capture the magic that games can really offer or convey in some other way, what gamers find so compelling. There's always some massive hole in video-game movies that screams "we don't get why the game this is based on is popular but this movie looks like it or something, right?!"
I feel like they need to make two different films, tournament films and lore films. The tournament films should just be total camp and fun excessive gore. The lore films should be serious character focused high fantasy dramas that span the history from the games.
I totally agree. The new one had better effects, acting, etc...but it lacked almost all the fun of the 1995 movie. And you nailed it about it taking place too much in the real world. The last place I want to see Goro fight it out with someone is in front of a log cabin.
It just felt like work when I was watching the new Mortal Combat movie. The effects looked great but the oddly paced plot, backstories, and dialogue didn't fit with that hyperrealism and it kept breaking my suspension of disbelief.
I agree totally to this argument of the video. Another thing gone wrong was: not respecting faithful the lore and the content of the franchise, creating an absurd plot with no sense, wasting many great characters and, most of all, repeating what I called myself a while ago as the Resident Evil Cinematic problem.
I think truly what went wrong was a script writer who didn't respect the lore (which is good) of the game the movie was based on and wanted to get his own ideas out there.
@@Juanpopspacks I'm not he changed many aspects from the games lore that would have worked fine. Also he introduced a new character to the mythos that wasn't warranted and completely changed another characters story because of it. Not to mention the special tattoos which where a non-needed explanation. Either way it's just my opinion vs yours. Neither of us are wrong it's just what we believe.
I think what happened is that it tried to be more like the video games but because of time constraints ended up feeling inadequate. The story of scorpion and sub-zero is a big part of Mortal Kombat. This film is an exposition to the next one, where the story gets fleshed out more. Maybe a noob saibot, a Shao Khan and maybe more background into the elder gods.
Mm I'd say I disagree. While the Scorpion/Sub-Zero dynamic is huge in popularity, in terms of the plot of the game and series, I would say their impact isn't nearly as important. Especially as the series continues past the first game.
if the first twelve minutes of the movie could be stretched out into a scorpion vs subzero movie, I think there would be a great future for the MK cinematic franchise. they could use different themes and tones for each movie, (some with more camp, others more serious). like giving Kano and Sonya their own film, Johnny Cage his own film facing off against Goro; maybe have Kung Lao and Liu Kang given their own film. and then eventually bringing their ensemble together for a Mortal Kombat: Endgame type movie.
What do you mean what went wrong, this movie was great! They totally succeeded, the point was setting up the universe. The tournament is coming in the next one, several people are signed on for 3-4 movies.
If the goal was to set up the world, then they didn't do a fantastic job. For example, the main character makes little sense and the magic system is absolutely all over the place (magical robot arms???). And why is it a good thing that the sole intention of this wasn't to make a good movie but to kick-off a franchise?
The main character they invented sucks. He is completely lame. There were other continuity issues as well. From the sound of your comment it sounds like you have a sentimental attachment. Thus your opinion is biased. For a technical aspect the movie had many flaws.
@@ericdunthorne1981 Right? Like, the games are filled with ridiculously cool characters but the writers almost definitely wanted some kind of audience surrogate/underdog everyman to appeal to a wider audience. The movie is a cashgrab.
"Mortal Kombat isn't supposed to be about killing people's families" Someone needs to go back and review the backstories for Scorpion and Sub Zero because that's EXACTLY what it's about.
I think wisecrack misses the Mark with this one. The argument you’re making is that the new film is lost because it takes it self too serious versus the camp of the original. The main issue is that the camp of the original is good for its time as a rewatch of the 90s era. But, we’ve got so many games since then for MK, so many new martial arts directors with some solid aesthetics and fights, only to be given MK 21, and it’s a misfire. The short film released a decade ago showed how brutal this could have been and taken serious with a new voice and they settled for basically making MK 95 for the 2021. Mortal Kombat does have camp, but there’s also expectation for the films fights and characters to have proper handling. Not just charm and camp for the Marvel audiences
Mortal Kombat 2021 is what you get when an 8 year old takes his older brother’s Hot Toys collector’s figures and starts smashing them together, and he had just learned to say the F word that day.
I feel weird about Wisecrack's take on Camp in this video because they really diminish Context within Camp by bringing up Intentionality. Saying that because as long as the scene brings theatricality, whether they mean too is kinda irrelevant. This take would mean that Michael Bay's over the top explosions in the Transformers would be on similar level of campiness to the head explosions at the end of Kingsmen. If we're told that within the context of a story an action should bring about a high level of reaction, is that the same as if were given a generic warning that results in a colorful, playful but deadly end?
@@Ramsey276one No it's too late. They need to reboot this already. Making an improved sequel would be like trying to put a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
I love all Kris' videos! But I thought the new Mortal Kombat was great. It had the the game quotes and hints to the game, some fatalities, and pretty cool fights scenes... To me the only problem was the random main character and the story revolving around him and his family. I would have like the movie to be more about the real Mortal Kombat characters.
Goro was destroying walls, grab the main hero and tell him that he will remove his spine or something like that, which how powerful and strong he is, he could do instantly. But the scene change to the main character’s wife who slowly stand up and grab an axe and hit goro to save the main character. That takes a while to happen. I was thinking what was goro doing for that 15-20sec while we were looking at the wife?? Just holding the main character for that long without doing anything?? Those kinds of things really bothered me. Or how the main villain can teleport anywhere but let all his allies die one by one for only teleporting right after they are dead..
Not every film has to be an existential think piece that makes me somberly ponder the nature of my existence. Sometimes I just want to watch a fun movie and have a good time.
Weird... This is one of the rare occasions where I completely disagree with almost every point made in this video. 2021 MK isn’t camp, nor would I expect a movie with a budget like this to attempt it. The original 2D games may have been campy, but as the franchise has progressed, so has the depth of storytelling and lore. This film embraced that and effectively delivered on the new path of MK. The 1995 MK was campy like the games, but the directing from Anderson was awful and even under the guise of camp, it’s borderline unwatchable. And I think you’ve both nailed Sontag’s points with the Waters/The Room comparisons, but completely missed the boat by trying to shoehorn MK 95 into that logic. Entertaining video, even though I disagree.
Thought the movie was entertaining, Kano and subzero were great and I liked the portrayal of Raiden as a more serious character. I wish Johnny had been included beyond a poster, and they had spent a little more time on some of the smaller characters, it would have benefited from spending a bit more time on world building as opposed to the majority of the film setting up the sequel. That said, overall the film was a success in my book, and hopefully they focus a little more on building the world/characters and the tournament moving forward. I'm optimistic for the future of the franchise.
Honestly I hated that new Raiden, he's meant to be cool, calm and collective instead of an asshole. I'm glad you enjoyed it though. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even though Raiden doesn't have long hair, Christopher Lambert fucking smashed his performance in the first Mortal Kombat movie. Have a nice day. 😊
1- MK is the ONE fighting game franchise that DOES NOT need hollywood, just play/watch the story modes of MK9-MKX-MK11 .... 2- Seeing how the only problem with the MK95 movie is that the special effects have aged poorly, THAT movie is 8/10 as it defined so much of what the characters are in the game's story today, has memorable performances, kick*ss sountrack, 2 great fight scenes, vast locations, and good banter.... 3- The 2021 movie is a 6/10 just because I'm a fanboy of the franchise and would only recommend to fans of MK or just to turn the brain off for action because of all the callbacks/references to the games... 4- As a movie on its own, it can perfectly be 4/10 as it wasted 20+ years of source material as it barely works as an adaptation and doesn't work as a movie (phasing, action, character development), The directing wasn't as bad, and the actors did whhat they could with the hand they were dealt, the issue relies on the writers and screenplay (check the creds and prev work). But is a sort of foundation for the future movies they have planned, they can still save it if they want to continue, although again MK DOESN'T NEED IT...
You got it, you could pull off a serious Mortal Kombat movie but it would take a master to do. Camp is much easier and it should be the goal for anyone not seriously passionate about pulling off a 1/1 movie adaptation. That's ultimately the dynamic here.
As a 80's/90's kid i miss campy movies more and more. I feel that we the improvement of CGI , Hollywood tries to make every single scenario as realistic as possible, simply because now they can.
Me too. 90s action movies were so great because they didn't take themselves seriously. They knew we were there to see over the top fighting. Modern action films take themselves so seriously even when the premise is inherently silly like Mortal Kombat or Gemini Man.
Harsh to say that it went wrong... It had camp moments but they didn't fully embrace it. They tried to balance things but didn't fully manage it. Overall I was pleased with the end result: it was entertaining, the fatalities looked cool, there were lots of quotes from the game and plenty of Easter eggs (like Kitana's fan) to tease us for what's next. It might help to see the film for what it is: a setup for the MK universe. They'll find their footing! They're taking their time, not rushing anything just like the MCU did. Totally excited for the next flicks to come. Joe Taslim is absolutely badass as Sub-Zero. On the other hand, I found the 1995 MK flick just plain cringe, not camp...
Amazing analysis- not over the mark at all. It's a really interesting line of figuring out what is 'camp' versus failed seriousness. And when people are attempting to make 'camp' how they fail at understanding the grandiose nature of it, and just hop onto aesthetic. Thank you WISECRACK!
The fight scenes did not disappoint. But I will agree, I would stirred more into its more over the top roots. My guess is it was intended as entry point for possible née fans and, hopefully, the sequels is have a little more fun with themselves.
Nah this movie was pretty awesome, a bit slow in parts, could have been gorier, but overall I was thoroughly delighted. I do wish it wasn't just a setup for a sequel, but I'm glad they're doing one
They should just redo Mortal Kombat Annihilation and give just the fight with Shao Khan we were promised at the end of the first movie. And then bring Shinok in for for MK3!
Going to object to the description of Kano's death in the new one. Sonya killed him with a lawn gnome he spat on earlier and said "I hate lawn gnomes" as the camera lingered on the dripping spit. The movie calling that back, and him getting that same gnome through his eye is definitely over the top and not serious.
@@geekrepublic8308 but it massacred the games? It takes all the good stuff and throws it away and replaces w shittier versions its a giant cash grab thats just made to hype you yp for the next one and now youve paid to see 2 of their movies instead of just one
1995 director: we need to make this bat shit crazy to capture the teenage gamer demographic. 2021 director: we need to make this into an epic serious anthology to rival the Avengers...
I liked the remake for what it is (basically exactly what I expected minus the one original character and the aforementioned family killing), but it really did feel like it actively refused to acknowledge, let alone revel in, its own fundamental absurdity.
I think MK definitely couldn't be made as the same campy schlock that it was back in the 90's and deciding to be a little more mature than dick jokes was a good call. Kung Lao's magic hat is definitely campy and dissonant with his more serious characterization which, to me, seems to suggest a shift to a 50/50 split between good camp and seriousness rather than good camp and bad camp. I found Kano's humor to be a saving grace of the film. What I think really failed the film was our literal-plot-armored OC perspective character and the fact that taking yourself seriously when your lore-base is notably unrealistic leads you to fridge-logic moments of trying to rationalize why raiden intervenes sometimes and doesn't other times, basically just so that the movie can happen. I think the MK reboot would have been best served by sticking to the established cast rather than giving us the perspective character to explain the world with and to reimagine some of the more problematic lore.
The 95' is better now than it was then because now we have context for the "90s". We can now fully see the camp in all it's glory and place it into the context of it's time. It's a real cult classic now.
I actually loved the new movie. I agree it hold back too much tho. From the start I noticed the movie was trying to be more dramatic and serious, but I loved most of the references to the game, the way the plot was set works really well to show so many character developments (like how jax gets his arms, or kano his eye). Btw Kano was my fav character in the movie, I was cheering for him at some point. In the end my conclusion was that the movie wasn't sure if it should be taken seriously or not but very enjoyable for a non-critical and pure entertainable watch. MK is one of those franchises that building expectations will just cut out the fun of the watching experience, like TMNT which is already a tacky, absurd and cheesy concept right in the name and it's more fun if you experience it with a non-critical eye.
Mortal Kombat's story doesn't lend itself well for a movie. There are too many players (no pun intended) and too many stories involved. It would work better as a TV series.
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NOOOOOOO!
Yeah, I’m sure you guys love playing Raid Shitty Legends... 🙄🙄🙄🙄
No, I'm glad I got a MK story not a "remake" in the traditional sense 🤟🏾
Wait, you're telling me there is no camp in being stabbed in the eye by a lawn gnome that you, yourself spat a loogie on earlier in the film... What are you trying to sell me here Wisecrack?
Guys, "If you don't know"?
Who the hell doesn't know freakin RAID SHADOW LEGENDS!
They sponsor everyone and their grannies. Even my local drug dealer is sponsored by Raid
RAID Shadow legends: What went wrong?
If someone kicked in my door with the intentions of murdering myself and my whole family, the part that would offend me the most is when they whispered in my ear,”this is brought to you by Raid: Shadow Legends.”
Or "... We've been trying to contact you about your car's extended warranty..."
lol "have you heard about Raid?" only for the past few years my guy an i still aint gonna play it
Shadow Man just wanted to tell you about Raid: Shattered Ligaments.
I think the biggest hinderance of this movie is Cole.
It is his movie featuring Mortal Kombat characters.
It's the same thing as the Resident Evil movies & Alice
@@Kentrc11 you're exactly right!
@@Kentrc11 yeah and it was horribly executed. Would have been better had they left him out to begin with but if they had to add an original character his journey should have been spread out between the movies rather than being a shitty fighter to being a god tier combatant with op power
If the actor himself was anywhere near convincing or just decent at his job, the character might have added value even with the stupid plot. I'm sure he's a good guy and all but he sucked and so did his story, that's an unblockable combination and you're going directly into a spike pit. With few exceptions like the actors who played Kano, Sub Zero, Scorpion and hell even Cole's wife, the rest were terrible hiring choices. Sonya was played by, at best, an experienced extra. That character needed a whole lot more depth that only comes from an actual actor who knows what they're doing. Dude who played Jax wasn't the worst and has a lot of potential. Dude who played Raiden also has potential, maybe we'll see more than 5 minutes of them in the next one. But they need to overhaul just about the whole cast and get new writers if they want to have any shot of a successful part 2.
@@Yo_AB_Breaks Try to bear in mind that an actor is only as good as the script they are given, and the protagonist of this film was given the writing equivalent of stale bran cereal.
This movie was literally just a giant trailer for the next movie
Yes Titanic is better 😎
I don't want a sequel to this type of MK.
Point being
@@landonny Why not? It was totally like the game
@@baronsengir187 imo it absolutely was not
I think the rejection of Camp is more in line with the story modes of recent games with more self serious stories. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, but you simply need to get an actual story right or all you’ve got is disconnected moments.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
ever since last of us came out, game developers that have no business writing serious stories are trying to write serious stories into their games, sometimes it's a surprising success (god of war), but most times not
I disagree, i find the storyline of the recent games to be super camp. It's just leaning into the "no, guys I'm serious this time" but try and explain the story line to someone unfamiliar (unconditioned) to the franchise, and you'll see how camp it really is; it's just evolved into an onion of camp!
@@cl114c0777498d Totally. The Aftermath DLC storyline in MK11 honestly felt like a Saturday morning cartoon show for adults.
I think the rejection of camp had more to do with kneejerking against MK Annihilation. Which was more cringe than camp, but they took the wrong lessons from that.
Ya know what would be campy as f*ck?
Having the main character be a famous movie star with a giant ego, suddently coming in contact with monsters, evil sorcerers, rainbow palette ninjas, shaolin monks and Gods in another world, all fighting for the fate of humanity in a giant murderfest... and thinking "Shit, someone's payin' a lot of money on those props!"
instead we got random family man...
THIS! would've made a great movie
I would have LOVED this!
*Spoilers for the sequel
Blockbuster gold!
Yes, but that needed someone who actually cares about MK Lore and thats not what they wanted to do.
10 Years from now I won't remember the new 2021 Mortal Kombat movie.
10 Years from now I will continue to remember the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie.
truth
Yeah we will also all remember 9/11. Remembering something doesn't mean its good!
@@ziglaus In this case it does, that's abundantly clear from the OP's message.
This is great context. I'm realizing that even the theme song is camp - badass, but still camp. Like, it's not gritty and dramatic, it's just a fun, "let's kick ass" hype song.
I love the part of the song where it roll calls the fighters like its trying to sell you action figures.
@@Arashmickey gotta catch 'em all
Two things the new mortal kombat movie got wrong (and the original got right):
1. It didn't feel like a team
2. An interesting protagonist
Just realized puppet Goro was able to dilate its pupils. Wow
It looks a little goofy, but for the time and the budget, it was a sick puppet.
The puppet was better.
Puppet Goro was a moderm marvel. The 10th wonder of the world imo.
@@derricknichols5787 I legit believe a lot of puppets and costumes are much better than CGI.
Even CGI today has an uncanny valley feel to it
BRING BACK PUPPETS! One problem with CGI i think is that it destroys all impediments to the final vision. In struggling with those impediments your creativity is continuously actived, and your often surprised by “mistakes” or missteps that are often reincorporated into a greater vision.
The only thing I learned from this is Raid Shadow Legends will be taking over everything I love
It’s not even a good game, they have to literally tell the people they sponsee they have to play the game before the plug, because they know nobody would touch it willingly.
I downloaded the game just to give it a bad review.
@MAGAT slayer look up fact fiend raid shadow legends. They approached the channel for a sponsee deal, the channel said no and made a video outlining how they do their sponsors and why they’re a terrible business to work with
Right, I thought that game would be gone by now.
@@sebastionherring4196 my guy wake up and chose to speak facts
The new Mortal Kombat is an excellent 13-minute short film that tragically keeps going for almost two hours afterwards.
Painfully accurate
Quite a reasonable opinion, actually!
The opening has the best writing, acting, and fight choreography in the whole damn movie.
The Raid: Shadow Legends sponsorship is peak comedy.
When he said, "We've been playing Raid for a while now on Wisecrack" I almost choked on the water I was drinking.
“…THeY aRe EsSeNtIaL tO mY cLaN.” 😐😐
Nah, it's peak dishonesty and enabling this toxic peace of software.
Someone should do a campy Wisecrack video where the ad segment IS the content and the rest of the runtime is just ads
The whole movies felt like and looked like 4 different movies
Jax popping a head: Too bloody for youtube
Kung Lao eviscerating a body: Meh, its cool
I wanted the tone of the first 12 min of the film to continue throughout
My thoughts exactly.
they really shot themselves in the foot with the screenplay here, Cole's story and the whole 'cheating to take over the earth' plot was just so trash and they chose to do 3 second fights instead of real ones like at the beginning
Also that is the problem you saw? The camp?? Not the fact that there was no actual mortal kombat tournament?! I mean, what I felt was empty at the end credits was that there was no Mortal Kombat in the Mortal Kombat movie!
That was one thing people complained about but I thought was fine.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
My problem was that the villains had no character. Some show up to die after thirty seconds of fighting.
Fr there are a million problems before “it isn’t camp enough”. If anything I’d prefer a more serious MK movie, but it just has to have more thought put into it
Thank you! Such a useless video and a waste of my time
Considering that the parts of the new movie that many people found to be most endearing largely seem to be Kano and also Kabal's voice, they really should have leaned into the ridiculous a bit more. Hope for the sequel.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
@@OCD-GUY Are you a bot or do you just think spamming this comment is somehow meaningful? Or you just want to boost Wisecrack in the algorithm?
@@aaronsirkman8375
I just want to make people laugh 🤪
@@OCD-GUY And I can see your talent for it shine through....which is why I'm sad (Because you're not [being] funny).
@@aaronsirkman8375
I can see there's no fooling you, Aaron. I only need to make one person laugh, and that person is the lucky one, wouldn't you agree?
The 1995 version felt made with the core audience in mind, the remake is a business decision supposed to capture wide appeal while its title alone drags in long time fans
Except Mortal Kombat was a lot more popular in 1995 than now, and that movie was made pg13 to target a broader audience, even though blood and gore are key elements of the game. It doesn't get more business decision than that.
The remake is a cheap excuse to cram okay fight scenes (some better than others), but the original is honestly a piece of garbage, it's only "redeeming" feature being that people that like it were children when they saw it.
Yep, that's modern cinema in a nutshell.
Boom, you nailed it!
I think Kano is the best. He had me and my wife laughing almost every time he's on screen. Even the 90's version is memorable.
Easy fix: instead of the mc being an oc no one heard of, have him be the conduit for the spirit of Scorpion
That's what I thought was coming the whole time!
@@rachelhogan4654 Glad I am not the only one that thought that.
What went wrong? A story that somehow felt both rushed and slow, a random OC that went from being a bad fighter to a discount power ranger, magical robo arms, and just generally weak writing all around. Not as much care was put into setting up the world as it was setting up the sequel.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
In a movie called Mortal Kombat where Mortal Kombat is the name of the tournament there's not 1 tournament fight.
@@Aaron-kj8dv it's almost as if they're hyping up the tournament for following movies.
He had literal plot armor
Cole was added to replace cage, because "cage is too problematic and white to be a protagonist". Decisions like that are why it was such a terrible movie. Woke points > storytelling, writing and characters
The biggest highlight for me was Kung Lao recreating his MK11 fatality, but then he's immediately killed in the next scene.
I counted 7 game finisher in the movie. Great stuff
if they'd recreated the neck snap i'd have loved it tbh
Don’t play Arcade with Online enabled.... someone will ruin your day
XD
Kung Lao was the coolest character in the movie
@@PermanentHigh And his most iconic finisher was in there as well
NOBODY is going to say anything about how the new MK movie completely missed the mark when it came to soundtracks?? The first 2 MK movies easily added a whole new level of badassness when characters would be duking it out and this new movie just said “meh, add a techno beat to every fight and move on”
And then had the audacity to ruin the song for the ending credits
Yep
Techno beat is literally what the OG soundtracks are
YESSSSS my partner and I sat there going “is this it?!” every time something vaguely like the theme piped up - unfortunately it never arrived and we left very disappointed
2021 Shang Sung is a squealer. I can always tell who the squealers are.
I cannot un-see him being that character.
Oh shit that was him??? Damn
Enough from the clown!
I thought I was the only one. I kept imaging him in that suit with that smug look, while Joker was calling him out.
To me it’s more they do embrace the camp at times, see Kano and shouting flawless victory, but they they just as quickly want to go back to a safe mediocre movie. And the camp is the best parts of the movie.
Yes! Thank you.
Kano's "Kano wins" was super funny. The protagonist's 'amazing' new power was like "yeah whatever..."
That seems more akin to simple reference humor than camp.
@@Fulphilment is it me or was the protagonist's power just a copy-paste of Batista's power in The Man with the Iron Fists, which was coincidently a much better 'Mortal Kombat' flick.
Mortal Kombat lore is actually pretty extensive and I think it'd be worth it for the Wisecrack writers to take a deep dive. Mortal Kombat, as a game itself, has been about at least a little more than just fatalities and all that.
One problem was adding scorpion in with his story having nothing to do with the main story they were juggling two stories or trying to connect two pieces that don't belong with each other
Yes Titanic is better 😎
Nah. Scorpion should have never showed up after he died in the start.
Well, you can start with no "Mortal Kombat" tournament at all.
But that is similar to the video game lore.
@@keraatkins7833 yes but only in latest games. The first games of the franchise are related to the tournament and are a great form to introduce the lore and characters to the audience. I think.
Kano was the only reason I surviveds this movie. He is my spirit animal.
I thought he was annoying
Kung Lao was cool, as was Sonya
Kano was just the best of a bad lot. His character was so try hard it was cringy.
Reptile is my favorite because he's like "the Butters" of MK, he's always getting the short straw
I love that they just can’t make him a unique ninja-type so they literally make him a reptile that gets effortlessly stomped out.
What went wrong from the beginning was the fans hyping themselves up that this was a second coming or frothing at the idea that hyper violence would make up for a shallow film.
well put.
Nothing went wrong, this is a good movie imo.
A direct fight to fight sequence would not be a movie but a live action video game.
I loved the story around this & the fall/rise of the characters.
The moves were executed beautifully.
I loved it...just my opinion tho
The MK games by WB have amazing story. It makes no sense that WB didn't make this movie.
I feel you didn't really mention the two big problems: a lack of the tournament format (to be honest the games have left that behind), but most important the way the fight scenes are shot and edited. That's the big problem. It's all about the editing and shot selection.
THIS!!!! Man, I keep insisting that the editing of the movie is just so awful. Neither of the fighting moves are shown completely, it's always changing the shot whenever they touch each other. I think they wanted to create tension by having a quick montage, but the result it's just flawed and confusing.
The same thing that goes wrong with all video-game movies: they are caught up in the aesthetics of video-games and do not seek to capture the magic that games can really offer or convey in some other way, what gamers find so compelling.
There's always some massive hole in video-game movies that screams "we don't get why the game this is based on is popular but this movie looks like it or something, right?!"
Yes Titanic is better 😎
@@OCD-GUY Why do you respond to every comment with that same old comment?
@@gerardovazquez7997
To make people laugh 🤪
@@OCD-GUY Ah, wish I had seen this before I questioned you myself. Unfortunately, your efforts only make me sadder.
@@aaronsirkman8375
Well at least I'm trying, so leave me alone. You don't want to see me bring out the whip cream.
I feel like they need to make two different films, tournament films and lore films. The tournament films should just be total camp and fun excessive gore. The lore films should be serious character focused high fantasy dramas that span the history from the games.
wait a min
so can i say deadpool films are C A M P
Yes
Absolutely!
If you wanna know what camp is, watch anything by Quentin Tarantino.
As a new host (at least to me), you are doing a great job!
I totally agree. The new one had better effects, acting, etc...but it lacked almost all the fun of the 1995 movie. And you nailed it about it taking place too much in the real world. The last place I want to see Goro fight it out with someone is in front of a log cabin.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
It just felt like work when I was watching the new Mortal Combat movie. The effects looked great but the oddly paced plot, backstories, and dialogue didn't fit with that hyperrealism and it kept breaking my suspension of disbelief.
I agree totally to this argument of the video.
Another thing gone wrong was: not respecting faithful the lore and the content of the franchise, creating an absurd plot with no sense, wasting many great characters and, most of all, repeating what I called myself a while ago as the Resident Evil Cinematic problem.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
I think truly what went wrong was a script writer who didn't respect the lore (which is good) of the game the movie was based on and wanted to get his own ideas out there.
You sir, are objectively wrong.
Have a nice day.
Not respecting the lore is good?
@@Juanpopspacks I'm not he changed many aspects from the games lore that would have worked fine. Also he introduced a new character to the mythos that wasn't warranted and completely changed another characters story because of it. Not to mention the special tattoos which where a non-needed explanation.
Either way it's just my opinion vs yours. Neither of us are wrong it's just what we believe.
@@razgriz821 I'm saying the game lore is good. Sorry if that came off wrong with the way I typed it.
Yes Titanic is better 😎
I think what happened is that it tried to be more like the video games but because of time constraints ended up feeling inadequate. The story of scorpion and sub-zero is a big part of Mortal Kombat. This film is an exposition to the next one, where the story gets fleshed out more. Maybe a noob saibot, a Shao Khan and maybe more background into the elder gods.
Mm I'd say I disagree. While the Scorpion/Sub-Zero dynamic is huge in popularity, in terms of the plot of the game and series, I would say their impact isn't nearly as important. Especially as the series continues past the first game.
They put too much emphasis on scorpion and subzero
if the first twelve minutes of the movie could be stretched out into a scorpion vs subzero movie, I think there would be a great future for the MK cinematic franchise. they could use different themes and tones for each movie, (some with more camp, others more serious). like giving Kano and Sonya their own film, Johnny Cage his own film facing off against Goro; maybe have Kung Lao and Liu Kang given their own film. and then eventually bringing their ensemble together for a Mortal Kombat: Endgame type movie.
I would watch that. Why aren’t you working in Hollywood? Much better idea than what we got
What do you mean what went wrong, this movie was great! They totally succeeded, the point was setting up the universe. The tournament is coming in the next one, several people are signed on for 3-4 movies.
Thank you! All you gotta do is get past the disappointment of no tourney(or jc) and see it as a set up its pretty good
If the goal was to set up the world, then they didn't do a fantastic job. For example, the main character makes little sense and the magic system is absolutely all over the place (magical robot arms???). And why is it a good thing that the sole intention of this wasn't to make a good movie but to kick-off a franchise?
The main character they invented sucks. He is completely lame. There were other continuity issues as well. From the sound of your comment it sounds like you have a sentimental attachment. Thus your opinion is biased. For a technical aspect the movie had many flaws.
@@ericdunthorne1981 Right? Like, the games are filled with ridiculously cool characters but the writers almost definitely wanted some kind of audience surrogate/underdog everyman to appeal to a wider audience. The movie is a cashgrab.
th-cam.com/video/157_gef0P10/w-d-xo.html Have you seen this? It points out some of the problems.
"Mortal Kombat isn't supposed to be about killing people's families"
Someone needs to go back and review the backstories for Scorpion and Sub Zero because that's EXACTLY what it's about.
I think he was just trying to say the entirety of Mortal kombat isn't about the Scorpion and Sub Zero beef
No he largely doesnt know what hes talking about. Listen no farther than what he cites for the definition of "campiness"
The biggest problem with this movie was that there was far too little of Shang Tsung standing up.
What it was truly missing was Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Dude owns the role, the perfect combo of camp sleaze and over the top gravitas
@@watch1981 Dude stood the fuck up.
I think wisecrack misses the Mark with this one. The argument you’re making is that the new film is lost because it takes it self too serious versus the camp of the original.
The main issue is that the camp of the original is good for its time as a rewatch of the 90s era. But, we’ve got so many games since then for MK, so many new martial arts directors with some solid aesthetics and fights, only to be given MK 21, and it’s a misfire. The short film released a decade ago showed how brutal this could have been and taken serious with a new voice and they settled for basically making MK 95 for the 2021.
Mortal Kombat does have camp, but there’s also expectation for the films fights and characters to have proper handling. Not just charm and camp for the Marvel audiences
Simply a great presenter, love this dude
Ayee my man Chris
Mortal Kombat 2021 is what you get when an 8 year old takes his older brother’s Hot Toys collector’s figures and starts smashing them together, and he had just learned to say the F word that day.
Arcana does sound like something a kid would make up who never played Mortal Kombat
I feel weird about Wisecrack's take on Camp in this video because they really diminish Context within Camp by bringing up Intentionality. Saying that because as long as the scene brings theatricality, whether they mean too is kinda irrelevant. This take would mean that Michael Bay's over the top explosions in the Transformers would be on similar level of campiness to the head explosions at the end of Kingsmen. If we're told that within the context of a story an action should bring about a high level of reaction, is that the same as if were given a generic warning that results in a colorful, playful but deadly end?
People are going to end up loving this film series more. There are plenty of issues with all the movies but this one has the most potential.
Maybe if they learn from this and manage to make a good sequel!
@@Ramsey276one No it's too late. They need to reboot this already. Making an improved sequel would be like trying to put a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
@@379-y6y Indeed
Nailed it...
I love all Kris' videos! But I thought the new Mortal Kombat was great. It had the the game quotes and hints to the game, some fatalities, and pretty cool fights scenes... To me the only problem was the random main character and the story revolving around him and his family. I would have like the movie to be more about the real Mortal Kombat characters.
What up Chris!?!? Great to see you here. And I agree with your statements.
No, no, and no. This movie was trash 🗑️. Im sorry. In no way shape or form is this movie great. Way too many bad decisions in this movie.
I absolutely adore that you've food your groove my dude! Looking forward to seeing more of your opinions on wisecrack!
I also think it's a big problem not being able to show Scorpion's skull head in order to be able to sell these films to China.
?
Goro was destroying walls, grab the main hero and tell him that he will remove his spine or something like that, which how powerful and strong he is, he could do instantly. But the scene change to the main character’s wife who slowly stand up and grab an axe and hit goro to save the main character. That takes a while to happen. I was thinking what was goro doing for that 15-20sec while we were looking at the wife?? Just holding the main character for that long without doing anything??
Those kinds of things really bothered me. Or how the main villain can teleport anywhere but let all his allies die one by one for only teleporting right after they are dead..
Kris!! Great to see you here, I love this channel, thanks for the fantastic content.
Were you paid to write that?
Cool video!
I’ve never seen this host before, but I really enjoy him. Hope to see him more.
He did a really cool video about Courage The Cowardly Dog here a while back.
Thank you for perfectly organizing all my feelings on both of these movies in one nice video.
Not every film has to be an existential think piece that makes me somberly ponder the nature of my existence.
Sometimes I just want to watch a fun movie and have a good time.
Right, which is the point of this video. The new version isn't a very good time.
It's not supposed to be a "existential think piece", it's supposed to be Mortal Kombat.
Weird... This is one of the rare occasions where I completely disagree with almost every point made in this video. 2021 MK isn’t camp, nor would I expect a movie with a budget like this to attempt it. The original 2D games may have been campy, but as the franchise has progressed, so has the depth of storytelling and lore. This film embraced that and effectively delivered on the new path of MK. The 1995 MK was campy like the games, but the directing from Anderson was awful and even under the guise of camp, it’s borderline unwatchable. And I think you’ve both nailed Sontag’s points with the Waters/The Room comparisons, but completely missed the boat by trying to shoehorn MK 95 into that logic. Entertaining video, even though I disagree.
Thought the movie was entertaining, Kano and subzero were great and I liked the portrayal of Raiden as a more serious character. I wish Johnny had been included beyond a poster, and they had spent a little more time on some of the smaller characters, it would have benefited from spending a bit more time on world building as opposed to the majority of the film setting up the sequel. That said, overall the film was a success in my book, and hopefully they focus a little more on building the world/characters and the tournament moving forward. I'm optimistic for the future of the franchise.
No Titanic is better 😎
Honestly I hated that new Raiden, he's meant to be cool, calm and collective instead of an asshole. I'm glad you enjoyed it though. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even though Raiden doesn't have long hair, Christopher Lambert fucking smashed his performance in the first Mortal Kombat movie. Have a nice day. 😊
1- MK is the ONE fighting game franchise that DOES NOT need hollywood, just play/watch the story modes of MK9-MKX-MK11 ....
2- Seeing how the only problem with the MK95 movie is that the special effects have aged poorly, THAT movie is 8/10 as it defined so much of what the characters are in the game's story today, has memorable performances, kick*ss sountrack, 2 great fight scenes, vast locations, and good banter....
3- The 2021 movie is a 6/10 just because I'm a fanboy of the franchise and would only recommend to fans of MK or just to turn the brain off for action because of all the callbacks/references to the games...
4- As a movie on its own, it can perfectly be 4/10 as it wasted 20+ years of source material as it barely works as an adaptation and doesn't work as a movie (phasing, action, character development), The directing wasn't as bad, and the actors did whhat they could with the hand they were dealt, the issue relies on the writers and screenplay (check the creds and prev work). But is a sort of foundation for the future movies they have planned, they can still save it if they want to continue, although again MK DOESN'T NEED IT...
They need to make an updated Street Fighter movie
I agree.
Just watch Street Fighter Assassins Fist. Best video game movie imo
They'll just make the same mistakes as with this one.
@@Lilliathi SF: The Legend of Chun-Li was guility of doing that already
You got it, you could pull off a serious Mortal Kombat movie but it would take a master to do. Camp is much easier and it should be the goal for anyone not seriously passionate about pulling off a 1/1 movie adaptation. That's ultimately the dynamic here.
As a 80's/90's kid i miss campy movies more and more. I feel that we the improvement of CGI , Hollywood tries to make every single scenario as realistic as possible, simply because now they can.
Me too. 90s action movies were so great because they didn't take themselves seriously. They knew we were there to see over the top fighting. Modern action films take themselves so seriously even when the premise is inherently silly like Mortal Kombat or Gemini Man.
Agreed! I miss how campy and goofy those old movies were. Now everything is serious, grimdark, and samey.
Yeah sure. CAMP. Sure guy, CAMP, yeah. For sure intended.
Harsh to say that it went wrong... It had camp moments but they didn't fully embrace it. They tried to balance things but didn't fully manage it. Overall I was pleased with the end result: it was entertaining, the fatalities looked cool, there were lots of quotes from the game and plenty of Easter eggs (like Kitana's fan) to tease us for what's next.
It might help to see the film for what it is: a setup for the MK universe. They'll find their footing! They're taking their time, not rushing anything just like the MCU did.
Totally excited for the next flicks to come. Joe Taslim is absolutely badass as Sub-Zero.
On the other hand, I found the 1995 MK flick just plain cringe, not camp...
Yes Titanic is better 😎
It's only cringe if you take it seriously.
Amazing analysis- not over the mark at all. It's a really interesting line of figuring out what is 'camp' versus failed seriousness. And when people are attempting to make 'camp' how they fail at understanding the grandiose nature of it, and just hop onto aesthetic. Thank you WISECRACK!
everything that doesn't include subzero and scorpion went wrong
First time I see a video with Chris and I like him already! Good job Wisecrack!
The writers didnt understand the franchise at all.
The fight scenes did not disappoint. But I will agree, I would stirred more into its more over the top roots.
My guess is it was intended as entry point for possible née fans and, hopefully, the sequels is have a little more fun with themselves.
Nah this movie was pretty awesome, a bit slow in parts, could have been gorier, but overall I was thoroughly delighted. I do wish it wasn't just a setup for a sequel, but I'm glad they're doing one
Nah it was some shit
NO! #Sucked
@@BallIsLife353332 imagine having a different opinion
@@GnralexPlus right imagine if that was possible. Doesn’t change the matter of the movie being extremely underwhelming
They should just redo Mortal Kombat Annihilation and give just the fight with Shao Khan we were promised at the end of the first movie. And then bring Shinok in for for MK3!
We, the 90s-era kids grew up with the original MK and that theme. We didn't know about "good CGI"!!!
Exactly because I still think the skull looks cool. 😅🤣😂
@@guardianangel7604 and puppet goro still looked better than the new cgi one!
Spot on
The fact he doesnt know the names of the characters but yet still understand what mortal kombat is about is just great
?
@@stolensentience dude called sub zero "ice guy"
@@GG-lk4xf all sub’s homies call him ice guy
Great video! The truth is that sometimes artists do a different thing to do a different thing. Someone had already done the camp version.
It was good enough. I want a sequel.
great analysis!
Going to object to the description of Kano's death in the new one. Sonya killed him with a lawn gnome he spat on earlier and said "I hate lawn gnomes" as the camera lingered on the dripping spit. The movie calling that back, and him getting that same gnome through his eye is definitely over the top and not serious.
yes because we all fondly remember kanos in game hate for lawn gnomes and sonyas famous lawn gnome fatality
Cool shirt!
You know Chris
You’re a pretty cool guy
You too KingTray. You, too.
I as not aware of the director's quote. It all makes sense now in why I was not into it.
This movie was great. Nothing went wrong for me
You didnt play the games did you
@@etangbose4755 I played every single game. That's what made me enjoy it more.
@@geekrepublic8308 but it massacred the games? It takes all the good stuff and throws it away and replaces w shittier versions its a giant cash grab thats just made to hype you yp for the next one and now youve paid to see 2 of their movies instead of just one
@@etangbose4755 to each their own. I loved it.
And how can you say it massacred the games when all the Fatalities were from the games? Sounds to me like you clearly never played the games...
Who’s this guy? You fit in well!
1995 director: we need to make this bat shit crazy to capture the teenage gamer demographic.
2021 director: we need to make this into an epic serious anthology to rival the Avengers...
Avengers wasn't serious...
Uh, Thanos snap half of all living beings away
I liked the remake for what it is (basically exactly what I expected minus the one original character and the aforementioned family killing), but it really did feel like it actively refused to acknowledge, let alone revel in, its own fundamental absurdity.
I think MK definitely couldn't be made as the same campy schlock that it was back in the 90's and deciding to be a little more mature than dick jokes was a good call. Kung Lao's magic hat is definitely campy and dissonant with his more serious characterization which, to me, seems to suggest a shift to a 50/50 split between good camp and seriousness rather than good camp and bad camp. I found Kano's humor to be a saving grace of the film. What I think really failed the film was our literal-plot-armored OC perspective character and the fact that taking yourself seriously when your lore-base is notably unrealistic leads you to fridge-logic moments of trying to rationalize why raiden intervenes sometimes and doesn't other times, basically just so that the movie can happen. I think the MK reboot would have been best served by sticking to the established cast rather than giving us the perspective character to explain the world with and to reimagine some of the more problematic lore.
The 95' is better now than it was then because now we have context for the "90s". We can now fully see the camp in all it's glory and place it into the context of it's time. It's a real cult classic now.
No Titanic is better 😎
People liked it back then too tho. Far more culturally relevant than this movie
I actually loved the new movie. I agree it hold back too much tho. From the start I noticed the movie was trying to be more dramatic and serious, but I loved most of the references to the game, the way the plot was set works really well to show so many character developments (like how jax gets his arms, or kano his eye). Btw Kano was my fav character in the movie, I was cheering for him at some point. In the end my conclusion was that the movie wasn't sure if it should be taken seriously or not but very enjoyable for a non-critical and pure entertainable watch. MK is one of those franchises that building expectations will just cut out the fun of the watching experience, like TMNT which is already a tacky, absurd and cheesy concept right in the name and it's more fun if you experience it with a non-critical eye.
No Titanic is better 😎
This review was straight up on point!
Great points. I think even 2017's Power Rangers could have done with a fair dose of camp self awareness.
Big Homie! Wasn't thinking to find you round these parts.
Great to see more Kris!
Mortal Kombat's story doesn't lend itself well for a movie. There are too many players (no pun intended) and too many stories involved. It would work better as a TV series.
Hey wisecrack! Infinity train! Right up your alley!