Off My Shelf: Mortal Kombat (1995)
As everybody knows, the history of basing movies on popular video games has yielded a rich crop of delightful, quality films.
Or not.
Plot: Several people with fighting skills (a guy who wants revenge for the death of his brother; a lady who is also a secret agent of some kind; and a famous movie star) are invited to fight in a big tournament somewhere in Asia. The bad guys hopes they will lose so he can eat their souls (like you do). Terrible 90's era CGI monsters also fight. The good guys hope they will win. The end.
It goes without saying that there have been very, very few good movies based on video games. Something about the content either just doesn't translate well to the big screen -- or perhaps the people making them are just so ashamed to be making a movie based on a children's video game that they feel compelled to turn the content into something it was never meant to be (see: Super Mario Brothers: The Movie. The filmmakers decided that the cute, colorful video game about a little man who bounces around on mushrooms should be re-imagined as Blade Runner. Needless to say... a lot of little kids were not only disappointed, but really, really confused.)
So, of course, Hollywood thought it would be a great idea to base a movie on the game "Mortal Combat" -- a game which is random people competing in a martial arts competition. The movie could easily have played out exactly like Van Damme's movie Blood Sports (about a bunch of random people who are called to fight in a big martial arts competition somewhere in Asia) -- or the Bruce Lee movie, Enter the Dragon (about a bunch of random people who fight in a big martial arts competition somewhere in Asia). And, I suppose, in a way it does play out like those movies... just, with dumb, 90's era jokes and with extremely poor actors in the lead roles.
The Main Problem
The main problem with this movie, as you might have gathered from my comments above, was the actors. Basically, it was a nice looking movie, and it seemed like most of their funds and attention were put into the design of the sets, which were creative and colorful.
But THOSE ACTORS.
I hate to personally insult the performance that an actor gives, as there are so many factors that can contribute to a poor performance... But THEY WERE ALL TERRIBLE. Okay, of our main characters...
They were all just plain cheesy-bad. They came across as low-quality television actors. Granted, the dialogue they had to say was, for the most part, low-quality television-style dialogue. But I want to reserve special abuse for the man in the top row... actor Christopher Lambert... because he has been in real movies and one could have expected slightly better of him.
He's been okay in other things -- for instance, the movie version of Highlander -- but in this, as "Raiden, God of Thunder" he's inexplicably doing a consistently terrible impression of Splinter.
When you're casting a European type to play an Asian-type character, there are probably going to be some issues of some nature. But PLEASE DON'T EXACERBATE THOSE ISSUES by a) not giving your lead character any Asian makeup whatsoever (in other words, he just looks like a big ol' European squarehead) and then having your lead character do a weird, stilted, stagey Asian accent. It just didn't work and it elevated this movie from mediocre-bad to head-slapping-bad.
The Rest of the Film
That said... I'm not going to tell you not to watch this movie. Oh, like I said -- lots of questionable choices were made -- but it actually moves along pretty well. As I said, the set designer seemed to put a lot of effort into their job, so (if nothing else) it's very colorful and interesting to look at. AND, might I add, they put real effort into animatronics and puppetry! You have to respect that kind of effort in an age where CGI had already taken such a strong foothold.
Not computer effects!
THAT SAID, they also had awful-looking early CGI. It is utterly shameful.
An actual thing in this movie.
The plot is super dumb, and (as repeatedly mentioned) the acting is just plain bad -- add that to decent production values and interesting things to look at, plus BAD things to look at and questionable effects -- and these things combine making it pleasantly silly to watch.
Ultimately
This is not, by any means, a great movie. Do not watch this expecting quality filmmaking, good performances, or a plot you can shake a stick at. (Shaking anything at this movie is not recommended). That said, if you're in the mood to riff on a crappy film -- which isn't entirely terrible to look at, and moves along well enough, but has enough puzzling creative choices to keep you guessing -- this is probably a good choice! The one thing I can't speak to is whether or not fans of the game Mortal Kombat would enjoy this film, as I've never actually played it myself. That said, Mr. Hall has played it, and he says that (considering the source) the film sincerely attempted to do a faithful adaptation of the game.
RECOMMENDED(With Reservations)
Or not.
Plot: Several people with fighting skills (a guy who wants revenge for the death of his brother; a lady who is also a secret agent of some kind; and a famous movie star) are invited to fight in a big tournament somewhere in Asia. The bad guys hopes they will lose so he can eat their souls (like you do). Terrible 90's era CGI monsters also fight. The good guys hope they will win. The end.
It goes without saying that there have been very, very few good movies based on video games. Something about the content either just doesn't translate well to the big screen -- or perhaps the people making them are just so ashamed to be making a movie based on a children's video game that they feel compelled to turn the content into something it was never meant to be (see: Super Mario Brothers: The Movie. The filmmakers decided that the cute, colorful video game about a little man who bounces around on mushrooms should be re-imagined as Blade Runner. Needless to say... a lot of little kids were not only disappointed, but really, really confused.)
So, of course, Hollywood thought it would be a great idea to base a movie on the game "Mortal Combat" -- a game which is random people competing in a martial arts competition. The movie could easily have played out exactly like Van Damme's movie Blood Sports (about a bunch of random people who are called to fight in a big martial arts competition somewhere in Asia) -- or the Bruce Lee movie, Enter the Dragon (about a bunch of random people who fight in a big martial arts competition somewhere in Asia). And, I suppose, in a way it does play out like those movies... just, with dumb, 90's era jokes and with extremely poor actors in the lead roles.
The Main Problem
The main problem with this movie, as you might have gathered from my comments above, was the actors. Basically, it was a nice looking movie, and it seemed like most of their funds and attention were put into the design of the sets, which were creative and colorful.
But THOSE ACTORS.
I hate to personally insult the performance that an actor gives, as there are so many factors that can contribute to a poor performance... But THEY WERE ALL TERRIBLE. Okay, of our main characters...
They were all just plain cheesy-bad. They came across as low-quality television actors. Granted, the dialogue they had to say was, for the most part, low-quality television-style dialogue. But I want to reserve special abuse for the man in the top row... actor Christopher Lambert... because he has been in real movies and one could have expected slightly better of him.
He's been okay in other things -- for instance, the movie version of Highlander -- but in this, as "Raiden, God of Thunder" he's inexplicably doing a consistently terrible impression of Splinter.
When you're casting a European type to play an Asian-type character, there are probably going to be some issues of some nature. But PLEASE DON'T EXACERBATE THOSE ISSUES by a) not giving your lead character any Asian makeup whatsoever (in other words, he just looks like a big ol' European squarehead) and then having your lead character do a weird, stilted, stagey Asian accent. It just didn't work and it elevated this movie from mediocre-bad to head-slapping-bad.
The Rest of the Film
That said... I'm not going to tell you not to watch this movie. Oh, like I said -- lots of questionable choices were made -- but it actually moves along pretty well. As I said, the set designer seemed to put a lot of effort into their job, so (if nothing else) it's very colorful and interesting to look at. AND, might I add, they put real effort into animatronics and puppetry! You have to respect that kind of effort in an age where CGI had already taken such a strong foothold.
Not computer effects!THAT SAID, they also had awful-looking early CGI. It is utterly shameful.
An actual thing in this movie.The plot is super dumb, and (as repeatedly mentioned) the acting is just plain bad -- add that to decent production values and interesting things to look at, plus BAD things to look at and questionable effects -- and these things combine making it pleasantly silly to watch.
Ultimately
This is not, by any means, a great movie. Do not watch this expecting quality filmmaking, good performances, or a plot you can shake a stick at. (Shaking anything at this movie is not recommended). That said, if you're in the mood to riff on a crappy film -- which isn't entirely terrible to look at, and moves along well enough, but has enough puzzling creative choices to keep you guessing -- this is probably a good choice! The one thing I can't speak to is whether or not fans of the game Mortal Kombat would enjoy this film, as I've never actually played it myself. That said, Mr. Hall has played it, and he says that (considering the source) the film sincerely attempted to do a faithful adaptation of the game.
RECOMMENDED(With Reservations)
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