Best Worst Video Game Movies - "Mortal Kombat"
If you're watching a video game movie expecting anything but an embarrassing amount of cheese, you are most likely doing it wrong. While the release of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" has been a considerable improvement over past adaptations in the eyes of many, the mere mention of video game movies is still seen, in many circles, as the terminal Monkey's Paw: a twisted aberration of fate.
But although there are movies that would traditionally be considered better than the ones listed below in a traditional sense, I am one of those to embrace the cheese; let's be fair: the concept of a video game movie adaptation is innately the premise of a disaster scenario.
Without further ado, here are the Best Worst Video Games Movies.
Here's a stinker: a labor of love made by the developers of the original Mortal Kombat, produced by the now-infamous Lawrence Kasanoff, known for producing a quite decent movie called "True Lies," as well as the animated box-office bomb "Foodfight!", one of the worst movies of all time. Despite his reputation with recent titles, as well as the critical and commercial failure of its sequel, "Mortal Kombat Annihilation," Kasanoff was subsequently given the green light to produce the newer Mortal Kombat reboot in 2020 - self-titled "Mortal Kombat." Its director, Paul W.S. Anderson, easily secured the job, which later propelled his career. He had almost no prior background in movies; other directors were simply snobbish about video game movies - and for good reasons. Paul W. S. Anderson moved on to direct the well-received "Resident Evil" movies, which fans seemed to appreciate.
Early into the movie, we are introduced to each of our Kombatants in the most absurd and unflattering ways:
Sonya Blade barges into a crowd, casually brutalizing and endangering civilians for the arrest of mercenary Kano.
Johnny Cage, an impudent actor, faces a dead-end acting for mediocre action flicks... the biggest fourth wall break of the century.
A whitewashed Raiden is worshipped as a god in a Wat Buddhist temple that the producers want you to believe is located in China - no further comment is needed. He often clashes with Liu Kang, our main character with far too cliché family issues.
All of them are tricked into joining a deathmatch tournament by Shang Tsung, a powerful, soul-stealing sorcerer, in his plan to resurrect "the Emperor" of Outworld, later revealed as "Shao Khan" in the most unsurprising and cheesiest ending of 90s cinema.
Most importantly, a major character, Jax, was axed after Michael Jai White turned down the role to play in "Tyson." He was then replaced by Art Lean, a placeholder character acted by Kenneth Edwards. He mostly acts as Cage's cheerleader and later dies solely to further the plot point; Mortal Kombat: A Novel, based on the movie's prototypal script, has him portrayed as a more competent fighter, and many cut scenes were added, such as the burial scene where a statue of Kung Lao can also be seen."
The movie was overall far from progressive. In addition to its culturally dismissive location, it included whitewashing, the death of a minority as a plot device, and Sonya being the series' damsel in distress once more.
Poor and smug choreographies plague this cult classic. The clunky combat sequences can't make up for its dully-aged 90's humor falling flat and generalized lack of meaning. The plot is, however, enjoyably "video-gamey," with a lot of action, fighting, and over-the-top sceneries. We mainly found enjoyment in the overexaggerated acting of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in the role of "Shang Tsung."
An embarrassing animatronic of Goro and other special effects are simply not up to par with the industry's standard.
by Johhny Cage's signature move
Overall, this fantasy take on "Enter the Dragon" has enough creativity to stand on its own.
We appreciate the grimdark atmosphere of the movie and wish more licensed movies had followed through in this genre, typical of the 90s - with "Mario Bros" being a stellar example of what we will call "grimcheese."
Awful dialogues and third-rate acting unintentionally interact with the audience, making them wonder what was going through the twisted minds of its directors. The experience is hardly unpleasant, never boring, and only insulting to diehard fans of the series. We are looking forward to watching the newer 2020 iteration of this classic cheeseball.
