Liu Kang: Robin Shou
Sonya Blade: Bridgette Wilson
Johnny Cage: Linden Ashby
Princess Kitana: Talisa Soto
Shang Tsung: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Raiden: Christopher Lambert
Mortal Kombat
was THE arcade quarter-muncher of the early '90s. I wasted
so much time and money on that game that it kept me interested even when
the series ran out of steam. I remember seeing the MK2 cabinet and I
was there first when MK3 came. I played all of them and never
complained, even when the lucrative MK4 came out. I stuck with the
series as critics moved onto the overrated
Tekken
and
Virtua Fighter
series. So when the movie premiered on August 18, 1995, I was there
twice in the same weekend and four more times until video on December
15, 1995. To this day people are still suprised when they hear that MK
is one of my top 10 films but seven years and countless viewings later
have shown me some flaws.
Mortal Kombat tells the story of a tournament held by the forces of
Outworld. This tournament will decide the fate of the world as the
armies of Outworld will invade (which happens in the sequel) upon
victory. Three fighters have been chosen, fighter Liu Kang, special ops
agent Sonya Blade and movie star Johnny Cage. Liu Kang has entered
because the master of the tournament, Shang Tsung killed his brother
(told in an unforgettable dream at the beginning). Sonya has entered
because the man who killed her partner, Kano will be there. Johnny has
entered because the world thinks he's a fake and his ego causes him to
prove it.
Over the course of the movie they will face cool enemies like
Scorpion: a ninja with a living grappling hook, Sub-Zero: a ninja who
uses the element of ice to his advantage, and Goro: a cooly-designed
four armed creature (and no he's not CGI). And ultimately the tournament
concludes with a cool fight between Shang Tsung and the atagonist, Liu
Kang.
Seven years later, I still think the movie is great but it does have a
few flaws. Take into mind this might be because I've seen it so many
times I probably know it by heart. I just couldn't see past some of it's
cheesy moments like I used to. But what ever the flaws, this is still a
great movie (a video game adaptation nonetheless) and the underlined
theme is fun which it delivers well.
It's funny what a difference a few years can make on a studio. Early New
Line discs were plauged with pixelization and few were anamorphic. Now
look at them, New Line is producing the best transfers out of all the
studios. Unfortunately, this was one of their first (the back touts:
"...experience the movie in the best picture and best sound
available!..."). MK is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen or full frame.
While pixelization can be overlooked, a lot of the dark scenes showed
it. This is really the only problem but it's enough to knock it a few
notches. I've seen this movie in evert form available here: Laserdisc,
VHS and now DVD. I don't remember the pixelization on the laserdisc but
this is not nearly as bad as it could have been.
The sound is decent as well. Presented in 5.1 dolby digital it is very
booming at times. A few times the dialogue was a little low but overall
a very good track.
The extras are wierd. I've seen the terrible animated Mortal Kombat
video and at the end of that it had a 15-minute "making of" segment. For some
reason this is absent and we only get a nicely done trailer and some
Kombatant biographies.
Overall, I definitely recommend this if you haven't seen it. First
viewing's always the best and it's just a great film. Yeah, yeah, so
what if I like these cheesy films, these are what movies are supposed to
do, entertain. I just hope New Line makes a special edition sooner or
later but it's doubtful. This is still easy to find in a bargain bin or
two so pick it up if you can. Oh and there was a sequel and l'll review
that sometime as well.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
