For nine generations an evil sorcerer has been victorious in hand-to-hand battle against his mortal enemies. If he wins a tenth Mortal Kombat tournament, desolation and evil will reign over the mul...
Mortal Kombat still remains the best film adapted from a video game and one of the only good ones that I have seen. Now whether you disagree with me or not, you have to admit, it is miles better than Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros.
One of the main reasons why the film still works is because of how it manages to follow the plot of the original video game. The plot moves at a brisk pace, and despite the lack of gore that made the MK franchise so iconic, the movie makes up for that area with the nonstop Martial Arts action.
The fight scenes are well choreographed, and often implement a Hong Kong flavor to them. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to mistake Mortal Kombat for a Jackie Chan or Jet Li flick, but the action is great for American movie standards. The standout fights are easily Liu Kang vs. Reptile, and Johnny Cage vs. Scorpion.
The casting is spot-on, and the actors play their parts well. Robin Shou and Linden Ashby make Liu Kang and Johnny Cage likable protagonists while Christopher Lambert and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa offer the right amount of scenery chewing and charisma as Raiden and Shang Tsung.
Visually, the movie looks great. The cinematography and production design are very stylish and have a comic book look to them with the otherworldly settings and colored lighting. The only issue I can give the movie, aside from the PG-13 rating, is that the special effects vary greatly in quality. You have some good FX work like the animatronics for Goro, but you also have some horribly dated ones like Reptile's CGI lizard form.
Of course, I can't mention the Mortal Kombat movie without talking about the soundtrack. You have the extremely catchy Mortal Kombat theme song by The Immortals (the same people behind the group Lords of Acid) as well as some fun energetic songs by bands and artists like Gravity Kills, KMFDM, Orbital, Fear Factory, etc. Definitely one of my favorite licensed movie soundtracks.
Mortal Kombat may not be cinematic art, but it's an entertaining popcorn flick that succeeds at being a good representation of its source material, something most films based on video games don't even bother trying. The movie has a lot of charm, and it's hard to dislike it. An absolute favorite of mine.
