#I’m excited bc I finally feel like my time budgeting abilities are being put to the test BUT holy fuck .

[stuckinapril]

There will not be a single moment next week in which I’m not running around doing something

[zoufantastical]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they have made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action? (I'm not complaining big fan of it) Do you feel as if the show runner herself is giving Sylvie as much screen time and moments that often eclipse Loki bc she may be a character who's main purpose was to uplift and expand Loki's character, and that was her only original purpose? As if maybe she wasn't intended to last in the Marvel universe, at least in this incarnation? Seeing how most of this show is ran by the point of view of some women, that what we have with Sylvie is what we get bc of this reason? Do u feel it would have been different had it been otherwise? Or do you feel differently then my observation? Would love any point of view.

Why First Impressions Matter

Let me just say I was ecstatic over this ask. Finally something different (not that I don’t enjoy the previous asks) that forces me to talk about something that has been lingering in the back of my mind since the show started.

If you guys could be patient with me, I would appreciate it. I’m going to deviate a lil bit and talk about a point that relates to this ask and basically explains this user’s concern.

So, my mother says that she gives a show around ten minutes or so to grab her interest. At first I thought it was a bit ridiculous, since that means she’s missing out on a lot of great potentials because of this rule. I respected her opinion of course. Now, ever since the Loki show started though, I understand why she believes in it.

Marvel is very lucky they have loyal fans like us who will eat up whatever they spoon fed us. Even amongst heavy criticism. Despite people hating on the character Loki in his show by calling him “Larry” , the writers “clowns” or calling him OOC and a sidekick on his own show (please if you have the time, read the short post I linked), I finally understand their sentiment, which in a way is misplaced because of what I’m going to mention:

The first ten minutes of the first episode of Loki could should have been better.

What do I mean by this? Two things actually.

Imagine that you are a new MCU fan and you want to catch up on the movies or someone wanting to binge watch the entire saga again. You finish the first avengers movie but you decide to deviate and watch Loki, which is based on 2012 Avengers Loki. What’s one thing that’s going to throw them off immediately? Guess.

If you did congrats.

It’s the hair.

As a loyal fan, this will ALWAYS confuse me. There’s also the fact that they shot new scenes with the overly long spiky ends wig. So…why the sudden change in appearance? I started headcanoning that traveling through space and dimensions fucks up your evil blowout just for my sanity.

Already we are on the wrong path.

Now you may think this is minor and shouldn’t matter but appearances DO matter and sometimes we don’t pick up on inconsistencies right away, however, they do stay in our minds and form this domino effect later on which is what is happening with a lot of displeased fans.

The second is this joke of a scene.

If there was any time that Loki needed to display some of his abilities we were introduced at the end of episode two and throughout episode three, this would have been the perfect moment. Loki may be cocky, petty and boastful, but he is not stupid.

He just barely escaped with the tesseract. He would not approach ignorantly and all cocky mighty, a group of people who seem to look very dangerous. This is 2012 Loki. You know the dangerous god that a group of talented individuals joined forces to stop because it would have been the end of their world as they know it? A Loki who will be on high alert because not only will SHIELD and the Avengers be looking for him but eventually the Other and Thanos as well.

What I would have done to rewrite the strength and seriousness of the TVA without outright humiliating Loki in the process, this scene instead should have been a fight scene. Loki would have been full of adrenaline, displaying all his feats only to be caught off guard by B-15 and THEN you could make this infamous scene.

We already know that the TVA agents are trash fighters and easily beaten grunts based on later scenes. A scene like what I recommended would have prepared us for that. Otherwise now we are calling the rest of the fight scenes in this show also inconsistent with what we were presented in their first appearance.

Another rewrite I would have done is NOT start off the show using the Endgame Loki escaping scene. A great majority of people watching the show are because they already KNOW this Loki escaped with the space stone. Starting off with a recap, a recap all the way to the elevator scene no less, is not only way too long but unnecessary.

To peek the audiences’ interest, one should have started with a short scene of TVA hunting The hooded mysterious Variant and the latter killing them. It could be anywhere in time. Not only would that peek ones interest and wonder who this figure is, they’ll assume they are trouble and that they might cause an issue with Loki if they were to cross each other’s path etc basically you’ll have the audience’s mind scrambled and excited. THEN after the marvel logo you can put the recap scene.

[If you made it this far, congrats, because I’m finally going to start answering this user’s question]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action?

And this is why I made a big deal of explaining what I’ve said above. Is not that Sylvie is more badass. In fact, Sylvie should have more scenes than the ones we are given. It’s the fact that the Loki actions scenes started off misplaced and were not started strong enough to make an impactful expression. It’s why they are calling him all sorts of things like weak, clown, OOC, stupid, inconsistent etc even though later on he is shown to be intelligent and strong.

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) Sylvie’s character has been bound by her male counterpart’s. The majority of her scenes are with Loki, whether they were fighting or developing her character. This…is not the best writing choice but given this is only 6 episodes and time is short, they are pitting these two together as early as episode two in order to establish their partnership/relationship.

This choice sacrifices character screen time so the plot can move forward. Sylvie so far has only three meaningful scenes ever since being introduced (without Loki) and personally I feel that’s not enough.

Being paired with Loki 95% of the time is why you and many believe that she is taking Loki’s shine. We hadn’t had time, as a viewer, to fully appreciate Sylvie despite her not wanting to be called or relate to the name Loki. We haven’t had time to BREATHE and actually enjoy this new character especially since the majority of her scenes she is bounded by the hip to Loki! You are also right to believe that her character seem to have been created to “uplift and expand” Loki’s character-because SHE IS! And the latest episode basically confirms that!

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sylvie is a character exclusively used for the Loki show. So far there are no plans of using her beyond the series. Which is unfortunate because it means that even with female writers behind the script, decisions were made and accepted to have the Sylvie character move and react to the plot along side a male character. It’s fine for that to happen but when it’s the majority of their screen time, then it’s an issue. So your observation is correct.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been enjoying the show so far. Not loving it but it’s been entertaining despite some of it’s…creative choices. One thing that has been in common so far in MCU series is that they aim too high with a big budget only for them to not put the same time and care on a story they want to tell.

It really is unfortunate because there are moments in the show that has been done great! But again many choices has to do with the fact that Marvel and Disney are obsessed with keeping up this schedule and milking a show as much as they can. Because that’s their brand.

I can’t tell you additionally what I would have done differently. I guess we would have to wait till the Finale for me to properly answer that question.

[theprotagonistdies]

Mortal Kombat 2021 Movie Review (w spoilers)

Just wanted to get this off my chest now that the movie’s been released in America. I watched this on 8th April when it was first released in Singapore, and two more times the following week.

So, overall I give the movie about a 6.5-7/10 or C+. Acting: Decent Story: Average at best Action: Above average to Good Gore: Graphic but not as often or much Best highlights: Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, Costuming

I’ll be referencing some comments by others about the movie, but this’ll all be my opinions. I reviewed the movie based on my understanding that it’s a low budget film before even watching the movie. I am also a fan of the game (though I do not play, I watched most of the lore)

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When I first watched the movie, I was excited. The intro showing Hanzo Hasashi’s backstory would be something familiar to fans of the game. As expected, his wife and child were killed, but as we know it, they have an extra baby girl who later survives and carries on the bloodline. At this point, I was already ‘eh’ because it was so predictable what happens next. I was already disappointed that they named the son ‘Jyubei’ in the subtitles, when the wife didn’t even utter his name in Japanese. In the game, Hanzo’s son is called Satoshi. But one can say that’s something petty.

Anyways, as it goes on, we meet Joe Taslim as Bi-Han. He’s menacing, he’s cocky and has the presence that fills the screen. Already, I was smitten. While some people were saying the movie is rushed, I’d say this part of the intro felt a little draggy. But, the fight scene after is great, and we see Hanzo and Bi-Han throw hands.

I’d have to say at this point: ALL fight scenes including  Bi-Han/Sub-Zero were great. They’re the best. Every other fight scene with the other characters were decent but not great.

Then we get introduced to Cole Young. From the get go, I do not like new characters not in the lore. I’m that type of person who does not like original characters in fanfiction. And his story further made me feel that a lot of time was wasted on him. Mortal Kombat has story elements around family, yes, but it’s not central, and it made the movie too wholesome and not in a way that I feel implemented well. In my opinion, it made the movie a little cringey at times. I like Lewis Tan who plays Cole but unfortunately he’s been given a role that was completely unnecessary.

A Youtube reviewer said it best: Why make up an entirely new character when there’s a plethora of characters to choose from? Heck, if you want him related to Hanzo, you could have used Takeda or something (though yes i know he’s not related to Hanzo, but he could be like a distant cousin relative whatever, with Takehashi on one of this other parents side).

There’s Jax and Sonya - why not just use Sonya? She’s the one gathering all the information. They could have used her. 

Anyway, moving on. We also meet Kano. He was good and I see a lot of people loved him. Personally I thought he was okay, but he was too comedic in my opinion and felt underwhelming. While funny quips and mockery are appreciated, he felt like what Liu Kang called him: A small, angry little bunny. Not at all what I’d expect of the leader of Black Dragon. 

There was... it that supposed to be Reptile? I honestly do not know, but I don’t believe that’s the Reptile we know from the game, and more of a mindless monster that has Reptile’s abilities.

I loved Sonya in this movie. Jessica McNamee was amazing as her. One - she’s attractive as hell, and Two - she felt far more relatable than Cole Young. From her being a soldier living in her ‘shithole’, to her curiosity in trying to find out more about the Mortal Kombat tournament.

They look for Raiden’s Temple in the desert. This was a little slow and again, I say Kano just felt like a chump here. A try-hard doing his best to appear intimidating but failing.

Liu Kang appears. Kano won’t shut up. Liu Kang’s introduction was interesting and I liked it, but later on his monologues and exaggerated actions were so odd and ‘extra’ to me that I was cringing. I don’t know why they don’t just make him a normal guy who’s a Shaolin monk lol.

Raiden is as cranky as we know him in the game. He’s kinda dull here, but to be honest, so is he in the game, so I don’t mind it. I saw someone compare him to the 1995 version which while I enjoyed and appreciated, did not think he suited the game and movie. So Tadanobu Asano’s Raiden is fine to me! Also, shut up to the people who get on others’ case on the way they pronounce Raiden. In Japanese it’s Rai-den, not Ray-den, like they say in the game. Both are correct, so shut up.

Sub-Zero makes an entrance again, menacingly running down the hall and making me sploosh, and Kung Lao also makes an entrance. Here you can see how poor the CG is. This is where you can tell the budget is low and realise that all the sets we’ve seen so far is pretty small and closed.

The ‘arcana’ thing that they made up to explain their powers was honestly pretty smart and I quite liked it. It then becomes a training arc, which while understandably can be seen as slow, it’s quite needed for the story.

The villains in this story were sadly underutilised. Admittedly I am unfamiliar with Nitara and Reiko, so them being throwaway characters did not affect me. Kabal, while very charismatic, died but I felt it was a decent end. I personally wish they could have included him more. However, for Mileena and Goro, I could see the moment I watched it that people were gonna be mad. I’m not fans of either of them but I understood that they are major characters in the game. So for them to be offed that easily was... tbh very disappointing and quite insulting. I sincerely hope they will bring back Mileena for the next movie, experimented on and brought to life using Kitana’s blood or something.

But best villain? Obviously goes to Bi-Han/Sub-Zero. Honestly I went into the movie expecting to root for Scorpion but I ended up being so in love with Joe Taslim’s menacing and chilling portrayal of Sub-Zero. He’s soooo good. People said he was like a slasher film villain and I think they made a great choice doing so!

As for Cole - I’m still not a fan of him or his powers. I like they used tonfas, but as some called it - he has literally plot armour which, tru. Hahahhaa.

So finally after all that, we finally get to the last fight.

Sub-Zero is about to kill Cole then Scorpion is summoned. They both fight and actually one can see Scorpion is winning? He got more hits in than Sub-Zero (two stabs, a side slash and a throw from Scorp, meanwhile Sub got one slash and a throw) so I don’t understand why people thought he actually needed help from Cole.

Also, this is another major complaint about the ‘wholesomeness’. Why was Hanzo’s family killed but Cole’s family spared by Sub-Zero? Why couldn’t they just killed them off for extra weight to the story instead of making it so safe? I felt that would have redeemed Cole’s character as more of  Mortal Kombat character if they did so.

But I really enjoyed the fight here. As I mentioned all fights that involved Sub-Zero are amazing and people not giving the credit to this fight scene are blind. I also saw a comment that said they were expecting ‘John-Wick level’ of fight. Both fair and unfair comment because: It’s a low budget movie and they are two different styles of movies. John Wick is more realistic while this one is more fantastical. Though for them to call this a Marvel level choreography... I’m not sure bc Marvel put a lot of money, so that means for their budget the MK movie did well? So IDK but I believe the fight choreography was good in this most especially in the Sub-Zero/Scorpion fights.

Fatalities were great, costuming were great and for the sets while small and enclosed they did good.

Story could have been better and I cannot stress how much I find Cole’s role completely pointless. Pacing wise I actually do not find a problem with it. I only wished for more fighting and less about ‘family’.

From the movie overall I understood it as to be a set up, and even before watching it, from the trailers, I somehow knew it was not going to have a tournament so I don’t know why all these people in comments are lamenting about the lack of a tournament. It feels clear to me that this is a set up movie and more are to come.

So while I have a lot of issues with this movie, I do think it’s a fun watch which is why I give it a pretty generous score imo.

Hopefully we’ll have more to come, improving everything in all aspects with hopefully a bigger budget!