I made the mistake of going to see this movie, first show, first day, in the theater, in 1997 when it was released. The first movie wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but it was fun. I expected more with the 2nd. The only thing I knew about it going in was that James Remar was replacing Christopher Lambert as Rayden, which I was upset about, but I thought Remar would do a good job.
Boy, was I wrong. The whole cast, even Robin Shou, who was decent in the 1st, and great in Beverly Hills Ninja, can't seem to act his way out of a paper bag in this one.
*** Mega Spoilers, Cause You Shouldn't See This Movie Anyway ***
The big mistake the writers made with this movie, was trying to incorporate all of the characters, even the hidden ones, from not just Mortal Kombat 2, but Mortal Kombat 3 as well. (The plot is taken from the MK3 video game). MK1 survived multiple heroes because there were only 3, a trio, a team, and their "teacher" Raiden. And only 2 bad guys (Goro, Shang Tsung). In MK2, we have a virtual plethora of heroes and baddies.
Heroes (8): Liu Kang/Rayden/Kitana/Sonya/Jax/Johnny Cage/Nightwolf/Sub Zero
Baddies (14): Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Sindel, Motaro, Jade, Sheeva, Cyrax, Scorpion, Noob Saibot, Ermac, Rain, Baraka, Smoke, and Mileena.
Yeah, I thought that was a lot too. All of these characters have lines and/or fight scenes too. This doesn't even include the characters from the games that are mentioned, but not shown. A bunch of these baddies (and even some heroes) die or just leave, never to return, in about a minute after they appear. For instance, here's the plot of some of the sub characters:
Rain: Says hi, gets thrown into a fiery pit.
Sub Zero: Shows up, says hi, fights and kills botty Smoke, tells Liu Kang "you are not ready", then disappears, never to be heard from again. Smoke: Killed within a 2 minutes by aforementioned Sub Zero.
Baraka: er.. I think you see him.. once.
Mileena: Shows up, attacks Sonya, somehow dies from a bonk on the head.
Scorpion: Shows up, fights Sub-Zero, kidnaps Kitana, disappears.
Johnny Cage: Shows up, says hi, Shao Kahn breaks his neck a good minute into the movie. Sheeva: Has a few lines early, Liu Kang kills her in under 10 seconds in her first fight.
Those are just some examples. On top of these character issues, the entire movie seems to have been filmed on the first take. There are literally *tons* of continuity and placement errors. A few quick examples, all from the same 10 minute stretch:
Rayden leaves Sonya, and tells her to find her buddy Jaz, then to head to "The Temple of the Elder Gods". Of course, after she finds Jax, she immediately knows where it is.
When we first meet His Jaxness himself, he punches into a wall trying to kill Cyrax. We pan away with his fist somehow stuck in a wall with a good inch of space around it. We pan back a few seconds later, and his entire arm is stuck in the wall.
Sonya gets into a muddy fan-service fight with Mileena. After a muddy battle, and a split scene later, all her clothes have somehow been drycleaned.
During aforementioned Muddy Fan-Service fight, Sonya gets thrown into a rock. This big rock, about 10 times the size of her, waggles and moves a bit with her weight falling on it. Again, those are just some examples, but they're *rampant* in the movie. As for the plot, well, the idea and premise is interesting, but they delve way too deep into it. It would have been better if they kept it superficial, the way they did in the first movie. But, no, they had to try to explain everything: life, existence, the tournament, and why the toast always lands butter side down.
The result of all this atrocity is a corny, poorly directed, aterribly written, underbudgeted (looks like most of the stuff *I* could have pulled off with my home computer) nightmare that's worth buying solely to laugh at. 0/10
Boy, was I wrong. The whole cast, even Robin Shou, who was decent in the 1st, and great in Beverly Hills Ninja, can't seem to act his way out of a paper bag in this one.
*** Mega Spoilers, Cause You Shouldn't See This Movie Anyway ***
The big mistake the writers made with this movie, was trying to incorporate all of the characters, even the hidden ones, from not just Mortal Kombat 2, but Mortal Kombat 3 as well. (The plot is taken from the MK3 video game). MK1 survived multiple heroes because there were only 3, a trio, a team, and their "teacher" Raiden. And only 2 bad guys (Goro, Shang Tsung). In MK2, we have a virtual plethora of heroes and baddies.
Heroes (8): Liu Kang/Rayden/Kitana/Sonya/Jax/Johnny Cage/Nightwolf/Sub Zero
Baddies (14): Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Sindel, Motaro, Jade, Sheeva, Cyrax, Scorpion, Noob Saibot, Ermac, Rain, Baraka, Smoke, and Mileena.
Yeah, I thought that was a lot too. All of these characters have lines and/or fight scenes too. This doesn't even include the characters from the games that are mentioned, but not shown. A bunch of these baddies (and even some heroes) die or just leave, never to return, in about a minute after they appear. For instance, here's the plot of some of the sub characters:
Rain: Says hi, gets thrown into a fiery pit.
Sub Zero: Shows up, says hi, fights and kills botty Smoke, tells Liu Kang "you are not ready", then disappears, never to be heard from again. Smoke: Killed within a 2 minutes by aforementioned Sub Zero.
Baraka: er.. I think you see him.. once.
Mileena: Shows up, attacks Sonya, somehow dies from a bonk on the head.
Scorpion: Shows up, fights Sub-Zero, kidnaps Kitana, disappears.
Johnny Cage: Shows up, says hi, Shao Kahn breaks his neck a good minute into the movie. Sheeva: Has a few lines early, Liu Kang kills her in under 10 seconds in her first fight.
Those are just some examples. On top of these character issues, the entire movie seems to have been filmed on the first take. There are literally *tons* of continuity and placement errors. A few quick examples, all from the same 10 minute stretch:
Rayden leaves Sonya, and tells her to find her buddy Jaz, then to head to "The Temple of the Elder Gods". Of course, after she finds Jax, she immediately knows where it is.
When we first meet His Jaxness himself, he punches into a wall trying to kill Cyrax. We pan away with his fist somehow stuck in a wall with a good inch of space around it. We pan back a few seconds later, and his entire arm is stuck in the wall.
Sonya gets into a muddy fan-service fight with Mileena. After a muddy battle, and a split scene later, all her clothes have somehow been drycleaned.
During aforementioned Muddy Fan-Service fight, Sonya gets thrown into a rock. This big rock, about 10 times the size of her, waggles and moves a bit with her weight falling on it. Again, those are just some examples, but they're *rampant* in the movie. As for the plot, well, the idea and premise is interesting, but they delve way too deep into it. It would have been better if they kept it superficial, the way they did in the first movie. But, no, they had to try to explain everything: life, existence, the tournament, and why the toast always lands butter side down.
The result of all this atrocity is a corny, poorly directed, aterribly written, underbudgeted (looks like most of the stuff *I* could have pulled off with my home computer) nightmare that's worth buying solely to laugh at. 0/10