New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) It is always a huge challenge to live up to the expectations of loyalists of any video game, says Ed Boon, the co-creator of “Mortal Kombat” franchise, who describes his role on the game’s upcoming film adaptation as being the representative of the fans.
Boon, who created the globally popular video game alongside John Tobias, said the nostalgia factor works against filmmakers trying to impress an older audience.
“From my perspective, satisfying old school fans is definitely more difficult. A lot of ‘Mortal Kombat’ fans remember where they were when they first saw the game, what the reaction was, how it made them feel. They were a lot younger when they first saw it and they want to recreate that moment.
“It is very difficult to satisfy somebody who saw something as a teenager. You just have a different mind when you’re a teenager — what can impress you, where you are in your life. Trying to duplicate that for somebody who’s 40-something years old is a little tougher,” the video game programmer told PTI in an interview.
Boon and Tobias co-created the arcade fighting game in 1992, which became a pop culture phenomenon for its brutal combat style and the now-iconic finishing moves.
The game was adapted into a 1995 feature film of the same title that became a huge hit but it’s 1997 sequel, “Mortal Kombat Annihilation”, failed to click and brought an end to the movie franchise.
After a gap of two decades, the franchise was rebooted with a new iteration, “Mortal Kombat” (2021), directed by Simon McQuoid and backed by James Wan. Released simultaneously in theatres and on HBO Max, the film grossed over USD 84 million worldwide.
Though he had little input on the reboot, Boon said he was much more involved in its upcoming sequel “Mortal Kombat II”, which is set to be released in theatres on Friday.
“I was able to read the script early and give feedback. Over the years, we’ve gotten a sense of what ‘Mortal Kombat’ fans and players want to see in a ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie, and I felt like I was that voice,” he said, adding that he visited the film’s set in Australia and witnessed the shooting of some of the action scenes.
The franchise is known for several fan-favourite characters like Johnny Cage, Shao Kahn, Scorpion, Raiden, Sub-Zero and Kitana, each unique in their own ways and combat styles.
Boon said the movie has tried its best to remain loyal to the fanbase.
“There are things players are going to want to see — things that will jar memories. Nostalgia is a big part of it. They just want to see Scorpion throw a spear, Sub-Zero freeze somebody and Raiden do his dive move,” he said.
The video games were about an ancient inter-dimensional martial arts tournament where Earth’s champions must prevent the evil realm of Outworld from conquering humanity.
The games and later, the films became known for their martial arts-inspired combat, fantasy mythology, and graphic finishing moves called “Fatalities”.
The new film introduces Johnny Cage, one of the franchise’s major characters who was teased in the first movie, with Karl Urban stepping into the role.
In the film, the champions of Earthrealm, joined by Cage, are forced into battle as they attempt to resist the rule of antagonist Shao Kahn, whose rise threatens the survival of Earthrealm and its defenders.
“Johnny Cage in our games is so over the top — he’s almost like a cartoon character, so flashy and self-indulgent. There are elements of that in Karl’s performance, but at the same time we’re catching Johnny Cage at a different point in his life in this movie.
“He’s a little past his prime, he has self-doubts, and he’s very much looking in the rear view mirror. He’s a little more mature, a little more experienced, and Karl does a great job presenting that different take on Johnny Cage,” he said.
Boon said Shao Kahn is the big villain in “Mortal Kombat II”.
“He is menacing, he does something really bad in the beginning of the film, and you definitely get an idea of how powerful he is. You will see a lot of his signature moves,” he said.
Boon said he finds it surprising that a video game he created in the 1990s continues to be so popular even today.
“I’ll see one of our characters represented somewhere — for instance, ‘Mortal Kombat’ was featured in ‘The Last of Us’ — and it’s like a reminder: ‘Oh wow, people know what Mortal Kombat is.’ I have very frequent moments where there’s just this reminder, this surprise of, ‘That’s right — ‘Mortal Kombat’ became really big’.
“I’m hoping it’ll continue way past the point when I’m making the games. I hope it becomes something like DC, Marvel or Star Wars — something you just expect to always be around, whether it’s in a movie or a game,” he said.
The programmer recalled that when he and Tobias set out to create the video game, designed for players to compete against each other on machines commonly found in gaming arcades during the early 1990s, the goal was to make something attractive for people.
“We wanted to have outrageous moves. We wanted it to be somewhat shocking and stand out, because there were a lot of arcade games being made at the time. We had no idea that this game and that story — the classic things like ‘finish him,’ ‘fatality’ and ‘get over here’ — we had no idea they would still be around 30-something years later. Our goals were much smaller than it ended up being,” he said.
“Mortal Kombat II” also stars Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, Adeline Rudolph and Tati Gabrielle.
Warner Bros India will release the film in the country on Friday in four languages — English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. PTI RB MAH RB
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