WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Mortal Kombat (1995), Part 2 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:15.240 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.239 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick, and 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.840 we're back with part two of our discussion of the 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:26.640 nineteen ninety five supernatural martial arts movie Mortal Kombat, adapted 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:31.479 from the extremely popular, extremely violent video game franchise. Now, 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.280 we did not intend for our discussion of this movie 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.959 to end up spanning two separate episodes, but the breakup 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:43.239 I think proved inevitable due to time constraints, especially because 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.480 this movie loomed so large when we were kids. Unless 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.400 we had a lot to say about it from personal recollection, 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.600 I think we spent a lot of the last episode 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:56.800 just conveying our emotions about Mortal Kombat from the time 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:57.560 of childhood. 0:00:57.720 --> 0:00:59.640 That's right. I mean, it was almost it was almost 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.480 kind of an identity you chose for yourself by being 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.160 a Mortal Kombat fan. You know. It's not to say 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.680 you couldn't also be a Street Fighter fan. That those 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:10.960 games were great too, but yeah, there was something about 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:16.600 the Mortal Kombat esthetic, the music, certainly that the fact 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.640 that it's violence kind of got under the skin of 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:21.560 many of the parental units. You know, it felt a 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:22.839 little rebellious as well. 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:25.400 Yeah, you know, now that you compare it to the 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.560 other big fighting franchise of the time, I have to say, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.000 in retrospect, I think Street Fighter two is a better 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.080 game than like whatever the equivalent Mortal Kombat two is, 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.039 But ignoring the underlying mechanics, Mortal Kombat just had such 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.920 an interesting skin stretched over it. When you when you 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.399 were a child in the nineties, it was it seemed 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.840 more dangerous and more fascinating for that reason. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:49.600 Yeah, and I think it was it was fed by 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.040 a lot of the more violent films. I mean, not 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:55.040 all of them were super violent, and Big Trouble Little 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.280 China is not grotesquely violent, but you know, there are 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:03.000 aspects of all these different franchise is kind of mixed 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.080 in to Mortal Kombat to give it its overall flavor. 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.240 Yeah. Now, I thought we should do a brief refresher 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:12.079 of the basics from part one before we get into 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.320 the plot today. So Mortal Kombat began, for those who 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:17.720 don't know, as a series of one on one side 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.400 view fighting games for arcades and home consoles in the 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.799 early nineteen nineties, and these games were extremely popular. They 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.079 distinguished themselves, I think, with a mix of dark fantasy 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.960 martial arts setting, fast paced action, and hyper violence. And 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.480 as you were just saying, Rob, the violence in particular 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.679 was like a cultural touch point. There was a backlash, 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.480 kind of moral panic among many adults who were distressed 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.280 to watch their kids carefully memorizing the button combination that 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.680 you would have to enter to rip somebody's backbone out 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.720 at the end of a match. And that game franchise 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.560 has continued up until today. But the first movie was 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:02.200 released in nineteen ninety five, directed by Paul W. S Anderson, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.280 who also made movies like Event, Horizon and the early 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:10.239 Resident Evil films. The Mortal Kombat movie mostly follows the 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.960 originally pretty thin plot of the game, which concerns a 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:18.040 magical martial arts tournament ruled over by an evil sorcerer 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.440 named Shang Sung, in which human fighters with names like 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:26.119 lu Kang, Sonia Blade, and Johnny Cage they must win 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.640 in order to defend humankind and Earth from an interdimensional menace, 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.600 a sort of evil emperor from a place called Outworld, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.320 which is like another dimension. The movie fleshes out this 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.440 plot with some clumsy yet enjoyable character development. And also 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.480 I don't think I really mentioned this much last time, 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.520 but I was thinking in between recording these two episodes 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:53.200 about how the film significantly modifies and specifically lightens the 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.200 tone established by the early video games. I think later 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.880 games in the series had more irony, they wore the 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.840 irony more, more outwardly, and they had more obvious tongue 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.040 in cheek elements. But if you go back to this 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.920 first game, it is grim, doomy, and hardcore. Would you 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:13.040 agree with that, Rob. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.520 Yeah, I would agree with that, especially the first one, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.120 even the second one. The second one had the friendships 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.400 in there, which were goofy, and I think, you know, 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:24.160 kind of a fun jab at all of the haters 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:25.200 based on the violence. 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.359 But still wait, hold on, you should explain what the 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:29.080 friendships are, Oh, people who don't know? 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.440 All right, So, you know, you beat your opponent and 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:35.320 then you get the directive finish him, and if you 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.919 know the codes, you can do a fatality. But you 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.440 can also, if the parameters are met, do a friendship, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.599 which instead of like brutally decapitating your opponent, does something like, 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.320 you know, give them a cupcake. I don't know, that's 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:53.080 not one to loon balloon Shensung would do one where 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.400 he makes a rainbow with his hands. I think, say 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.479 it's something nice. So that's pretty tongue in cheek. But 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.800 for the part, like the rest of the vibe, the music, 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.000 the look of Mortal Kombat too is very very doomy. 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.279 Yes, so the movie has a decidedly more PG or 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.520 PG thirteen quality. And while the movie is still very 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.800 violent and has some scary fantasy elements. You know, it's 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.360 got your four armed out world demon king, it's got 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.440 vacuuming out people's souls and stuff. It definitely adds more 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:29.400 of a spirit of humor and optimistic adventure in contrast 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.920 to the game's spirit of fatalistic death sport. So it's 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.200 more kind of haha, it's time to save the world, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.440 rather than you know, custom dictates that I now dismantle 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.279 your body. And this lightning of the tone relative to 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.560 the early games is absolutely present in the script, but 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.960 I think it shows up especially in the performance of 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:54.080 Christoph Lambert as the thunder god Raidan, who is I 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.640 think it's fair to say a serious and even austere 0:05:57.839 --> 0:05:59.920 figure in the games is that right, rob. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.400 Yeah, yeah, especially in some of the more recent games, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:09.160 overly serious, like I think, maybe not intentionally laughably serious, 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.560 but there are a lot of memes about the recent 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.159 games and Raydon saying things like I must consult the 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.080 elder gods. You know, he's very serious. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.440 But in the movie it's completely different. Christoph Lambert as 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.640 Rayden is like if a two D nineties sitcom character 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.679 were played by Peter Loriie and yet still had catch 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.719 phrases like I don't think so. He's about two seconds 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.159 away from saying Earth rules Outworld drools for much of 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:39.800 the film. But anyway, as I mentioned last time, this 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.919 was my nine year old self's idea of a really 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:48.960 good movie. I saw Mortal Kombat in the theaters, of course, 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.880 I played the early games. I bought the VHS tape, 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.359 and I watched it a bazillion times at home. I 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.520 had the original motion picture soundtrack on CD. I listened 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.800 to it a lot. I read the liner notes and 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.039 the jewel case and all that. We devoted a significant 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.880 chunk of the last episode just to talking about the CD, 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.800 the soundtrack CD and the songs on it, which were 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.600 a strange mix. Right. It had like Metal Industrial had 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.480 these techno pump up tracks and with a lot of 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.600 like audio samples from the video game and then ambient 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.640 classics like Halcyon plus on and on by Orbital. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.120 Yeah, it's a weird one to revisit because you know, 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:27.520 you go back, you listen to and you're like, yeah, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.360 this is a great track. I like this. Oh, I 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.640 love this one, and then it's like, I don't like 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.520 this one at all. It's a fun experience. 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.040 So in the last episode, we talked about the cultural 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:42.360 context from which this movie emerged. We talked about the connections, 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:46.080 especially the cast, and some stuff about the music and 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.280 the special effects, but we ran out of time before 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.120 we could start getting into the plot, and today we're 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.840 back to do the full plot breakdown. However, please bear 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.160 with us because we now made these plot notes like 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.600 a week ago. They're not as fresh in our minds 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.000 as they were back then, So we may confuse ourselves 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:03.480 here and there. 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.360 We're going to do our best, but you know, in 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.880 the spirit of the Olympics, having just finished, I want 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:09.960 to I want to open up the spirit of competition here. 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:16.560 We normally discourage gambling on this podcast, but for this 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.840 one time, We're gonna allow you if you would like, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:20.880 please feel free to place your bets on who is 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.840 going to win the Mortal Kombat tournament depicted in this movie. 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:26.880 You may have forgotten how it turns out, or maybe 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.440 you haven't seen it before, so you know, gamble responsibly. 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:32.439 Who's your money on Joe? 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.679 It would be wild if they don't let Kano win. 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:37.920 Kno. I think he has a lot of strengths coming 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.240 into this tournament. You know, he's got a he's got 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:41.480 a knife, he's got a weapon. 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.440 They let him. They let him bring weapons to matches 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.280 where his opponent is unarmed. That seems unfair. 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.280 He has the laser eye. I'm not sure if it 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:55.400 does lasers in this film or not. So he did, 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.439 but it's metal too, so he's got to put potential 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.280 defense there. That's you know, I feel like I'd be 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.680 foolish not to put my money behind Goro. He's the 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:08.520 raining champ, extra arms so and can also shoot fireballs. 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.880 It is is hard to describe the disappointment you're gonna feel. 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.439 And the Goro's Got Gnard scene. Yeah, so oh, before 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.120 the plot even begins, one thing we got to address 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.200 this came up in part one is how relentlessly this 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.360 movie uses like techno pump up music to get your 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.760 blood going. Like it. It is very strong with the 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:35.080 hype tracks on the soundtrack to to keep the momentum 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.600 up and keep you feeling good and ready for the 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:38.200 next scene. 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.480 Yeah. So that Mortal Kombat theme song by the Immortals 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.840 one of the main things that you will remember from 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.840 this movie if you haven't seen it in decades. They 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.800 start playing it before the opening credits even roll, like 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.720 you just all you see are the studio logos loading 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:59.679 up and you're already hit with Mortal Kombat and you're 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:00.720 you're the races. 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.040 But also this techno track, as we were saying, it 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:08.040 samples sounds from the video game, so like one of 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:12.319 the snare triggers, and the beat is the fight grunt 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.520 from the game where somebody's going ugh. It's the sound 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:17.120 they make in the game when they get punched in 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.679 the face. But it's using that as the. 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:23.360 It's an infectious track. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.640 Strong choice. So the movie opens with a dream sequence. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.000 We pull up on a shot of a temple in Thailand. 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:36.040 I think this is the Watt Frost see Sanfette Temple. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.520 I hope I'm pronouncing that close to right. It is actually, 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:44.320 in reality, a beautiful location. Unfortunately, the opening shot that 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:48.720 features this beautiful location looks terrible because they're like, I 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.800 don't know exactly what the technique is here, but they're 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:56.880 compositing in a dark, gloomy background that just does not 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:58.400 match the foreground at all. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:02.360 I've actually been to this location. This is in a Utia, 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:06.280 and I distinctly remember visiting here many many years ago. 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:11.160 The heat was otherworldly and I had just consumed a 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.960 tie red bull, which at the time I don't know 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.440 it was very hot as well, but I think it 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.000 had a different chemical composition. It seemed way stronger than 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.840 any red bull I've ever had anywhere else. But it 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:26.960 made for a very memorable experience, and the grounds are 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:28.480 absolutely beautiful in real life. 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.520 I bet that's a techno pump up track of its own. Yeah, 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:35.480 but they get your bpms too. But so, yeah, we 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.880 got this ominous dark sky in the background that just 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.480 doesn't really match the temples in the foreground. It looks 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.479 like color keyed in or something. Storm clouds are swirling 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:48.320 and there are these deep droning chants playing, and the 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.920 soundtrack and then we zoom in on a pair of 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.800 men who face off against one another in the courtyard 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.040 a courtyard of this temple. One is a young man 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.800 wearing simple clothing. He's stressed like he might be a monk, 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.559 and he looks frightened and in over his head. And 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.240 the other the other actor here is Kerrie Hiroyuki Tagawa 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.040 as our villain Shang Sung, the Evil Sorcerer. In this shot, 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.079 he looks about nine feet tall compared to the young man. 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.040 He's just gigantic. I don't know if he's actually all 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.320 that huge of an actor, but I don't know. They 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.680 use angles to make him look very imposing. He is 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.840 dressed in a ridiculous outfit for hand to hand combat. 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:29.640 We brought this up in the last episode. But he's 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:34.640 wearing like a heavy calf length black leather coat. So he's, 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.840 you know, gonna do some roundhouse kicks to defeat earth Realm. 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.640 But he is just wrapped in twenty pounds of loose leather. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.200 Yeah. Yeah, this is very much rockstar Shensung right here. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.800 Yeah. So the fight begins between these two and it 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.520 is not much of a contest. Shensung annihilates this poor 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.520 guy he beats him up, breaks his bones. At one point, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.800 he hits him with a brutal backhand, so you know, 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.720 it's a kind of move that suggests he's he's treating 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.480 him with contempt, not even treating him as a worthy opponent. 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.000 Just give him the backhand. And then finally he stomps 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.240 on this guy's back and breaks his spine. After this, 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.080 Sheangsung holds the young man up and then looks straight 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:18.360 into the camera and he says, your brother's soul is mine. 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:23.320 You will be next. And then Shangsung's face turns into 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:28.000 a putrid cgi skeleton and we speed zoom into his eyehole. 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:34.280 Yes, yeah, there's some ambitious eye action in this movie 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.000 concerning like the taking of souls. 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.160 Yeah, but he's saying, your brother's soul is mine, you 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.880 will be next. Who is you? Well, it is Lou Kang, 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:45.560 So Lu Kang we meet him next. He sits straight 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.120 up in bed. He's having another nightmare, and he is 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:55.080 in the wildest bedroom. It is just green, green, green green, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:56.720 Like I don't know what to compare. 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.120 It to, Yeah, like listerine or really bad apps, and 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.000 you know it's like that level, and it's just completely 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.160 saturated in it. It's not like you have just some 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.080 green highlights here and there and there. I'm just talking 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:09.600 like absolutely green. 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.120 It's like somebody heard us gushing about how much we 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.920 love Mario Bava lights and then they tried to do 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:20.200 Bava without understanding Bava. So it's not it's not these 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.040 like interesting sort of zones of color like Vava uses. 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:27.800 It's just green floor to ceiling in a way that 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.040 I don't know. It doesn't work the way Bava does. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.120 I've read criticism, In fact, I think I've read mostly 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:39.600 criticism of Glenn Danzig's Vertica movie as being Bava inspired 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.600 but having like really poor use of gels. And I 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.160 have to say, as boring and as cheap as that 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:49.240 movie is, I don't think he gave us anything like 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.360 this green room. It's just so like single note, it's 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.720 just so overbearingly green. But I do also want to 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:01.040 give Anderson credit because you also see some very green sequences, 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:06.000 very green scenes, very green lighting and event horizon. But 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.880 it's a lot more balanced by that point. It's a 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.960 lot more nuanced. It doesn't feel like this. It doesn't 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.080 feel like you're in a green aquarium full of jello. 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.720 Yeah. So here this is lu Kang played by the 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.800 actor and martial artist Robin Chu. Again, Lukang sits up 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.120 in bed. He's having this nightmare. It's I don't know, 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.280 did you get the impression he's having this nightmare a 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:29.760 lot or is this the first time? 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.960 Oh, it has to be a lot. I mean it's 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:35.080 a recurring dress well, one would think, But then on 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.120 the other hand, there is the idea that he is 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:42.680 being dreen delivered actual information, right, so this is something 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:45.880 we're about to find out, this is something that has happened. 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.920 Yeah. So he's sweaty, you know, from having a bad dream. 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:51.880 He gets up out of his bed. He goes to 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:56.400 his dresser, which this is no significance to anyone else, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.480 but he has a dresser that looks almost exactly like 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.640 a dresser that I have in my house. We've got 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.800 the same piece of furniture Lukang and I and he 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.720 picks up off the dresser a Western Union telegram which 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:13.360 says lu Kang brother dead, return home grandfather very terse. 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:15.720 Yeah, I mean you pay pay by the word or 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:17.320 the letter, right, so you could keep it short. 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.400 So we don't learn much about lu Kang in this 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.760 first scene where we meet him, except that he is 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.600 very handsome and jacked, and he has bad dreams. 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.040 Right, and he might be more jack for having those 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.520 bad dreams, like they just keep you tight, you know, yeah, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.080 waking up in a sweat all the time, burning calories. 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.760 Yes. So next, what we cut to is a chiron 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.720 telling us that we are in Hong Kong, and we 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:43.640 open in some kind of dance club. The bass is 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:47.120 thumping here. We're going to meet Sonia Blade and her 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.480 partner Jacks, and they are wearing Special Forces outfits and kevlar. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.000 They're carrying huge shotguns that have flashlights fixed over the barrels, 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.600 and they're running down this corridor full of television screens 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:04.439 out onto the dance floor, spitting out lines in tactical speak. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.679 So Sonya's saying stuff like, let's go sixty seconds to 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.840 target acquisition. Jacks, is the perimeter secure? And I'm like, 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:16.200 I'm just thinking, in what way could this location be secure? 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.040 It's like a club full of hundreds of people dancing 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:21.880 in the dark with strobe lights and they're still dancing. 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:23.160 What does secure mean? 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.880 Yeah, some of them kind of attack them in kind 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.800 of a mosh pity way, but most are not. Most 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:33.800 seem to just be ravers or and or metal enthusiasts. Yeah. 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.080 I have so many questions about this ridiculous sequence, Like 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.359 what exactly is their jurisdiction in Hong Kong, Yeah, the 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.080 mid nineties at this club, What safety measures are in 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.440 place concerning these clubgoers, if any? Yeah, indeed, what does 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.280 it mean for this place to be secure? None of 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:50.960 this makes sense? 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.840 Yeah, that's right, And this is definitely one of the 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.200 most unintentionally funny scenes in the movie, coming right near 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.879 the beginning. Just the dialogue is hilar too. There's some 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:06.199 There's an exchange where Jaxa is like the perimeter's locked 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.280 and Sonya says it better be. I want cano and 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.440 he says, trust me Sonya, and she says, I trust 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.720 one person on this planet. Jack's You're talking to. 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.480 Her so tough. It's just so tough, tough. 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.480 So they moved through the crowd and Sonya is just 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:26.280 whacking Randos with her gun. Again, these are not criminals 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:28.720 or like fighters or anything. There's just people dancing and 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.600 she's just like beating them with a gun. 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:32.520 Yeah. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:34.919 Anyway, here's where we meet another villain. 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:35.480 Of the movie. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.920 Kano, Oh boy, Caano. He's up in some kind of 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.520 office looking down over the dance floor, and he's not alone. 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.240 He is with Shang Sung, who we saw from the dream. 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.960 But Shangsung is here wearing the same clothes I think, 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.199 the same same overcode he wore in the dream and 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.879 all that. And he's sitting behind a desk and Cano is, 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:59.240 you know, looking out over the over the dancers, and 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:03.960 they're plotting together. Cano says, she's here right on time. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.240 You know, he's really playing up the accent. He says, 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.440 I love punctuality in a woman, don't you, mister Shang Sung? 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.720 And then Keno turns his head so we see his 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.679 metal face plate with the red terminator eye. This is 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:24.400 never explained in the movie that. I don't think they 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:26.320 say anything about it, do they? They just show it. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.560 Yeah, yeah, there's no explanation. I honestly can't even remember 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.959 the exact explanation in the game, like maybe Sonya like 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.120 took his eye out or something in a fight. I'm 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:37.800 not sure. Is he a cyborg? Is it just a 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:39.960 thing that clatches over his head? I don't know. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:43.400 Yeah, So we learned from this scene that Shang Sung 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:47.840 is using the criminal gang sort of gang lord Kano 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.920 to lure Sonia Blade to his island for a tournament, 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:57.200 and Shangsung is adamant she must be at the tournament. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.400 It is of utmost importance. But they don't explain why, 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.960 why her? Why does she need to be there? Don't know, 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.000 but we learned that Kano has recently murdered her partner. 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:11.640 Her I think they're saying, like work partner, not romantic partner. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.280 Okay, so some sort of pre Jack's partner. 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:18.560 Yes, her work partner, and now Kano is the bait 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.480 that will bring her to the island. 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:23.960 Because I think basically in the games, it's like Sonia 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:27.520 is there after Kno, Kano is there because this is 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.400 just the kind of scene that guys like Kano pop 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.040 up in and that's all there is to it. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.240 He just wants to win the tournament and make the 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.680 tournament even worse. Yeah, Okay, we got to meet our 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:43.320 next good human fighter character, and that is Johnny Cage. 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.960 So this scene begins with a kind of fake out. 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:51.919 We see the actor Lindon Ashby walk into i don't know, 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:54.760 like a big airplane hangar type building and you know, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.680 these big doors open up and let in the light 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.680 from la outside, and we see him walk in. He's 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.600 very cool. He's dressed in a suit, I think, and 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.720 he's got sunglasses on. Goes into the big empty hangar 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.359 and there is what do you call this vibe of 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.280 It's like eighties and nineties movies that have guys in 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.560 double breasted suits that are hand to hand martial arts 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.119 fighters and they have weapons and they're standing around a 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:21.400 limo with a briefcase. 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.520 Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what you call this, but yeah, 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.560 you sort of stereotypical suited bodyguards. 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:33.720 Yeah, hugo boss kottah. Yeah. So you've got these guys 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.800 like they stand there in a row, and the one 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.160 has got like an extendable baton, and another one's got 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:42.600 a shock stick and so forth. And this guy walks 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.280 up to the fight and he says his catchphrase. He says, 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.360 let's dance. And the way he kind of whispers it 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:50.520 makes me think, oh, they're going for a bit of 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.080 a Steven Siegall thing, there, aren't they with the whisper voice. 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:54.840 Yeah. 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:57.600 Yeah, So he beats all these guys up, but then 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.600 he's facing off against the last one still stand. He 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.400 kicks him, and then the guy just stands there staring 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.680