Movies / Home Theatre

Mortal Kombat Blu-ray

By Chris Zimmerman
April 26, 2011 - 09:29

As a general rule, movies based on video games tend to vary in quality from adequate to mediocre. From the horrid Street Fighter films to the laughably bad Super Mario Brothers, these so called adaptations often rely less on source material and more on crude jokes and bad acting. So perhaps it’s for that reason that I found Mortal Kombat to be the exception to the rule.

The Mortal Kombat franchise is remembered fondly for ushering in an era of excessive violence to video games. At the time, few games could match the brutality depicted in the classic fighting game. It was only a matter of time before the series made the jump to cinema, with all the cheesy dialogue and chaotic action sequences B-movie effects could allow.   

If you’re not familiar with Mortal Kombat, the premise is a simple one. A group of people are chosen by the God Raiden to act as warriors in a tournament to decide the fate of the world. A dark realm of sorcerers and supernatural ninja also compete as a way to wear down their foes and stake their claim over the land. Considering their powers could probably afford them the advantage in a war, one would have to wonder why they don’t just lay siege to us.

Anyway, three fighters are chosen to represent Earth’s side of the affair: B-list actor Johnny Cage, a militant cop named Sonya Blade, and a revenge seeking monk named Liu Kang. The three are determined by Raiden to be Earth’s best hope, as one after another, the other entrants fall to the superior might of their mystical foes, lead by sorcerer Shang Tsung.

What follows is what most would expect on the action scale, along with references to the games, catchphrases and all. The story is pretty black-and-white with little room for morally ambiguous sentimentality, but then again, that’s not what fans tuned in for.

Mortal Kombat delivers exactly what made the games a blast to play through: 101 minutes of blood and gore and awesome fight scenes. It’s an over-the-top affair, but it has its appeal. It sticks remarkably close to the source material and even reenacts many of the character’s signature moves.

The Blu-ray seems like a wasted effort, considering how little care went into it. The picture is noticeably soft and the extras are scant. The only extra to speak of is Mortal Kombat: the Journey Begins. This is a short cartoon that mingles with crude CG from the nineties. When looking back, it’s difficult to imagine that this was the pinnacle of 3D models.

Mortal Kombat is a hokey film with plenty of gaps in logic, but even so, I find the film to be enormously entertaining. It’s a martial arts heavy action film that features a handful of cool fights to keep the audience distracted from the lack of story. If you’re a fan of the games, or just want to see some well choreographed action without the necessity of a plot, then you won’t find much to complain about.

Still, as a Blu-ray, a retrospective or commentary would have been nice. Otherwise, if you have the DVD, you’re not missing much.

B-

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12