What We Want in Mortal Kombat

The Mortal Kombat franchise has a rocky history when it comes to Hollywood. The first MK film is one of the few video game adaptations to actually strike a chord with moviegoers. The sequel, however, is decried as one of the worst movies ever made. It's been awhile since Mortal Kombat: Annihilation stumbled into theaters, and finally the franchise is going to get another chance at glory.

It was recently announced that Mortal Kombat will be receiving the reboot treatment, courtesy of the same director who brought us the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series. Given that Hollywood still can't seem to wrap its collective head around video game projects, we feel it's time we offered a few suggestions for ways to improve the series. If the new MK film can follow thee guidelines, we should hopefully be able to avoid a repeat of Annihilation.

Compared to current movie production values, the first Mortal Kombat looked like it was shot on the SyFy Channel's backlot. And in 1995, the only CG special effects they had were Raptors and the watery gateway from Stargate, the latter of which MK uses for, well, everything in Outworld.

Now, thanks to the wonderful world of present day effects technology, more money can be poured into the production to give us a scale that is, at the very least, on par with Doom's studio budget, but hopefully 70% less sucky.

Legacy looked pretty good for what it was, but a web series and a Hollywood film are two very different things. A bigger budget equals bigger Kombat arenas, which means no more Liu Kang vs. some guy from Only the Strong, next door to Jeff Probst's tribal council. The arenas should also represent some of the fan favorites (bridge over the spike pit, please) and should allow for as dynamic a fight as possible. How cool would a fatality-ending brawl be if it happened in the coolest ring the games ever had, all in one take, with Matrix-esque sensibilities now?


And as for the special effects, we think even the movie's die-hard fans would agree that Goro needs an upgrade. Full photo-realistic CG, please. That way, we can actually get a Fatality worthy of the four-armed brute, and not just a shoulder punch to Cage's friend.


No more Highlanders for the new MK movie. Maybe even cast some real martial artists to make the fighting more real and visceral, as the first movie is quite guilty of cutting away from the action on key hits, in favor of random closeups of Liu Kang kung fu yelling into camera.

Ideally, the main cast should consist of actors who can fight and act. The decision to cast Michael Jai White as Jax in Rebirth/Legacy is a major step in the right direction. Even if the reboot diverges from those projects, it may be smart to keep White in the picture.


And if the film can get some "big name" stars in the roles of Johnny Cage, Raiden (Chow Yung-Fat FTW!) and Shang Tsung, all the better. We suggest casting a relative unknown as Liu Kang, as most of our proposed story hinges on him being in nearly every scene. If the actors can participate in as many of the fights as possible, then that would lend the reboot a better chance at connecting with its audience through the action set-pieces, which will no doubt be wall-to-wall in the reboot. Even the first movie gave a lot of the actors a chance to show off their moves.

If anyone from the first MK opus should return, or provide a bridge between film series, we suggest Bridgette Wilson. Mrs. Pete Sampras hasn't done a whole lot of anything movie-wise. So if she can get some time off from her job at Pinkberry, we hope the script can afford her a cameo.