Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Talisa Soto, Chris Casamassa
RATING
6/10
How I love the smell of blood and gore in the morning... That came out wrong... I was referring to "Mortal Kombat", the bloodiest and most entertaining video game to ever grace the world of modern technology. But with every ying, there is a yang. Hollywood was quick to capitalize on the impact of video games in the 80's and 90's, and out came a endless array of shitty films based on popular video games that didn't make any logical sense and pretty much were made with the intention of grabbing some hard cash from suckers willing to see it. Among these shit-stains were "Super Mario Bros." and "Street Fighter". When all hope was lost, a director stepped up to the challenge, and his name was Paul W.S. Anderson (to our everlasting shame, this was the idiot that spawned a generation of crappy movies later in his career, but for the time, I say he was alright). And he delivered a kick to the balls with this surprisingly solid video game adaptation: So without further a due...
(best advised you listen to this song as you continue reading this review)
"Mortal Kombat" is the story of Liu Kang, a self-exiled fighter who flees to America in search of a better life. But on his long departure, his younger brother is killed by a warlord named Shang Tsung, and returns home to seek vengeance. He teams up with Raiden, a mystical weirdo who can shoot lighting bolts out of his hands, and meets up with a few other colourful characters before setting out on a journey to Shang Tsung's private islands, where a tournament called "Mortal Kombat" is about to begin... and it pits fighters against some of the most ridiculously awesome supernatural beings on Earth.
And much to my surprise, this was something actually done right on Hollywood's part (well, mostly). It was very faithful to source material, it gathered actors who fit their characters perfectly, and promised what video game junkies were hoping for in a movie about people beating each other to a bloody pulp: people beating each other to a bloody pulp. Being based only on the first game, you won't see much of the other characters (until the sequel, I guess) but with the characters they have at their disposal, the filmmakers and designers do a bang-up job of bringing them to life like the video games' living counterparts. Even though I have seen Robin Shou in other movies, this guy will always be Liu Kang. He embodies his role, and you get on his side every time because he also brings a tough-guy charisma to the cast. And speaking of tough-guy acts, Johnny Cage is in the film, played by Linden Ashby, who does a great job of being an even bigger douchebag with a heart than in the games. And of course, you have B-movie royalty with Christopher Lambert as the thunder god Raiden, who once again proves he is the only man to make wooden acting very convincing. I can't really say much about the other characters, they're pretty much expendable and you don't really care about them (the guy who played Shang Tsung was legit, though). Of course, you do get the badass fights with Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and they're more than welcome as bad guys, but somewhere along the line the writers seemingly got tired of them and chose to take the Jack Dawson route with their characters. After all, what's a MK movie without a few fatalities?
The film's strong points lie within its surprisingly accurate depiction of character, fight scenes, and the blood-pumping opening credits. Even though they're PG-13 in every way, they still bring some heavy brutally and realism to them. For example, the fight with Scorpion and Johnny Cage is stunning to watch because of how gritty and dirty it is. It's not "The Matrix" or anything, or not as immaculately crafted, but its cheap quality is something that suits the tone of the film quite well. I wouldn't have liked to see it any other way besides a low-budget beat-them-to-death fest. This was also at a time when Paul W.S. Anderson wasn't infected by the bug of atrociously bad Hollywood cliches and rehashes and actually had a bit of credibility. His direction isn't bad, though it isn't the spark of greatness you were hoping for either. I say its adequate enough to satisfy your thirst for some fantasy action, and ultimately makes for a nicely paced and wildly entertaining ride. However, that's not to say the film is a masterpiece or anything. It had quite a bit of problems with it.
Goro, the four-armed menace of a monster, is a bulking animatronic mess. Sure, its accurate, but with the technology advance of "Jurassic Park" a couple of years prior to this, they could've at least pulled a few strings to not make him look like a walking potato sack. And on the topic of CGI, this isn't no visual classic either. It has some terrible graphics, especially from Reptile who was probably done by a five-year old on Microsoft Paint. It's all a bit underwhelming, and takes you out of the movie for a bit, but luckily it has the right amount of action dosage to keep you thoroughly entertained. It also has an abundance of cheesy one-liners, most of them coming from Johnny Cage, but I guess that was just being accurate to the video game. Viewers who aren't familiar with the game at all will find them strange, and possibly 95% of the movie strange. That's where the divide happens; fans of the games will appreciate this, while casual movie-goers will smite it with their mighty opinions. That said, this isn't a movie for the sweet normal folks. It's a hardcore fanboys product.
"Mortal Kombat" came at a time when video game-to-film adaptations were failing, and the wicked Hollywood machine raked in the riches. Thankfully, this little flick fell from the hells and delivered a solidly entertaining and thrilling adaptation. To this day, it's still the best one you will find. Despite some dodgy CGI and a script made of cottage cheese, it's all in the spirit of the video game and does plenty right to be able to please the fans. For others hoping to find something more in this, you're best off with "Dragonball: Evolution" or some bad kung-fu flick in the middle of the week at 3 in the morning. It's one strictly for the fans.
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