Mortal Kombat
New Line Cinema, 1995
The best video game movie adaptation ever. Period.
Video game adaptations seldom get it right. Whether it’s casting or story elements aped to make a feature film, most movies based on the things we play are horrid. That is until Mortal Kombat came along. While it’s not necessarily a flawless victory, it’s good enough to set a standard that continues today.
Mortal Kombat starts off doing exactly what the title says, human kombat. From the get-go it’s rowdy with a young man fighting an older man at an ominous-looking temple. From there we learn that the young man was named Chan, and he was challenging Shang Tsung, a shapeshifter sponsoring a tournament on a mysterious island. We are then introduced to three fighters who are going to the island for various reasons: Liu Kang, to find out what happened and what led to his brother Chan’s death; Lt. Sonya Blade, to capture the fugitive Kano, who is in league with Shang Tsung; and, Johnny Cage, who wants to prove that his martial arts career isn’t trash. They are guided by Lord Raiden, an elemental lightning god of Earthrealm who is tasked with protecting them and saving Earth.
Give or take a few fighters introduced later, that is almost exactly the story of the eponymous first game in the series. Mortal Kombat was and still is one of the closest matches to the actual story, and it’s apparent early on. There are a few changes that are obviously made to save time – such as Scorpion and Sub-Zero being slaves to Shang Tsung – but even their rivalry is kept intact with a throwaway line, so it’s still true to the game’s story.
Mortal Kombat shines best, however, with its casting. Robin Shou is excellent as Liu Kang, giving a more than capable name and face to the Earthrealm champion Liu Kang. Shou also helps provide fantastic fight choreography for a movie that heavily relies on fighting to tell the story. Scene- and soul-stealer Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa absolutely, and masterfully, makes the movie his own. His smooth delivery of Shang Tsung’s sinister machinations has long set the standard for the character in every following property featuring Tsung, and this is a master class on making a memorable villain. The supporting cast of fellow scene-stealer Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Bridgette Wilson’s Sonya, Trevor Goddard as Kano, and Talisa Soto as Outworld Princess Kitana shore up the film and bring the game series’ various storylines to life with charm and wit. And Christopher Lambert as Raiden adds to the mix. While he isn’t the heart of the movie, Lambert’s wise mystical countenance is enough to motivate the heroes, which is what Raiden was designed to do.
And there isn’t much else that Mortal Kombat could do to be a better video game adaptation. It’s got the best fight scenes, a great soundtrack, and enough references to the hugely popular first and second games that fans of the movie were satisfied. It holds up nearly 30 years after its release and still holds up in terms of quality even with what could be considered rudimentary special effects. A handful of people on a leaky boat saved the world and jump-started a film franchise.
Like the games: 9
Acting: 9.5
Story: 9
Total: 27.5 out of 30 or 9.2
HOW WE GRADE
We score the properties in three categories: Casting (or voice acting in cases of animated), plot and similarities to its source material. Each category receives points out of the maximum of 10 per category and 30 overall. The percentage is the final score.