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Review #124: Mortal Kombat
Chan Kang, brother of Liu Kang, is killed by a powerful sorceror called Shang Tsung while fighting for Earth's survival in an ancient fighting Tournament.
Seeing Chan's death in a dream, Liu Kang vows revenge and enters the Tournament, against the wishes of his uncle.
Tagging along are Sonia Blade, a head-strong and overly proud U.S Special Forces Officer who is also after revenge for the murder of her partner... and a stuck-up Hollywood martial arts actor called Johnny Cage, who has been branded as a fake by the press and is out to prove the world wrong about his fighting prowess.
What the three amigos aren't counting on though, is that the Tournament revolves around the end of our world if they fail to win... and all three of them will face certain death at the hands of their seemingly invincible opponents.
Under the guidance of a powerful Thunder God called Raiden, the trio set about to face their destinies, face their own fears and face their own destruction... in Mortal Kombat.
Paul WS Anderson's second movie brings audiences of the much loved videogame a taste of chop socky martial arts mixed with brilliantly choreographed fight scenes, a story that could have been written by a 5 year old... and really terrible acting.
The highly simplistic story manages to piece together the inevitable fight scenes between the various disparate characters and gives the audience exactly what they wanted... live action fights between their beloved videogame characters.
That's about it really as far as story goes, but what MK is all about is the fights.
They're loud, proud, sound effects have the bass turned up to 11 and they're extremely well choreographed.
Stunt actor Robin Shou, who plays Liu Kang, actually rated his own fights by 'breakability': Depending on how many bones he broke depends on whether he liked the way the fight went.
That's pretty much how the action is throughout. It's pretty hard hitting at times.
The movie contains a number of CG shots too, particularly with the powers that some of the characters possess and with the character called Reptile... they're well rendered but not perfect. Even back then, when CGI was relatively new, they impressed the audience but weren't raved about hugely.
Robin Shou as Liu Kang is ok, he's more there for the fight scenes though.
Christopher Lambert is seriously miscast as Lord Raiden. He does the job well, but just feels incredibly out of place.
Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa is the best on show as Shang Tsung. As always with Tagawa, he's professional and gives an apt performance in the fight scenes. He has an air of cheesiness about him, but it feels intentional with Tagawa. With the others, it's because they can't act.
Backing them up with lots of woodeness are Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Bridgette Wilson as Sonia Blade, the late Trevor Goddard as Kano and Talisa Soto as Princess Kitana.
The movie also contains a number of plotline references to the entire Mortal Kombat game series. The first film isn't based on the first game, it's more of a modge between the first and second games.
MK fans will notice, anyone else probably won't care though.
All in all, for a videogame-movie crossover, it's pretty good... certainly better than it's competition Street Fighter.
There's lots of action and the cheesy/wooden acting is kept short and sweet. The story and plot won't impress, but the awesome fight scenes and thumping soundtrack will certainly keep any martial arts fan and fan of the games, glued to the screen from start to end.
My rating 65%
Chan Kang, brother of Liu Kang, is killed by a powerful sorceror called Shang Tsung while fighting for Earth's survival in an ancient fighting Tournament.
Seeing Chan's death in a dream, Liu Kang vows revenge and enters the Tournament, against the wishes of his uncle.
Tagging along are Sonia Blade, a head-strong and overly proud U.S Special Forces Officer who is also after revenge for the murder of her partner... and a stuck-up Hollywood martial arts actor called Johnny Cage, who has been branded as a fake by the press and is out to prove the world wrong about his fighting prowess.
What the three amigos aren't counting on though, is that the Tournament revolves around the end of our world if they fail to win... and all three of them will face certain death at the hands of their seemingly invincible opponents.
Under the guidance of a powerful Thunder God called Raiden, the trio set about to face their destinies, face their own fears and face their own destruction... in Mortal Kombat.
Paul WS Anderson's second movie brings audiences of the much loved videogame a taste of chop socky martial arts mixed with brilliantly choreographed fight scenes, a story that could have been written by a 5 year old... and really terrible acting.
The highly simplistic story manages to piece together the inevitable fight scenes between the various disparate characters and gives the audience exactly what they wanted... live action fights between their beloved videogame characters.
That's about it really as far as story goes, but what MK is all about is the fights.
They're loud, proud, sound effects have the bass turned up to 11 and they're extremely well choreographed.
Stunt actor Robin Shou, who plays Liu Kang, actually rated his own fights by 'breakability': Depending on how many bones he broke depends on whether he liked the way the fight went.
That's pretty much how the action is throughout. It's pretty hard hitting at times.
The movie contains a number of CG shots too, particularly with the powers that some of the characters possess and with the character called Reptile... they're well rendered but not perfect. Even back then, when CGI was relatively new, they impressed the audience but weren't raved about hugely.
Robin Shou as Liu Kang is ok, he's more there for the fight scenes though.
Christopher Lambert is seriously miscast as Lord Raiden. He does the job well, but just feels incredibly out of place.
Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa is the best on show as Shang Tsung. As always with Tagawa, he's professional and gives an apt performance in the fight scenes. He has an air of cheesiness about him, but it feels intentional with Tagawa. With the others, it's because they can't act.
Backing them up with lots of woodeness are Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Bridgette Wilson as Sonia Blade, the late Trevor Goddard as Kano and Talisa Soto as Princess Kitana.
The movie also contains a number of plotline references to the entire Mortal Kombat game series. The first film isn't based on the first game, it's more of a modge between the first and second games.
MK fans will notice, anyone else probably won't care though.
All in all, for a videogame-movie crossover, it's pretty good... certainly better than it's competition Street Fighter.
There's lots of action and the cheesy/wooden acting is kept short and sweet. The story and plot won't impress, but the awesome fight scenes and thumping soundtrack will certainly keep any martial arts fan and fan of the games, glued to the screen from start to end.
My rating 65%
