THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The idea of adapting a video game into a movie sounded extraordinary in the 1990s, that was until Super Mario Bros. and Resident Evil became critical flops that can barely get their money back. Before there was a solid hit from Sonic the Hedgehog, there was another flop along the way.
PLOT
1995’s Mortal Kombat centers in an era where there is a fight to the death tournament, designed to protect Earth from an invasion by Outworld’s Emperor Shao Kahn. Our world has won nine at this point and need to win their tenth in a row to begin the invasion. Three people are chosen by the sorcerer Shang Tsung (disguised as the God of Thunder, Lord Rayden) to be champions of Earth: Former Shaolin monk Liu Kang joins out of motivation to kill his brother's murderer, Shang Tsung. Special Forces agent Sonya Blade joins to take down her criminal rival Kano. Movie star Johnny Cage takes the offer, hoping to prove himself as a true martial artist. All three meet at a pier and enter a boat that'll take them to the island where the tournament will take place. Tsung tries to have them killed by combatants under his control, but the real Rayden appears to prevent any pre-tournament conflict. When separated from the antagonists, the God of Thunder explains to the three what is at stake. Upon arriving at the island, Tsung informs that the tournament will begin the next day. After dinner, the three protagonists over hear a conversation the sorcerer has with Kano (Trevor Goddard) and Goro, an eight foot tall, four armed Shokan who is the reigning champion. There is fear that Princess Kitana (Talisa Soto), step daughter to the Emperor will align with Earthrealm. As the day of the tournament occurs, Sonya is able to defeat Kano by breaking his neck. Liu Kang does beat the ice manipulator Sub Zero (Francois Petit) after given advice by Kitana. After Johnny beats a hellfire manipulator named Scorpion (Chris Cassamassa), he requests a challenge to Goro. He makes a deal with Tsung that if he fights the champion, the sorcerer can pick an opponent of his choosing. He does pull an upset by beating the Shokan, but Tsung abducts Sonya and chooses her to be his opponent for the next fight. Since Rayden believes Sonya is not strong enough to beat him, Johnny and Liu go to Outworld to save her. After defeating a lizard humanoid named Reptile, Kitana joins them in the rescue. When finding Sonya, Liu challenges Tsung to Mortal Kombat. He beats him by kicking him into a bed of spikes. After the victory, the souls consumed by him are free, including his brother Chan. When returning to Earth, celebration is cut short because the film ends with everyone preparing for Shao Kahn who is about to attack.
THOUGHTS
I am a fan of the video game franchise, so of course I had excited when discovering there was a movie of it. But I hate to say that I don't like this movie as much as I hoped. I personally believe that director Paul W.S. Anderson was trying to go somewhere special with this, but he just doesn't hit the right mark here. If studios ignored the box office success, this wouldn't be an ongoing problem because this problem continues throughout the Resident Evil franchise he was involved with. I mean every other minute, I assume there is good pacing but it kept going downhill and it was irritating to get through. The set pieces look like spot on reflections to the game and I respect that. The theme song made here is now what hypes up every fan when playing every game after this. The fight scenes look like they're well choreographed, but that really doesn't save how sloppy this movie is. The biggest problem goes to how you introduce characters that are the most popular in video game history, but I don't think all of them have proper development. I mean Goro can rip people in half and all it takes to lose is to fall off a cliff after a low blow. I'm sorry but I call massive bullshit on that. Scorpion can also burn people alive and is also undead, which makes it harder to believe that Johnny Cage can beat him too. I don't want to hate on the character but it is far from realistic for him to beat the toughest of characters. If you want to keep going on wasting characters, it's Rayden. Christopher Lambert not only fails to look the part, but has such minimum screen time that he fails to be as wise as the character is supposed to be. Kano is supposed to give a run for the money, yet he doesn't even use his laser eye when fighting. Not using it on Sonya makes sense because Shang Tsung makes sense he was told not to kill her, but he should've shown off what he could bring to the table. The only two actors that I personally think lived up to their counterparts were Robin Shou and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. While it's hard to follow Liu Kang's arc due to throwing so much baggage in between, Shou still did his best to present him as the most insightful of the group of protagonists shown. Tagawa on the other hand felt on point on making Shang Tsung the most deceitful and manipulative you'll ever see in the franchise. Despite things I admit to enjoy, there are so many things in the story that bother me like crazy. So Shang Tsung invites Sonya and Johnny to the tournament because he knew Rayden would pick them, only in attempt to kill them at the boat. Why would he break the rules if Rayden would be on top of him for it? And why the hell would he shapeshift in front of Liu Kang when he could've ran away and hid to do it? This guy is supposed to be smart with the moves he makes but those two were far from smart. One of the weirdest things I noticed was how during one fight scene, Liu and Johnny fight three men each while Sonya puts up with only one. If that wasn't enough, a whole bunch of them show up at once quietly when the trio was talking to Rayden again. Those henchmen don't show to have powers like Sub Zero, so I don't understand how they get the jump like that. Twice someone said 'flawless victory' which is a quote used after winning without taking a single blow. The problem is that both times I'm calling out is that they weren't flawless at all, Goro got a few hits from Art and Liu got a few by Tsung, so they used that quote horribly. Also, is it really possible to just challenge the champion? Johnny did beat Scorpion but is that really enough to request a challenge? Rayden should've exposited the rules more before reaching the island. I knew Liu was gonna beat Reptile, but why doesn't Johnny intervene? He outsmarted Goro and that means if he can do that, he could still be a helping hand. That cliffhanger is not earned at all because my excitement had disappeared midway and I am livid we got a sequel anyway. To wrap up, 1995's Mortal Kombat is part of the many failed movies based on video games because it shows to be clearly unfaithful. If you really love the games, avoid this and the sequel at al times.
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