Mortal Kombat: B+
I wouldn't dare calling Mortal Kombat a great film, but by God is it an entertaining one. I saw this film twice in the theaters and it still has a powerful on me these days. The casting was dead on, in my opinion, Linden Ashby being my favorite actor of the film. I never cared much for Christophe Lambert. Much to my surprise, though, he did surprisingly well as Rayden, and was able to convey all the mystique and "coolness" of the character. And what can I say about Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung? Let's say he was born to play he role. Some of his acting was over the top, but it makes it part of the fun of his performance. The sets are also well put together and really give the film an ethereal atmosphere.
It has some downsides, though. Even for 1995 standards, the special effects really are underwhelming. I don't mean the Goro puppet, it looked darn fine. I mean the CGI effects. They have been aging horribly. These are by far the worst part in the movie. Also, I wish Shang Tsung had fought Liu Kang by metamorphing into various characters from the movie, instead of summoning some random soldiers during the fight. The script has a few headscratching moments. The first that comes to my mind is Kitana being entirely crytpic when trying to help Liu Kang (Why dopesn't she simply say "Use Water against Sub Zero...?") . Also, what happens to Johhny Cage when Liu Kang fights Reptile? Why didn't he come to his help? Last but not least: Why does Sonya get kidnapped so easily? The Sonya in the game would have never gone done so easily, at least not without a fight. She was a relatively strong and independent character in the film, and I know Rayden has been trying to teach her to admit that she sometimes need a be more dependent, but this is really pushing it. She goes from that badass warrior to that weak ass chick in the final act...Also some really cheesy lines are in the script, but they're part of the fun.
Most of fight scenes still hold up pretty well today, my favorite being Scorpion vs Johnny Cage. Anderson truly is a master of making crafting guilty pleasures of films. Add a memorable soundtrack, and you have one hell of a memorable experience. A guilty pleasure kind of experience, but still. Anderson is master at crafting that kind of films (AvP, Resident Evil, etc).
I wouldn't dare calling Mortal Kombat a great film, but by God is it an entertaining one. I saw this film twice in the theaters and it still has a powerful on me these days. The casting was dead on, in my opinion, Linden Ashby being my favorite actor of the film. I never cared much for Christophe Lambert. Much to my surprise, though, he did surprisingly well as Rayden, and was able to convey all the mystique and "coolness" of the character. And what can I say about Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung? Let's say he was born to play he role. Some of his acting was over the top, but it makes it part of the fun of his performance. The sets are also well put together and really give the film an ethereal atmosphere.
It has some downsides, though. Even for 1995 standards, the special effects really are underwhelming. I don't mean the Goro puppet, it looked darn fine. I mean the CGI effects. They have been aging horribly. These are by far the worst part in the movie. Also, I wish Shang Tsung had fought Liu Kang by metamorphing into various characters from the movie, instead of summoning some random soldiers during the fight. The script has a few headscratching moments. The first that comes to my mind is Kitana being entirely crytpic when trying to help Liu Kang (Why dopesn't she simply say "Use Water against Sub Zero...?") . Also, what happens to Johhny Cage when Liu Kang fights Reptile? Why didn't he come to his help? Last but not least: Why does Sonya get kidnapped so easily? The Sonya in the game would have never gone done so easily, at least not without a fight. She was a relatively strong and independent character in the film, and I know Rayden has been trying to teach her to admit that she sometimes need a be more dependent, but this is really pushing it. She goes from that badass warrior to that weak ass chick in the final act...Also some really cheesy lines are in the script, but they're part of the fun.
Most of fight scenes still hold up pretty well today, my favorite being Scorpion vs Johnny Cage. Anderson truly is a master of making crafting guilty pleasures of films. Add a memorable soundtrack, and you have one hell of a memorable experience. A guilty pleasure kind of experience, but still. Anderson is master at crafting that kind of films (AvP, Resident Evil, etc).
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