Mortal Kombat 2 Can Deliver On The First Film’s Failed Scorpion Promise
Mortal Kombat 2 is officially happening with Mortal Kombat (2021) director Simon McQuoid set to return, and the sequel has the opportunity to deliver the Scorpion story that the first film failed to. Despite an underwhelming box office result, Mortal Kombat was a streaming hit for HBO Max, leading to a sequel getting greenlight not too long after it. That said, the Mortal Kombat reboot was received with a lot of criticism, thanks to elements like the absence of Johnny Cage, the focus on an entirely new character, and the lack of Scorpion despite what had been promised during the marketing campaign.
As the first live-action Mortal Kombat movie for the big screen since 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, it was logical for Mortal Kombat (2021) to be a sort of origin story. However, unlike the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, the 2021 reboot did not feature the Mortal Kombat tournament. Instead, the new Mortal Kombat saw Shang Tsung and the Outworld champions trying to prevent the tournament from happening. Besides the Shang Tsung plan to kill the Earthrealm champions before the tournament, Mortal Kombat also dealt with the personal history between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but with a focus on a long descendant of the Shirai Ryu, Cole Young.
While Mortal Kombat has always been about a roster of champions, an argument can be made that Liu Kang and Johnny Cage were, for a long time, the franchise’s main characters. This was reflected in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, which told the story mainly through Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade’s point of view. Scorpion and Sub-Zero, on the other hand, were nothing but glorified henchmen in that film. However, more than 20 years later, the popularity of Scorpion and Sub-Zero grew significantly, to the point they can be seen as the protagonists of the more recent Mortal Kombat games. Mortal Kombat 11, for example, displays Scorpion alone in the cover art. In that scenario, it was logical that the Mortal Kombat reboot would also focus on the rivalry and the tragic history between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. This was proven correct during the marketing campaign for Mortal Kombat, but the movie did not correspond to all the expectations regarding the two characters, especially Scorpion.
The first trailer for Mortal Kombat (2021) opens showing the day Hanzo Hasashi’s village was attacked by the Lin Kuei clan. That choice alone was already a huge indication that the movie would follow the more recent Mortal Kombat games and have the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero front and center. The choices for the Scorpion and Sub-Zero actors were also enough to create a lot of expectations regarding the two characters. Scorpion was set to be played by veteran actor Hiroyuki Sanada while Sub-Zero would be played by The Raid’s Joe Taslim, both of which were also martial arts experts. The posters for the Mortal Kombat reboot also dedicated a lot of space for Scorpion and Sub-Zero, far more than for other characters like Liu Kang and Sonya Blade.
Given how present Scorpion and Sub-Zero were in the marketing, many assumed that Mortal Kombat would be, indeed, about the two characters. While Sub-Zero had at least an extended role as the villain from beginning to end, Scorpion’s role in the 2021 Mortal Kombat was far more limited. Audiences see Hanzo Hasashi fighting Bi-Han at the beginning of Mortal Kombat, but Scorpion only returns at the end of the movie to team up with Cole Young in the final fight against Sub-Zero. Mortal Kombat completely skipped how Hanzo returned from the dead as Scorpion, with no mentions of Netherrealm or Shinnok. Instead, Scorpion’s story was used more as a background to contextualize Mortal Kombat’s original character, Cole Young.
While the idea of a Scorpion descendant finding out about his bloodline and being recruited by Raiden for the Mortal Kombat tournament is interesting, the reboot lack almost everything that made Scorpion so popular in the last few years. The setup of Scorpions’ hate for Sub-Zero was there, the costumes and the choice of actors were on point, and the final fight itself was solid – all of which make the rest of the movie even more disappointing. Whether Mortal Kombat had more planned for Scorpion is difficult to say, but there is a huge story gap between Hanzo's death and Scorpion's arrival at the end of Mortal Kombat.
Death is not very definitive in the Mortal Kombat universe. Scorpion has already come back from the dead once in the Mortal Kombat reboot, although the movie did nothing to contextualize when or how did it happen. That is something Mortal Kombat 2 can improve on by offering a better insight as to what is behind’s Hanzo transformation into Scorpion. The Mortal Kombat sequel could flashback to Scorpion's time at Netherealm, and that would be the perfect opportunity to bring characters like Shinnok and Quan Chi to Mortal Kombat 2. The movie could also see Scorpion returning to Netherrealm after the events of Mortal Kombat and then reveal more about what deals Hanzo had to accept in order to get the power to transit between different worlds. There is also the obvious tease that Sub-Zero will return in Mortal Kombat 2, most likely as Noob Saibot, which could prompt Scorpion to also return.
Mortal Kombat 2 writer Jeremy Slater has teased that the sequel’s creative team is aware of the feedback from the first movie. It’s still difficult to say what that means for Mortal Kombat 2, but the lack of Scorpion in the favor of Cole Young’s story was undoubtedly one of the most criticized elements of Mortal Kombat. The Mortal Kombat reboot also lacked memorable action sequences, something that can be improved behind the cameras but also by having the experienced and powerful Scorpion as one of the main characters. Mortal Kombat’s story was also way too simple, a consequence of the fact the movie is told mostly from the point of view of Cole Young, a character who had previously no knowledge of Mortal Kombat’s mystical and magical elements.
Having Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 2 as a main character would mean that elements like Netherealm and Shinnok would have to be at least acknowledged, not to mention that a Scorpion vs. Noob Saibot fight would also probably happen. By trying to listen to feedback and expand the scale of the first movie, Mortal Kombat 2 could repeat Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’s biggest problems and become a way too convoluted film. However, with a story centered on Scorpion, Mortal Kombat 2 can deliver on audiences' expectations while also continuing the themes of the first movie - that is, the story of Cole Young and the Shirai Ryu clan.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/T2iS6zf
via Whole story
Post a Comment