Fans have already been treated to a trailer forMortal Kombat II. The movie is set to feature the debut of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, and will see plenty of the familiarMKcharacters facing even bigger threats and, of course, beating the everliving snot out of each other.Mortal Kombat IIis set for release this October, but further down the line is a newStreet Fightermovie, and despite being in the early stages of production, it’s already looking very promising.
The newStreet Fightermovie has gone through at least one big change behind the scenes. Originally, the movie was to be helmed byTalk To Medirecting duo Danny and Michael Philippou. However, the brothers dropped out when they couldn’t make the movie’s schedule work with their next feature,Bring Her Back. This might have ultimately been a good thing though, as the movie’s new director has a lot of promise.That, plus one other major factor, may just makeStreet Fightera better video game adaptation thanMortal Kombat II.
Street Fighter’s New Director Is Actually Kind of Perfect
Kitao Sakurai has unique experience that Mortal Kombat’s director lacks
The nextStreet Fightermovie is now in the hands of director Kitao Sakurai. Sakurai isn’t a household name by any means, but his experience with one particular comedian might just make all the difference.
Among Kitao Sakurai’s credits are 62 episodes ofThe Eric André Show, as well as the movieBad Trip(which also starred André, who co-wrote the script with Sakurai and Dan Curry). André may have donea voice inThe Lion Kingand appeared briefly inIronheart, but his real claim to fame is his subversive and often chaotic brand of comedy.The Eric André Showwould often involve studio set pieces designed to make celebrity guests uncomfortable, as well as man-on-the-street segments where André would annoy people on the New York subway. Even if you don’t know the show, you’ve likely seen the memes (André shooting Hannibal Buress and asking why someone else would do this, screaming ‘Let me in!’ at the White House, “Why are you booing me? I’m right!").
Bad Trip, similarly, is a movie that straddles the line between scripted and unscripted. It’s a creative combination of buddy road trip movie and hidden camera prank show. It uses real reactions from normal people to accentuate the movie’s wild comedic setpieces. BothBad TripandThe Eric André Showhighlight a lot of ingenuity and creativity from Sakurai, and thismeans there is a lot of promise forStreet Fighter. That’s not to say that the actors are literally going to be throwing each other through walls in front of unsuspecting crowds, but it likely means a lot more practical filmmaking and staging that lets the action speak for itself.
By contrast,Mortal Kombat IIwill be helmed by Simon McQuoid, the director of the first film.Mortal Kombatwasn’t necessarily a big hit with fans. It was also critically panned and didn’t exactly make a splash at the box office (though it was released simultaneously on HBO Max owing to the COVID-19 pandemic). Still, Warner deemed it enough of a success to move forward with a sequel directed by McQuoid.
The big issue is thatMortal Kombatwas McQuoid’s directorial debut, and he didn’t exactly blow anyone away with his take on the material. Bringing him back promises more of the same, and there is unlikely to beany major changes inMortal Kombat IIthat might entice fans more than before. The smart move would have been to at least bring on a new director and try something different, but the studio went with the safe option, which could end up costing them in the end.
Street Fighter is Building Its Story on Game Characters
Mortal Kombat still includes the completely forgettable Cole Young
One of the most baffling choices made in the firstMortal Kombatmovie was to center the story arounda totally original character named Cole Young(played by Lewis Tan). Fans didn’t know what to make of this decision, asMortal Kombathas always boasted a huge cast of characters that could easily serve as protagonists in a movie. It didn’t help that Cole’s story felt completely underwhelming, and the character failed to make any sort of impact on the lore (he hasn’t even been built into any of the games since the movie). If I had to bet, I would guess thatCole Young is not long for the world of the living inMortal Kombat II, as the promotional material seems to indicate that Johnny Cage is taking the role of protagonist this time around.
By contrast, theStreet Fightermovie has so far only listedwell-known game characters as its cast, and looks likely to build a narrative around them. This makes far more sense, as fans are likely to want to see the fighters they know rather than trying to figure out how a new character fits into the whole thing. It would be easy enough to use someone like Ken (who will be played by Noah Centineo) as an audience surrogate, just so any casual viewers can follow the story. The casting, so far, has also been excitingly on point, with even a few surprises. David Dastmalchain as M. Bison? It’s not who I would have picked, but Dastmalchain is great, and his take on the villain will likely be a lot of fun. Even the more obvious picks,like Jason Momoa as Blanka, are exciting to think about.
Altogether, it’s so far much easier to be excited aboutStreet Fighterthan it is to be excited aboutMortal Kombat II. Even Karl Urban’s turn asJohnny Cage might not be enough to bring fans backafter they were left wanting from the first movie. Still, they’ll have to wait until 2026 to make any comparisons toStreet Fighter.
