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.

I've always believed that video-games will never make good movies. But Warner don't seem to understand what a goldmine they're sitting on when it comes to Mortal Kombat. The franchise has so many characters, complex back-stories, and mythology that it honestly dwarfs the X-Men. There is a huge amount of potential in Mortal Kombat. This juvenile 1995 effort only scratches the surface of that potential, but still manages to be an enjoyable no-brainer.

I remember when this was released back in October 1995. It had been No. 1 at the US box office for three straight weeks. The audience did actually manage to go along with the silly, tongue-in-cheek hokum, and it worked. By modern standards this film is laughably awful. The CGI effects look like they were rendered on a Commodore 64, even when the technology to make much better was readily available at the time. I feel so old thinking about how dated and retro Mortal Kombat is.

A bunch of muscular tough-guys are called to an exotic island to take part in a fighting tournament that could decide the fate of the planet. The Outworld Emperor wants Earth as his new dominion and is one tournament away from victory. His mortal, demonic minions, led by the brilliantly over-the-top Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa as dark sorcerer Shang Tsung, must fight Earth's toughest warriors. All but three are expendable: Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade. The film follows them as they fight their way through many colorful environments.

It looks and feels very much like an old-fashioned kung-fu movie. The production design is frequently wonderful, and there's hardly any unlikeable characters. Even 4-armed Prince Goro (brought to life by lovely puppetry) is fun to watch. The story however is paper-thin. Like I said, it could be so much more but the talent or motivation to make such a film in 1995 just wasn't there.

I've never been a fan of Paul Anderson (as a matter-of-fact, he's one of the worst filmmakers currently working), but his US debut is a fun, little pot-boiler with some funky 90s techno.

Honestly I thought the 2021 one is pretty bad but then I played this one and it is definitely a lot worse than I remember it. I used to like this one but the execution is just bad. No back story, no explanation, no consistency, bad costumes. The characters are lacking depth and their general vibe from the game is completely absent - they are not menacing (except for Shan) and interesting enough as it was in the games. Wtf were these ridiculous fight scenes?! And what happened to Kitana's hot outfit? At least I absolutely love the bad ass theme song - reminds me of the childhood.

While some fan service is ok, some performances are fun (linden Ashby, Cary Hiroyuki tagawa) and the theme song is awesome, this is garbage. The effects are a joke, the fights are mediocre, the pg-13 rating is just one big WTF, the story is boring and generic, the jokes are not funny, and the effects (with the exception of goro) are pathetic. Terrible movie, waste of time. Just play the games and the 2021 movie.

There's some fun nostalgia here, but honestly not much else. The CGI has aged very poorly and acting/writing is pretty poor. The fact they used the actual MK music is dope though and definitely amps up the fun factor. If you take this film for what it is, a nostalgic mid 90s video game adaptation, you can find some amount of entertainment.