Johnny Cage!
So Glad he did Johnny Cage!
He was Perfect!
He wasn't really my idea of Johnny Cage from the game, but he did fine and matched the tone of the movie.
I know Van Damme was being courted for the role but he turned it down to do Street Fighter instead. I love Van Damme but I don't think he would've been right at all. Unfortunately, Street Fighter sucked badly so he was fucked either way.
You may like this BTW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2VeFNWdrmA
Van Damme was actually Johnny Cage but to me in the first MK didnt really look like him.
He did Street Fighter, Which was good but it really didn't mesh well with the story, being it about really Ryu, and Ken. They switched it to Guile, now for me the movie was fun but it wasn't for the fans based on the game. Which really made it declined in my book. Now Van Damme had plenty of his own movies and really didnt need to cross over to the games and had he actually wanted to do street fighter I wouldve seen nothing wrong with him still playing Guile but as supporting though still, I would've liked somebody else, a real American. lol. Had he actually done Cage, I think the movie would've suffered as it had mostly B-Actors and the movie wasn't really about a Megastar and I think adding a megastar wouldnt have worked so well. Linden I think had the perfect look and it was refreshing to see someone unknown, new, and fresh. It was always surprising seeing him deliver his lines and doing great fight scenes though he wasnt known. Plus he had great chemistry with Sonya. Also think about it, if they had added a major star the cgi budget might've suffered. Albeit, it wasn't great but it would've been a lot worst. The story also would've suffered since they wanted it to be focused on Liu Kang though I did like Johnny Cage a lot better and would've liked him to be the main character it would've dwelled off their story and to the upset of game fans as the game is also about Liu Kang.
For me, what made Mortal Kombat film suffer was the story. Despite it trying to be as close as possible to the game. It still lacked consistency, and satisfaction. Not that the game was coherent or was satisfactory to begin with but a way to tie everything up and make sense would've been great. My guilties pleasure was the Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade Relationship. Once they botched this in the sequel it lost me as a fan of the movies and the game as well. It was just too much crap to take.
I recently revisited Street Fighter to see what I would think about it as an adult. I didn't even finish the movie. It was way too goofy and cheesy and the only thing good about it was Raul Julia (especially his "It was a Tuesday" scene). I didn't think it matched the tone or vibe of the game at all. Definitely a missed opportunity that lies on the shoulders of the writers and director.
I agree that Van Damme would've been distracting in Mortal Kombat. It was better to go with unknowns. As I said before, I don't think Linden really matched the Johnny Cage of the game, but he was good in his own way. He totally disappeared off my radar after this movie. Looking at his IMDB page I can see that he's kept working but I never recognized him in anything else. Bridgette Wilson I remember seeing again in a hilariously-bad-but-still-entertaining movie called Extreme Ops. Robin Shou I saw again in Death Race. (I know Wilson is now retired and, looking at IMDB, it seems that Shou is pretty much retired too.)
Overall, I really liked Mortal Kombat and think it's probably still the best video game adaptation ever made. I own it on Blu-Ray and think it holds up pretty well. It's still a well-made film with cool fight scenes, solid production design and a great soundtrack. It's also definitely one of Paul W.S. Anderson's best movies. I went and saw Monster Hunter a few days ago, which he also directed and is also based on a video game, and it was fucking shit. I was like, "Oh, Mr. Anderson, how far you have fallen."
Well in case you forgot, street fighter is really for kids, just like video games, and comic books. It's movies nowadays is adults for whatever reason and people tend to forget and ignore that but the main premise is children.
So when you say the movie was goofy and cheesy, yea it was made for kids but it did have some rated-R elements, like Strippers, hip-hop rap, money laundry, M. Bison. Weapons of Mass destructions, Manipulations. The problem with it is that they didn't stick to the game and made it a Main Billed one by casting Van Damme against Raul Julia, American vs Dictator. Again they didn't really focus on the fans and focused on cashing in.
Which game are you referring to? I think he at least looked like MK2.
He disappeared because the studios disappeared them. Him and Bridgette could've been big but instead they were buried in B-movies. Though the film did great. They didn't even bring them back for the sequel. He ended up doing a lot of lifetime movies, being known as the lifetime guy. It is also stated here he was in prom night.
I haven't seen Extreme ops but I've been a fan of Wilson. I liked her in Billy Madison and had wish she did more.
Christopher Lambert didn't retire, lol. But he didn't do the sequel neither.
It is considered the best videogame adaptation by many. It will always be classic to one of the best games ever and best eras. But is it really? It all depends on what games and what movies, and if you include comics it can vary even more. There are some you might not be considering. I liked Doom, Tomb Raider( Angelina), Hitman...
Your lucky to own on it on Blu-Ray but something tells me that I'll enjoy more in 8k lol. I can see Bridgette's chest closer. lol.
The Soundtrack is one of my favourites. I grew on it. I have a few stories. When I first bought it. I had a jealous bad friend who thought I'd hate it I got ripped off cause he'd think I only like the main famous track and he bought Dangerous Mind to which in his credit....
He liked all the tracks on the disc. I thought it true. But there was just something about Mortal Kombat. It had so many songs. In the beginning I was into hip hop and being into Rock was frown upon but there was just something Mortal Kombat about the soundtrack that trumped all that. I guess it started with being a super fan of the video game and then liking the movie and then just enjoying the soundtrack. It became a great soundtrack for exercising, or angst, anger, resentment, letting go, feeling Mortal Kombat, and eventually getting into Rock. Afterwards I just wasn't ashamed and loved it. It was one of the first true that got me into the genre and I never looked back. I loved it. I Used to keep it mint condition and once lend it to a casual friend to copy who put into his pocket as he walked around school which I thought was strange and returned several weeks later with the case cracked and complaining how he couldn't copy it cause it had copy protection. I have never lent anyone anything ever again after that. The soundtrack was holy. I then remember it was my go to party disc too! I went out with some friend and I had my stack of discs and we were going club hopping and some of them were techno and I was just feeling MK, we were wilding out. As soon as I put he frown upon it cause the beginning of a track sounds bad at first ear. I knew that but I didnt care cause that was normal and the song was baddass. He wanted to take it out. I said no leave it for a sec. You'll love it. A few seconds later he was jamming into it and loved the soundtrack. Safe to say we had a blast rolling. I've always respected anyone who I knew knew about the soundtrack automatically. It was like a sacred creed. I then later looked up several of the bands when I actually got into music/ bands. At first, as a kid I would just listen to soundtracks. And then I became a fan of them all. If you haven't checked it out. I highly recommend it.
After Years I checked out Dangerous Minds which I never had at the time.
The only track I thought was truly special was the main one and the other ones were average, albeit hip hop.
Safe to say I made the right pick.
The sequel though the movie was panned almost immediately or even before the movie came out people was raving over the soundtrack. Though it's good. To me is not as good as the first.
I didn't know Paul W.S. did this. They would demeaningly call waste of sperm in the boards. I never liked him but I never thought he was terrible neither. They just hated everything about him. His bad movies and everything. I dont know how he ended up with Milla but then again she doesnt seem to have a killer personality.
He does seem to have some I do like. Event Horizon is a major favourites of mine. Soldier is alright. Resident Evil is alright. I guess that's where he met Milla. Just when she early started her career. To some dumb director.
Alien Vs. Predator was good but I like AVP:R a lot more.
After that most seem forgettable.
It is awful but I still like it. Being a fan of the game and trying to figure out what where they thinking or where they messed up where or I cant believe they recasted this person with that. I'm not saying I'm a major fan by any means but I don't mind it. Also a lot of eye candy in it. I like the Sindel Babe, the Jade Babe was smoking hot I've never seen her in anything else. I just saw it recently and Jade had a scene with Liu Kang where she was trying to bait him and she was almost nude lying down. Smoking hot!
I didnt really like the Sonya recast obviously.
I funnily saw it in the theaters. I didn't even want to watch it but I had nothing going that weekend and wanted to remember some of the nostagia and plus the movie was being overhyped around the soundtrack and I was still slightly loyal to the game but had I known that Johhny cage and Sonya Blade had been replace there would be no way in hell I'd watch that. I think I also always held Mortal Kombat with a certain mystic so going to the theaters and having the full experience was a must. I wasn't totally disappointed. I had a good time but the replacement of Johnny cage and Sonya Blade did it for me.
I also missed my friends I had at the time the first one came out and when the second one came out they were long gone.
It still might be one of the worst sequels. I don't completely think so, I have to think about it but yea it was bad but based on those other things I don't really hate it.
I wanted to see several of the series and cartoons but several things actually did happen. I was mostly a huge fan of Mk2. I liked Mk1 but nowhere near as much as Mk2. The fatalities, babalities, friendships, stories, graphics where just a million times better. Plus the gameplay. Once Mk3 came out I hated it. I hated the run addition. I sucked at it and I hated all the new characters, no consistency, different format, the stories were whack. They added even more finishers I felt it was too much. Too much to keep track. I just gave up on it. It felt watered down and cheap. It also had added a growing new fan base that really didn't respect it's creed and didn't really give a fuck about the first and the second and a lot of them didn't care about the stories either. Some were even really good at gameplay but had zero care or idea about the stories. This to me what wasnt what Mortal Kombat was all about it. It was more than that. It was like a community of a hidden fanbase where we bleed, slept, and breathed MK and winning and losing was a lot.
Going to the local arcade and playing for hours, many times till they kicked you out cause the store had far gone closed, losing all your money, fighting with your soul, bragging or humilition was a big part of it all. It was a way to get to know the local community, bond, bravado, and overcome. If you were into the mk code you were special. People respected you and looked out for you. All that was lost when Mk 3 came out. A lot of little gits came around and came and left without any respect or honor in winning and losing and a lot of them were just kids who didnt know any better. I dont know why but right around MK3 the true arcade culture starting dying out. It used to be a big deal in every corner where arcades used to be in Resturants, Laundries, and video stores. Little by little that was dying out till it was no longer anymore. They started rising the prices and taking the arcades away and putting them in huge places like chuckie cheese and stuff. More suitable for kids where they had a million arcade games and a million prizes and it was hella expensive compared to before. It had lost it's mystic. Where people would go to the corner and play late at night on a Saturday Night. Play drunk or play inspired but play hard. Many times the other chipping in cause we didn't want the competition to end. Those were the good old days.
Recently I became nostalgic and looked it up and was so heavily disappointed on the storylines. How they didn't make sense and didn't add up and it just kept getting pilled up after pilled up for commercialism. I even hated even more the reboot. After reading all about the reboot I officially gave up on being a fan. To kill the original stories and all it's characters and restart them with something new was just a total slap in the face. I also hate the 3d additions and the weapon additions. It's just whack and mind boggling. I gaved up.
So based on that I didnt even consider anything else about mk or do anything else with it. I dont even have an interest in the new film/reboot. To me Mortal Kombat Will always be Mk1, Mk2, and the Movie. That era. All after that is a wash. Being into Mk in those days wasnt just a video. It was a creed. We would look up all the magazines, all the codes, all the comics. Actually learn martial arts and try to copy the moves. Being a Ninja was sacred. Being into Johnny Cage made you a comic. Whoever you liked said who you were and you sort of tried to resembled the character. I know so many people from that era that felt the same way. Felt a closeness to the characters they liked. People you wouldnt even think. Super Nintendo that a long gone conclusion was the shit. In Facebook I still read about people to this very day having tough levels in the game they used to love in the past. Vividly remember how difficult games where and loving them. Almost more than today's games. A closeness to that era where it was special and you didnt have a million pixels or activities flying at your face brainwashing you. Who knew 16-bit games would have such an influence, who knew we'd be where we are today. Cartages and a lot of thumb sore with a little of bragging and taunting was a sure way to make the most common days be the blast, bring the animal out of you, and fight with your spirit to have amazing memories.
shareThough I strangely do like the sequel. I dont think it makes me a fan of the MK. I disowned it and I used to love it. I used to be the best MK player. But story is utmost and without that it makes no sense to be a fan. Though I'm still a fan. A lot more lightly. It used be like a religion growing up. I would've really liked had Linden ended up with Brigitte. I might've still been a fan. lol. But as A true Fan, MK is all about Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Having them had such weak storylines in the movie was a major disrespect. Again in the sequel with the cyborgs. I straight slap in the face. That's when I realize they didn't know what they were doing and didn't care about the fans. Mostly like making money.
In the youtube, I'd probably go for Linden. hahaha. I never really liked Liu Kang and he looks old badly here.
I rewatched MK: Annihilation a little while back and it was exactly as I remembered it: Fucking awful. I felt that way when I saw it in the theater and it was confirmed upon watching it again. That is just not a good movie and, for me, stands as one of the most disappointing sequels of all time. Yuck! What would you say you like about it.
Did you ever see the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat%3A_Legacy
I own the whole thing on Blu-Ray. If you accept it for what it is--a relatively low-budget web series with an unknown director--then it's kind of fun.
And I'm with you with Robin looking old in that video. He has not aged all that well. Linden still looks okay, though! Older, yes, but still vital.