Review of Mortal Kombat (1995) by Gabbo E — 15 Nov 2013

Mortal Kombat was one of the most popular and controversial video games to come out of the 90s, it caught gamers' attention thanks to its realistic look which used digitized graphics, and large amounts of violence and gore, which caused an outcry from politicians and concerned parents, and led to the ESRB rating system being created.

In 1995, New Line Cinema released the live-action film based on the successful fighting game franchise, prior to its release, fans were already skeptical due to the failures of Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros., especially since the film was rated PG-13, which meant all of the gore from the games had to be toned down. Fortunately, upon its release in theaters, Mortal Kombat managed to impress video game fans, and even several casual moviegoers, despite mixed reviews from critics (even though Gene Siskel gave it a thumbs up), the film was also a surprise hit at the box-office, making it the first video game movie to be financially successful here in the United States, to this day, the movie is considered one of the better video game to film conversions. Now let me say this, I love this movie, it is probably my favorite adaptation of a video game, I am a huge fan of the Mortal Kombat games (mostly the first 3 games, and the more recent Mortal Kombat 9), so it can be easy for you to see why I hold the film in such high regard, now whether you disagree with me or not, you have to admit, it's better than Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros.

The film centers around three fighters; Liu Kang (played by Robin Shou), Sonya Blade (played by Bridgette Wilson), and Johnny Cage (played by Linden Ashby), whom have been handpicked by the god of thunder Rayden (played by Christopher Lambert) to defend the Earth in an ancient tournament known as Mortal Kombat, the purpose behind the tournament is that there is another realm known as Outworld, ruled by a powerful emperor who wants to take over our world. In order to take over the Earth, the emperor's best fighters, led by the demon sorcerer Shang Tsung (played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), have to win 10 tournaments in a row, and so far, they have won 9. Despite being chosen to defend our world, each of the three heroes enter the tournament for personal and different reasons, Liu Kang is a headstrong and reluctant Martial Artist who wants revenge against Shang Tsung for murdering his brother, Sonya is a tough-as-nails Special Forces agent who is after a criminal named Kano, and Johnny Cage is a cocky movie actor who wants to prove to critics that he's not a fake like they have pointed him out to be. Rayden begins to guide the heroes and teaches them what they must go through in order to win Mortal Kombat, and prevent our realm from being conquered.

The filmmakers succeeded in crafting a plot that works as both an adaptation of the video game, and a standalone Martial Arts Fantasy film, the concept itself is like a supernatural version of Enter the Dragon (another one of my favorite films), yet, the Fantasy aspect works very well, and makes the movie stand on its own.

All of the characters from the first game, and even some from Mortal Kombat II, appear in the film, and each of their characterizations are accurate in terms of how they look and act. Unlike Street Fighter where the focus was on Guile instead of Ryu and Ken (the central characters of the Street Fighter franchise), this film centers around the Mortal Kombat games' original protagonist: Liu Kang. Robin Shou gives a great performance as Liu Kang, and resembles the character greatly in terms of how he looks, it's a shame that he didn't receive many more starring roles after this (other than the abysmal sequel) because he's both a talented actor and Martial Artist, I do consider him to be better than say Steven Seagal or even Jean-Claude Van Damme. The rest of the cast is also great in their respective roles (Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Christopher Lambert as Rayden, etc.).

While the gore from the games may be dialed down, the film does deliver the nonstop fighting that fighting game fans expect, the fight scenes are very well choreographed, Pat Johnson (who also choreographed the Karate Kid and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films) staged most of the fight scenes, however, when he became unavailable, Robin Shou (Liu Kang) filled in as fight choreographer, and staged two of my favorite fight scenes in the film; Johnny Cage vs. Scorpion, and Liu Kang vs. Reptile, this gives the fights sort of a Hong Kong flavor to them with more stylized moves as Robin Shou had worked on many films in Hong Kong prior to this. The special moves from the game are also incorporated into the fight scenes (such as Liu Kang's bicycle kick, Scorpion's spear, Sub-Zero's freeze, Sonya's leg grab, and Johnny Cage's groin punch), and are performed accurately, unlike Street Fighter.

The film was directed by then-newcomer Paul W.S. Anderson, whom over the years, has gotten a bad rep for ruining the Resident Evil films, and Alien vs. Predator, but in this film, he manages to do an excellent job, and proves that he can be a solid director with the material that he understands. Apparently, he works best when he's only directing, because he normally fails as a writer (Alien vs. Predator is a prime example of this). The visual design is very impressive, and successfully emulates the look and tone of the Mortal Kombat video games.

The film incorporates many special FX, this was when CGI was in its early years, after the successes of Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park, which pushed the envelope of special FX with their use of CGI, studios wanted more films with computer FX. At the time, the FX were praised, but over the years, some moviegoers have lauded them for appearing "dated", now while they may not be advanced like today's FX, they do work well for the time, although I think the best special FX in the film are the ones used for Goro, the filmmakers wisely chose to make him an animatronic puppet rather than a CGI creation.

Of course, I can't mention the Mortal Kombat movie without talking about the soundtrack, in addition to the incredibly catchy Mortal Kombat theme song, you have a really good number of Industrial and Electronic groups such as Gravity Kills, KMFDM, Orbital, Fear Factory, etc., the soundtrack is fun to listen to, and gets you amped up for kombat. The score by George S. Clinton is also great, and has a dark and atmospheric sound that suits Mortal Kombat perfectly.

Overall, Mortal Kombat is still fun to watch, and definitely one of the better movies based on video games, it's everything the Street Fighter movie should have been, and I highly recommend it to fans of the video games, even Action fans who aren't too familiar with the game may enjoy the film, for me, it's hard not to like it, why other live-action video game adaptations haven't attempted to do the same as this film is beyond me, but I'm still satisfied, nonetheless.

PROS: Plot moves at a brisk pace, a great adaptation of the video games, excellent casting and performances, spot-on characterizations, well choreographed fight scenes, decent special FX for the time, impressive production values and cinematography, awesome soundtrack and score.

CONS: Nothing, really.