Mortal Kombat: The Movie (1995)

Number Rolled: 58

Movie Name/Year: Mortal Kombat: The Movie (1995)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Length: 101 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Paul Anderson

Writer: Ed Boon, John Tobias, Kevin Droney

Actors: Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Cary-hiroyuki Tagawa, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto, Trevor Goddard, Chris Casamassa

Ok, so I actually saw this movie in the theaters when it came out. I’m not going to judge it by that though, because I saw it before I was a gamer or even comfortable in my nerdality. So to me it was just a movie with play-dough looking blood. Of course I disliked it… and of course the critics disliked it. If even one of those critics who trashed the movie back then had actually PLAYED the game it was based off of, I think things would have been different.

Thinking back, this movie was the first movie based off of a video game (in the US) that even attempted not to suck. What came first? Super Mario Brothers (which I admit I’ve never seen…. It’s on the queue… I was a sonic girl), Double Dragon which I’m not even going to discuss, Street Fighter, which made most people who saw it twitch and then Mortal Kombat.

The point of the matter is, the director of this movie tried to stick to cannon without making it just one fight after another – which is difficult, considering it’s a fighting game. The acting wasn’t terrible and though the graphics don’t stand up to the worst of our movies today, back then it wasn’t bad. Say what you will, but Mortal Kombat paved the way for the video game movies we have today; like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. (Let’s just pretend Bloodrayne doesn’t exist, k?)

I have a few gripes, but any fan of the games would. Also, for some reason, I can’t seem to keep Linden Ashby in my head as Johnny Cage. I keep turning him into Jean-Claude Van Damme. It’s not his fault – he did a fine job – but I just keep doing it. It’s weird.

Overall Opinion – 3/5