Ren's skill was used by Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China (1986), a technique known by the film's veteran Hong Kong kung fu film star Carter Wong (Thunder). It's the first and only novel I know where the villain does this. One of the Sun's evil leaders was the megalomaniac Ren Woxin who mastered the inimitable technique Xi Xing Da Fa, where he'd suck the energy out of his opponents, which led to agonizing deaths. It's first film adaptation was the Shaw Brothers hit, The Proud Youth (1978), where every two years the righteous Clans of the Five Mountains continue the vigilant battle against the ruthless Sun Clan to keep the world of Jiang Hu safe. Though unfamiliar in the West, one of MK's major influences originates from the famous Jing Yong wuxia novel that was serialized in a Hong Kong newspaper (1967-1969), Xiao Ao Jiang Hu ( The Smiling, Proud Warrior). However, the finale fight death strike skill, which could have been used anytime during the bout, makes the climax blow feel like a moot match. Their bookend fights are as engaging as watching a three-legged giraffe using its neck as a forth leg meaning, I would watch them any day. It's superbly chill that the finale duel of MK21 is the masked alter-egos Scorpion and Sub-Zero swordfight with the frantic strength of Cole (Lewis Tan) lurking in the limelight of frost, fire and gold steely armor. During the fight against a ninja faction, Sanada uses Zatoichi's one handed reverse grip. As many know, Hanzo's namesake was derived from the Hanzo the Razor (1972-1974) trilogy, which starred Katsu as a rugged samurai lawman. Adding to the eminence is a nod to Shintoro Katsu, famous for his blind swordsman Zatoichi role in 25 films (1962-1973), a character known for using his sword with a one-handed reverse grip. The opening scene is memorable for featuring Hanzo (Hiroyuki Sanada) battling Bi-Han (Joe Taslim) in their unmasked manifestations of Scorpion and Sub-Zero, respectively. Watching Robin Shou's Mortal Kombat (1995 MK95) confirmed my conjectures.įast Forward 26 years, the beauty of the new Mortal Kombat ( MK21) film is that even if you know nothing about the franchise, the opening superimposition succinctly tells the main plot, "Earthrealm on the verge of catastrophe, should it lose one more tournament, the savage realm of Outworld will invade, but an ancient prophecy foretells that a new group of champions will be united by the rise of Hanzo Hasashi's blood." It turns out that to have a fighting chance, the five Earthrealm heroes, Cole, Sonya, Kung Lao, Jax and Liu Kang must use or find their arcana secret powers from within.
When the first 1994 MK comic book introduced Shang Tsung's power of stealing a fighter's soul to remain young, it was obvious to me, which wuxia novel had the most influence on the MK franchise. When I saw the 1992 video game Mortal Kombat ( MK) it reminded me of the old kung fu films based on Chinese wuxia novels that I learned to read in simplified Chinese in 1980 Taiwan, where two opposing powerful Clans vied to control Jiang Hu (translated as the Kung Fu Underworld in English dubbed Chinese kung fu movies).
The fight between good and evil is an ongoing deception by one that clouds the reality of the other choose your side carefully.