Mortal Kombat Reboot

[TGDirector]

I speak as a fan and a filmmaker with all the love for this franchise. But I cannot stress enough that this is what needs to be done. Mortal Kombat does need to be rebooted. Now is the time for the world to take MK more seriously as it is taken in the game world. We've already seen plenty of projects being taken seriously now, we've seen Dark Knight which is the newest influence in Hollywood, thanks to Chris Nolan. Yes, they've made two movies in the MK Series that are just...how do I say it? Doesn't belong. It wasn't taken seriously. Didn't live up to the storyline it's meant to be. I already know they are rebooting it. But what worries me is them making the same mistake. What does everyone else think? Think the world's ready for what Mortal Kombat's meant to be?

[bugmenot]

I don't know Mortal Kombat well enough to know if Mortal Kombat is "meant to be" as great an adaptation as you think it might be. I only owned one game, released back in 94. I saw the original movie done by the "Destroyer of Worlds" himself, Paul W.S. Anderson, and while it had its moments, I don't think a reboot would be much better.

Why? There's not much more value you can add in adapting Mortal Kombat to any medium - excluding comics. I think the potential is there, but by the time the end product is revealed, game fans will probably abhor it for being something alien.

That's my two cents anyway. It doesn't seem the medium of video games lends itself well to adaptation at all really, unless the game is actually a straight-forward narrative, (which haven't been done well either- yet), and Mortal Kombat already got a few animated features as well as a show, with not much to show for it, so... I dunno really.

Hell, I'm really burnt out on Asian-inspired fantasy and ninjas lately, now that every major Hollywood actioner worth its salt feels compelled to add some kung-fu in there to a degree. Batman had ninjas. Wanted basically had ninjas. Hell, even James Bond back in '02 could get ninjas. =/

[TGDirector]

Oddly enough you are right about the whole ninja thing...Even the Disney channel is starting to have ninjas...Well aside from that. I really really think it all depends on who writes it and who directs it. Gotta have all the right combinations. I mean, let's look at Lord Of The Rings for a minute, everyone read the book, nobody thought it was possible to even become a movie. Let alone a 3 hour movie for all 3 movies. But it was still successful and done right in the end. Same thing could be done for Mortal Kombat, if done right.

Sure, let's look at Uwe Boll. Such a huge failure at making game to movies films. Hence the bad combination of writing and direction. It's all very very depending on who it is and who writes it. Gotta have the right combinations.

Mortal Kombat games like Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armeggedon has done a really great job on keeping a great storyline. In fact, all 3 of those have actually linked each other together. So they've gotten better at least.

I'll bet you though if we had Zack Snyder on that project, he could pull it off.

[bugmenot]

Well then, go out and vet him, lol. Honestly, your remark about LotR kinda strikes me as obvious, though. With a book so rich with detail and subplots, how can it NOT be any less than 3 hours? And you probably know by now of the ultimate extended editions - the last one is almost 5 hours long!!!!

A lot of great sci-fi movies are written that way too, due to their intricate plots. It's when certain studioheads come along and cut them all out, that the movie bombs, and the original work suffers a backlash in the general public. Lynch's Dune was originally 4 hours!!!!!!!! Now they're remaking it with fucking Peter Berg and I'm worried as hell.

It's like my friend was saying about Journey to the Center of the Earth a few months back (with cartoon man, Brendan Fraser). He said one scene looked terrible with a bunch of mammoths running through a mushroom forest. When I told him it was like that in the book, he responded he didn't care and that the book sucked then.

We had this one joke, actually, where we used to suggest he was the kinda person to watch Passion of the Christ, walk out, and say, I think that Jesus character shouldn't have died. It was poor pacing...


Anyway, back on topic - maybe you are right about Mortal Kombat and it can be done in a way that is faithful to the material as well as pleases critics. Often though, even if movies like that are done faithfully, they're still loathed critically. And it is rare (for me at least) when that is not a proper litmus test of a film. I mean, Snyder supposedly adapted 300 spittingly, but it was mauled by critics. I blame much of that on Miller, but alas...

[TGDirector]

Well all doesn't have to be done in one movie as well too. I mean if we think about it. Let's look at Street Fighter, they're remaking it as much as I still have doubts about it. Even if it's slightly better than the first movie that was made somewhere in the 90's. They tried to fit way too much into that film. No real character developments just one simple storyline that just threw in a bunch of characters that were just there to be there.

That's kind of what the first two Mortal Kombats did. They just threw them in there really fast and that was that.

In my opinion, you have so many characters that already are completed in writing for their orgins, developments, and how they all tie into each other. The point I am making is you have all those characters you can use. That you can already do so much with that world so it doesn't have to all be squeezed into one film. Why not span it out?

Only put so much on your plate that you can chew. Don't wanna get too full too fast. Otherwise it'd not enjoyable.

[bugmenot]

I suppose that's true. I'll admit you almost have me interested in the idea, but there are some caveats.

[TGDirector]

Look at what Marvel is doing, they're starting to span out their characters into single stories. Depsite it being distrubuted by Fox which is a total downer to begin with. But look, they're finally getting to see that you don't have to squeeze a hundred characters into one film. They barely got away with X-Men and X2. Barely. There's so many stories for that world, you can't enjoy it if it's too much.

Why not take a minute to enjoy every bite instead of swallowing it all down? Mortal Kombat has so much to tell about each individual to let us know why the Tournament hasn't been won in 10 years. etc. It's a magical world, but take it seriously.

I mean, while we're at it have some fun with it a little bit. Cross some characters over every now and then. Then link that in a totally different story with that one character that just crossed over. Give it some mystery, some intenseness, some...tease or excitement about that next character.

Be curious on what he/she is up to and what happens.

If you asked me who I'd trust more than anything on this project is J.J. Abrams.

[bugmenot]

I think you meant Paramount, not Fox... though Fox has adapted a similar strategy and is going to milk their X-men franchise for all its worth apparently (and sadly...)

But I see where you're coming from. The question then is...is the plot too thin, not convoluted, to warrant multiple character-specific films. I trust based on your position that it does, so who knows...

[TGDirector]

Either way, same strategy. To be honest I don't think Fox would appreciate what projects they have in their hands. Let alone know what it's worth.

The main plot itself is simple. But the main plot is built around characters with strong developments along with their own plot. (mini-plots if you wanna call it) The world of Mortal Kombat is actually big and detailed enough that if they had done it right, it'd be a great series of films.

If you've played the last three games of MK "Deadly Alliance", "Deceptions", and "Armeggedon". You'll realize that they dwelled further into story development and further into the worlds we weren't aware of in the past games. It's not just about fighting, it's not just about blood and gore. Those are part of the story but it's not it.

It's about a series of characters all tied together somehow into a plot for two sole purposes, to protect or to reign.

It's about the mysteries, legends, emotions, betrayal, kings, queens, Gods and mere mortals. What it takes to keep the natural order of things.

All characters, all purposes, all order of things are all tied together because of one tournament.

Mortal Kombat.

The only person I know capable of handling such details, developments, and such a huge cast is J.J. Abrams. I would trust him with any projects. He's a rare Director/Screenwriter that the film industries need. He's the only Director I know that can still keep a secret and give the elements of surprises.

[bugmenot]

I don't know about director, but maybe producer. You certainly do need someone to take a refined look at the franchise, though, but not like Abrams. While I admire him for some of his homage works, and inventions, I'm really iffy about the upcoming Star Trek, as the plot has been pretty much leaked now, and even though the test screens have gotten decent reviews, it seems to elude the message about Star Trek in favor of a stripped-down, less cerebral, MTV flick.

[TGDirector]

What would be your ideas? Let's see if we can't find a way for this to work some how and some way. Let's come up with some sort of plot or pitch a story and concept. I want to start with your ideas.

[guitar_dudester91]

Ok TGDirector, I broke down and came over to talk. Here's my thoughts:

The first movies that were made in the MK universe, in my opinion, were made from the standpoint of the arcade style beat'em up. Also, it was the 90s, so don't get too harsh. They took a storyline that could work, no matter how good or bad it was, and made it into an action flick. Sure the second one may have been pretty cheesy, but hey, tryin to make a buck sometimes does that.

Ok for a re-imagining:

Start completely over. Im not saying disregard the first two, but don't make them a part of the new series or whatever. Go deeper into the main storyline. Now I haven't played much of MK, I was always a Tekken fan myself, but still, follow the storyline of the first one, and take it from there. Maybe start out as the fighters all arrive for the tournament, and get deeper into each one's story. Not much else I can say on having played maybe 4 hours total of the games, but take this a little further TGDirector.

[TGDirector]

Well that's what I meant. Scratch everything. Mortal Kombat has such a huge world that we have enough to dwell deeper into it. If we keep this project seperate from the first two. The first two were just about action, nothing really more.

The whole point in a reboot is new and better actors/actress. A director who's careful and knows what he's doing. A story they can follow and make it something more than it's supposed to be.

You can't really do too much if you haven't played the game, let alone read each character's biography which they have. Each individual character has an interesting plot devices that's built around the main plot.

(Think Lost when you think of MK, almost exactly what it is.)

You just gotta start from a new beginning, give it the exact tone the film deserves.

Let's hope to God and everything fucking holy that Uwe Boll doesn't touch it. Because if he does, everyone will kill him just like any other movie he's made...

[outofshadow]

I'm a writer and I already wrote a draft of my Mortal Kombat reboot. It's a little more dark then the orignal. In which Johnny Cage has his smart ass moments but he is kind of miserable because he gets no respect due to wire work and CGI. Sonya is so consumed with rage over Kano, and Liu Kang is a Shaolin Monk who is very calm and reserved. Even when he fights he is more defensive than offensive. Jax has a deeper backstory with Kano and Raiden fights. I have alot of appearences by different members of the MK world and i set it up for future installments. I also had a cast in mind when writing.
Johnny Cage- Chris Evans (watch him in sunshine)
Sonya Blade- Holly Valance
Jax- Columbus Short
Sub Zero- Ray Park
Tsang Tsung- Hiroyuki Sanada
Liu Kang- Tony Jaa (even though hes nuts)
Kano- Gerard Butler
Kitana- Maggie q
Bo Rai Cho- Chow Yun Fat

[gotsghostrider]

Mortal Kombat isnt mortal kombat without scorpion and sub zero and other ninja they are key charactors in the MK 'verse the way i see it dont use shao kahn use onaga

[drivennle]

Removal of fatalities equals massive fail. Dont call it Mortal Kombat if you remove an element that the game is well known for. Mortal Failbat or something would have been more appropriate.

I like the concept though, but fighting games are rarely exciting enough to warrant a purchase IMO. All the same flame.