Mortal Kombat (film)

Mortal Kombat
Directed by	Paul W. S. Anderson
Produced by	Lauri Apelian Lawrence Kasanoff
Written by	Kevin Droney
Starring	Christopher Lambert Robin Shou Linden Ashby Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Bridgette Wilson Talisa Soto Trevor Goddard Chris Casamassa François Petit Keith Cooke
Distributed by	New Line Cinema Alliance Communications
Release date(s)	August 18, 1995
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Followed by	Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
IMDb • Allmovie

Mortal Kombat is a 1995 action film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson that was based on the popular Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. The movie was filmed in Los Angeles and on location in Thailand.

A sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was released in 1997.

Plot

Once every generation, there is a tournament known as Mortal Kombat, which was designed by the Elder Gods to limit invasions between realms. If the forces of Outworld win the tournament ten consecutive times, the Emperor will be able to invade and conquer Earthrealm. Thus far, Outworld has won nine straight victories, making the upcoming tournament the tenth and possibly final one for Earthrealm. The former Shaolin monk Liu Kang and his comrades, Hollywood movie star Johnny Cage and Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, among others, must risk their lives and overcome their powerful adversaries in order to win the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament, or condemn Earthrealm to eternal damnation.

Although each combatant was handpicked by Raiden to compete in Mortal Kombat, each has his or her own reason for competing in the tournament. Liu Kang seeks to avenge the death of his younger brother Chan, who was killed by Shang Tsung in battle. Sonya Blade is after notorious and cold blooded killer Kano, who is responsible for the death of her partner before Jax. Johnny Cage is competing to prove that he is a true martial artist, and not the fake that the tabloids have made him out to be. Regardless of their individual agendas, they are recruited and sent to a pier in Hong Kong, where they are taken to Shang Tsung's island, the site of the tournament. While they are on the boat, they encounter Shang Tsung's henchmen, Sub-Zero and Scorpion, bitter rivals who are under the sorcerer's mind control. Before any pre-tournament fisticuffs can take place, however, Raiden, God of Thunder, intervenes with two lightning bolts, then takes his chosen three aside and explains to them just what they are up against.

Upon their arrival at the island, the Earth Warriors are welcomed by Shang Tsung and the first rounds of the tournament begin the next day. Behind the scenes, however, Shang Tsung expresses his concern to the Mortal Kombat champion, Goro, that Liu Kang is competing in the tournament and that the Emperor's daughter, Princess Kitana, may betray them by allying with him. Despite their concerns, the Outworld warriors draw first blood, with Shang Tsung absorbing the souls of the losing Earthrealm warriors. Sonya, Johnny Cage, and Liu Kang go on to defeat Kano, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero, respectively.

Finally, Goro enters the tournament and posts a long series of victories, killing their friend Art Lean. Cage, furious at Lean's death and eager to protect his remaining friends (especially Sonya), goes to Tsung and challenges Goro. Tsung, both put off by Cage's arrogance and amused by his courage, grants the request. Before Johnny Cage faces off against Goro, Shang Tsung makes the stipulation that, at any time, he himself may choose to challenge any one warrior at a venue of his choosing. Raiden appears and expresses outrage and shock at Cage seemingly running head first into a conflict with an almost unbeatable opponent, but after Cage leaves, he expresses amused pride that one of his fighters has finally learned to take fate into their own hands. Johnny Cage defeats Goro, sending him falling over the edge of a cliff. Shang Tsung then kidnaps Sonya to Outworld, invoking his earlier stipulation. Raiden explains to Liu Kang and Johnny Cage that they must go into Outworld without him, and, because Sonya cannot defeat Shang Tsung in combat, one of them must defeat Shang Tsung.

After Liu Kang successfully fends off an attack from Reptile, he and Johnny Cage are met by Kitana, who reveals the truth about Outworld and her lineage, thus confirming Shang Tsung's suspicions about her. The three, disguised as monks, enter the castle tower where Sonya is being held captive. As Kitana and Johnny Cage free Sonya, Liu Kang challenges Shang Tsung to Mortal Kombat. The fiercely fought battle ends in victory for Liu Kang and Earthrealm, and freedom for the souls of all the warriors beaten in battle and absorbed by Shang Tsung.

Liu Kang and Kitana happily stride arm in arm back to Earthrealm alongside Johnny Cage and Sonya, whose previous animosity towards each other has given way to a blossoming affection. Raiden catches up to them and congratulates them for their efforts in Mortal Kombat. The celebration is cut short, however, by the arrival of the Emperor, who threatens the people of Earthrealm. Raiden and the four warriors assume fighting stances as the screen cuts to the credits.

Cast

• Robin Shou - Liu Kang
• Linden Ashby - Johnny Cage
• Bridgette Wilson - Sonya Blade
• Christopher Lambert - Raiden
• Talisa Soto - Kitana
• Trevor Goddard - Kano
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa - Shang Tsung
• François Petit - Sub-Zero
• Keith Cooke - Reptile
• Chris Casamassa (voiced by Ed Boon) - Scorpion
• Gregory McKinney - Jax
• Kevin Michael Richardson (vocal effects by Frank Welker) - Goro

Box office and critical reception

Mortal Kombat opened on August 18, 1995, and cruised into the top box-office spot with $23 million, nearly eight times the amount of the only other new release that weekend, The Baby-Sitters Club. At the time, it was also the second-highest August opening after 1993's The Fugitive. MK enjoyed a three-week stay at number one, grossed roughly $70 million in the U.S., and earned an estimated $122 million worldwide,^[1] while the soundtrack went platinum in less than two weeks. MK was also the first major success for a video game-movie adaptation, following the critical and financial disappointments of Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, and Street Fighter.

The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with a rating of 24% out of 21 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a 58/100 rating on Metacritic.^[3] Gene Siskel gave it a "thumbs up" rating on Siskel & Ebert,^[4] while Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a martial arts action-adventure with wondrous special effects and witty production design [that] effectively combines supernatural terror, a mythical slay-the-dragon, save-the-princess odyssey and even a spiritual quest for self-knowledge."^[5] Bruce Diones of The New Yorker wrote that the film "starts out promisingly: the actors look sinewy and primed for action, and the effects are convincing. But soon the movie falls flat under an uninspired good-versus-evil plot and pathetically simple-minded dialogue."^[6]

Behind the scenes

Production

• The Outworld exterior scenes were filmed at the abandoned Kaiser Steel Mill in Fontana, California. The site is now the Auto Club Speedway.
• All of Goro's scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.^[7]
• Cameron Diaz was originally set to play Sonya Blade, but she broke her wrist during production and was replaced by Wilson.
• Shooting locations in Thailand were accessible only by boat, so cast, crew and equipment had to be transported on long canoe-like vessels. Crew member Gerrit Folsom constructed an outhouse in a secluded area near the set in order to alleviate the problem of repeated trips to and from the mainland.^[7] The bows of the boats were fitted with ornamental dragon-head carvings and used in the movie as the fighters' secondary transport to Shang Tsung's island from his junk.^[7]

Casting

• Gregory McKinney, who played Jax, served in the United States Air Force Presidential Honor Guard and in law enforcement before breaking into acting. He died of a brain aneurysm on April 12, 1998.
• Bridgette Wilson was jokingly nicknamed "RoboBabe" during production by Anderson.^[7]
• Despite the intensity of the fight scenes coupled with the actors performing most of their own stunts, on-set injuries were surprisingly minimal; the only notable occurrence was a mildly bruised kidney suffered by Linden Ashby while shooting Johnny Cage's fight scene with Scorpion.^[7]
• Sandy Helberg, who is briefly seen in the beginning of the film as the director of Cage's latest movie, appeared in the 1977 Mel Brooks hit High Anxiety.
• Lloyd Kino (Liu Kang's Grandfather) has made numerous film and television appearances in a career spanning 45 years.
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was the filmmakers' first and only choice for the role of Shang Tsung. He came to the audition in a costume, and read his lines while standing on a chair.^[7] Shang Tsung was depicted as relatively younger in the film in order to avoid the excessive makeup that would have been required to duplicate his aged appearance in the game.
• Tagawa and Talisa Soto (Kitana) appeared in the 1989 James Bond movie Licence to Kill, which also co-starred Grand L. Bush (Balrog in Street Fighter).
• Christopher Lambert also voiced Raiden on the French dub of the film.

Soundtrack

Main article: Mortal Kombat (soundtrack)

• Three songs from Chicago-based group Stabbing Westward (a favorite band of MK co-creator John Tobias at the time) were included in the movie, but were omitted from the soundtrack. The songs were "Lost", "Lies", and "Can't Happen Here", all of which appear on the album Ungod.
• Goro's theme is a rendition of the band Napalm Death's song "Twist the Knife (Slowly)", except it is played three modulations higher than the standard.
• A music video was created for the KMFDM single "Juke Joint Jezebel" and featured clips of fight scenes from the movie, but it was pulled by MTV due to complaints about its violent content.

Mortal Kombat II references

Although the movie was primarily based on the first game, there are several notable elements that were incorporated from Mortal Kombat II.

• Jax and Kitana were introduced in the second game, where Reptile's reptilian nature was also first demonstrated; he was only seen in human form in the first MK.
• Johnny Cage drops an autographed picture of himself near Scorpion's remains after their battle, which references his autograph Friendship move.
• Liu Kang uses his Bicycle Kick in his match with Reptile.
• The Shadow Priests, seen before the final battle, were first seen in MKII as part of one of the backgrounds.

References

External links

• Mortal Kombat at the Internet Movie Database
• Mortal Kombat on RottenTomatoes.com