Speed 2 Month Day 12: Mortal Combat

For the final day of positive week, I’ve chosen to take a look at another sequel, similar to SPEED 2 only in trying to build a franchise. Some of you may enjoy it, some of you may piss on it, and some of you may think I’ve been hit in the head by some Polish punk one too many times. As always, your mileage may vary. As always, you’re likely in error.

Mortal Kombat was already a massive, multi-million dollar game franchise, from coin operated video game machines to various home platforms. MK characters appeared in a multitude of licensed areas, none of which I’m interested in talking about here. MK was huge, and a movie was inevitable, considering the colorful costumes, well-developed characters and potential monies gained. The first movie, MORTAL KOMBAT, was released in 1995 and while not a great adaptation, made enough money to push ahead with a sequel. MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNHILATION was released in 1997, under a budget almost twice of the first film. It, like SPEED 2, didn’t fulfill the high hopes of the studio, and it also had plenty of behind-the-scenes rough patches that make you laugh, in hindsight. Whether or not you like Mortal Kombat, the sequel movie has plenty to make Jan de Bont wish he’d done something better, like AIR AMERICA.

The sequel to MORTAL KOMBAT picks up the story from the first movie, advances it fairly quickly, then throws a handful of new characters onto the screen so game fans could get wet in their seats watching their favorites. The story itself variably follows the storyline of the games, which at that point were the series of coin-op games, as well as Mortal Kombat 1 and 2, which went thusly: An ancient battle of fighting martial artists must beat the forces of evil who wish to open a portal to Earth so they can dominate it and enslave the population. There are all sorts of inane and kooky details for each and every character, explaining their super power-like abilities, as well as a whole generational thing, as well as gods. It’s pretty wild stuff, and while it works well in a game format, it’s tough to fit all that in a movie that’s not quite 2 hours long. The first movie got the tale down well, though it had a hard time with the martial effects and actors involved. ANNIHILATION seemed to spark it up a bit, hiring some new people that had some skills in physical arts as well as some acting ability. In some ways, it was a better movie than the first. In some ways.

Bridgette Wilson played important character Sonya Blade in the first movie, to some chagrin. She’s hot, she’s capable, but she’s no martial artist. Swiss actress and model Sandra Hess was hired to play the character for the second movie, and she was promoted as having some form of martial ability. She didn’t, but her physical prowess and presence on screen far surpassed that of Ms. Wilson, who is probably best known for being Adam Sandler’s love interest in the forgettable BILLY MADISON. Hardly a career high. For me though, Ms. Hess was… admirable. The fight between her and the character called Mileena in the mud was quite an entertaining few minutes. For that alone I would push MK2 over SPEED 2, but there’s so much more.

Robin Shou returned in the sequel as Liu Kang, the hero of the movie, and overall, the game itself. Liu Kang is a poorly disguised copy of Bruce Lee, which likely made the character even more popular when the first MK game hit the streets. Robin Shou filled the character well, and was mostly well-liked by viewers and fans. He got to stretch his acting chops in MK2 when given the ham fisted romance plot with Talisa Soto, playing the Kitana character. While Ms. Soto may be a bit wooden when acting in this character, she definitely filled the costume extremely well. If nothing else, MK2 had an amazing eye candy quotient that far surpassed the first film, or, you guessed it, SPEED 2. O, right, I forget that I’m a guy. For you girls, I have no doubt that Robin Shou gave you what you wanted. For eye candy. I guess. Ahem.

Journeyman muscleman actor Brian Thompson (no relation to Marshall Thompson, brought up in detail yesterday), well known to genre fans in a myriad of roles, ended up playing the villain in MK2, Shao Khan. He was interviewed as taking the role as a favor to one of his sons, and I for one was incredibly pleased. His voice alone brought the character to a larger imposing persona on screen, which is considerable, as the character in the game is massive. It was hard not to think of Thompson after the movie, when the character appeared in game. No matter what he thinks of the role, he dominates the screen when appearing, his mere presence overbearing all others in shot.

I won’t go into befuddling detail on all the actors and characters involved in the movie, except to say that most of the action scenes were ramped up from the few the first film had. Considering that the plot is basically GOOD vs. EVIL for the Sake of the World, the fights should have taken up about 75% of the time. Sadly, it tried to force too much of the game story into the movie, hobbling it about half of the way through. By the time you get to the end of the flick, you want it to end. Too bad it’s a cliffhanger ending, as it was hoped that this was a huge money making franchise. It wasn’t, and we never got another MK movie. I’m not unhappy about that, since I didn’t have to see Musetta Vander in purple spandex ever again.

MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION, as well as its predecessor, are guilty pleasures of mine. They’re dumb, they’re fun and yes, they could have been better. SPEED 2, you never had a chance.

Next week, no more positives. It’s all about the shitpile SPEED 2 is, and maybe I’ll call some of you out that think everything Sandra Bullock touches turns to platinum.

Speed 2 Month Day 11: Faceless Fiends

Positive week is coming to a close and as it has been difficult maintaining a positive outlook in comparing other horrible movies to SPEED 2, the topics have been weak, at best. It is important to show the how execrable a creation this movie is in the history of filmmaking, so I will continue to do my best in a positive light, at least for two more days. To take a cue from the first day of a week of positives, I’m going to dig back into the annals of B movie madness, with 1958’s FIEND WITHOUT A FACE.

I was introduced to FIEND WITHOUT A FACE around 1990, by a coworker we’ll call… Alec Pectin. (If he ever reads this and sees the name I gave him, I hope he recalls it.) Alec was surprised that I’d never seen it, considering the plethora of crappy 50’s B-flicks I was aware of, and knew well. F W/O A F I not only didn’t know, I’d never even heard of it! A trek to my favorite local rental place was happy to inform me that not only did they have it; they had a new copy on VHS for me to see. After my viewing, I returned it – and promptly ordered myself a copy. It was wonderfully, beautifully, pointedly gross and disgusting. I loved it.

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE is a silly tale of a nuclear testing and a science experiment gone mad, with locals dying from mysterious punctures to the base of the neck. When the residents demand answers, they send an Air Force investigator to get to the bottom of the deaths, which escalate when they start occurring at the air base nearby. The “fiends”, initially invisible, draw on the power of the nuclear testing and become visible, and horrifically terrorize in both modes. The fiends end up looking like disembodied brains with attached tails of spinal cords, tiny eyestalks and whipcrack attacks. Fun, right? Watch it, turn up the volume and revel in the sound effects. It’ll disturb and disgust you, and you’ll love every second of it. Black and white stop motion at its best!

The star of F W/O A F is “Canada’s Greatest Actor”, Marshall Thompson. Thompson became a household name for all of five minutes with CLARENCE THE CROSS-EYED LION and the television series DAKTARI! The handsome and imitable actor pretty much was the driving force on screen, handling the insane story, terrible sets and special effects with an ease unlike other top-billed B stars of the time. In fact, if Marshall Thompson, in his prime, was to replace Jason Patric in SPEED 2, he would probably have brought some serious credibility to the role. When you consider he willfully allowed an optically impaired lion to steal the show from him… well… you put it together.

F W/O A F was filmed entirely in England, set in Canada and used all Canadian and American actors in England. It made waves on both sides of the Atlantic for the detailed special effects. You have to give a film of this nature high points for the great effects, particularly in sound. It was so repulsive the Brits didn’t even want to show it without an X rating (which meant something completely different in 1958 England than it does in the modern US).

This is what I said in my old article, 15 Short Film Reviews (that are better than Speed 2): “Starring Canada's greatest actor, Marshall Thompson, this phenomenal black and white horror/sci-fi stunner has some of the most disgusting and grotesque sound effects from any movie.  That says much, considering the budget.  Speed 2 had a budget that dwarfed FWaF as the sun dwarfs the Earth, so that alone says we have a better film here.”

Honestly, comparing the two films is not something I would normally do, as I prefer to avoid showing up SPEED 2’s faults with films of a, let’s say, lesser pedigree. Or, more accurately, a lesser intended pedigree. Even so, Marshall Thompson at his absolute worst acts rings around anyone in SPEED 2. Yes, I’m including Willem Defoe in on this.

Day 12 will end positive week, with a look at another movie released in 1997, and a guilty pleasure of mine. Are you ready to… COME OVER HERE!

Speed 2 Month Day 10: 1997 Unfettered

In the desperate attempt to avoid being swallowed in the bog of decaying unctuousness that is talking about SPEED 2 at length, I’m aiming A Leaf on the Wind in a more positive direction this week. Yesterday I tried not to undermine the movie CON AIR, which competed for dollars at the box office with our principal topic. In looking at other competing films of the year, much less the month itself, I felt a general spotlight may help in keeping things lighthearted. As I write this, it’s obvious it’s going to be difficult.

In June of 1997, the wretched BATMAN & ROBIN and the hit films MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING, Disney’s HERCULES and FACE/OFF bowed on the silver screen, after SPEED 2. All of them made more money domestically than SPEED 2 and their worldwide totals crushed that of our unimposing sequel. This is not to say that financial gain is a rating for a successful picture, as BATMAN & ROBIN here can prove. B&R was not successful, and is an unwelcome addition in the Batman mythos, to many. That said, none of these cost what SPEED 2 did, not even B&R!

I have not seen HERCULES. I’m not a huge fan of Disney animation and have never cared for the “song and dance” numbers of most of their pictures. I have little to say about it except for the fact it cost 85 million to make and brought in 252 million worldwide (not to mention licensing and such).

I have seen MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING and FACE/OFF. Neither really left a lasting impact with me, but they both succeeded in ways that SPEED 2 never did, and also put CON AIR to shame. Then again, two Nicolas Cage films were released in the same month as SPEED 2, so maybe that had something to do with the poor reception of the sequel to SPEED. Or not.

Other… memorable movies released in 1997 should make you think of SPEED 2 in a favorable light. Who recalls MEET WALLY SPARKS? BOOTY CALL? LIAR LIAR? McHALE’S NAVY? GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE? Or how about my personal favorite, 8 HEADS IN A DUFFLE BAG? O yes, 1997 was a year full of absolute shit. It also had quite a few glaring beauties. GROSSE POINT BLANK. The first AUSTIN POWERS flick. AIR FORCE ONE. THE FULL MONTY. AS GOOD AS IT GETS. JACKIE BROWN. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. AIR BUD.

AIR BUD?!? Well, it was better than SPEED 2.

1997 had highs and lows that were probably of a deeper pitch than earlier years. In fact, I’d even advance that ’97 was the start of violent up and down swings in the box office that we still see today. SPEED 2 was obviously the lowest. TITANIC, released in December, was definitely the highest, in terms of income. Even I have to admit that TITANIC raised the bar for movie studios, in terms of money spent, director control and repeated realization of monetary gain.

George Lucas understood repeated monetary gain. So much so, he rereleased the original STAR WARS trilogy to theatres with updated visual effects (and a few… minor story changes) during the same year. That racked up huge totals for Lucasfilm and 20^th Century Fox, which likely could have paid for the losses of SPEED 2 and had enough left over to spend on a new STAR WARS project. Even a redone series of films made Jan de Bont cry.

8 HEADS IN A DUFFEL BAG will have to wait until another day. I’m still trying to be positive.

Speed 2 Month Day 9: Powered Flight

When SPEED 2 was released that black Friday in June of 1997, it had little to compete with other than a few aging blockbusters and ULEE’S GOLD, which had little to do with action/adventure with a romantic twist. Except, a week prior, one of those was released. Its name was CON AIR and it, like many of these types of movies, has a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ fan base.

A brief synopsis of the movie, for those not in the know: Returning vet (an Army Ranger, if that’s important to you) gets arrested after a bar fight, defending his wife. Serves his time, is sent on a transport plane of serial criminals, which they have plotted to take over, so they can fly to freedom. Chaos and heroism ensues as the Ranger does all he can to return to his wife and child. Got it? Good.

CON AIR has a number of things going for it and the first is the cast. Love him or hate him, Nicolas Cage took the lead role and filled it admirably, if not memorably. Honestly, anyone could have fit the role and done it justice; it really isn’t that deep of a character. Broad strokes here, folks. Even so, he’s likable enough to propel the oddball plot. Colm Meaney gets props for playing a complete fool, something usually done by journeyman actors John C. McGinley, John Glover or William Atherton. A complete character study can be done with the list of actors playing the convicts – M.C. Gainey, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, Dave Chappelle, Steve Buscemi and creepy-in-a-fun-way John Malkovich. To round it out, the man in the hero’s corner is played by John Cusack, who seems totally out of his element but still gets in the action.

The budget was 75 million dollars, less than half of SPEED 2. It grossed a total of 101 million in the US, which didn’t make it a breakout summer hit. It did total out at over 224 million worldwide, which probably made everyone happy, all told. To compare, if you’ve forgotten the figures, SPEED 2 did 48 million domestically and 164 million worldwide. I’m thinking that Nic Cage probably would’ve been able to fill Jason Patric’s role and pull off another 5 or 6 million in sales, domestically. Still wouldn’t have been able to save the script, the movie or the profit margin, though. CON AIR has done something else that many movies of the 90’s have not been able to avoid: the dreaded sequel. Fans clamor for the director, Simon West, to fulfill their dreams and do a second movie. It has yet to happen, thankfully. He did agree to direct EXPENDABLES 2, so that may have been enough to clear out any interest in doing any other sequel for the man. Or, one would hope.

It’s unlikely CON AIR did anything to push SPEED 2 off the box office chart any quicker than its own inept tale was already doing to itself. In fact, it’s more likely people walked out of SPEED 2 and snuck into another viewing of AUSTIN POWERS, which was likely still basking in glory, six weeks after release. Then again, three weeks later would have Nic Cage in a second summer movie, FACE/OFF. If any action/adventure movie put a bullet in the walking corpse that was SPEED 2, it was this flick. More on that on day 10, as Speed 2 Month continues…

Speed 2 Month Day 8: Soleil Rouge

Three days off of A Leaf on the Wind and Speed 2 Month have given me great hope and positive reinforcement for the upcoming week. Since Speed 2 Month is really a vicious attack on a poorly designed, thought out and directed piece of film history (as well as full of negative extorting), I’ll attempt to temper it, this coming week at least, with a more upbeat spin. You be the judge as to how well I do.

I don’t recall exactly when I discovered RED SUN. I’m sure it was towards the end of my high school years, when movies of the sort were shown on the local television stations during weekend, non-prime time hours. I don’t believe I had cable at that time, my parents refusing to pay for television service. The Western genre hadn’t been a particular favorite of mine at the time, as most of the movies aired from the time I started watching television to that point were Westerns. Some were good, some my father loved and that I tolerated; some I loathed. It would be some further years before it became a beloved film category.

I know at the time that the DEATH WISH series that Charles Bronson starred in were still going strong, if not completely well thought of, and I was keen on seeing Bronson back in digs I knew him best. I know I missed the title sequence of the film, because I recall hunting for the television guide during a commercial break. I mean, there were Japanese Samurai in this picture! A sword is stolen by a pretty brutal thief (Alain Delon) and… Toshiro Mifune?!? I was hooked almost immediately. I had never heard of a Western that has mixed Japanese and American cultures of the late 19^th century. The David Carradine-driven television series KUNG FU did have a few episodes with Japanese characters, but I didn’t really find a heady interest in that show for many years (again, a program that seemed to bleed off every free moment of local programming… it was overwhelmingly dull to see the same episode every weekend). So here is this movie I’d never heard of, already with two names I’d appreciated in other movies or television features, Bronson and Mifune. The basic plot was simple, the setting bizarre in that there hadn’t been anything like it that I’d seen and I ate it up.

RED SUN was directed by Terence Young, famous for directing DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, the first two James Bond pictures. While RED SUN doesn’t have the same punch as those two films, the chemistry between Bronson and Mifune, who likely had a speech coach for his English, comes off on screen. I’d like to discover more about the creation of this oddball oater, since the personalities involved were quite strong and I’m sure there are some great tales from the set. You think that the story has played out at a point towards last quarter of the movie when the American Indians get involved, ramping up (in my eyes) the kitsch factor by another degree or five. First, the Indians are not well portrayed, so it’s sort of hackneyed. Then you have a big showdown with Bronson’s outlaw, Mifune’s samurai and the Indians that have such a quirky culture clash you have to just roll with it. I realize I’m not giving out too many story elements here, but come on. How much do you need? At least the horses don’t have to be kept under 12 knots or they’ll explode. Or whatever.

Another good thing about RED SUN is that there is no Jason Patric.

SOLEIL ROUGE, as it was known in Europe, was released in 1971. It hit the screens in the US in ’72 and quickly disappeared. I think the quirky tale, the dipping interest in the Western and possibly the unknown element of Mifune and the Japanese caused a relative malaise towards the picture. Then again, I don’t know the details of its release schedule or promotions. Someone else might recall as I wasn’t around at that point.

This site, http://fistfulofcult.blogspot.com/2009/09/film-red-sun-1971.html has a great review and some story details if you’re interested in more than I’m going to give. Also, YouTube has the full movie here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuVVskrIlg0 for your viewing pleasure. The opening titles and credits are not English, but you can deal. It’s also available on DVD or on Amazon Prime, you can go search out those yourself, if you’re that interested. I can say that your money and time are much better spent on this flick than anything having to do with SPEED 2 or Jan de Bont.

In review: Bronson. Mifune. Terence Young. Culture clash. Awesome, neglected fun. If SPEED 2 has a factor rating of Zero Knots, RED SUN would have a factor rating of 65. Again, your mileage may differ, but you know damned well which is better.

Next up, more positive vibes.