Mortal Kombat (1995)

Mortal Kombat was one of the most popular, and controversial video games of the 90s, so naturally, in 1995, New Line Cinema released a live- action film adaptation. When the film was being advertised, several people were either excited for it, or skeptical due to Street Fighter being a total stinker, and since the film was rated PG-13, which meant the violence and gore from the game had to be toned down to appeal to the then-young MK fan base. Thankfully, all expectations were surpassed as Mortal Kombat actually turned out to be, believe it or not, a good video game movie. Upon its release, the film was, surprisingly, a box- office success, making it the first video game adaptation to be successful both financially, and with fans, despite mixed reviews from critics (although Gene Siskel gave the movie a thumbs up). To this day, it is considered one of the better game to film translations. Now, it's time to find out why that is the case.

The film succeeds by sticking to the plot of the first game while incorporating elements from Mortal Kombat II. The plot itself is very similar to Enter the Dragon (which I consider to be the greatest Martial Arts film ever made), but with a supernatural twist to it, which is rather refreshing, and helps it stand on its own. Unlike Street Fighter where the focus was on Guile instead of Ryu and Ken (the original protagonists of that franchise), this movie centers mostly around the Mortal Kombat game's original protagonist; Liu Kang.

All of the characters from the first Mortal Kombat game (as well as a few from MKII) are present in the film, and are given appropriate development, and screen time. The casting is also spot-on. This is one of the few adaptations of a video game, comic book, and cartoon show (at least one of the few I could think of) where all of the actors are cast perfectly. Christopher Lambert, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa are especially great as Rayden and Shang Tsung (respectively), they deliver the right amount of charisma without chewing the scenery. Linden Ashby also plays a great Johnny Cage since he brings the character's cocky personality to life, and delivers some of the best humor in this movie. But my favorite casting choice in the film has to be Robin Shou as Liu Kang. Not only is Liu my favorite character in the games, but Shou looks very much like the character, and makes you feel for him by showing his impulsiveness, and guilt over the death of his brother. It's a shame he didn't receive more starring vehicles after this movie, because I feel he is a capable actor, and Martial Artist. He definitely has more of a personality than Steven Seagal.

While the movie is rated PG-13, and doesn't contain the large amounts of gore from the game, it does make up for this area with the large amounts of Martial Arts action. The fight scenes are very well done, and often emulate more of the Hong Kong style of fight choreography, which was a refreshing change from most American action films prior to this. They also incorporate several of the special moves from the game, such as Liu Kang's bicycle kick, Scorpion's spear that comes out of his hand, etc., and they manage to make them look believable, and not embarrassing, unlike Street Fighter.

The person who directed this movie is Paul W.S. Anderson, and if that name sounds familiar, that's because this is the same man who would later go on to butcher Alien vs. Predator, and the Resident Evil movies. Despite his more recent efforts, he does a solid job directing this film. One of the strong points of his direction (aside from how well he filmed the fight scenes) is how he handled the movie on a technical, and design level. The cinematography, set designs, and lighting are stylish, and keep in touch with the game's dark, and mystical atmosphere. The special FX in the movie are also pretty cool, granted, they aren't exactly Terminator 2, or Jurassic Park, but they work fine for a film released in 1995. Though not everything is CGI, the character of Goro is a puppet, which still looks good to this day, and were created by special FX masters Alec Gillis, and Tom Woodruff, Jr.

Overall, Mortal Kombat is still a fun film to watch. It made up greatly for Street Fighter, and in my opinion, it still is one of the best video game movies (right up there with Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist). It may not be Oscar winning material, but it is one of my personal favorite movies, and as a huge fighting game fan, I couldn't be any more proud of it.

So, after years of lethal "Mortal Kombat" competition "Outworld" is poised to complete it's tenth victory over "Earthrealm" entitling it to take it over. It falls to defender "Rayden" (Christopher Lambert) to recruit three warriors who might just be able to thwart the ambitions of his nemesis - the sorcerer "Shang Tsung" (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). The three he selects would not have been the obvious choice. "Liu Kang" (Robin Shou) and "Sonya Blade" (Bridgette Sampras) are driven by the need for vengeance of their own whilst the outwardly shallow "Johnny Cage" (Linden Ashby) is an actor just out to prove there is more to him than his acting. Can they defeat the champions of "Outworld" and their own demons? It is only 100 minutes long, this - but somehow it seems so much longer. The story takes far too long to get going, the character establishment introduces us to three people that have axes to grind, but they are not particularly interesting or characterful - and neither is their dialogue. The nature of the fight scenes is repetitive and shows a startling lack of imagination as does the really drawn-on look of the special effects. Lambert makes only the briefest of appearances as the guru in the white suit; indeed the star of the show is probably Tagawa who hams up wonderfully as the baddie. The narrative does try to combine action, adventure and mysticism - but neither the writer nor the director have anything like enough flair to make this anything other than a predictable, candle-lit, martial arts flop.

I had not seen this in at least 10 years and with the new Arrow Video release I bought and gave it a watch and while nothing amazing with some stilted acting and dialogue (beyond the lines from the game), but it is a lot of fun and enough cheesiness to make it re-watchable. Overall really enjoyable. **3.25/5**

Adapting video games to movies has always been a rough ride, but the 90s gave us a relic that shaped a whole generation. However, taking off the nostalgia goggles exposes a lot of flaws. Revisiting this first attempt to bring arcade fighting to the big screen shows that simply staying true to the game's premise isn't enough to make a solid film. Once you strip away the childhood affection, you're left with technical and narrative holes that time hasn't forgiven.

The movie suffers from a major identity crisis from start to finish. Director Paul W.S. Anderson can't seem to pick a lane, bouncing awkwardly between overly serious melodrama and unintentional slapstick. Without nostalgia to protect it, it feels like an uncohesive, poorly written mess that just throws superficial references at the screen to get a cheap pop from the audience. It survived back then mostly on its marketing, but it completely fails as a legitimate movie for adults today.

It also heavily disrespects the original lore. Fan-favorite rivals like Scorpion and Sub-Zero are reduced to voiceless henchmen, completely ignoring their fascinating backstory. Other legendary fighters are treated as disposable punching bags just to make the heroes look good, turning the fights into lazy, empty spectacles. Sonya Blade gets it the worst. She starts off as a badass, independent Special Forces agent but is slowly downgraded into a tired damsel in distress who has to be rescued by the guys. Her fight scenes lack the energy of Liu Kang's, totally wasting the franchise's toughest female character.

Anderson also drops the ball on the action. He struggles to build tension or maintain a good pace, resulting in choppy editing that cuts away right when a scene needs to breathe. His lack of experience with martial arts really shows—the camera angles are usually wrong, and the confusing edits try to hide the actors' slow, stiff choreography. The mud fight between Sonya and Kano is a perfect example of this, looking more like a sloppy bar brawl than a mystical tournament between deadly warriors.

The acting doesn't help either, often bordering on amateurish. Linden Ashby's Johnny Cage lacks the arrogant charm the role needs, while Bridgette Wilson-Sampras and Talisa Soto deliver their lines like robots. Robin Shou brings the right physical skills as Liu Kang, but he lacks the emotional weight of a leading man. Even Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's Shang Tsung is sabotaged by a script full of shallow catchphrases. But the biggest miscast is Christopher Lambert as Raiden. He plays the Thunder God as a raspy, apathetic guy who just smiles ironically, totally ruining the gravity of the mentor role and weakening the movie's main conflict.

One of the most unforgivable flaws is the total lack of gore. The studio completely sanitized the game's famous, blood-soaked Fatalities to get a PG-13 rating and sell more tickets to kids. Because of this, the finishing moves are terribly anticlimactic. Without those lethal stakes, the inherently dark universe turns into a generic, low-budget martial arts flick, losing the subversive edge that made the arcade games so popular in the first place.

On a technical level, it’s pretty disastrous. The constant 90s techno soundtrack gets exhausting and ruins any chance of building real tension, making the whole thing feel like a long, dated music video. The low budget is painfully obvious in the sets, which look more like abandoned warehouses with cheap fog than an epic alien realm. The CGI for Reptile looks like a primitive console game, and the costumes look like fresh, clean Halloween outfits rather than real combat gear. Even the practical Goro animatronic, while ambitious for the time, ends up looking stiff, badly dubbed, and unintentionally funny.

Ultimately, the movie collapses under its own limitations. What should have been a heavy martial arts epic gets ruined by lifeless acting, dated effects, and bad action choreography. The studio's censorship gutted the franchise's aggressive edge. Still, watching a movie is a subjective experience. While a critical analysis exposes its broken structure, you might still have fun watching it. It’s a great case study on how hard it is to adapt a game into a movie, so watch it yourself—your nostalgia might forgive its flaws a lot easier than I did.