Posted on March 19th, 2012 by
Kim
Fantasy vs. Reality: A classic debate. The answer may seem obvious. Fantasy: Digging my toes into the toasty sand on a beach in Fiji. Reality: Commuting an hour to work in the muculent Los Angeles pseudo-rain. Fantasy: Earning a million dollars for my brilliance. Reality: Praying the number in my savings account will surpass five figures in 2012.
Needless to say, fantasy tends to boast an upper-hand over its stereotypically boring counterpart. But suppose you apply the same comparison to a film–more specifically, a comic or video game turned full length feature. When studios began creating movie versions of Superman and Batman in the 70s and 80s, the films took on a cartoony quality even though real actors were used. This continued into the 1990s with two Mortal Kombat features and a laughable rendition of Super Mario Brothers, though Blade captured a darker edge. The first Spiderman movies in the early 2000s took the realistic approach for a spin, along with a host of other live actions films throughout the decade. Though the above list is far from exhaustive, it took Christopher Nolan's grim exposure of Gotham City's underworld in Batman Begins and later The Dark Knight to truly redefine reality for the comic book hero.
His success proved reality may crush fantasy for these types of films. Whether it's the shiver-inducing lip 
smack of Heath Ledger's Joker or the hum of Christian Bale's bad-a**-looking motorcycle, Nolan's blend of the real with the fantastic transcends the world of the silver screen and enters the one we, as viewers, know. We're afraid because we recognize the villains. Though their deeds seem inconceivable, horrific real news reports reaffirm grotesque evil exists here, and what Nolan portrays becomes not so far-fetched.
This seamless molding of the two counterparts has inspired copycats; perhaps most notable Fame director Kevin Tancharoen who sought the same effect when he pitched Mortal Kombat 3 to Warner Bros. a few years ago.
To make the pitch, Tancharoen spent $7,500 and two months directing and producing a "trailer" for the film–a macabre portrait of the popular 1992 fighting video game I used to play on Sega Genesis in elementary school. The trailer (below) takes the "finish-him" fatal moves to a real time fight battle of serial killers which Scorpion is employed to destroy. There are heads stowed in refrigerators and villains with snarled teeth and pierced faces. The game's moves never looked this real.
The seven minute short went viral and landed Tancharoen a web series, and the series' subsequent popularity led Warner Bros. to green-light what will be the third movie from the game in 2013.
"It will be more realistic and gritty than the last two movies, but also a very big story," he said. "The cartoonish version has been done … What took most people by surprise with my shorts, I think, is that you never would think of putting 'Mortal Kombat' in a realistic setting. But I believe it's a fighting game and it's meant for that purpose," the director told NBC.
His sentiment echoes Nolan's nature, but it initially encountered hesitation from the Mortal Kombat series creator who thought the web series and film should maintain an air of the surreal. Yet arguably, a realistic presentation more effectively achieves that by instilling that fear of the known in audiences. Later, the creator endorsed Tancharoen's decision.
What do you think? Is reality or fantasy better for portraying characters in comics and video games on film?
