Mortal Kombat

Plot synopsis:
The series takes place in a fictional universe consisting of eighteen surviving realms which, according to in-game backstories, were created by the Elder Gods. The Mortal Kombat: Deception manual described six of the realms as: "Earthrealm, home to such legendary heroes as Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, and Jax, and also under the protection of the Thunder God Raiden; Netherrealm, the fiery depths of which are inhospitable to all but the most vile, a realm of demons and shadowy warriors such as Quan Chi and Noob Saibot; Outworld, a realm of constant strife which Emperor Shao Kahn claims as his own; Seido, the Realm of Order, whose inhabitants prize structure and order above all else; the Realm of Chaos, whose inhabitants do not abide by any rules whatsoever, and where constant turmoil and change are worshipped; and Edenia, which is known for its beauty, artistic expression, and the longevity of its inhabitants." The Elder Gods decreed that the denizens of one realm could only conquer another realm by defeating the defending realm's greatest warriors in ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments.
The first Mortal Kombat game takes place in Earthrealm (Earth) where seven different warriors with their own reasons for entering participated in the tournament with the eventual prize being the continued freedom of their realm, threatened with a takeover by Outworld. Among the established warriors were Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. With the help of the thunder god Raiden, the Earthrealm warriors were victorious and Liu Kang became the new champion of Mortal Kombat. In Mortal Kombat II, unable to deal with his minion Shang Tsung's failure, Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn lures the Earthrealm warriors to the Outworld where the Earthrealm warriors eventually defeat Shao Kahn. By the time of Mortal Kombat 3, Shao Kahn revives Edenia's (now a part of his Outworld domain) former queen Sindel in Earthrealm, combining it with Outworld as well. He then attempts to invade Earthrealm but is ultimately defeated by the Earthrealm warriors again. After Kahn's defeat, Edenia was freed from Kahn's grasp and returned to a peaceful realm, ruled by Princess Kitana. The following game, Mortal Kombat 4, features the former elder god Shinnok attempting to conquer the realms and attempting to kill the thunder god Raiden. However, he is also defeated by the Earthrealm warriors.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the evil sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung join forces to conquer the realms. By Mortal Kombat: Deception, after several fights, the sorcerers emerge victorious having killed most of Earthrealms' warriors until Raiden steps forth to oppose them. The Dragon King Onaga, who had been freed by Reptile at the end of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, had deceived Shujinko into searching for six pieces of Kamidogu, the source of Onaga's power. Onaga then confronted the alliance of Raiden, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi and thus obtained Quan Chi's amulet, the final piece of his power. Only a few warriors remained to combat against the Dragon King and his forces. Shujinko eventually triumphed over the Dragon King and removed his threat to the Mortal Kombat universe.
In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon the catastrophe known as Armageddon starts. Centuries before the first Mortal Kombat, Queen Delia foretold the realms would be destroyed because the power of all warriors from all the realms would rise to such greatness it would overwhelm and destabilize the realms, triggering an all-destructive chain of events. King Argus had his sons, Taven, and Daegon, put into incubation who would one day be awakened to save the realms from Armageddon by defeating a firespawn known as Blaze. In the end, however, Shao Kahn is the one who defeats Blaze, causing Armageddon.
In Mortal Kombat (2011), it is revealed that the battle between the warriors of the six realms culminated into only two survivors: Shao Kahn and Raiden. Badly beaten, Raiden had only one last move he could make to prevent Shao Kahn from claiming the power of Blaze. He sends last-ditch visions of the entire course of the Mortal Kombat timeline to himself in the past right before the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament (first game). This transfer of information to his former self causes a rift in time, causing a new "reboot" timeline to be introduced that splits off from the original Armageddon timeline, with a new outcome of Mortal Kombat history to be written. But this story leads to even worse unforeseen events. It ends with many of the main game characters dying at the hands of Queen Sindel and Raiden accidentally killing Liu Kang in self-defense. Eventually, the Elder Gods aid Raiden in killing Shao Kahn and saving Earthrealm. But as the scene goes on it is later revealed that this was all a plan by Shinnok and Quan Chi.
Mortal Kombat X sees Shinnok and Quan Chi enacting their plan, leading an army of undead revenants of those that were killed in Shao Kahn's invasion against the realms. A team of warriors led by Raiden, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade oppose Shinnok, and in the ensuing battle, Shinnok is imprisoned, Quan Chi escapes, and various warriors are resurrected and freed from Shinnok's thrall. Twenty-five years later, Quan Chi resurfaces and allies himself with the insect-like D'Vorah in manipulating events that lead to Shinnok's release. Though Quan Chi is killed by a vengeful Scorpion in the process, Shinnok resumes his assault against the realms. After a grueling, protracted battle, Shinnok is defeated by Cassandra Cage representing the next generation of Earthrealm's warriors. With both Quan Chi and Shinnok gone, the undead revenants of Liu Kang and Kitana assume control of the Netherrealm and Lord Raiden now protects the Earthrealm not defensively but offensively with the help of the remaining revenants.

Tags: murder, cult, alternate reality, violence, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, humor, revenge

Review:
Following up the spectacular disaster of competing fighting game turned movie, Mortal Kombat succeeded where Street Fighter failed.
Not a fantastic movie nor one that goes in my top ten, but Mortal Kombat (without a doubt) is one of the better game-based-films.MK wisely avoids inventing plot in unwelcomed places and sticks to the game as frequently as it can get away with.
The movie's premise is the first Mortal Kombat arcade game featuring a few plot hints (journey to Outworld) and a few characters from Mortal Kombat 2 (Kitana, Jax, a youthful Shang Tsung.)Christopher Lambert and Cary-Hiroyuki Takawa make the most memorable impact as Thunder God Rayden and Shape-shifting Sorcerer Shang Tsung.
At this point, however, I can't compare it to any other instantiations of Mortal Kombat.The film is basically a combination of a classic Hong Kong-styled martial arts actioner and a fantasy that leans slightly to the horror side of that genre.
It was easily the first video game-turned-movie to contain a halfway decent plot, exciting special effects, good acting and spectacular martial arts action, the latter which was before all the present-day "Crouching Tiger" wire-work nonsense.
Unlike previous video game movie washouts like "Double Dragon" and "Street Fighter," MK also had a comprehensible plot that remained faithful to the games, and in the end won a space in gamers' hearts.Along with the supporting cast of well-renowned martial artists, MK featured a nice cache of actors: Linden Ashby  whose screen personalities have all had a bit of a humorous smartass element to them  was perfect as Johnny Cage, likewise then-rising star Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade and Robin Shou as the film's centerpiece, Liu Kang.
(Heck, how many evil sorcerers get to wear cool black leather jackets?)Unfortunately, save for Tagawa and Wilson, MK unfortunately did not spell the worldwide exposure that many had predicted would come to the stars following the film's success, and the art of animatronics, used here to bring the four-armed Goro to life, is all but extinct in this day and age, but there was no denying that back in the day, the cast and filmmakers knew they had made an entertaining movie.
This is easily in a league higher than the likes of Super Mario Brothers, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Wing Commander, the Tomb Raider movies, Resident Evils 1 and 2, House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, not to mention that this was one of the few that actually stayed true to the game, from the costumes to the tourney fights, from the characters to the plot lines, everything was done right, and it makes for one hell of a fight-'em-to-the-finish type movie.But heed my warning: AVOID THE SEQUEL AT ALL COST!
"Mortal Kombat", simply put, is not only the best best game- to-film adaptations ever made, but one of my personal favorite movies of all time.
This film and franchise even encouraged me to study martial arts for almost 15 years now.Mortal Kombat, simply put, is a movie rendition of the original "Mortal Kombat" arcade video game.
Mortal Kombat (1995) is my favorite martial arts sci-fi action classic flick based on a video game that I have grown up!
In this movie we have a beautiful cast as Christopher Lambert from Highlander, Linden Ashby, Bridgette Wilson, Robin Shou from Tiger Cage II and Beverly Hills Ninja, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as the bad guy, every time I watch a movie from the 90's, I see this guy in it been a bad guy!
It has a beautiful ending, a beautiful song to the movie, I love the fight scenes with Johnny Cage and Scorpion and it is the best one in the movie, the fight scene between Liu Kang and Reptile is perfect the second best martial arts scenes.
S. Anderson, produced by Lawrence Kasanoff.10/10 Score: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval Studio: New Line Cinema Starring: Robin Shou, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Linden Ashby, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto, Christopher Lambert, Trevor Goddard, Chris Casamassa, François Petit, Keith Cooke Director: Paul W.
No, we didn't kill each other, we just loved the characters.Yes, despite this being a typical video game movie, I still think it was cool to watch, still to this day I don't mind watching.
What it's missing, ironically, is the edge that's made Mortal Kombat the video game such a powerful icon in pop culture.It is one continuous fight sequence from opening scene to final credits, but lacks the blood, profanity, and gore that would have merited a more adult rating..
MK made part of my childhood, and it was rare, but great to see how the arcade game which I played in the mall, got sucked up in a film.I'll just recommend the film for those MK fans, or those of us which practice martial arts and enjoy a good two or three hit combinationMorfeo.
I recommend this movie to anyone looking for a great action/martial arts film that has a decent storyline combined with spectacular effects and martial arts..
Mortal Kombat makes only one promise and on this it delivers: viewers expecting a first rate martial arts action extravaganza will be more than satisfied with what it has to offer.I was extremely impressed with this film's choreography, in particular the stunt work of leading man Robin Shou as the heroic Liu Kang.
Certainly, the very ability to lift his leg high enough to throw a sidekick outdoes any physical feat ever performed on screen by Steven Seagal, the poor man's Van Damme.On the subject of Van Damme, one of the main characters from the video game on which this film was based was in turn based on Van Damme's portrayal of martial arts shyster Frank Dux in Bloodsport.
A fine martial artist in his own right, Togawa delivers the film's most memorable one liners ad nauseam, including in no particular order of importance "Finish him!" "Flawless victory," and of course, the spellbinding "Your soul...is mine!" Togawa nonchalantly oozes evil, stealing every scene with understated delivery.Rounding out the supporting cast, the heroes are guided on their quest by earth's sworn protector, the lightning god Rayden (Christopher Lambert).
Mortal Kombat is an extremely good looking movie in more ways than one.I already mentioned my dissatisfaction with the subplot of hinted romance between Cage and Blade, but let me take this time to mention how displeased I was regarding the general lack of character development of Blade.
especially the fight between scorpion and johnny cage, it's a superb fight and contains some of the best martial arts i have ever seen, also the fight between liu kang and reptile is very good.some of the scenes are very well made and the special effects are superb considering when it was made.
i have already mentioned it but the fight between scorpion and cage is good enough reason to watch this film, it is so well made and is just superb viewing, also some of the other fights including kang and sub zero, kang and reptile and kang and shang sung also help this film great entertainment.all in all this film is just loads of fun and is great for martial art fans and for some good Friday night entertainment..
I saw this guy's movies and they are pretty hot.Mortal Kombat,Resident Evil, and Alien Vs. Predator were his best.Mortal Kombat had cool,real martial arts characters(based on the video game),nice looking location fighting arenas and the music kicked ass,especially the Jhonny Cage Vs. Scorpian battle.This guy is one of the coolest directors I've ever read and heard about.His movie should have been one of the top movies there are, I like that much.I always want to know what other movies he has in store for.
Let's face it, Mortal Kombat is easily the best adaptation of a video game made for the big screen, everything about is indeed quite enjoyable in what it sets out to do.
Even the terrible performances are perfect for a movie like this, especially Christopher Lambert is brilliantly bad as Lord Rayden.I have to admit that the action looks pretty good and that is probably one of the reasons it works so well.
It is way better than previous game to movie attempts like the recent horrific Wing Commander, but by no means is it a good film on its own..
While it mainly appeal to the fans of the game, Mortal Kombat has some nicely choreographed fight scenes.Christopher Lambert takes on the role of Raiden, God of Thunder.
After the failures of Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros., several fans and moviegoers had mixed expectations going into Mortal Kombat, but thankfully, it turned out to be a fun and well made movie, and to this day, it still remains the best film adapted from a video game.
Performers such as Robin Shou as Liu Kang and Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage generally look and act like their game counterparts while Christopher Lambert as Raiden and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung deliver their lines in an over-the-top fashion while still offering a great deal of charisma.
Clinton.Mortal Kombat may not be the kind of movie that will change your life forever, but it's one of my personal favorites, and is the standard for what a solid video game adaptation should be..
The Good: coherent story, keeps you entertained, great actions scenes, stays faithful to the material, kick ass soundtrack.The bad: Not the strongest dialog, some characters not utilized properly.My only major complaint with Mortal Kombat is that certain fight sequences could have definitely been better, and could have shown off the characters better as well.
Exciting and Fun. Based on the popular arcade game, Mortal Kombat is essentially a film about 3 people, "Liu Kang" (Robin Shau), "Johnny Cage" (Linden Ashby) and "Sonya Blade" (Bridgette Wilson), who enter a martial arts competition in order to save the world from "Shang Tsung" (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and his evil subjects.
Three martial artists--Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby), Sonia (Bridgette Wilson) and Liu Kang (Robin Shou)--are gathered by Lord Rayden (Christopher Lambert) to enter a contest where they fight other opponents with the fate of the world hanging in the balance--or something like that.
It has diverse characters, awesome action scenes, an original story, great moments, and that famous catchy theme song that's appropriately played a few times here.Plot: Vengeful Shaolin monk Liu Kang, aggressive FBI agent Sonya Blade, and comedic Hollywood action star Johnny Cage join other great martial artists to a supernatural tournament, which is run by the evil soul-sucking sorcerer Shang Tsung.
Other than that, Mortal Kombat is a great movie and a faithful adaptation to the classic video game series.
But nothing Definably noticeable.The movie story follows Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade entering the Mortal Kombat tournament for their own reasons.
The Movie also holds a decent cast of actual martial artists as Kombatants (characters and originals for the movie) like Chris Cassamassa as Scorpion and Hakim Alstin as Liu Kang's first opponent.Over all the story progresses very easily and is not difficult to follow, the roles Shang Tsung and Goro play are exactly that of their game counterparts and the matches are choreographed very well.
We do also see some of the characters "special moves" we see Johnny Cage's Shadow Kick, Scorpion's Spear, Sub-Zero's freeze and Liu Kang's Bicycle kick (first seen in MKII) The overall movie I enjoyed and would recommend as a "Good" Video Game Movie, and actually a Good movie overall..
Amongst the genre of comic books, books, video games that become international films, Mortal Kombat takes the entire bakery on the adaptation to movie.As a kid, I played Mortal Kombat daily and it never got bland.
A really entertaining action packed martial arts movie a good adaptation to the popular video game..
I really do not see why this has got a bad rating i personally think that this movie did a great job of portraying the video game and the movie was entertaining.the acting was good it had a few laughs and very decent special effects and overall this movie was worthwhile.The fights were choreographed really well and also was performed quite brilliantly.the sequences were good and it was really worth while.
Mortal Kombat is a well adapted film from a game and I think you need to stop being a baby and watch this.
Our plucky trio of human heroes who enter the 'Mortal Kombat' tournament to defend our 'Earth Realm' against the evil forces of 'Outworld' are Robin Shou as Liu Kang, Linden Ashby (as the 'comic relief') Johnny Cage and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras as Sonya Blade (no, I've never heard of them either - not before and barely after!).
Fans of the nineties games/arcades should love it and anyone who likes 'good bad' movies should also find it a fun little offering.
Mortal Kombat (1995) may have lacked the gore and extremities that made the game so popular, but the visual effects are way cool (and fairly good for the time), the fight choreography is amazing, the sets are immersive, the soundtrack is badass (boasting names such as KMFDM and Sister Machine Gun), and the characters are truly likable (Ashby is a perfect choice for the egotistical and wisecracking Cage).
Johnny Cage is the most annoying and the most distasteful of all his one liners are clearly too much and sometimes ruin the movie experience.Sonya Blade and Liu Kang make a better figure and have at least a real story arc, but it is sad when in a big Hollywood movie in which the word Combat already occurs in the title, worse fight scene and character development occurs than with Power Rangers.
Being part of the 90's generatiton was to play alot of arcade video games, streets of rage tekken, street fighter ( let's not discuss that film adaptation) but the best for me allways was Mortal Kombat.
Based on the hit video game for the Sega Genesis, Mortal Kombat involves three great fighters, Lui Kang, a monk, Sonya Blade, a gun-wielding cop, and Johnny Cage, an actor, that are guided by fate to a tournament.
As a Video game adaption film this movie is by far the best Video game adaption film of all time,Mortal kombat tried to fit everything from the 1st video game & a little from the 2nd into the film & it did it very nicely,the fight scene's are straight to the point not much dialog & that's the way it should be.
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.
But it's delicious, nostalgic and entertaining 90's cheese.A group of Earth's greatest warriors- including the vengeful Liu Kang (Robin Shou), special forces agent Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson) and washed-up action-star Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) are united by Thunder God Raiden (Christopher Lambert) to take part in a legendary tournament known as "Mortal Kombat." The goal is to pit fighters from various realms and dimensions against one another to find the greatest warriors in the known universe.
Mortal Kombat has the distinction of being the few of the better video game to movie adaptations.Based on the controversial best selling ultra violent video game, the movie centres on Shaolin monk Liu Kang (Robin Shou) out to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), actor Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) out to prove that he is not just a pretty face, and special forces officer Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson) who is in hot pursuit of criminal Kano (the late Trevor Goddard).
Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade are handpicked by the god of thunder Raiden (Christopher Lambert) as contenders for the Mortal Kombat tournament to claim triumph over the Outworld to prevent the Emperor Shao Kahn from invading Earth.Assisted by Princess Kitana and Raiden, the trio must also battle a variety of opponents including Scorpion, Sub Zero, Reptile, Goro and lastly Shang Tsung.Director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Alien Vs Predator) keeps the plot straightforward and ensures the movie remains faithful to the video game.
As a fan of Mortal Kombat in general this movie is a pretty good fighting movie which has been adapted from the video game series.
Mortal Kombat is one of those rare movies based on a video game that is actually enjoyable.
The film centers around our three protagonists Liu Kang (Robin Shou), Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) and Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) as they join Lord Rayden (Christopher Lambert) as they take part in the Mortal Kombat tournament hosted by Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) Also starring in this film are Talisa Soto as Kitana, Trevor Goddard as Kano,Chris Casamassa as Scorpion Francois Petit as Sub-Zero The film is full of wild fights that feel like the video game and there are some moments that make you "That's insane".
His skills as a director may be questionable but I believes he does a fairly good job with "Mortal Kombat" given its poor premise, much like Street Fighter, that being based off a fighting game with supernatural characters.
Mortal Kombat is a great adaptation of the video game and the casting is just perfect.
Granted, "Mortal Kombat" on video does not have the same impact as watching it in a theater, but for sheer action and a good time, this movie was made for you.
Mortal Kombat is a movie that only fans of the game will enjoy.
Mortal Kombat is a really, really good movie that's based on a video game no less.
Mortal Kombat is one of the best movies that are based on a video game.
But considering this film is based on a video game the movie isn't that  bad.
For fans of martial arts films I recommend this one for the fight scenes, they are pretty good..
If you like mortal kombat it's a fun watch- otherwise you'll wonder why such a film was made.