Third Episode: Johnny Cage

In this episode, aging TV star Johnny Cage scrambles to impress two network producers with a pitch to a new show revolving around himself, out of character, fighting crime akin to Steven Seagal Lawman and Dog The Bounty Hunter. Despite the time and money spent working on the projects, the producers show very little interest in even watching each one. Cage later finds out they've been taking his ideas and pitching them to other celebrities.

The Good

Matt Mullins as Johnny Cage. Matt Mullins was a great choice for Johnny Cage. He looks the part, he has a background in martial arts (with his impressive kick from Rebirth making a cameo) and he was able to keep up with the versatile role of this story's Johnny Cage.

The Dialog. This time around, it seemed a lot more real and less hammed up. They made sure the only cheesy line was, "You got Caged!" Despite the fact that there was a lot of profanity in the short, it wasn't overemphasized, and felt natural considering the stress that the character (Cage) was going through.

The Fights. Of course, the choreography was spot-on. Whether it was a "staged" fight or a "real" one, the choreography was fine-tuned to show you what was "fake" and "real", and did it perfectly.

The TV Show Intro. The intro genuinely looked like an intro to a documentary TV show, with someone important to the franchise making a special appearance.

The Bad

The Ridiculous Color Correction. That's right, it's back. Ironically during all of the "real life" scenes, making the TV programs in the short look more natural by comparison. Good color correction could definitely complement a scene, but when its flat and not matching natural skin tones, it makes the scene look bad.

The Censored Dialog. As mentioned before, there was a lot of profanity in the short. This time around, it was all censored, apparently to land a TV-14 rating. First, since this isn't broadcast TV, why give it a rating in the first place? And second, this is a short based off of Mortal Kombat. Censors shouldn't even be allowed or involved in the first place.

The Cinematography. There were a few long shots in the dialog that made the actors look smaller in comparison to the frame. The only time it looks right is when something bigger is around them. Other times, blank wall fills up most of the frame, taking the subjects out of focus.

The Weird

Johnny Cage as a Power Ranger. In this story, Johnny Cage is a former Power Ranger; a franchise that came to the US almost a year after Mortal Kombat was created. It's not a good or bad thing, I just felt it was weird enough to mention. Kinda funny, but weird.

Summary

This is by far the best Legacy short distributed. Director Kevin Tancharoen was able to take Johnny Cage and make us care about him in a way that we never have before instead of depending on him for some kind of shallow comic relief. And he did this while barely changing the character at all. He gave us a Cage that was more human and in the long run, it helped make the story more intriguing.

Our only hope is that Tancharoen makes the monsters into "monsters", and not "humans" (à la Rebirth).

If you found something you liked or didn't like about the episode, comment below and tell us all about it.

The Trailer: A Taste of the Future

Before the next episode airs, I figured that we should take a look at the trailer that was posted before the first episode. It shows clips from the entire series, and gives us a look at what the characters will look like.




Of course, it looks different. Again, in adaptations, it is to be expected. However, there's something to keep in mind when observing changes: changing one important character trait can completely change the character all-together, good or bad. This counts visually, as well. In instances like in The Dark Knight, where The Joker is changed from a criminal who suffered from an intense chemical reaction into a psycho who was given a Glasgow smile, it doesn't count because "The Joker" was still a "clown" who committed crimes and fought Batman. But that's only one case.

In the case of this webseries, they seem to have went completely bipolar: some characters have little to no change, while others have almost complete 180's (or 90's, at the least).

Now mind you, these are only a few instances caught from the first few times watching this trailer. And this, like the trailer, is only the first impression.

Almost Unchanged

Scorpion and Sub-Zero

While they don't look 100% game authentic, they are still the same characters: assassins who both use strange weapons in battle, and who will inevitably be killed by eachother. They still have their masks (though the look has changed) and the same color schemes (although Sub-Zero's black has been replaced with gray). All in all, it's minor wardrobe change; nothing major.

Quan Chi

Again, he's not game authentic, but almost no change has been made to the character or his appearance. He still seems to be a necromancer from the Netherrealm that raises Scorpion from the dead to exact his revenge. In fact, the black eyeballs make him look even more diabolical.

Changed

Mileena

This right here is taken right out of the Christopher Nolan Book of Cosmetic Character Change: need a new look? Give them a Glasgow smile! Changing her mouth from a Tarkatan's into a regular pair of lips with clean scars (the OutWorld must have dynamite health care judging by the work done) changes the character completely.

Original Character: A clone of Kitana fashioned by Shang Tsung using Tarkatan DNA.
Our Prediction: Kitana's overlooked younger sister looking to prove herself to The Emperor.

Baraka

Ironically, this (originally) Tarkatan character looks more like a figure that was magically bred than belonging to an actual race existing in the OutWorld. Early shots show him with the trademark wrist-blades, but outside of that, he's virtually unrecognizable.

Original Character: The leader of a nomadic race of bloodthirsty warriors who serve the ruling party of the OutWorld.
Our Prediction: The reanimated corpse of a General or spy in the OutWorld.

Shao Kahn

Finally, we get to the Laughing Emperor himself. Instead of appearing as a large, dominant figure who can crush a man's skull with one sharp blow to the head, he appears as a calculating tribal leader, looking incredibly out of place with his bowl haircut.

I know there are a lot of fans whose biggest complaint of this incarnation is the loss of the helmet. But without it, at least he looked like this:




Just by making the character look more human (especially when it's a character who rules an entire world) weakens the original impact that the game's character has, and makes him seem like a different character entirely.

Original Character: Universally strong.
Our Prediction: Mega weak.

Remember, these are just the first impressions from the trailer; only by seeing the episodes that these characters are featured in can we determine what their real deal is.

What was your first impression of the trailer?

And by the way, who the hell is this?

We're guessing Reptile, however we've heard people guess that it's Baraka after visual effects done in post. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

First and Second Episode: Jax & Sonya vs. Kano

The first and second episodes of the series covered Mortal Kombat characters Sonya Blade, Kano, and Jax. In the first episode, Kano is overseeing a team building cybernetic suits for (presumably) black market use. Sonya is on location recording footage to send to her partner Jax, looking to move in as soon as possible. However, she is quickly captured and chained up in a dark and damp room. Jax and Stryker get the message too late, they move in and are ambushed. The second episode ties up the loose ends left by the first, concluding in Kano getting his trademark eye, and alluding that Jax will soon be getting his metal arms.

The Good

The Fights. The fights were by far the best part of this short series of episodes. Yeah, there were cheesy sound effects every time a hit was landed, but you wouldn't have noticed unless you were specifically looking to nitpick.

Darren Shahlavi as Kano. One thing that definitely stood out was the performance of Darren Shahlavi as Kano. While his look doesn't scream "arms dealing assassin", he did a great job of portraying one the best way he could. His scene with Sonya chained up was the best moment of dialog out of both of these shorts.

The Bad

The Length. The length of each episode was definitely an issue, and the second episode's long recap at the beginning did nothing to help the issue. There was definitely stuff that was left unexplained, and not in the mysterious, plot twist, wait-for-the-sequel kind of way, either.

The Dialog. The dialog was incredibly cheesy and there was way too much emphasis on the two times that the word "fuck" was said. Director Kevin Tancharoen has said that he wanted the short to be more mature, but how mature can you get when the vibe you're giving off in your dialog is, "Oooooo, he said a bad word!" Gore isn't the thing that makes movies "mature".

The Characters. In these shorts, both Jax and Sonya seem to be cops, and not Special Forces. It's okay; change in translation. However, Stryker first appeared as a supervisor more than he did as a riot cop (like in the games), then later on, he's part of the team that pacifies the Black Dragon warehouse. Nevermind the fact that they barely introduced Stryker in the first place.

The Ridiculous Color Correction. If you saw Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, you'd notice the use of intense color correction, most likely looking for that Saw moment-in-the-bathroom look. The crazy color correction returns, amped up. Especially in places where it doesn't fit, like the police station. It doesn't give the sense of "realism" that Kevin Tancharoen has claimed that he was looking to capture.

Unrealism Inside Of Promised "Realism". Kevin Tancharoen has said he wanted to make Mortal Kombat more realistic, and grounded in reality. However, one well-placed punch from Jax, and Kano's eye literally flies out of his face. I'm not going to mention the futuristic tech showcased in the shorts because Mortal Kombat always gave out hints that it took place in the future.

All Build-Up, No Resolution. The whole short felt like it was building up for something bigger, but by the time the end came, the only thing to happen was Kano getting his eye. We all knew that was going to happen.

Summary
These shorts are billed as "the stories that Mortal Kombat fans know, but never saw in greater detail". With the incredibly short runtimes of the episodes, they didn't have time to get into any real detail, but more-or-less giving us a summary version of a story that we already know in a way that looks to kill time more than it does to entertain. If these first shorts are a taste of what's to come from the series, then the rest of these episodes will get into little-to-no new detail about the characters we know and love, instead giving fans a rundown of a story they already know, laced with short, well-choreographed fight scenes. And at the end, leave fans asking, "Okay, so the fuck what?"

If you found something you liked or didn't like about the series, comment below and tell us all about it.

The "Legacy" Begins

If you're a fan of Mortal Kombat, then you're well aware of the Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short that sparked the internet last summer. It was made by Kevin Tancharoen, a director whose only current motion picture credit is directing the remake to Fame, a musical. While his movie impressed a great deal of Mortal Kombat fans, his film's deviation from the video game's principal storyline couldn't be ignored. Instead, he set the film in an alternate universe in the Mortal Kombat canon, most likely because it was a weekend project with a limited budget.

The attention soon reached WB, who bankrolled a Mortal Kombat webseries for Mr. Tancharoen to direct. Written by Tancharoen, Ed Boon, the creator of the Mortal Kombat video game, and two writers from Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Mortal Kombat: Legacy premiered on Monday, April 11, 2011. Tancharoen professed that the webseries is not so much an adaptation as it is the prequel to the entire franchise. And so far, while he says that, his actions on screen prove different.

It's no secret that video game adaptations deviate from their respective franchises, whether small or large, visually or canonically. Most visual changes are usually seen as acceptable, since changes to the story change around the story altogether. But when important physical traits are changed to where they change the story, that's where things can get complicated. Which is the case here.

Visually, Legacy is putting a new spin on Mortal Kombat, and as evident from the look of Scorpion, Sub-Zero and the cyborgs, it seems that they're doing a good job. However, they've also changed important physical properties of a few characters, which in turn switches the character's motivation (if not changes the character almost entirely) and threatens to change the overall story as a whole.

Tancharoen is a Mortal Kombat fan. And while adaptation filmmakers claim to be fans of the video games they're adapting, Tancharoen seems more genuine. He has said that this series is faithful to the entire franchise, and as he is a Mortal Kombat fan, he should be expected to treat the franchise's story and characters with the utmost of respect, visually and canonically, no matter how insignificant anyone considers them to be.

Prequel to the entire franchise? No. Tancharoen put his foot in his mouth by making this claim. While making the expectations higher, anyone can compare the latest Mortal Kombat game and Legacy, and see that it's just another adaptation via television, whether it is good or bad.

This blog is a message, from a couple Mortal Kombat fans to another, that if you happen to land the motion picture, that you'll take these following issues and put them into consideration during pre-production. It's a franchise you love; show it the love by giving it the respect it deserves, in its entirety.