Samaritan Review
By Paul Anthony
You ever watch a hero movie without the actual hero? It would be a first that a superhero movie wouldn’t have a hero in it, and this is the first unless you count flashback scenes than never mine but if you do than we all can agree. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Pilou Asbeck and Javon ‘Wanna” Walton. Now the movie started to film just when the pandemic started so it was on pause for 7 months until they could film again. It was delayed three times. First it was supposed to be released on November 20th, 2020, then December 11th, 2020, June 4th, 2021, and then it was finally released on August 26th, 2022. Now the question is having this movie not have a hero was it the right choice? Well let’s talk about the plot first.
The film starts with a voiceover filling us in on the back story. It us that there were two boys, twins that had rare powers and sometimes they would hurt people to no fault of their own and one day the town grew frustrated and try to burn their house down to kill them, but they survived but their parents had died. One boy wanted revenge and grew to become Nemesis, well the other one wanted to forgive the people and grew to save the people becoming Samaritan. The brothers grew to hate each and one day Nemesis set a trap to kill Samaritan, but the power plant blew up killing them both, though many believed that the Samaritan lived but was never seen again. 25 years has passed, and we meet a kid named Sam (Walton) who is a fan of Samaritan. But he lives in the poor section of town, where the crime has risen over the years and through a friend gets involved in with the wrong and when that crowd turns on him, he is saved by Joe (Stallone) Sam thinks he is the Samaritan though Joe denies it. But Sam also has the attention of a crime lord Cyrus (Asbeck) who wants to be Nemesis 2 and believes Joe is Samaritan, when all the roads lead to Joe and Cyrus fighting it out Joe reveals his true colors to save Sam and that is Samaritan did die but Nemesis lived and made a new life for himself as Joe. When Joe defeats everyone he tells Sam that he will do the right thing and when the news interviews Sam, he tells them that the Samaritan saved him to Joe’s delight.
How do you make an aging 80-year-old actor look good well adding him to the superhero business where CGI is god’s gift. Look Stallone did alright as old man who wants to be left alone. His ability in acting was good enough. The plot twist was alright at best, but they made one mistake by having Stallone by the characters, you knew he was one of them and preaching about the twins made it clearer. However, Heroes wouldn’t let the town get out of control with crime, so the twist was basically ruined. They could have had the twist executed just better. The rest of the stuff like the action and acting graphics seem to be just averaged to me. Though I don’t believe this movie was horrible and it seemed good but still felt like it was an average film that will get lost in the shuffle. In the end I am giving it a B because it felt like was an average film it still had enough to be above average.
The Princess Review
By Paul Anthony
Late last month, I heard about this film and went on vacation and nearly forgot about this film. It was on my radar because it starred Joey King, Though King is still young she has proven that she can act and has over 30 films to her name and has been nominated for a golden Globe and primetime Emmy for acting in the drama series The Act. The film also stars Dominic Cooper as the villain in this film. The film was released on july1st on HULU and was rated R and for good reason. Now this movie won’t confuse you if you miss a few seconds of it or not but for good measure let’s break down the plot.
The film is set in the medieval times and the princess (King) awakes but is handcuffed to her bed though she doesn’t fully remember what happen the night before, but she sees two men entering the room and she overhears them that they are preparing to rape her, which when they uncuff her, she basically begins to kick their ass and even as more men enter the room, she still wins the fight. At this point she does remember being ambushed the night before. At this point we meet Julius who seems to be the one that planned this sacking of the castle. We see the King and the queen and the younger princess Voilet, being controlled by Julius’s men. Still, we don’t fully know what is going on and why he is taking over the castle. Though we would learn through more flashbacks that The King doesn’t have an heir apparent to the throne because he has two daughters, and the princess knows how to fight because she was trained by his top advisor’s niece based on the approval of the queen who wants her daughter to prove to the king that she should be the heir as the oldest child. The King refuses to see this and wants her to wed Julius. well, the wedding is planned but she refuses to say I do which leaves Julius mad of course and that is why he sacked the castle and plans to force marry the princess to become king. However, the princess keeps working her down the castle with the help from her trainer Linh and slowly they keep getting the upper hand. But they do take their share of bruises as well. The princess now has her back against the wall when Julius tells her his plan but being a strong fighter, she reveals that if she is forced to marry him, he will have to worry about his life, so a one-on-one fight between them begins with the princess slowly winning and cutting off his head and the King realizing he was wrong about his daughter, not only does he knight her but names her the heir apparent, all ends well on a high note.
Now I knew Joey could act but I did enjoy seeing her become an action star in this film, sadly Joey’s performance and action scenes were the best part of this film. You really didn’t even have names for the king, the queen and King’s character the princess, they do show more effort to avoid their names rather than just giving them their names. Cooper’s character doesn’t stand out either he falls into that category of an evil being who is a wimp in the end. The story was weak at best and half the characters you could care less about. Heck even the king is two face he’s a peaceful king but doesn’t believe women should be a leader, which doesn’t make sense to me. In the end Joey can’t carry the film by herself, so in the end I am giving the film a D+ or 65 percent for the rating.
Spiderhead Review
By Paul Anthony
Short stories can be so hard to turn into movies, how can you take something that takes just a few minutes to read into a movie that is nearly one hour 47 minutes long? Sure, stuff has to be added to fill the gaps, but does that make for a good movie? Todau we are reviewing the film Spiderhead that was released on Netflix on June 17th which stars Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett. The film was based on the short story written by George Saunders, which was released in 2010 in The New Yorker. Now going into this film, I never heard of these short stories, so it took me a moment to follow along to the point of the story. Now I know Netflix’s movies can be a hit or miss at times and both Chris and Miles are having a good year with Top Gun 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder. Let’s look in the plot like always first.
At first, I missed what Spiderhead actually was but quickly learned that it is a prison but a prison like no other. Here the prisoner’s roam the building freely and are here to help reducing their sentence. Now being here which was voluntary, they must take drugs that alter their emotions and their perception of their surroundings. The prison is controlled and ran by Steve Abnesti (Hemsworth) who seems like a very nice funny guy who is very understanding. Then we meet an inmate Jeff (Teller) who pretty much says yes to every drug hoping to make a difference from him drinking and driving and killing his best friend. Though we learn later that his best friend’s girlfriend was also in the car and sadly died as well. The first drug we see Jeff use is a love drug that makes him fall for another inmate though he doesn’t like her until the drug takes affect and they both have sex with each other, However Jeff has his eyes set on Lizzy another inmate at the prison which is played by Smollett. Lizzy claims that she is in there for armed robbery. Things start to turn for Jeff when Steve informs him the higher ups want him to pick between Lizzy and Heather to see who Gets the next drug which is called Darkenfloxx which Jeff doesn’t pick but it ends up being Heather and once the drug kicks in she sadly commits suicide and to jeff horror Steve blows it off as a failed experiment. Jeff starts digging around finds out the truth and that Steve has no higher-ups, it’s his company all long and a fight breaks out between them Steve reveals Lizzy’s true crime and that is she accidentally killed her nine-month-old child who she tells Jeff the whole truth, Steve also reveals that both Jeff and Lizzy have been free. Steve reveals also that his parents abandon him and hence why he’s inventing drugs for humans to do what they are told so crimes can go down. Soon the cops arrive to shut the place down, but Steve tries to escape but dies when he flies into a mountain and Jeff and Lizzy leave on the boat.
Okay let’s talk about the character development, I get it Jeff didn’t mean to commit his crime, but we don’t see enough of his back story to see what kind of person he truly was. Lizzy was the same thing; this was big thing to show us to feel sorry for her, but they didn’t do that. Sure, they made her feel sorrow and regret but not enough to feel sorry for her and want her to be a free person. Steve’s story could have been shown as well though, I did enjoy the idea of him being friendly despite his back story. Steve’s charm and Jeff’s reaction provides the laughs though I would have like it more if this was darker film because of the subjects that were in the film. The length was just fine, so was the pace. In the end I am giving this film a B or 80 percent. Though it was above average they could have done more.
Saturday Sequel Presents Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
By Paul Anthony
I promise that this isn’t Tom Cruise’s week here, just backed up in assignments here, best way to return to this blog series, I had to start with this film because of the previous blog but here at SmashWriting, we have watched a lot Reacher in the past few weeks. so this blog will end that fetish. Now this film is the sequel to the 2012 film Jack Reacher. Filming on this film started in October of 2015 and the movie was released 1 year later and nearly four years later after the first film. The events in this film are unknown from his last big screen appearance. the film once again stars Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge and Danika Yarosh. The film was produce on a budget that was between 60 and 95 million and only grossed 162 million dollars nearly 60 million dollars less than the first film. The film received mixed reviews and up to this point this series is dead, now thanks to the Amazon hit show, which Justin can’t stop watching to this day.
The film starts with Reacher in a diner when he is busted by the police, who we learn is covering up a human trafficking case in which Reacher solved. Reacher warns the cops what will happen if they arrest him, and they just laugh it off, but they get a phone informing them to let Reacher go and they will be arrested and sure enough they are arrested. At this point we learn that during his travels he has been in contact with Major Susan Turner who is holding his former command post. Then he learns from Colonel Sam Morgan that Turner has been arrested and accused of Espionage. Which forces Reacher to travel to D.C. to see Turner and find out the truth. In the process he learns that he has a daughter that he never knew he had and the people that are framing Turner is now framing Reacher and they learn he might have a daughter which has made weak at times and even more protective. Well, they are on the run he even notices how the girl has some of his traits. Like always Reacher manages to solve the case and clear the innocent of any wrongdoing and Turner is reinstated in her post. Reacher then has dinner with his daughter in which he tells her he remembers everyone he has slept with, and she reveals that he isn’t her father because her mother is the waitress that has been serving them and neither of them recognize each other, Reacher parts ways with her and as he is walking, it is revealed that she slipped phone in his pocket with a text message saying do you miss me yet and the film ends with him smiling at the text message.
Now I have to say from learning what I know regarding Reacher, Tom made him show a lot more emotion than apparently the character normally does, the action was on par with the first film, which I might have been expecting more fight scenes or even better action overall. Adding the daughter element made him weaker or showed his human side, hard to be a judge in this case. The plot did have a lot of twist and turns to try to make it seem more intense but just seems like they got lazy or stupid or both honestly. Overall, I am giving this film a C or 70 percent because in the end this film just seemed averaged and when it seems like that then it will get lost in the shuffle of action movies. And that is exactly what has happened!
Top Gun Review
By Paul Anthony
Next month Top Gun 2 is coming out and I am planning on seeing it, but something occurred to me and that was that I never got to watch the first film and well I have a free moment in the schedule, I wanted to take a day to review this film. Now last few days, I had to think about this because I feel like there are two Tom Cruises. The young Tom and the older Tom, now the older Tom takes movies and make it about him, as to where younger Tom was just a movie star in the 80’s. This film was released in May of 1986 and starred a good cast which included Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, and Kelly McGillis. Now this film was produced from a 15 million and managed to make a 357 million dollars. Now In 2015 the United States Library of Congress selected the film the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, because it found it to be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. The film also won an academy award for best original song for Take My Breath Away which was performed by Berlin. Now before most critics gave this film mixed reviews but praised the performance of Cruise and McGillis. Now Let’s start talking about the plot.
Here in this film, we LT Pete Mitchell AKA Maverick, and his Radar Intercept Officer Nick Bradshaw AKA Goose right off the bat we see Maverick as a cocky but talented fighter pilot but during one mission him and goose and their wingman Cougar have a mission, but Cougar basically chokes, and Maverick saves the day, but Cougar gives up his wings which opens the door for Maverick and Goose to join the TopGun program. Once there, Maverick becomes loved and hated but mostly hated by Tom “Iceman” Kazansky who is the top student of the program. Through the film, we see Maverick fall for TopGun Civilian Instructor, and they develop feelings for each other, at the same time Maverick forms a rival with Iceman and each compete for the top spot until one day an accident happens when Maverick gets in Iceman jet wash and flames out but during the ejection a malfunction happens, and goose hits his head hard and killing him and Maverick is cleared of any wrongdoing but nevertheless he feels the guilt of losing his best friend. Maverick does graduate from the program but doesn’t win the award for the best but shortly after graduating they given a mission which Maverick serves as Iceman wingman. However, during the mission Iceman and Hollywood which is another top pilot are ambushed and Maverick is sent to help at first, he seems like Hes going to abandon the mission but, in the end, saves the day as an award maverick can select his next location and job and he decides to become an instructor for the TopGun program.
Now, we have a young tom cruise which back than he wasn’t making movies that were all him. Which help each character shine in their own right. IceMan Val Kimer took each scene that he was in and he made people know that. Though his screen time wasn’t as much as Tom’s he still took the spotlight when he was on the screen. The story was basic because you knew right off the bat that Maverick in the end was going to come through. Lost of Goose midway through the film was a good touch because it gave us a chance to see how close these characters were. The jet’s were the main source of action and it was a thing of beauty to watch them. The problem is for me, we could have had more jet fighting rather than the love story aspect. Don’t me wrong the movie needed emotions but the love story was a waste when they could have gave us more Goose and Maverick. In the end I am giving this film a B or 80 percent. Its above average but not great!
Jack Reacher Movie Review
By Paul Anthony
Last week, on our podcast we decided to review the first season of Reacher which was on Amazon Prime and we gave it raving reviews and in fact Justin can’t watching it to this day. Now because of that, I thought it was time to take a look at first Jack Reacher film that stars Tom Cruise which came out in 2012. Now I have seen this film before but it has been a long while and I am talking about years here, so in order to do this blog, I know I needed to rewatch the film , so I did! Now prior to this film there was no attempts at making a film based on the novel series, since after all the novel series just started in 1997 and seemed like no studio really wanted to buy the film rights until 2005 when the book One Shot was released and by 2010, the ball started to roll and by 2012 the film was released based on One Shot, but the film was simply called Jack Reacher. Tom Cruise was cast as Reacher, but the fan base didn’t enjoy this casting, mostly because of the height difference, in the books Reacher is 6’4 and Tom Cruise is 5’8. Now he was surrounded by a star studded cast which included Richard Jenkins, Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, and Robert Duvall. Now let’s start with the plot!
We first seen the crime take place though we don’t know who it is, and we don’t know why but we do see a person killing 5 people, the police investigate and soon we meet a former sniper James Mark Barr and he is taken into custody, is offered a choice of life in prison or death but all he writes down is Get Jack Reacher. Here we learn Reacher is a drifter but was a major in the Military Police and makes it, Hes not interested in clearing Barr’s name because of their past and what Barr has done before just interested in the truth. So with Barr’s lawyer they begin to start this wild goose chase and break down all the information and deal with the true people involved which is gang led by Zec who was a political prisoner. In the end Reacher gets to the truth but not without taking a few bodies down with him and the film ends with Barr waking up from his coma and admitting to the shootings that he did but is still clear of the charges meanwhile Reach gets on a bus and sets his sights on the road again and the film ends.
Now let me start with Tom Cruise because he seems to be the biggest problem of the film. I do agree that he should never have been cast as Reacher because of his height. Reacher’s height is also one of his best physical defense because no one wants go up against someone with that muscle and height. Now also Reacher doesn’t show much emotions and Tom as big name actor has to act more than the character because he is a big name actor. Going away from the roots did hurt the film. The action and story wasn’t on track with each other just seemed off. Now I am not saying it was a boring film or even a bad film but it wasn’t something that to me was going to stick out and because of that in the end I am giving this film a C for grade or 75 percent!
The Ice Road Review
By Paul Anthony
As many of you guys know that me and Justin was once truck drivers and even though we aren’t truckers anymore but I can speak for myself when I say this my passion for trucks will never go away. So When I heard about The Ice Road, I just had to give it a look but then I saw the trailer and saw Liam Neeson in it, I knew I had to bump this up to the top of my list. The Ice Road is a action thriller that was written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh who also directed such films as 2004’s The Punisher and Kill the Irishman. So We know Liam Neeson is in it but he wasn’t the only big time star in this film another big name was Laurence Fishburne. The film was released on Netflix for the United States and Amazon Prime for the United Kingdom. When the film debut on Netflix it became their highest streamed movie for its opening weekend. The film was 108 minutes long. Now most critics who review the film gave it mixed reviews, well let’s take a look for ourselves!
The film basically starts with a mining accident, that leaves 26 miners trapped but time is against them because if they don’t get out they will all run out of oxygen and the carbon will kill them. At first we seethe company rush to get the help they need which will require tractor-trailers to bring part up to the mine to free the miners. This where we meet Mike(Neeson) who keeps getting fired from one job to another because he defends his brother who has PTSD and Aphasia. Now Jim Goldenrod gets handed the job to find truckers to deliver the parts which includes himself, Mike and another driver who goes by the name of Tantoo, also joining the team is Mike’s brother and a guy name Varnay who is a insurance risk assessment. As the film goes on we begin to learn that the company that owns the mine cut safety guidelines to save money which caused the explosion and they hope that the miners do in fact die because if they live they will reveal the truth and as for Varnay, he begins to mess up the trucks to prevent the team from making it to the mine. Jim is the first to die while he is trying to hook up his rig as the ice road begins to crack and Tantoo basically gets kidnapped by Varnay who turns out to be a pretty bad ass in his own right because every time Mike tries to stop him, he just gets back up for more . Finally with just one truck they get up to the mine and saves day and exposes the truth!!
Now it’s time to talk about the movie and let’s start with the plot. There wasn’t really any turns that you didn’t see coming even with Varnay. Killing Fishburne off early in the film when it seems like he would have an bigger role was a mistake in my eyes. Neeson being himself was just fine. The graphics were on the cheaper end and I expected a little better but not this. Neeson isn’t who he once was so the action was very little. In the end I am giving this movie a C or 70 percent as a review!
Saturday Sequel Presents Wrath of the Titans
By Paul Anthony
As always everyone knows how much I love Greek mythology and every time I come across a film that involves that I must watch it and see how close it is to the source material. However often these films go so far away from the material, the only thing that is left is basically the names. Enter 2010 we see the release of a film called Clash of the titans starring Sam Worthington who at this point was just beginning to reach the peak of his career. In 2009 he was a lead in the fourth Terminator movie and the lead in Avatar. The Clash of the Titans added to his resume with being in blockbusters. the film was produced on 125 million dollar budget and grossed 493 million making the movie a success despite being poorly reviewed. However money talks and just 2 years later we got a sequel titled Wrath of the Titans. The film brought back most of the main cast so the film starred Sam Worthington as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Once again this film had slightly reviews but still negative much like the first film. This film cost more to make which it had a budget of 150 million and grossed just 302 million which was nearly 200 million then the first film. though it made money a third film was planned called Revenge of the Titans though that idea was cancelled. Now it =s our time to see how bad or good this film was and like always we are looking into the plot first.
This film takes place ten years after the events of the first film, Perseus now resides as a fisherman again with his son Helius, we learn that Lo passed away sometime before the film. One night Zeus visits Perseus and warns him that the mortals are no longer praying to the gods as a result the gods themselves are turning into mortals and with them losing the their powers, they can’t maintain the walls of Tartarus which if they crumble Kronos will be free from his prison and wreck havoc on the earth. Perseus reminds Zeus that he is a fisherman now just wants to enjoy time with his son. Some days later Zeus meets up with his brothers Hades and Poseidon and his son Aries to form a plan to fix the issue but Hades and Aries have other plans and defeat Zeus and barely killing Poseidon who escapes from them. Poseidon comes across Perseus and tells him what is going on, which now forces him to join the fight. But this fight will require him to team with his cousin to gather all three weapons of the head gods to defeat Kronos and save Zeus but Zeus’s time is coming to an end because his powers are nearly drained and Kronos is now free but after a hard fought battle Perseus saves the day but Zeus dies from his wounds. Hades who is now mortal leaves the scene in defeat and sadden that he lost his brother. Perseus reunited son Helius and even scores a kiss with Andromeda. Helius tells his father that he wants to go home and be a fisherman and Perseus tells him they can’t and he must be proud of who they are for Helius is the son of Perseus and the Grandson of Zeus.
Like many action films the story isn’t really there nor does it make sense. Zeus created the mortals so he doesn’t get his power from them. Next they could have made Zeus more of a badass and considering the actor they had for the role this was a big time hit. Next Perseus telling his son in the end they can’t go home to be fisherman doesn’t make sense because Perseus did that once already and of course the death of Lo who lived hundreds of years before Perseus was even born. The action was average at best so was the affects they used. But I know why the third film was cancelled because the series was trending downwards big time. In the end I am giving it a C or 70 percent for a rating this film in the end was nothing more then a film that will get lost in film history.
Without Remorse Review
By Paul Anthony
This week I decided to jump on the band wagon of reviewing this film and of course the film I am talking about is Without Remorse starring Michael B. Jordan. Now this movie is based on the Tom Clancy’s book of the same name. The book came out in 1993 and Hollywood wanted to do a movie as soon as possible but never got off the ground and sat in development Hell, even though they had a script and actors picked out. At one point Keanu reeves was cast as the lead role but nothing happened so than they moved onto Tom hardy once again nothing happened. it wasn’t until 2018 when this film started to pick up steam when new writers were hired to rewrite the film and Michael B Jordan was cast as the lead in the film. You had Jordan star as John Kelly but his supporting cast included Jamie Bell as Robert Ritter, Jodie Turner-Smith as Lieutenant Commander Karen Greer, Guy Pearce as Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay and Lucy Russell as Sarah Dillard, CIA Director. Like many films during the pandemic this film was supposed to be released in the theaters but that didn’t happen and that’s when Amazon acquired the film and had released on April 30th 2021. Now Let me make this clear, I have not read the book so with that being said I can give it negative or positive points for sticking or drifting away from the plot of the book.
The film starts in Aleppo where we meet a team of Navy SEALS which includes John Kelly (Jordan), after they do one mission they are tasked with another and that mission is to rescue a captive C.I.A agent but they aren’t fully informed of situation and worse they were given the wrong information about who took this agent and they learned that they killed Russians. Nevertheless they complete the mission and return home but than three months later, Kelly’s team gets picked off one by one and they come after Kelly next, he kills his attackers but not before they kill his pregnant wife but Kelly himself took near fatal shots. Over the next few months Kelly works to get his life back together but also find out who did this and why and kill them. Kelly sets out to find the guy who gave the passports to the Russians and gathers information from him before he kills him but this sends Kelly to Jail but seems like this was a part of his plan anyway. In the end Kelly Makes a deal with Thomas Clay who is the secretary of defense to find the Russians who did this and kill them. Of course nothing goes as planned and Kelly has to save his team and fake his own death but in this mayhem he learns the truth and the truth was Clay was behind everything which Kelly tricks him into admitting before he kills him. The main reason behind this was to boost the American economy by starting a new cold war. The plan doesn’t work of course. The film ends with Kelly getting a new name John Clark and wanted to start a new task force called RAINBOW.
I have to say the best part of this film was Jordan as Kelly his performance made it so much more believable. However outside of that I think it goes down hill from here. The film could have used a more action, to show us how badass Kelly really is and next the whole idea of started a cold war didn’t work for me. At the very least they could have thicken the plot but giving us a cliffhanger and leave us wanting for more but decided not. Like I said before I never read the book so this might have been the best they could do. The rest of the acting was on par, I don’t think anyone really stood out more than Jordan. In the end I am giving this film a B rating or about 80 percent!!
Mortal Kombat 2021 review
By Paul Anthony
Here is the film that we have been waiting for a very long time for!!, since 97 fans have been craving for a film that would help ease our pain from 1997 pain that is Mortal Kombat: Annihilation which just killed the franchise but would this revive the series? Well the movie had a budget of 95 million and on the international market so far the film has grossed 20 million though America numbers will surely boost that total and right now it’s hard judge on that fact alone but time will only tell on that one. The film stars a cast that were more picked because they can fight rather than a big name. the two biggest names that comes to mind is Ludi Lin (2017 Power Rangers) and Hiroyuki Sanada, though I am taking nothing away from the rest of the cast!! Like always let’s take a look at the plot.
The film starts in Japan in the year 1617, where we see Hanzo Hasashi and his family which consist a baby daughter, young son and his wife though he branches off to get water for his family, that’s when Bi-Han and his henchmen attack the house and kill his family but the daughter is tucked away so she can live and fight of course breaks out between the two men with Han getting the upper hand and killing Hanzo. Fast forward to present day the Earthrealm has lost 9 Mortal Kombats and if they lose the tenth then the outworld realm can open the gates and fully take over the earthrealm. Their plan is simple and that is to cheat by crossing the line and killing the earth’s strongest champions to basically secure the tournament. Here is where we meet Cole Young, a MMA fighter, then we meet Jax and Sonya Blade who proves Cole with information regarding what he thought was a birth mark, through the rest of the film we meet Kano, Raiden, Lui Kang and Kung Lao. Kang and Lao train the others to waken their arcana which is basically a power hidden within them that they must unlock and of course Cole is the last to do so, only when him and his family are about to die from Goro. At this point Cole learns he is a descendant of Hasashi. the champions come up with a plan to fight Shang Tsung one on one but these warriors are strong and include Bi-Han who now goes by the name of Sub-Zero. The Earth champs manages defeat everyone with the help of Hasashi who was able to be resurrected and now fights as Scorpion and together with Cole who is his 1500th great grandson they kill Sub-Zero but Shang Tsung warns them this only the beginning and departs. Raiden tells his team they must recruit more champions as they get ready for the tournament in which Cole departs for Hollywood to find the one and only Johnny Cage.
Now let’s talk about it, the film did a lot of good the revive this series. One introducing a new character is always risky but the story made it clear unlike the trailers this wasn’t just a new character that was randomly added, no he had a purpose to the story, the action was on par which also required the casting to be on par as well. Now the story might have been a little weak and some plot holes did occur, one for example was Kano, Sonya knew he was bad but turned the blind eye so he could lead her to Raiden temple but must have forgotten the reason why Kano was cuffed in her trailer. In all this movie kept it loyal to the game which should please the fans and the action could draw in new fans which makes this film a success in my eyes. The highlight though has to be the performance of Kano and Kabal, their personalities alone will sell you on this film. In the end I am giving this film an 85 percent for a rating and glad to see that this franchise is back and better than ever!!
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