I enjoyed the "Mortal Kombat: Rebirth" short that came out late last year. Sure, there were a lot of silly clichéd lines, and the "story" was non-existent, but I liked the originality of the fights. They hired legitimate martial arts actors, practically unheard of in Hollywood these days, and did some neat choreography rarely seen outside of Hong Kong. And since the short was centered around a single fight, it ended up being worthwhile.
Sadly, based on the first episode of the web series, the stupidity of the work is ratcheted up to Michael Bay proportions, and the cool fighting we saw in the original is nowhere to be found.
Every single character and scene in the series is the most cardboard cut-out cliché imaginable, and they boggle the mind with their stupidity.
For instance, Sonya Blade relays a message back to Jax and headquarters informing them that Kano is smuggling weapons at a warehouse. The lead guy then tells us that they need to follow "protocol" to "make sure" of this fact, to which Jax Briggs, showing off what a loose cannon badass he is, responds "FUCK PROTOCOL!".
Hey idiots, if a FIELD AGENT who you have sent in on a covert mission relays intelligence to you, what further confirmation do you possibly need? The scene's only purpose is to establish Jax's character, but it's done in such a pathetic, lame manner that it's childish and disengaging.
And then, when Sonya gets captured and Kano talks to her, we're presented with another scene witnessed a million times in low-budget, B action films.
Namely, with the female tied up, the bad guy proceeds to taunt her (why not just kill her, since that's what you said you were going to do?), she spits on him, he hits her back, threatens her, and then...reveals all his future Bad Guy plans for some unknown reason.
Later, when Jax and his crew arrive, one of their men gets easily killed by a sniper. So, rather, than continuing this sniping, especially with the entire special forces unit sprawled out and stunned, what do Kano's men do? They walk out into the open, talk a little, and engage Jax's men face-to-face. Lovely.
Also, apparently, a woman screaming in a secluded room during a gunfight between over a dozen men is not only audible, but tells Jax exactly where she is.
Oh, and Jax tosses away his gun to fight barehanded against Kano...who has a tiny knife.
I could go on and on. Look, absurd plot holes and clichés in action works are okay as long as two things are true; it doesn't take itself seriously, and the action scenes are good.
Sadly, Mortal Kombat: Legacy takes itself as seriously as terminal illness, and completely fails with its action scenes.
The originality of the MMA-influenced fight between Johnny Cage and Baraka is now replaced with ultra slow motion shots, horrible-looking CGI blood, and the standard undercranked (shooting a scene at 18 fps and playing it through at 24 fps), boring American martial arts style choreography. No originality or excitement whatsoever.
Yuck. Mortal Kombat fans, myself included, don't ask for much, but this garbage still manages to disappoint.
Sadly, based on the first episode of the web series, the stupidity of the work is ratcheted up to Michael Bay proportions, and the cool fighting we saw in the original is nowhere to be found.
Every single character and scene in the series is the most cardboard cut-out cliché imaginable, and they boggle the mind with their stupidity.
For instance, Sonya Blade relays a message back to Jax and headquarters informing them that Kano is smuggling weapons at a warehouse. The lead guy then tells us that they need to follow "protocol" to "make sure" of this fact, to which Jax Briggs, showing off what a loose cannon badass he is, responds "FUCK PROTOCOL!".
Hey idiots, if a FIELD AGENT who you have sent in on a covert mission relays intelligence to you, what further confirmation do you possibly need? The scene's only purpose is to establish Jax's character, but it's done in such a pathetic, lame manner that it's childish and disengaging.
And then, when Sonya gets captured and Kano talks to her, we're presented with another scene witnessed a million times in low-budget, B action films.
Namely, with the female tied up, the bad guy proceeds to taunt her (why not just kill her, since that's what you said you were going to do?), she spits on him, he hits her back, threatens her, and then...reveals all his future Bad Guy plans for some unknown reason.
Later, when Jax and his crew arrive, one of their men gets easily killed by a sniper. So, rather, than continuing this sniping, especially with the entire special forces unit sprawled out and stunned, what do Kano's men do? They walk out into the open, talk a little, and engage Jax's men face-to-face. Lovely.
Also, apparently, a woman screaming in a secluded room during a gunfight between over a dozen men is not only audible, but tells Jax exactly where she is.
Oh, and Jax tosses away his gun to fight barehanded against Kano...who has a tiny knife.
I could go on and on. Look, absurd plot holes and clichés in action works are okay as long as two things are true; it doesn't take itself seriously, and the action scenes are good.
Sadly, Mortal Kombat: Legacy takes itself as seriously as terminal illness, and completely fails with its action scenes.
The originality of the MMA-influenced fight between Johnny Cage and Baraka is now replaced with ultra slow motion shots, horrible-looking CGI blood, and the standard undercranked (shooting a scene at 18 fps and playing it through at 24 fps), boring American martial arts style choreography. No originality or excitement whatsoever.
Yuck. Mortal Kombat fans, myself included, don't ask for much, but this garbage still manages to disappoint.