Francesca Rudkin: Mortal Kombat II and The Sheep Detectives

Mortal Kombat II  

Johnny Cage joins other fighters in the ultimate, no-holds-barred battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn, a powerful tyrant who threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders. 

The Sheep Detectives  

George Hardy is a shepherd who loves to read murder mysteries to his sheep, never suspecting that they can understand him. When George is found dead under mysterious circumstances, the sheep decide to solve the crime themselves, even if it means leaving their meadow for the first time and facing the fact that the human world isn't as simple as it appears in books. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from news Talks at.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Be fredisca rad can our film reviewer as well us
This morning, Good morning, Good morning. A couple of films
this morning, rather differing, Taysan John Do. Let's begin with
Mortal Kombat two.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
You want to know what makes a hero. It's not destiny,
it's not something you're born with.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
It's searching for greatness, Johnny Cage, you have been chosen
for more to combat.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Than realizing you've had it in you.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
This entire time.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Dadda Dan Model Kombat, Mortal Kombat two. Just so, there
was the original, there was a video game, then there
was the original Moral KMBAT. Then there was the remake
of Mortal Kombat one.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Right, it's very I think I think ninety two the
game was released, ninety seven, they released two films, then
there were some bankruptcy and some copyright issues and it
all kind of disappeared. Then there was a reboot in
twenty twenty one, and this is number two in the reboots.
So yes, you're absolutely up to speed. So in this film,
Lord Rayden is he needs to find a new warrior
to prepare for a tournament against the Outer World or

(01:24):
the Outworld, which is run by Shao Khan. In other words,
is going to be this tournament to decide the fate
of Earth, and if Earth loses, it gets absorbed into
Shao Khan's empire. And he's not a very nice man.
He's a very violent dictator. So of course Earth would
quite like to sort of, you know, not that to happen.

(01:46):
So pretty simple premise. And we met the group of
warriors who are already already exist, and then a new
character is brought in, played by New Zealand at Carl
Urban and he plays this he does it very well.
A nineties washed up action star Johnny Cage. And while
everybody else has these powers like they can shoot fireballs

(02:09):
or lightning or energy forces and things, his superpowers that
he's really good looking, so he gets all the sort
of the comedic lines and sort of has a lot
of fun with this role. He's perfect for this because
he can do that really well, sort of that mix
of action in comedy. Just to sort of add a
little bit to the narrative, they throw in the storyline

(02:31):
about this ancient annulate that everybody is after and they
fight for that as well, but I'm kind of looking
I'm not entirely sure why, because shal Khan is already,
you know, going to live for ever, incredibly powerful. I
don't know why he needs this ambulet, but anyway, we
spend twenty minutes fighting for that as well. I think
the story is quite messy. But look, if you like

(02:55):
fight scenes, they pretty much kick off near the beginning
of this film and they do not end until the
very end. So and there are some pretty impressive There's
one really impressive fight scene between one gentleman who can
shoot fireballs and another baddie who has a hat styled
like a table saw. It's kind of got this razor
rem and what they achieve with that is actually pretty remarkable.

(03:17):
So if you love it, it's very much jam to
people who love the game, you just want to watch
fight sequence after fight sequence after fight saying that's what
it's saying for, and you will probably get something out
of that.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Sort of feels like a bit of an oxymoron to
talk about a gentleman who can shoot fireballs with his hands.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Oh no, but yeah, no, there's something quite they are,
you know, these warriors are quite They have a bit
of gravitas to them.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yes, but you know, yeah, very good. Okay, Mortal Kombat
too sounds sounds like one for the fans, But it
was a bit of fun. If you just lean and
enjoy a bit of a popcornyflick, that's not a bad thing.
Next up, this is The Sheep Detectives.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
If there's one secret to happiness in my life, it's
taking care of the kindest creatures on earth, sheep, kiding
them welfare and well grew.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
And each day read out loud to them mysteries who've
done it? I like to pretend that they follow along.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
They're only sheep.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Ah why would he stop there?

Speaker 3 (04:19):
He was just.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
About to say who the killer was?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
This is torture.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
It was a meat right, Okay. That is the sound
of Hugh Jackman tell us about the sheep adjectives.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
So when I saw the trailer for this film, I
couldn't decide whether it looked totally naught or utterly delight.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
Is exactly how I feel this is. You've You've been
much more articulate with that point that I was. I
thought this could go either way.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, And I was like, ah, okay, all right, And
to be honest, it took me a little bit to
get into this film, but I can report it as
absolutely delightful. It is kind of a bit of a
nutty idea. I was like, who came up with this idea?
But it is based on a novel by the Only
Swan Was called Three Bags Full. The script has been
done by Craig Medsin. He is one of the creators
buying behind Chernobyl and The Last of Us. It is

(05:04):
very much an Aga the Christie style murder miss set
in a very picturesque English town. It is a tale
of this kind shepherd called George, as you said, played
by Hugh Jackman, who looks after his flock of sheep.
He is very loving towards them. He breeds them for
wool only because he's a vegetarian. He's named them all

(05:24):
and as you heard in the Trainer, he likes to
read to them at the end of the day murder
mystery novels, which turns out to be very helpful because
one day the sheep discovered George is dead in the
meadow and they then go about trying to solve this murder.
At the beginning, there's a lot of sort of world
building around the sheep, and they quite and they're quite interesting.

(05:46):
They have very short memories. They collectively can decide to
forget things, so life is very pleasant. They've never been
outside their meadow. They don't die yet they think they
become cloud. So they've kind of created this world around them.
And what happens in this film is that they do
deal with serious sort of issues in life about you know,
death and accepting. Life is filled with hard times and belonging.

(06:09):
They're not perfect. The winter the little winter Lambs are
outcasts because they're just thought to never grow up to
be anything good for useful. So there's you know, there's
there's there's a lot of talk about acceptance, belonging and
sacrifice and things. And it's like we've spoken about this before.
When I grew up, I was watching films like et
and things. They were live live action films like this is,

(06:33):
but maybe with a little bit of extra help and
hear the sheperd animated things. But they were real characters
and real people and they took you on these stories
that were filled with humor and a bit of action,
and they were quite sweet that they had real life
people that you could relate to and they would often
you deal with quite big things and then animation came
along and that's what the family film became from about

(06:55):
two thousand and on. And what I'm loving is we
are seeing a bit of We're seeing studios go no,
we can make a family film that also can appeal
to an adult, a live action one, and that's what
this is. So I kind of got drawn into this
and I do think it is really quite chumming. The
cast is absolutely incredible. I'm not going to go into it,
but when you'll be sitting there listening to the Sheep.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Going, oh, I know that, I know that.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
The cast is absolutely fabulous and I think I think
they did a really nice little job with us.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Very good. Okay, I'm looking forward to seeing it. Then
that could be one for our fam Americ And so
that is the Sheep Detectives. Francesca's first film, Mortal Kombat two.
Will make sure the details are Both of those are
all up at Newstalk, SEB, dot co, dot MZ. Both
of them are showing in cinema, so that could be
a good little option this weekend.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
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