Mortal Kombat (1995)
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 19
Despite an effective otherwordly atmosphere and appropriately cheesy visuals, Mortal Kombat suffers from its poorly constructed plot, laughable dialogue, and subpar acting.
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 5
Despite an effective otherwordly atmosphere and appropriately cheesy visuals, Mortal Kombat suffers from its poorly constructed plot, laughable dialogue, and subpar acting.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 227,667
My Rating
Movie Info
Three reluctant fighters are drafted for an intergalactic martial-arts tournament that will determine the fate of the human race in this special-effects-driven adventure. Inspired by the popular and notoriously bloody video game, Mortal Kombat provides a semblance of a plot as an excuse for rampant mayhem, with the evil alien forces challenging humanity to a kung fu battle to decide the Earth's fate. Following the failure of several previous human defenders, mankind's last chance lies with
Aug 18, 1995 Wide
Aug 26, 1997
New Line Home Entertainment
Watch It Now
Cast
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Christopher Lambert
Rayden -
Robin Shou
Liu Kang -
Linden Ashby
Johnny Cage -
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Shang Tsung -
Bridgette Wilson
Sonya Blade -
Talisa Soto
Princess Kitana -
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Trevor Goddard
Kano -
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Kenneth Edwards
Art Lean -
John Fujioka
Chief Priest -
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Sandy Helberg
Director -
Gregory Paul Martin
Prince Goro -
Steven Ho
Chan -
Greg McKinney
Jaxx -
Peter Jason
Master Boyd -
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Lloyd Kino
Grandfather -
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Mortal Kombat Trailer & Photos
All Critics (30) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (20) | DVD (8)
Where others have sunk in the mire of imitation, director Paul Anderson and writer Kevin Droney effect a viable balance between exquisitely choreographed action and ironic visual and verbal counterpoint.
Top CriticBritish director Anderson does a fair job with what he was given: four good-looking leads, some very impressive sfx, Babylonian sets, a bone-crunching soundtrack, and a battery of well-choreographed fights.
The most intriguing is a glassy-eyed follower whose right hand shoots out a hissing reptile that can extend itself for miles. Exotic creatures like these make watching Mortal Kombat feel like being in a high-tech fun house.
Likely to satisfy only the core audience already hooked on video and arcade games, and even that's not a sure thing.
The movie has everything a teenage boy could want... Everything, that is, but an interesting plot, decent dialogue and compelling acting.
The movie that most nearly approximates a video game: lots of action, no plot, eye-catching computer effects and a dollop of violence.
Hardly award-worthy entertainment, and pretty visually dated, but probably one of the better video game movies ever made comparatively.
...never lets you forget for a minute that it's essentially a video game. (Blu-ray Edition)
...a one-note gimmick that comes with everything but a joystick for the viewer to control the robotic characters.
We'll concede that four-armed Prince Goro is a hoot, Christopher Lambert looks fabulous in a flowing white wig, and Talisa Soto, who plays some kind of princess, can lord it over us anytime.
All the head-crushing and thigh-flexing doesn't compensate for the monotony of a story that simply traipses from one combat (sorry, kombat) to the next.
cheesy but still, kick ass
Like watching a lot of sweaty fist fights while trapped in the world's loudest night club.
This one's a howler that's so bad it's almost good -- almost.
If the movie Mortal Kombat were a character in a Mortal Kombat video game, its special maneuver would be to climb on its opponent's shoulders and defecate on his head.
Hopeless? Oh yes. It's hopeless alright. Mondo hopeless.
Cheesy with no nutrients. But hey, anything's better than Street Fighter.
[A] surprisingly good movie.
Audience Reviews for Mortal Kombat
Super Reviewer
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- Shang Tsung: Your soul is mine!
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- Shang Tsung: Fatality.
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- Liu Kang: Chan chose his own path. Every man is responsible for his own destiny. SHANG TSUNG KILLED MY BROTHER!
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- Sonya Blade: A handful of people on a leaky boat are gonna save the world.
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- Princess Kitana: To win your next match, use the element which brings life.
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- Shang Tsung: Let Mortal Kombat begin.
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Latest News on Mortal Kombat
November 6, 2012:
Warner Bros. Executive Confirms Mortal Kombat RebootHead of Digital Productions Lance Sloan says director Kevin Tancharoen is "at the helm of the forty,...
June 19, 2012:
New Mortal Kombat Remake Rumors SurfaceYou're probably not going to like this.
April 3, 2012:
Sony Sets Summer 2013 Release for The Mortal InstrumentsCassandra Clarke's YA bestsellers are headed for a theater near you.
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The look is dark n gloomy in a PG kinda way, kinda goth with some glorious location backdrops and it does match well against the game. It is very gentle stuff but it does the job well, which is rare for a computer game film, it just about gives you what you expected...after seeing the trailer and realising it wasn't an adult film that is. Tagawa and Lambert make the film stand out with some nice hammy ass performances but they do inject some laughs and a reasonable hint of realism or a sense of danger into the fun. They both give the film much needed bite with the lack of spine removals and acid pools.
Rest of the cast are pretty much your bargain basement D-list personnel which may have been hired off the street I dunno. I guess you have Robin Shou who looks the part and can actually do the moves. The film is a lost chance for something really nasty lets be honest but we all knew this would happen right, at least it betters the 'Double Dragon' film.
One also has to remember this is in the days of early CGI and by gum its bad here!. Not only do they use a lot of it (naturally) but it looks awful, really basic stuff that doesn't even look like its been done correctly. What on earth they did to 'Reptile' I'll never know, looked like something off an old Amiga videogame.
Best to forget about the 'Goro' puppet creation, not bad though...in a PG 'TMNT' kinda way that is, good dated 90's techno soundtrack too. Its all 90's...'FIGHT!!'