Mortal Kombat (1995)

...and, for few motifs, little more. first - for the reasonable way "to translate" a game on screen, giving more than a good choreography but a nice story about virtues and about heroes as ordinary people, about relation with the past and self definition not in the most easy manner. the tension, the characters, the crumbs from Bruce Lee films are basic good points of a modern fairy tale about courage, friendship and fight against inner demons.

The world's best martial artists convene at a tournament, the outcome of which will determine the fate of the entire planet.Seven years before turning popular video game Resident Evil into a movie (and a long-running franchise), director Paul W.S. Anderson did the same thing for beat-em-up Mortal Kombat, a game renowned for its fast and furious fight action and some some wonderfully inventive finishing moves (plus a secret 'blood mode' for those who like their video game violence extra juicy). Anderson quickly introduces the game's many characters, providing a modicum of back story for each to give them the incentive to compete, before getting down to the nitty gritty: the tournament itself, which delivers numerous well choreographed smackdowns all accompanied by a pulse-pounding techno soundtrack.Granted, it's not the most cerebral of movies, but it makes for a fun way to spend an hour and a half, especially for those who have given themselves arthritis of the fingers trying to perfect the game's finishing moves; seeing the characters brought to life on the big screen is a blast, even if the CGI used to do so is a little creaky by today's standards (on the other hand, the practical effects used for the four-armed monster Goro are extremely impressive).

It's a good film full of action and fights. The film is based of the popular video game series, and they did a good job at that. It could've been even more better had the movie been more than two hours instead, so it would've allowed more insight into each of the characters introduced in this film. Also, there was a sequel afterwards which wasn't really required, so that adds to my point that this Mortal Kombat film should've been a lot longer because the film was already good, and they could've even introduced more characters there rather than in the second movie. I gave it a 5 because of some of these reasons I mentioned above, but I could've quite easily gave it a 7 or even 8 had the film been a bit longer with more characters introduced, and with a much better story. The story in this film was fine, but not too interesting that will keep you attentive. Like I said, the film was only good for its fights.

Granted with the success of the arcade game that spans over multiple platforms and is readily available in many versions, that the transition to the big screen would eventually spawn an adaptation of the "Mortal Kombat" franchise. And the world was introduced to that back in 1995.Now, I have seen "Mortal Kombat" about three or four times since then, and I can't really claim that it improves with each viewing. In fact, the movie clings on to the mediocre end result that turned out to be this 1995 movie.The storyline in "Mortal Kombat" was as weak as Budweiser Light, so don't expect anything much of a kick here, pardon the pun. But then again, what could you expect from a movie that is based on a game that is solely fighting and nothing else? It felt like they were trying to jam backstories into the movie from way too many characters, but failed at each and every one of them, and with no real solid storyline, it was just hard to center the storytelling on something concrete. And what was even more bizarre was that there was little concern about killing off established characters from the game left and right.The costumes and wardrobe definitely could have used a bigger budget. While the outfits do look much like they did back in the mid-1990's, there was just something too plain and low budget about them. There were not much details and such."Mortal Kombat" actually had decent enough acting for what it turned out to be, especially since the actors and actresses had very, very little to work with in terms of script and storyline. Of course, this is not Shakespearian performances in any way, and you pretty much know what you are in for with a movie of this caliber.Robin Shou, Linden Ashby and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa carried the movie well enough, given the fact that they had very little to work with. But why they opted for Christopher Lambert to portray Rayden was just beyond me, especially since he semi-whispers all of his dialogue.As for the dialogue in "Mortal Kombat", well, let's just say that it was as corny and flawed as you would expect from a movie based on a weak storyline and one-dimensional characters. One might actually go as far as saying, in that classic voice used in the game, this: "flawed dialogue".The special effects in "Mortal Kombat" was not impressive either. And it was a rather bitter pill to swallow to witness that ropy grabber that came out of Scorpions hand as it flew about. It looked so fake that it didn't even do the arcade game any justice. As for Goro, well, he was well-enough intended, but the animation and CGI just was too synthetic.All in all, "Mortal Kombat" is a generic movie adaptation of a good enough fighting game. But there was very little of a storyline here, and the movie constitutes little more than just being an hour and a half of fighting.