Mortal Kombat

PROS:

• To be fair to this movie it stays faithful to the video games, it delivers nice fan service on that front.

• Depending on the mindset you have going into this movie, it can be a fun watch.

CONS:

• The action looks very staged and therefore the choreography is quite poor.

• The special effects are awful, especially with the actors having no idea what is happening in front of them. They didn't have the resources to pull off the amount of CGI things they attempted successfully.

• It is very campy and cheesy.

• As it has a PG-13 rating, there is nowhere near as much violence as the games contain.

Movies based on video games usually aren't that great but I think Mortal Kombat is one of the better ones. Sure, it has some flaws, but it also does a lot of things right. The characters look like the ones in the game, they perform some of their trademark fighting moves, the plot centers around a fighting tournament with no other boring plotlines thrown in, and the locations look excellent.

The flaws would be some cheap looking cgi (which is not too often, so I don't have a problem with that), and the often talked about fact that Mortal Kombat the game was very violent and graphic, but none of that is in this movie. Yes, I think the movie would be a bit more effective if there were those bloody fatalities, but then again I think somehow the movie manages to create the mystical atmosphere of the games even without the over-the-top violence. Yes, it's also cheesy and comedic, but I think in the right way. It's just a very entertaining action movie.

A much bettwr movie with decent fx and choreography. Granted the story is cheesy and this is no Enter the Dragon but, not as bad as has been made out. If you are a fannof the game you should share some appreciation to this.

OK, so this was the first time that "Mortal Kombat" was gonna be made into a movie and they wanted to make it as above and beyond as possible and that in all the cool effects that everyone who plays the games would have appreciated and then they totally missed the movie all together. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it poorly acted? Absolutely. Do you have a fun time? Heck yes!

Just don't take the movie seriously or expected to be as loyal to the video games and you'll have a good time.

And that really says a lot about how the not-so-current trend of games-to-movies are received among critics. But this one was easily the best of all of them. This is easily in a league higher than the likes of Super Mario Brothers, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Wing Commander, the Tomb Raider movies, Resident Evils 1 and 2, House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, not to mention that this was one of the few that actually stayed true to the game, from the costumes to the tourney fights, from the characters to the plot lines, everything was done right, and it makes for one hell of a fight-'em-to-the-finish type movie.

But heed my warning: AVOID THE SEQUEL AT ALL COST! Just stick with the original. You won't be disappointed (well, maybe you will, just maybe).