Once the movie finally opened to a clearly oversold theater (people were sitting in the aisles), one thing was crystal clear to us; Mortal Kombat was the movie of the century and, at least in our eyes, destined to go down in the history books right next to Citizen Kane and The Godfather.
Years, age and a dash of common sense have dimmed those feelings. Until the Blu-ray release, I hadn't seen Mortal Kombat since high school. I expected to jump into the movie and find fun late 90's nostalgia. Mortal Kombat brings the nostalgia, but it isn't as fun as I remember.
Mortal Kombat was a rare bird in the arcades. Whereas other fighting games suggested some sort of story, Mortal Kombat had an actual mythology behind the action. The game's plot forms the basis for the movie. Every generation, Earth and Outworld hold a fighting tournament featuring the best fighters from each realm. If a champion from Earth wins, the two remain separate; if not, Outworld swallows Earth, merging the two into a dimension ruled by the tyrant Shao Khan.
For nine generations, Earth has managed to defend its right to exist, leading Khan to pull out all the stops in assembling its team of champions for the tournament. In response, Raiden (Christopher Lambert), Earth's Guardian, chooses three warriors to help defend the realm: Liu Kang (Robin Shou), Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) and Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson). The three fighters come from different backgrounds and, predictably, need to find some way to work together if they want to win a tenth tournament.
Paul W. S. Anderson, who has basically made a career of adapting games to film, hits the film with all the enthusiasm you'd want from someone charged with handling a popular franchise. At the same time, that enthusiasm doesn't make up for the lack of plot pacing or the laughably campy visual effects. Even for the time, the CG is bad and, frankly, unnecessary. Reptile and Shao Khan look goofy and Goro's (a Ninja Turtle-esque puppet) lip movements are always out of sync with his lines. As with his recent films, Anderson had the right idea, but lacks the skill to actually pull it off.
The Blu-ray transfer, which is actually pretty good, amplifies the film's visual flaws. However, it also helps highlight one of the film's saving graces - the set pieces and fights. Every fight takes place in really cool locations, such as a multi-tiered set of wooden scaffolding, as well as neat forest. There's are a few noticeable artifacts in some scenes, but this is easily the best version of the film outside the theater.
Mortal Kombat is light on extras. There's a short animated feature entitled "The Journey Begins." What the short lacks in quality, it makes up for in nostalgia. There's also a coupon code for a free "Classic" Jade skin for the PS3 version of Mortal Kombat. As videogame-based movies go, Mortal Kombat manages to set a high water mark. However, considering the company it is keeping, that mark isn't very high. Though it works as a simple action flick, and isn't awful by any means, the action isn't enough to hold up the lack of plot or bad CG.
