Mortal Kombat's Best Special Effect Returns

By Luke Y. Thompson in Movies, TV, Video Games
Friday, December 14, 2012 at 8:44 am

mkposter.jpg
New Line had no copy-editors back in the day...
Remember the first Mortal Kombat movie? Of course you do. Before Hong Kong wire-work was fully embraced in the U.S., back when CGI could only create very basic shapes and before we knew that Paul W.S. Anderson was going to turn out to be such a boring director, it made us happy. As a live-action property, it has disappointed ever since (how do you replace Christopher Lambert with James Remar?), but now comes news that makes me think it's too soon to declare a fatality...




That's right - Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, whose over-enunciated delivery and stretchy facial expressions were the original movie's true special effect, is returning to the role of Shang Tsung. Granted, it's for the online Legacy series, which I quickly lost interest in, but season 2 will apparently center on an actual fighting tournament. What a concept.

Oh, and also this guy's gonna be it...

Yes, Casper Van Dien is the new Johnny Cage. And damn, I need to watch that Tarzan movie again.

News via MTV Geek


Tags: cary-hiroyuki tagawa, casper van dien, mortal kombat, paul w.s. anderson, tarzan

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Dudley_Dawson
Dudley_Dawson

Ok here is the question lads and I think it is a darn tootin' good one too:  Which movie was worse- Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter with JCvD?  I would love to hear any reason whatsoever be they serious or wonderfully ass slapping crazy and contrived.

FreeHat
FreeHat

@Dudley_Dawson Would have to say Street Fighter with van damme.  Mortal kombat is fairly decent as a martial arts movie and at lest attempts to capture the spirit of the games.  SF on the other hand is to me just utter rubbish.  Not saying either movie is great but of the two least MK is a decent movie.

Bless...
Bless...

I'm B-F-B-F Low-punching as I write this.

madmiker5d4
madmiker5d4

Forget Sir Ben Kingsley, they should have cast Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa as the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, that would have been pure awesomesauce.

EliasAlgorithm
EliasAlgorithm

The hell with Cary Hiroyuki Takagawa, that movie's real saving grace was Trevor Goddard as Kano. Too bad there's no getting him back (he overdosed on a ton of crap in 2003)

theBRUCE
theBRUCE

But Matt Mullins is an actual martial artist, Why replace him with someone who is not?

actionranger
actionranger

I'm mote excited that the Asian dancer guy from Glee is going to play Kung Lao. I really hope that means the oversized hat guy and not the las Earthreal. Winner Kung Lao, but only because I want to see Dancer guy go all Oddjob with his hat.

Futurama4Ever
Futurama4Ever like.author.displayName 1 Like

"Yes, Casper Van Dien is the new Johnny Cage. And damn, I need to watch thatTarzan movie again."

Do we have LYT's Joss  Whedon?  Or is it too soon to start joking about that sort of thing...

EliasAlgorithm
EliasAlgorithm like.author.displayName 1 Like

@Futurama4Ever We need at least a month to get to know his real weaknesses. Give us time to give him a serious drinking problem.

moncynnes
moncynnes

"Tarzan and the Lost City" is actually not bad, within its limitations.  It's aggressively PG (I've never seen a movie before where a bad guy gets a stick of dynamite thrown under him and he screams "Oh, shoot!"), but it generates a decent amount of action.  Van Dien was a pretty good Tarzan, too.

Baines
Baines

I had high hope for the Legacy webisodes.  Then I watched the first one, and never bothered with the rest.

arivalscientist
arivalscientist like.author.displayName 1 Like

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa also now plays Tanaka on the ABC show Revenge

SumEllisOck
SumEllisOck like.author.displayName 1 Like

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! At least the Shang Tsung part...

Big.Jim.Slade
Big.Jim.Slade like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 2 Like

Cary Tagawa and and Mark Dacascos (at least when he's playing the Chairman on Iron Chef America) went to the same acting school for Asians.

EliasAlgorithm
EliasAlgorithm

@Big.Jim.Slade Are you high? I've never seen (the Hawaiian born) Dacascos snarl villainously which is pretty much all Tagawa does. Granted he does it better than anyone, but he does seem to always play the villain.

Big.Jim.Slade
Big.Jim.Slade like.author.displayName 1 Like

@EliasAlgorithm True, he doesn't snarl, but watch any episode of Iron Chef America and you'll see some (purposely) hilarious broad acting. He wasn't like that on Hawaii Five-0. You can tell he loves playing The Chairman. His over-acting and over-the-top facial expressions are great!

Lithroe
Lithroe like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

"Preview Mortal Kombat on the internet at..." Heh, quaint. 

vangald
vangald like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

Kids. Just say no to live action movie or TV shows based on fighting game properties.

rabidronnie
rabidronnie like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 6 Like

I cannot hear about Mortal Kombat anymore without thinking about the Mortal Kombat flash mob.  It has robbed me of the ability to take the franchise seriously.

kegs
kegs like.author.displayName 1 Like

This IS good news.   I hope.

Canadian.Scott
Canadian.Scott like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

I loved this movie...i remember seeing it in theatres.  That theme music is still pretty catchy.

TheWalkingDon
TheWalkingDon like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 4 Like

@Canadian.Scott I saw it in theaters twice.  I own it on Blu-Ray.  It's still a fun movie to watch. As far as I'm concerned they never made a sequel. 

TrapJaw
TrapJaw like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 3 Like

@TheWalkingDon @Canadian.Scott  Sequel? No there was no sequel. That  Mortal Kombat II movie with the Lara Croft-inspired Sonya Blade that I saw in a movie theater with my friend all took place in my head.  Even my friend agrees.

10glfan59
10glfan59 like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName like.author.displayName 5 Like

I i see the words Mortal Kombat I have to hum that theme music.