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Most of the movies I saw in my childhood were action movies. I remember the days when I used to fast-forward the films on my VCR(!) to the action sequences. Once the scene would appear, I would record it with my father's mobile and then enjoy it later to my heart's content. The Matrix, Terminator, Die Hard, Street Fighter, Kung Fu Hustle, you name it. You know the trailers they used to show just before a presentation, with a deep baritone voice narrating? That's how I was introduced to this film, by that voice... and the music in the background.
Anyway, when I was young of course the film was awesome, but now that I've grown up, and matured along the way, I found out that the film starts off quite smartly but descends into the same old, same old - mindless action, funny dialogue (although Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's line delivery of "I can see into your soul. You will die" was awesome), and a totally unconvincing setup. For most of the film I was reminded of old dungeon-crawler games, especially Dungeons & Dragons and of a dark, demented version of Pac-Man. This film has very few redeeming features, and they mostly come from the actors. The cast was quite well chosen, and even though they're nothing extraordinary - some even fall in the pit of self parody - at-least we can say with some dignity that they were not like the cast in Street Fighter, who were totally laughable. Kylie Minogue and JCVD? You gotta be kidding!
Story-wise, the film is weak. Very thinly scripted, but entertaining all the same. Most of the cast, however, were not as weak. Robin Shou was convincing and at ease in his role as Liu Kang, the main protagonist. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was - I'm in the minority here - awesome in his role as Shang Tsung, the main antagonist. It's funny that his one-expression face hasn't garnered any memes yet. And the population is usually so quick on this. Anyway, an entertaining performance. The number of emotions / expressions Bridgette Wilson managed to cram in was quite an achievement. Rather than acting like an eye-candy robot, she functioned as a barely active eye-candy robot. But despite all this, her fight scene with Kano seemed authentic, with all the punches and the kicks and the whatnot's. But still, a robot. Linden Ashby is instantly forgettable in his role as Johnny Cage. A performance that is further marred by the hilarious, not-at-all-fitting dialogues / quotes. Christopher Lambert bought a quiet dignity to his comic-relief character Rayden, but it just wasn't "enough"! But he did subtly break boring moments with his detached comedy. Talisa Soto was attractive in her role, yes, but barely memorable or even worthy of mentioning.
In conclusion, despite the setbacks, Mortal Kombat is actually one of the best - OK, good - game-to-movie adaptations ever made. There has virtually been no good game-to-film adaptations (so far) but MK and Silent Hill come close. Well, at least they are better than House of the Dead and Street Fighter.
7.0/10
