Mortal Kombat star Lewis Tan has never been shy about his passion for the franchise, even when his character Cole Young received a lot of fan backlash in the first film. Recently, he even took on a Street Fighter actor who jokingly called out the Mortal Kombat sequel in front of the gaming audience.“Andrew Schulz is the last person that should be talking s**t on that stage. Obviously not a fighter, not even really an actor,” he responded. Now, the martial artist/actor/stuntman/model is fighting back against a horrible review of Mortal Kombat II from The Hollywood Reporter.
Tan’s response was about as close as you’ll get to a real-life fatality on social media. “The fight scenes are “unsophisticated rewards” and villains look like they are from Star Trek? Who tf wrote this and please sit down while we deliver one of the best fight films of the summer,” he responded on X to the publication’s review, which called the film “a tacky sequel that’s strictly for the fans”. Those were fighting words, of course, especially since Mortal Kombat II was made especially with fans of the games in mind.
Nobody is going to buy tickets to see the sequel to the 2021 film and expect The Godfather II with uppercuts and flying kicks. The franchise has built a strong fanbase who know the characters, know the backstories and welcome the gory action sequences. They expect characters yelling one-liners before ripping someone’s head off. This was never going to be an A24 movie. So reviews like this are usually super frustrating to both fans and the actors involved.
So it’s not really surprising to see Tan and producer Todd Garner hitting back at some of the ridiculous reviews out there. In response to a GamesRadar review, Garner wrote, “Some of these reviews are cracking me up. It’s clear they have never played the game and have no idea what the fans want or ANY of the rules/ canon of Mortal Kombat. One reviewer was mad that a guy “had a laser eye!” Why the f**k do we still allow people who don’t have any love for the genre to review these movies! Baffling.”
And he has a very good point there. We can’t expect the same people who are praising arthouse movies to necessarily understand the lore or even appreciate the action sequences in films like Mortal Kombat II. And the box office has proved this time and time again. Just look at Michael or even the Super Mario movies. Sometimes movies are made with a dedicated audience in mind. And for Mortal Kombat II, that’s people who enjoyed the games, love over-the-top action and don’t want to overthink the story.
This is the same issue we currently face in South Africa, where some of the PR are always putting forward the same people for reviews and publicity. And sometimes sites that actually cover and understand the franchise are excluded from press opportunities. It’s an awful marketing strategy.
With all that said, don’t be surprised if the audience score for Mortal Kombat II is sky high. From what we’ve seen online already, fans are loving it. Even our own Casey Chong called it, “a bloodier, better sequel from Simon McQuoid”.
