David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Josh Lawson’

Mortal Kombat II

Director: Simon McQuoid

Cast: Karl Urban, Martyn Ford, Tati Gabrielle, Jessica MacNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Hiroyuki Sanada, Josh Lawson, Damon Herriman, Ludi Lin, Max Haung, Lewis Tan

Running Time: 1 hour 56 minutes

Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Australian director Simon McQuoid returns as director to the sequel of the 2021 film Mortal Kombat with the new film simply titled Mortal Kombat II but this time he employs lots of laughs and sufficient martial arts, blood and gore to make this film entertaining although downright crazy at times.

Thankfully for the casting of New Zealand actor Karl Urban (Thor: Ragnarok, Star Trek: Beyond, Riddick) as the washed up 1990’s martial arts star Johnny Cage complete with black sunglasses and attitude that makes this film enjoyable. Karl Urban, channelling some of his bad ass character from the hit TV show The Boys currently streaming on Amazon Prime, he makes this film believable and hilarious combined with Josh Lawson as the one eyed Kano.

Mortal Kombat II is a combination of Australian humour and dazzling martial arts complete with a mostly Asian cast including Ludi Lin (Aquaman) who reprises his role as Liu Kang and Golden Globe winning Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada (Bullet Train) who reappears as the vengeful Scorpion aka Hanzo Hasashi.

Female power is represented in the form of Jessica MacNamee who returns as Sonja Blade and Adeline Rudolph as Kitana complete with killer fans, who lives by the mantra that everything is a weapon.

Jeremy Slater’s screenplay for Mortal Kombat II needed some more context and backstory as the multiple characters in this martial arts action fantasy jump between worlds which distorts an already confusing narrative. Fortunately Slater saves the script with some really funny one-liners uttered by Karl Urban and Josh Lawson in the raw Australian humour which is so hilarious.

Mortal Kombat II is loads of fun and definitely a fun popcorn film but it is not as good as the first film due to a confusing narrative and a plethora of characters that just appear to be cardboard cut outs hoping to inspire fans to dress up as their cosplay alter egos at the next Comic Con.

This fantasy martial arts action film is filled with fascinating visual effects coupled with enough gore to make the fights worthy of bloodlust but then pivots into a surreal scene stealing moment featuring Johnny Cage fighting a group of strange Mad Max like characters in a bid to win them over to the human side of Mortal Kombat. Weird and bizarre.

This sequel will make its production budget back and will be a big hit with gamers and those fans of the first film and the 1995 original. Mortal Kombat II should do well at the box office in the Asian markets and of course in Australia & New Zealand thanks to the antipodean cast.

Mortal Kombat II gets a film rating of 6.5 out of 10 and is big on humour, special effects and action but weak on a comprehensive storyline which makes the characters unbelievable and hollow. Recommended for those that love the niche genre of fantasy martial arts.

Mortal Kombat

Director: Simon McQuoid

Cast: Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Chin Han, Max Haung, Tadanobu Asano, Laura Brent, Mehcad Brooks

The original Mortal Kombat video game was released on the 8^th October 1992 with subsequent versions being released in 1993, 1995 and then culminating in Mortal Kombat Trilogy in 1996, much to the delight of every video game playing teenager growing up in the 1990’s.

The first film version of Mortal Kombat was released in 1995, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Pompeii) and starred French film hunk Christopher Lambert who become famous when he starred in the 1984 classic Greystoke: Lord of the Apes.

So the 2021 film version of Mortal Kombat has arrived in cinemas and is directed by first time director Simon McQuoid and stars an array of fresh young stars including Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Australian actors Jessica McNamee (Battle of the Sexes) as Sonja Blade and the hilarious Josh Lawson who played James Murdoch in the Oscar nominated film Bombshell as the loud mouth and macho Kano.

Well known Japanese star Hiroyuki Sanada (Mr Holmes, The Railway Man, The Wolverine) stars as Hanzo Hassahi aka Scorpion who at the beginning of the film set in 17^th century Japan, has his wife and young son killed by the vicious Bi-Han played by Joe Taslim (Fast and Furious 6).

Cole Young, the MMA fighter teams up with Sonja Blade and Jax played by Mehcad Brooks along with Kung Lao played by Max Huang to fight the Outworld villains lead by Bi-Han.

The action in Mortal Kombat is mainly mixed martial arts trimmed with lots of blood and gore especially a couple of head bashing. There are even a fair share of ninja’s and other ghastly beasts which attack the good guys.

To viewers not familiar with the Mortal Kombat game and the universe it inhabits, the plot could be slightly confusing, but just ask any thirty-something and they will tell you exactly what is going on, with them having grown up in the 1990’s when the popularity of the games were at their peak.

The visual effects and the production design of Mortal Kombat is eye-catching and the action, bloodshed and raucous banter is relentless, sufficient to keep any ardent fan satisfied.

Mortal Kombat is a fun filled martial arts sci-fi action film and is worth seeing especially if you enjoyed playing the video game. In this 21^st century attempt of transferring a successful video game to the Big Screen, Mortal Kombat as a an entertaining action film stands its own ground and there is bound to be a slew of sequels to follow.

Catch Mortal Kombat in cinemas now and the film gets a rating of 7 out of 10.

The cinematic release of Mortal Kombat should hopefully draw a crowd of people back to the theatres to watch this action-packed bloodthirsty reinvention, depicting Scorpion’s revenge.

Bombshell

Director: Jay Roach

Cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Connie Britton, Malcolm McDowell, Josh Lawson, Ben Lawson, Kate McKinnon, Liv Hewson, Rob Delany, Mark Duplass, Stephen Root, Mark Moses, Amy Landecker

Trumbo director Jay Roach tackles the Fox News sexual harassment scandal of 2016 in his latest film Bombshell when blonde TV anchor woman Gretchen Carlson played by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours) sues Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes wonderfully played with a creepy sense of self-denial by Oscar nominee John Lithgow (The World According to Garp, Terms of Endearment) for sexual harassment.

Now for viewers that don’t follow American politics or media scandals then do not see Bombshell, this film has a very limited appeal outside of the United States.

The real revelation of Bombshell is the fantastic transformation of another Oscar winner South Africa’s very own Charlize Theron (Monster) as she plays Fox News primetime anchor woman Megyn Kelly thanks to the brilliant work of prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro who won an Oscar for transforming Oscar winner Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

Charlize Theron is absolutely brilliant as Megyn Kelly as she navigates her way through a thoroughly conservative and toxic media environment at Fox News as she attempts to cover the controversial presidential campaign of Republican nominee Donald Trump who inevitably became the next President of the United States.

Add to the mix of beautiful blondes that work at Fox News, is the newcomer Kayla Prospisil played by Oscar nominee Margot Robbie (I,Tonya) who experiences sexual harassment first hand when she has a private meeting with Roger Ailes in a cringe worthy scene in which the media executive keeps asking Kayla to lift her skirt higher and higher.

At the times of the Roger Ailes scandal, the conservative Television broadcaster Fox News was owned by the Australian media conglomerate Newscorp which comprised of Rupert Murdoch played in Bombshell by A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell and managed by his two sons Lachlan and James Murdoch played in the film by Australian brothers Ben and Josh Lawson.

Director Jay Roach does not make a brilliant film and Bombshell appears to be extremely confusing for those viewers that are not familiar with this particular conservative American media scandal which occurred in the summer of 2016.

What Bombshell does do is highlight the extent to which women were sexually harassed in the American work place and this happened a year before the Harvey Weinstein scandal shocked Hollywood in 2017 and gave birth to the vociferous and extremely relevant MeToo movement which aims to end sexual harassment in the highly contested American media industry and beyond.

For those interested in American media scandals, Bombshell is recommended viewing and gets a film rating of 7 out of 10.

For a flawed film, Bombshell is saved by two phenomenal performances by Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie.