I dunno, the more I think about this vid, the more doubtful I am that this is what is planned for the next MK game or movie. It looks more like a failed movie pitch. If it was legit, I think it would be kept quiet. I really like the concept, just not buying that it is WB backed. The timing, so close to E3, is interesting, no doubt.

The thing that honestly bothers me most is what they did with reptile in this trailer. :-\

Wow. This is the dumbest shit ever. I could understand this being a graphic novel called Mortal Kombat Noir, but instead it is a live action movie. If this is truly the direction WB wants to take for the film then I got to say it is really sad. Just because the Dark Knight was dark and realistic doesn't mean MK should be. The reason TDK worked with realism is because Batman is realistic. Mortal Kombat isn't. I have a hard time believing that a Doctor who goes crazy and puts knives in his arms would be able to fight martial artist. How is Reptile a good fighter? He is just the freak that eats people. That's another thing that is messed up. This film is basically saying if babies with that birth defect lived to be 20 they'd be serial killers that eat heads thus pissing on a tragedy. Whats next, is Goro going to be a bodybuilder who went crazy and sewed severed arms to his body? From what I've seen none of them have powers either. Why doesn't Jackson and Sonya just go to the tournament and light up the place with guns? The real MK warriors can get shot and stabbed and can continue fighting which is part of the reason why they use their fist and powers.

What's up with Shang in the business suit? It reminds me of Bison wearing a business suit in the legend of Chun Li. The only redeeming quality I could see with this movie is seeing Scorpion wearing his real costume and going out killing all of these poor representations of MK characters. What they need to do is make the movie true to the source material like Street Fighter Legacy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2ZXSzaUIBQ

If you haven't seen it, it shows that ripping the characters and their attributes from the game actually works really well.


So far this is a middle finger to all of the fans out who want a really movie. The only people I could see being stoked are people who like Saw or Seven. I like MK because of the Martial Artist's, the ninjas, and the supernatural. I could understand if this was a graphic novel, but not a feature film.

For me the give away for this being the game is the subzero image which looks very much like an ingame shot to me.
Check it out if in doubt its a character model not an actor.

Ok. After watching the video a couple of times and going through 11 pages of posts, here are my thoughts:

First off, there still is a sense of ambiguity as to what this video is related to. If it's related to the next MK game, it would sort of make sense given that E3 is up ahead. However, doing a video like this, one that's almost 8 minutes long and has familiar actors in it, makes it unlikely. My best guess is that this is an idea for the new MK movie.

When it comes to the "dark, gritty, realistic" approach, that's great. I see that some here aren't fans of the Nolan Batman films. I personally love those movies and look forward to what could be another movie. With the Mortal Kombat series, the trick is having a nice blend of realism and fantasy.

The supernatural elements are staples, and I personally wouldn't want them to go away. The characters should be grounded, from the more realistic human characters to the fantasy-based characters like Shao Kahn.

Whether this is in relation to a reboot of the games or the movies, I'd like to see them pull off a "Transformers: Animated". That show had its own story and portrayals of the different characters yet stuck to core elements and paid homages to past Transformers shows, even a bit from Bayformers with Megatron's helmet design. With some characters, I think they even did better than their G1 versions. My point is that they don't have to go too far in re-imagining the characters, at least several of them.

I have to say that I'm pretty surprised at how they were able to get actors like Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan. I wouldn't mind them as Jax and Sonya, especially with Michael being a martial artist and Jeri being an army brat. I would have liked it if they kept them as soldiers. They don't have to be Special Forces agents, but they could have at least been in the U.S. Army.

I don't mind Ian Anthony Dale as Scorpion, and it was nice to see the spear. It's great they mentioned Scorpion's real name and the clan he's part of. The picture of Sub-Zero is very strange, and I don't like the bald-headed cyborg look for him.

For Reptile and Baraka, I'd have to say that these kinds of characters are better off in more of the supernatural area. The stuff with Reptile having Harlequin-type ichthyosis and eating the heads of his victims was interesting. It's certainly a different take on the character, but I would rather have had him be that monstrous reptilian from another world.

I thought that Baraka's concept was unnecessary and kind of silly. Then again, Baraka has always been a very 1-dimensional character but I'm not against the idea of him being a monstrous mutant from another world. It's just that he didn't have much personality nor did he have any particular story and character development.

Matt Mullins as Johnny Cage is fine. I can't really say much about it though the part with him smoking a cigar before getting killed is silly. I mean, yeah, Johnny Cage is a comic relief character, but that was just stupid.

For a reboot in the MK movie franchise, the storytelling is best done as an ensemble, especially considering the many story elements that MK has.

I haven't really been into the series as much as I used to. I'm still going to wait and see how the series develops with WB in charge.

I don't like Se7en or Saw... but I like this. This still obviously has martial artists in it, and probably ninjas, and even the end hints at supernatural elements. I say give it a shot.

Not everything needs the Dark Knight treatment, but many of us were asking for a gritty reboot of MK BEFORE Dark Knight was even conceived. Also, I don't know what "Batman" you're talking about that's realistic, but he's absolutely unrealistic. He's merely "realistic" in the fact that he has no powers. Yet he faces off against supernatural and superpowered creatures and individuals on a daily basis. Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Poison Ivy, Man-Bat, Ras Al'Ghul, and plenty others are superpowered, supernatural opponents, and Batman himself hangs out with Superman, Wonder Woman, and plenty of other characters....

... so if the gritty approach worked for him, why not for a franchise that started off with realistic characters in realistic environments with a few supernatural elements?

You can't just say "Batman is realistic" and "Mortal Kombat isn't" without knowing that both have their realistic elements and completely off-kilter supernatural ones, but different approaches could focus on one or the other. You also don't know a realistic approach won't work until you TRY it yourself.

People are afraid of change; we like the familiar. If it's too different, we get defensive and shrink away back to comforting familiarity, but I'm open to the changes and embrace the new originality imbued into a stale, dying franchise.

And in the end, if it's good, does the rest matter?

Things i dont like:

He cant pernounce Shang Tsungs name correcty, nor the Shurai Ryu.

bu tmos tof all, i know its a reboot but... Subzero dies AT the tourney, not before it. Im gonna say this is nothing but viral, PERHAPS for a possioble direction for the movie, but im willing to drop cash that this is not what the game is going to be.

It may be for advertising the game, but MK9 will not be like this im pretty sure... Although it may be a good thing if it is...

hmmmm

Yes and no. No in the sense that this can be good within it's own continuity and I'll be perfectly happy with it as a good movie/game independent of the rest of the series. But that's so long as it remains separate from MK proper. I can handle a wild reimagining of the franchise, even if it's not a direction I personally would have expected or wanted. What I don't want is for this to be the "new face of MK" if you catch my drift.

I see this as an advertising strategy for MK9. In the video, I believe they are announcing the games characters, but in a manner in which it isn't directly told/shown to the viewer. They threw in background info to make it seem like a trailer for the movie, but it is really giving the information for the game, so they could showcase a version at E3. In my opinion, the background info has nothing to do with the actual character. This would mean:

Kharacters:

Jax
Sonya
Baraka
Reptile
Shang Tsung
Scorpion
Sub-Zero
Johnny Cage
Noob Saibot*

This is just my opinion, anybody find it quite possible or am I just crazy?

*Indirectly Mentioned

Even if the next game, gritty as it is, turns out to be the best thing to happen to the series since the first game and acts as its "Batman Begins"?

When Resident Evil was remade for the Gamecube, people cried foul, saying that the bad graphics, stupid puzzles, and lame voice acting were "part of the charm" and resisted a more mature approach. The same thing happened with Resident Evil 4, where fans bemoaned the lack of zombies, the free-camera approach, and the shift in focus. And yet RE4 is one of the highest rated games ever.

I'll always have a soft spot for Tim Burton's Batman, the 32-bit Resident Evil games, and the original Ninja Turtles, but I can't deny that Nolan's Batman, Resident Evil 4, and the CGI TMNT all have their merits that match or exceed their predecessors.

A gritty, realistic approach to MK could looks wonders. It's already gotten exceptionally positive responses from non-MK fans, and many hardcore fans like myself. And, hell, if it flops, so what? We can always go back to the originals. If it succeeds? Well, MK2 will still be a great game. So no harm no foul either way.

To those comparing this to The Dark Knight and saying it's not the direction MK should take, I think that response is a bit narrow sighted. Mortal Kombat hasn't been ground breaking or the king of violence in over a decade. What would make MK relevant again in the media and make it stand out in this new generation of kid's minds? Realistic, dark, gritty, disturbing violence.

Let's face it, the buckets of bright red blood haven't been effective since maybe MK2 or 3. MK had become mediocre in the violent shock department for years. With games like God of War, F.E.A.R, Resident Evil, and GTA...Mortal Kombat was tame in comparison. Why? Because it's made to look fake and goofy in order to stay away from the chance of people actually doing the things done in the game.

The whole reason MK became popular to begin with was because the media always talked about it's sheer violence and how it pushed the boundaries of what should be in games. Nowadays, MK is just another fighting game, but with tons of blood drops and deaths.

How to get MK back in the spotlight? The answer is easy...do what they did before. Make Mortal Kombat the most violent shocking game in the market. Make it dark, gritty, disturbing, and shocking. Make adults want to check it out, and the teens and kids alike will want to play it because they aren't supposed to. It's a simple strategy that worked well in the past, and could easily work now. The only problem is, the violence levels in media altogether has been amped up, so MK would have to push the boundaries once again. Mainly...by making the game feel very real.

That's why this teaser is being talked about so much. It's different, it's real and gritty, and it's what MK needs to be hot news once again. Sure the characters look a little odd and I am not saying they have to take it that far by making each character's story something that could actually happen such as a skin desease, but unless it's taken to that realistic level MK won't have the effect it once did.

Ultimately there's a fine line here...between real and fantasy. If they can find that sweet mix of the two, the results can be phenomenal.

Well trmk is saying the artist who did the subzero render has worked on games for warner brothers in the past.
A lot of sites are saying its a promo to get funding for a rebooted movie, not what michael jai whites agent said it has been confirmed to ign that this is indeed viral marketing video for the new mortal kombat game.

You're forgetting one crucial detail. The world has come a long way in 18 years. When the series debuted, it wasn't the graphics that were shocking it was the actual action of killing your opponent and the mere presence of blood and guts. The graphics have nothing to do with it honestly, the "shock" value of this sort of dark and gritty material is just not even present today. This is almost common place at this point. In a video game industry dominated by games like Grand Theft Auto, you can't really "up the bar" anymore. Movies are the same way. You have films like the Saw series out there which are gory and dark simply for the sake of being gory and dark.

If MK wants to reach its popularity of the 90s again, it will need to do it in a different way. Blood and guts is simply not groundbreaking, no matter how dark and gruesome it is. If Mortal Kombat truly wants to reboot itself, it should find another avenue. It's going to take a lot more than a lot of violence and darkness to capture enough people's attention.

It shouldn't be about the shock value that makes MK good. By that logic snuff films and torture porn should be highly rated. It should be about the characters, the story, and the faithfulness to the original material.

You're right Crow, but at the same time, we were all 18 years younger when playing MK, thus what we view as "cool" or "interesting" is a lot different than people of today. While I still stand by my feeling that MK would benefit if it was taken more seriously and went down a darker approach, I also agree that it would essentially need more than that. However, I think the answer is better story telling.

The main two reasons why people fell in love with MK from the start were it's shoscking violence, as well as it's awesome characters and storylines. Unfortunately, the story has kinda gone to shit, and they backed themselves into a corner. If they could just restart with a reboot and retell stories that are better planned out and connected, it would do wonders for hardcore fans, as well as bring in a whole new generation.

Continuing with the story they already have can be done, but it has so many holes and dead ends to it that I can't see them digging themselves out of it. The only answer would be to kill off 90% of the cast as they claimed they were going to do, but that's a pretty bold and risky move considering most hardcore fans love the characters of old, and if they are taken away then what? Sure they could build up new characters, but most of their new characters have been pretty bland the past few enstallments.

Idk...that's just my personal opinion on the matter. I'd follow MK either way, but not all fans are that dedicated and a lot of them just give up if things dn't go their ideal way.

I love the older MK just as much as anybody here, but the thing is, I am willing to take a risk in a different direction for the sake of maybe striking gold.

If they want to make a badass movie, I have no problem with that. If they even want to use a dead franchise, I probably wouldn't protest.

But this is a franchise that has very limited expressions, and honestly, I think a Mortal Kombat film, if done right, could actually be really good. I don't want to see the last chance wasted on... shit, what do I even call this? Usual Suspects Tournament Edition?

+1 all the way

When many of us were kids and teens with Mortal Kombat, it was a different world. Kids and teens today just aren't going to be as shocked and drawn to something just because it's dark and gory. That's pretty much everything they already like. While this would obviously be marketable to some of those people, others will just brush it off as "nothing I haven't seen before".

Granted this is just a trailer, but it doesn't strike me as interesting storytelling. The backgrounds of Reptile and Baraka are rather dumb and if this is how the villains are going to be portrayed, it just won't be very interesting. The MK tournament itself will be virtually about nothing but "who can kill the best" which is very, very hollow.

I feel bad for Boon, having some of the worst and dumber than fucking bricks for "fans."

Can hardly call them fans really, when all they do is bitch and whine whenever he does something that isn't sucking their shrimp dick.

Until you can learn to accept other people's opinions like an adult, you're gone.

If there's one thing we can all agree on, is that I am sure we would all love for Mortal Kombat to be a big name franchise again, instead of a franchise based around hardcore fans from the past. Well, regardless if you liked or hated the video, it got people talking abour Mortal Kombat again. It got old fans, current fans, and new fans all buzzing alike. Every site has been posting and talking about the video. This is good for Mortal Kombat as a franchise, regardless if this video has anything to do with the next game or potential movie or not.

I mention this because it sets up the reveal of the game perfectly if it happens at e3 as speculated. Boon and Co. can just ride the wave of attention created by this video. As long as the game looks awesome and makes a splash, all the buzz this video created will carry over to the game itself, even if it's nothing like the video. That is a GOOD thing.

So in the end, we ALL win.

The negativity on this board is absurd. I thought this was a Mortal Kombat fansite? I find it amazing that we can go 2 years with hardly anything new AT ALL pertaining to MK, when in fact, all we got was the news that Midway was bought out, which in turn made many people think that MK was over, and dead. Now we get this glimmer of hope...an obvious attempt to do SOMETHING with the series, an attempt to bring it back into the limelight, and so many of you are destroying it for not being "your perfect world interpretation of what MK should be." Not everyone will love it, I understand, but the bile that is being spewed from some of you should just cause anyone with power and or money to do something with the franchise to say..."oops forget everything, we should just leave MK to rot." COME ON PEOPLE, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE NOTHING BUT YOUR FANTASIES OF WHAT YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE??" Christ.

I've been a fan of the series since the beginning...and to be honest I like what I saw in the 8 minute teaser. I know a lot of you like it as well, but those who dislike it are what caused me to post this. Here's to hoping MK will continue in this fashion, because the way I see it...why the hell not?

I think that's kind of the point. If MK is going this direction, I think it's fairly obvious that's its just for the movies or a pitch for just movies. Film these days have moved in a direction I didn't think it would have ten years ago. And I think the new direction for the films will have some fantasy based elements.

I mean, with the whole Reptile having a disease that kills most humans at age two already takes some beyond belief elements as well as the knives in your arms and crap. And I'm also fairly certain they'd keep Scorpion as some sort of Spectre or 'other-worldly' being. And lastly, Shang Tsung is fully known as a sorcerer, so I doubt they'd get rid of that if they kept Scorpion's eyes/spear, Reptile's reptilian appearance and Baraka's ugly mug and blades.