Here are my tidbits about the new MK.
Yes, I watched it. And so far, I have liked what I have seen, but could not shake the feeling that this could either be a grade-A rebooting of an outdated 90's leftover that basically brought nothing conceptually new.... or it could put the abomination of Legend of Chun-Li to shame. I will not drag around the issue let me start:
The visuals: bloom and dim, everything is a shade of black, white and blue. Essentially the trailer looks like The Dark Knight, which I have to admit is not easy on the eye. Visually this is realistic, but could get disinteresting. The Batman reboots biggest failure are hand-to-hand combat scenes, especally in the first one.
The design: photorealistic, and highly anatomic. You could see the sinews and opening on Baraka's arms. Not shy on the gore and disturbia department either (the harlequin ichtyosis stock-footage was of the recently born, now dead kid - - - that takes major balls to put on screen). The Sub-Zero concept was nice.
The fantasy factor: yes, it is present. Sub-Zero's mask freeze-framed (boy, what a pun) looks solid, and ...well, there is aproximately 0.0% chance of surviving harlequin Ichtyosis. None. Inflammatory contaminations kill you from out-to-inside. But granted the suspension of disbelief, a cannibal freak is close to the representation of what Reptile is. Also, this means that Baraka is not a mindless goon, who somehow managed to gain scheming intelligence in Deception. Kudos.
The beard: Shang Tsung... ehh.
The Cage: haha, cigar decapitation fatality. I immediately laughed how close that would be to the original Johnny Cage.
The Kang: no Kang so far. This is positive.
so on... so far a mixed message.... Now, this can go either way. If for some reason they pull up with the supernatural, then I can infact see Sub-Zero freezing, Shang Tsung shapeshifting, and Baraka through plot demands turning into a monster. Infact, given the visuals...
...this could turn out to be a -attention- stylistically realistic supernatural horror, that pays homage to the original without being essentially a kids fantasy in the 90's. No Liefeldization thank God.
...or it can turn out as Chun-Li. But even with this, it looks promising as it already juggles the original material BETTER THAN that piece of shit. And it looks classy so far.
...WE HAVE GORE. NOT overly SILLY GORE, realistic gore which rather implies, and does not overwhelm you.
Conclusion: very different in tone and style, but conceptually close to the original (for example: making Baraka a deranged surgeon but keeping him a berserk freak is stylistically different, but since the character core is still essentially the same, conceptually it is very close)
This is a repackage. Even more jarring than the recent Evangelion remake.
VERDICT: DO IT! BY ALL MEANS DO IT! Sure, there will be idiots complaining about how there is no skull flame, or that Sub-Zeros granddaddy wore different shades of blue but...
Fuck those people with a searing hot tire iron. With that kind of attitude nothing gets done. MK from 1993-200..uhh, now is done. It had a long and excruciating run, but you can get so far with the 90's formula. It really lacked substance in both style (around Deception it came to a halt) and niveau.
Also, this is for the rabid core-fanbase: realize, that MK is not your personal flight of fancy and that it somehow has to satisfy you, or that the new will somehow travel back in time and destroy the original with it's merits and flaws since MKDA (lately only flaws IMHO).
If anything being here at MKO and being a big fan of Hideaki Anno I have learned that MK is for us, and we do not have to defend, be obliged or be obsessed about what we like. Stop being otaku, or otherwise geek nerds. People seriously have to let go some stuff (debating wether or how the plotlines were screwed on the long run is utterly pointless)
IF THE NEW MORTAL KOMBAT WORKS - AS IN - ENTERTAINS, HAS MERIT THAN YOU ARE FREE TO ENJOY IT ASIDE THE ORIGINAL.
Hehe, Raiden the electrician....
