I think a modern generation is, what? Somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years? Cheating it to just under twenty seems fair enough to me. Lord knows it's a feature built in to the fiction to allow for periodical change this deep into the game. It'd be a waste not to make use of it, especially with the cross-eyed masses crying out for a reboot. It's pleasing everyone to freshen it up that way, without dismissing everything that came before.

Shao Kahn can be back to basics, or it could be something new. There's definitely no reason we have to assume there's only two or three big bads who want to cause problems, and four or five minions that will fight on their behalf. Pay attention people! Change is not the problem!


The last fifteen years have been spent fearing the prospect of ten losses (visa vie post-MK1 victory shennanigans). I think we can safely assume nobody's going to pack their bat and ball away just because they have to wait for the next season. The struggle can continue!


... and even if it doesn't get picked up, they're usually good portfolio pieces.

the only thing that has kept me in love with Mortal Kombat for almost 20 years is the storyline up until Deception, then we got too many new characters and didn't lose enough old ones.

the simple small stories of the core characters is what drove the story. Too many characters diluted the story too much.

We were expected to care about too many characters in Deception.

Lets hope the characters aren't raped this way and this stunt was just for fun.

I have missed 7 pages.. which i don't intend on catchin up all on.. but a few things from the last few pages caught my eye. Well said Kenshi master.. for Mortal Kombat films to succeed, they need to catch a different market.. believe it or not, MK fans in number don't entice Hollywood.. a direct to dvd would be a MUCH smarter option. So they need another hook.

*No one complained Noob Saibot was revealed to be younger Sub-Zero. *As popular as he was, no one cared when Johnny Cage died (at the time yes, but he's come back since so people were happy).
*People hated Ed Boon's creation and change with MK3, but it eventually led to the biggest revoluntiorary change in MK.
*Jax needed his metal arms to make him the ultimate bad as..
*Too many ninjas would spoil the movie. Ninjas are a sign of evil.
*A sequel could see Scorpion go after the warlord (they do exist) Shao Kahn in Asia which would bring in the Shaolin and monks / ninjas.
*MK got popular in the first place coz of its horror and gore.. people wanted it banned remember.. so they need the same shock factor. MK2 onwards became more cartoony and jokish to appease to the American market.
*I would MUCH rather see a R-rated MK film like this than a PG-13 film like Annihilation, so until America gets its classification system right.. why not push the boundaries.
*This is one interpretation of the MK Universe.. Baraka as a reaver-like character I love. Reptile looks sick (and is still a wicked fighter). Scorpion became an anti-hero in MK:Deception, so that's not new. Sub-Zero doesn't look entirely human.
*Films and Games forming their own seperate path would be a great idea and bring in MANY more fans.
*Those opposing the video are getting stale in their 4 arguments against it... there is no market for the movie you want, MK will change (MK9 will probably only have 3 or 5 of the originals.. some of people's favourites will go).. It is nothing like SAW, Mortal Kombat is about the fights in the tournament, not JUST the deaths.. There is still a tournament Shang Tsung is doing.... doesn't that suggest he is doing it for a reason?

From Boon on twitter:

"I'm guessing everyone has seen this interview with the guy who played Johnny Cage in the new MK movie "pitch". http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/film/article/exclusive-interview-with-mortal-kombat-actor-104127

Awesome interview. The guy sounds like he understands what works and what doesn't work. He's obviously got passion, as does everyone else on this project, and it helps that not only is he a gamer, he's been involved in the game industry itself with MK co-founder Tobias.

I love his choice of games too. Good background with Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, choice of RPGs (hurray for Chrono Trigger) and modern interests in fantastic games Dead Space and Uncharted.

I wish them the best of luck on this. They have my full support.

Agreed.. Cage came off as very classy from his interview and raised a number of points people are missing

"I think it is a very well thought out concept that pays homage to the video game and its fans."

El Oh El.

And I'm surprised this has gone without being mentioned much but even though he died, I found myself on the edge of my computer chair and thought that Cage kicked more ass in that one little fight scene than he did in the entire fight movie (IMHO). Also, I wonder how Boon feels about the video....?

Sure woulda been nice if the interviewer had even ASKED if there were plans to include the mystical elements like Outworld if a full length version were to be made.

But then, I suppose that would require an interviewer who knows what Mortal Kombat IS beyond "the game with the fatalities".

I agree. But I really do feel like this was just made to grab peoples attentions and a full movie would include the magic, mytholos, ext. It's like watching the Batman Begins trailer and they only showed Batman as a flash at the end, a lot of fans jumped the gun and thought he would ONLY become Batman at the end....who knows though.

Mystical elements were only brought in with MK2... other than Goro....

First game the story had a lot of mystery to it and word of legend.. can easily do that in the movie.. speak of legend in first film.. introduce Outworld (whatever that is) in a second film

I think everyone (myself included) is forgetting the Scorpion reveal at the end.

Either it's realistic, mature, and gritty to have a blind man be the ultimate assasin, or there's some mystical netherealm goings on somewhere behind the shirai-ryu deadly suit pants.

"Other than Goro" is kind of a big thing to skip over. You're also forgetting Raiden. Sure he's easier to explain as a human...but in the game, he constantly had lightning bolts all over his body. They went way out of their way in the original game to make the magic obvious.

And the first game didn't have Baraka in it or explain where Reptile comes from. THIS did BOTH. It took the two most famous members of Outworld species and gave them Earth origins. You don't do that unless it's deliberately to say "in my version, every character has a real world explanation, there will be no magic or Outworld."

I vote Kenshi. I also really liked the part where the guy gets impaled through the throat. I thought that was very Scorpion-ish.

I agree Mick.. I think Scorpion and Sub-Zero reveals something is going on.. not sure about Outworld.. but think Hell could be a very real possibility and that there are demons at work.

MK made headlines worldwide for its violence and gore, so if you want an audience of more than just fans of the game.. you need to bring back what caught the eye of so many people.

There are lots of "this could actually happen in a setting where nothing is fantastic or fictional" ways to explain a man having white eyes. I refuse to think we're supposed to take Scorpion's eyes alone as proof there's magic after turning Reptile and Baraka into human beings.

Play Shaolin Monks.. Ed Boon's rewritten the MK1 story to include Baraka and Kung Lao..

Reptile was an assassin who ripped off people's heads and ate them.
Baraka is a beast in the movie.. he's like a reaver.. or like the game Blanka.
Goro could end up being someone like Michael Clarke Duncan as Tsung's bodyguard.. doubt 4 arms will appear.. but 2 arms would make him a more brutal fighter

The only thing humorous is that people think to pay homage and be a good movie it has to be exactly like the games. I love the games as well and would definitely prefer a movie that resembles closer to the games, but just because this 8 minute video didn't do that does not make what we saw, bad.

Some people have said it best earlier, and made a good point. I may personally not like the new Baraka as much as the originial, but man, he def. has a better story and personality than the original. A doctor who goes insane and mutilates his own body for his sick pleasure is a lot better than your generic demon from some random realm.

I was reading through some other boards and found this post, thought I'd shoot it over here...

Someone said --
"Who is to say that just because the police department gives scientific explanations for these things, Outworld is completely out of the question. I mean, do understand what kind of an idiot one might look like if they tried to tell someone they were going to arrest some demons today.

Scorpion is still a specter, but to someone who doesn't believe, he just has white eyes and a harpoon. And so when Scorpion says that at the end of the video who he is and that his human/Hanzo self is dead, we know there has to be some sort of spiritual side to the script."

Baraka is a mutant now..
so is Reptile.. newspapers report people like that as mutants..

and Scorpion said he's dead.. so explain that..

Looks like we can expect the same old shit as always. Too bad, Mortal Kombat could have been great.

Shaolin Monks is non-canon and it wasn't written by Boon, it was written by outside help hired by Midway because Vogel (the guy who ACTUALLY writes stuff. Ed is not a writer, he's a producer) was busy working on Deception or Armageddon.

I'd say its more or less official.. I think Baraka wasn't thought of around MK1 otherwise he would have been there in the guard line up .. *edit.. you miss the point.. Baraka would have appeared as a misshapen monster.. with his story unknown.. it was on earth, so he could have been a disfigured human

Well if Baraka was in MK1 then MK1 would have more mention of the war between Earth and Outworld, which defeats your ENTIRE point of "Outworld wasn't mentioned much in MK1, everything was secrets and mysteries."

If you're just going to contradict yourself, I have to ask what exactly IS the point you're trying to make?

Thanks for sharing that.

The guy makes a good point and it reminds me of the first MK movie. Did Cage, Sonya, or Jax act as if they believed in all these supernatural things? No. They were shocked and denied the whole thing up until after Raiden came in with lighting and all that Jazz. The whole part with Sub and Scorp they were stunned and confused.

I think what's really going on is a lot like what this guy was alluding to, and they were likely just using the realistic elements to not only introduce popular characters to make their video better, but also to shoot it from their point of view in the story. If you were to take 1 puzzle piece out of a 100 piece puzzle, and just look at that piece, do you really think you're going to be able to tell what the whole thing is?

After all, it's just a damn sample as I have stated before. It's merely a "Here's what we could do if given the opportunity", they never said anything about wanting it realistic and to change all the characters etc. We all just assumed that based off what we saw. They could just be showing off their cinemotography and fight choreography talents, which I must say are really well done.