Tag: Ludi Lin

Mortal Kombat

Rated: R

Directed by: Simon McQuoid

Produced by: James Wan

Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Ludi Lin, Chin Han and Mehcad Brooks.

Death is just another portal.

The Tournament is coming.  Where worlds send warriors who have unlocked their arcana, their power of the soul, to fight.

The Outworld has won the last nine tournaments against Earthrealm, and is set to win the tenth by any means, giving them domination over the Universe.

Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), a Cryomancer, is determined to end the bloodline of Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada ) – dating back to Japan 1617, where Hanzo is seen living his day-to-day life with his family.  He says to his wife, ‘I am grateful and blessed to be with you.’

He’s a good guy.

Sent to hell.

His family left frozen amongst the flowers.

The film shifts to modern times, a jolt to MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) getting a pep talk from his coach before walking into the cage.

He carries a mark he doesn’t understand.  A mark making him an Earthrealm champion.

He’s also a family man, about to take a beating.

I braced myself for the cheesy asides and family drama while Cole dodges Sub-Zero, Cole unaware of his heritage dating back to that fateful day in Japan where a baby is somehow overlooked and survives (how was this overlooked, I wondered at the time?).

But while Outworld’s Emperor, Shang Tsung sends his warriors to take down Earth’s champions before the high stakes battle even begins, the film introduces a pleasant (well, maybe pleasant isn’t the right word) surprise: chained-up rogue mercenary, Kano (Josh Lawson).  An Aussie meat-head that immediately disarms with comments like, ‘You don’t have the mongrel in you.’  And, ‘No skin off my sack.’ Ha, ha!

I wasn’t expecting crude humour in this video game inspired action fantasy, and was thankful for the risk, lightening the mood, adding to the already entertaining bloody action-packed fights.

Then the film got a little more serious with the good versus evil, or Earthworld versus the Outworlders as Cole finds the temple of Lord Raiden to train, to find his arcana.

Mortal Kombat is an entertaining action movie with good effects: frozen swords and triple, quadruple kicks and getting sawed in half and arms-frozen-off action.

Good on the big screen that gets bloody, with a splash of humour – while entertained in the cinema watching, immediately forgotten – I have to blame some of my distraction on the hellish (ha, ha, excuse the pun, those fans of Scorpion) – day.

There’s a few holes in the story that got me wondering about the why (fans of the video game franchise will notice nods to the game and get more out of the storyline).  But there’re enough surprises, laughs and satisfying wins to make Mortal Kombat (the movie) a good entertainer.

Aquaman

Rated: MAquaman

Directed by: James Wan

Story by: James Wan, Will Beall, Geoff Johns

Screenplay by: Will Beall, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Based on characters created by: Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger for DC

Produced by: Rob Cowan, Peter Safran

Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Ludi Lin and Temuera Morrison.

Aquaman was always going to be a difficult adaptation – the film about ‘fish boy[‘s].  No, it’s fish men!’; the setting underwater.

But with James Wan as director and one of the writers, I went into the film somewhat reassured.

Then the film opened with Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Atlantean royalty meeting a surface dweller, and I was thrown because I just couldn’t believe I was seeing an Atlantis queen falling in love, the contrast a little too much.

Perhaps it was seeing Nicole Kidman as an action figure?!

And there were times when I really couldn’t decide whether to laugh with the film or at it – the guitar riff to highlight a joke not helping.

Yet, as the film progressed and Jason Momoa as Aquaman opened up to give us a down-to-earth (well, half-surface dweller, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry) hero, I became more absorbed.

Forbidden love between a queen of the sea and a man from the surface bears a forbidden son, a half-breed.  Aquaman.

Yet even as a half-breed, Aquaman has the right to claim the throne of Atlantis instead of his younger brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) who plots to become the Ocean Master; to bring together all seven kingdoms of the underwater world: Atlantis, Brine, Fisherman, Xebel, Trench, Deserter and the Lost.  Together they can destroy those on the surface.

Afterall, aren’t the surface-dwellers creating pollution and trashing the sea into poison for those who inhabit its waters?

Those who want peace with the surface dwellers not war, rise to the surface to seek Aquaman to fight for the throne to then save those above and below, with love-interest Mera (Amber Heard) abandoning Atlantis, just like his mother.  All leading to the meeting of the two brothers on opposing sides of an inevitable battle.

The writers have created enough twists and turns to keep the film interesting and it has to be noted the film has a different tone to the other DC, Justice League films.

Aquaman is more a technologically based world with an 80s-esq tone including synth soundtrack and fluorescent lit underwater worlds that become more spectacular as the film progresses.

Let me state again, it gets better!

There’s the expected cheese, because, yeah, this is Aquaman: Son of the land, king of the sea.

But Wan has offset this with humour and his own unique style.

Jason Momoa’s performance as Aquaman certainly helped.

So after an ordinary beginning, Aquaman ramps up to a deliver a visually stunning entertainer that was able to take a laugh at itself with a story that comes full circle.

Power Rangers

Rated: MPower Rangers

Director: Dean Israelite (Project Almanac)

Producers: Haim Saban (Power Rangers creator), Brian Casentini (Power Rangers TV series), Wyck Godfrey, and Marty Bowen (The Twilight Saga, The Fault in Our Stars, The Maze Runner franchise)

Executive Producers: Allison Shearmur, Brent O’Connor, John Gatins, Joel Andryc, Takeyuki Suzuki

Screenplay: John Gatins (Kong: Skull Island)

Story by: Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold) and Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney (based upon Power Rangers created by Haim Saban)

Starring: Dacre Montgomery (Jason Red Ranger), Naomi Scott (Kimberly Pink Ranger), RJ Cyler (Billy Blue Ranger), Becky G (Trini Yellow Ranger), Ludi Lin (Zack Black Ranger), featuring Bill Hader (Alpha 5 cyborg), with Bryan Cranston (Zordon) and Elizabeth Banks.

Having never seen an episode of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series (1993), loosely based on the Japanese 1970s Super Sentai TV series, I had no preconceptions or even expectations about the latest incarnation, Saban’s Power Rangers.

From the brief snippets I had seen, I knew there were energetic people who dressed in colour-coded costumes and leapt about doing heroic things, but that was the extent of my knowledge. So I was pleasantly surprised to find the new Power Rangers film entertaining, humorous, with effective use of the latest in spfx technology, and awesome Ranger suits designed by Weta Workshop.

The action is set in the small American fishing town of Angel Grove, and focuses on five teenagers, each with their own particular problems, who stumble upon an ancient, alien spacecraft and five coloured “coins” which bestow upon each of them extraordinary power and the ability to morph into Power Rangers, as they face a world-wide threat from an evil alien.

Television producer Haim Saban, who produced the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series, wanted the updated cinematic version to retain the original’s idea of five teens with attitude who must battle evil whilst also dealing with “today’s issues of cyber-bullying, peer or family pressure and the uncertain future.”

I appreciated that sufficient time was spent to develop each Ranger’s backstory so that they all emerged as clearly defined individuals rather than anonymous teenagers, one with a “spectrum” disorder, another dealing with their sexuality and another with a sick parent.

For established fans of the series, the carefully plotted introductions of each teenager may drag, but I appreciated how their trust issues and self-imposed isolation made it difficult for them to quickly achieve the required togetherness necessary to become a team of Power Rangers.

The fact that they trained, fought and had their own individual problems to overcome before they could become a united fighting team made their eventual transformation feel more “earned” than if it had occurred within a shorter time frame.

Other supernatural hero films often lavish huge chunks of screen time on drawn-out action sequences where entire cities get obliterated in mind-numbing CGI effects extravaganzas, and

I find those types of films to be boring and non-engaging.

The battle sequences in Power Rangers still occur, but because they don’t happen until the last section of the film they seem more effective.

There is one rather large plot loop-hole involving the Power Rangers and their evil opponent Rita Repulsa (played with relish by The Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks in a gorgeously over-the-top green and gold costume), which would have ended the battle very quickly and with far less destruction, but aside from this, the story line and character arcs were all well written and believable within this specific world.

The fact that there was no swearing was a big plus in this age of profanities, which makes this a great family-friendly film, which won’t disappoint anyone seeking an entertaining and well-made diversion. (The version of the song “Stand by me” used during one scene made me want to dash out and buy the soundtrack.)

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