(trailer review) - Mortal Kombat II

 

Up, Down, Left, Right, Finish Him! Mortal Kombat was that rival game for those who loved Street Fighter II. It has come a long way, too. The earlier film can be argued as a guilty pleasure, but was definitely better than the Street Fighter film (that one was so bad, Raul Julia had some iconic lines and made it good). The most recent Mortal Kombat film, though, whilst not amazing, was actually a really good and entertaining movie. Ultimately there was not much to the strange story, not many or any one-liners or quotables that I can remember, but some of the characters were introduced, and there were some decent fight scenes, but when it ended, I did think at the time, "that wasn't bad, a sequel would be nice", or something along those lines, but because I enjoyed it. And here we are, a sequel to a decent Mortal Kombat film, and the gang is back, and then some.

Grabbing Karl Urban from Lord of the Rings, Thor Ragnarok, Dredd, Star Trek and The Boys fame, is an absolute get, as it seems as though, having him play the actor Johnny Cage is superb casting, as Karl is an awesome actor. What I will say, though, seeing those other characters is nice and all, but what is happening? A little like the first movie, you are seeing all these different characters that appeared later in the games and although we may not be following the game's storyline at all (something I know little about and they could be making their own), or maybe loosely, what happened to the other guy in the first movie? There is a quick shot of him in the trailer, a blink and you will miss it, moment. Where is Sub-Zero? Granted, I have definitely forgotten what happens at the end, and he may likely be "dead", and maybe I need to watch it again, but this looks like a continuation, but the main character has been swapped out? Or is it, "Here comes a new challenger!" I dunno, I like the trailer, but is it all about Cage now? Regardless, some money has definitely gone into the sequel, and should this be just as good as the first one, we should have a decent time with it. Remember that frozen blood turned into a weapon,  something like that! The "Get over here!" is good and all, and expected, but that slice-a-man-in-half at the end is expected as it is a fatality, but we need a better trailer. Maybe, just maybe, some X-ray shots like in the games. That might be cool!

(trailer review) - Stranger Things

If you are not on the Stranger Things train by now, where have you been? Stranger Things is a show about children who discover a different dimension, coined "The Upside Down", when they go looking for their missing friend, Will. Fast forward many years later over the course of the series, the children have battled to save their town from monsters, government officers trying to cover up or seek control of the goings on within their town, but most importantly, the monster behind it all is out to get them and they must defeat it, once and for all.

There is obviously a lot more to Stranger Things than government conspiracy and monsters, and now we are finally here, and this trailer looks GREAT! They were tiny little kids when this series first started, and now the kids are all grown up, and we have seen them grow from season to season. We have gone through 4 seasons of storytelling introducing new characters and storylines; there has been some casualties along the way, and although all the seasons were good with some better than others, the last season to me was epic, which ends cliffhanger-esque bringing us back to Hawkins, these kids, the big bad, the government, Linda Hamilton (great to see here) and Hopper with Eleven. The last season was great, and the final showdown is here. This trailer is phenomenal, and it is only a teaser trailer. Get on board if you haven't already started any of it yet. Retro 80's goodness like blowing out your cartridge before playing!