Mortal Kombat (1995 film)
| Mortal Kombat | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Paul W.S. Anderson |
| Written by | Kevin Droney |
| Produced by | Lauri Apelian Lawrence Kasanoff |
| Starring | Robin Shou Linden Ashby Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Bridgette Wilson Christopher Lambert Talisa Soto Trevor Goddard Chris Casamassa François Petit |
| Cinematography | John R. Leonetti |
| Edited by | Martin Hunter |
| Music by | George S. Clinton |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release dates | Argentina & Israel:
United States:
United Kingdom:
Australia:
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 |
| Box office | $122,195,920 |
Mortal Kombat is a 1995 action and adventure film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, the film was the first part of the Mortal Kombat film series.
The film follows the warrior Liu Kang (Robin Shou), actor Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby), and agent Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson), guided by the Thunder God Raiden (Christopher Lambert), on their journey to combat the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and his forces on a tournament to save Earth. The main inspiration for the film was the first title of the video-game series, but also featured elements and characters from the game Mortal Kombat II. Mortal Kombat was filmed primarily in Los Angeles, as well as on location in Thailand.
The film was released on August 18, 1995 in the United States, on October 20, 1995 in the United Kingdom and on December 26, 1995 in Australia. It proved very popular with fans of the games, despite receiving mixed reviews upon its release. The film spent three weeks as the #1 film at the United States box office and earned a total of $122,195,920 worldwide.[1] Due to its success at the box office, it later spawned a sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, released in 1997, and a TV series, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, released in 1998; a short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth was also released in June 2010.
Plot
Once every generation, there is an interdimensional martial arts tournament known as Mortal Kombat, designed by the Elder Gods to limit invasions between the realms of the universe. If the realm of Outworld wins Mortal Kombat ten consecutive times, its Emperor, Shao Kahn, will be able to invade and conquer Earthrealm. They have already won nine; so this will be their tenth tournament.
The Shaolin warrior Liu Kang and his comrades, Hollywood movie star Johnny Cage and U.S. Special Forces soldier Sonya Blade, were handpicked by Raiden, the god of lightning and Earthrealm's defender, to overcome their powerful adversaries in order to prevent Outworld from winning their tenth straight Mortal Kombat tournament. Each of the three has his or her own reason for competing: Liu Kang seeks revenge against tournament host Shang Tsung for killing his brother, Chan; Sonya also has vengeance on her mind, pursuing crime lord Kano, who killed her partner; Johnny Cage, having been branded as a fake by the media, seeks to prove to the world otherwise.
At Shang Tsung's island, Liu Kang is attracted to Princess Kitana, Shao Kahn's adopted daughter; a wary Shang Tsung orders the creature Reptile to keep a close eye on her. Liu defeats his first opponent, and Sonya takes her revenge from Kano. Johnny Cage encounters the demonic ninja Scorpion, who teleports Cage to his lair in the Netherealm; there the two battle viciously, with Cage the eventual victor. Liu Kang engages in a brief duel with Kitana, who secretly offers him advice for his next battle. Liu's next opponent is the ninja Sub-Zero, who seems impregnable because of his ice-power, until Liu Kang recalls Kitana's advice and turns the tables.
Prince Goro, a huge, four-armed Shokan warrior enters the tournament and mercilessly crushes every opponent he faces. One of Johnny Cage's friends, Art Lean goes up against Goro as well and is defeated, along with having his soul taken by Shang Tsung. Cage demands a fight with Goro, and uses guile and the element of surprise to handily defeat the Shokan prince. Shang Tsung then takes Sonya hostage, invoking his privilege to challenge any opponent of his choosing, and takes her to Outworld. Knowing that his powers are ineffective in Outworld and that Sonya cannot defeat Shang Tsung herself, Raiden sends Johnny Cage and Liu Kang into Outworld to rescue Sonya and challenge Shang Tsung. In Outworld, Liu Kang battles Reptile and soundly defeats him after absorbed much blows from the ceature and become enraged. Kitana meets up with Johnny Cage and Liu Kang afterwards; after telling the pair about Outworld's origins, as well as her own, she allies with them as they make their way to the castle where Sonya is being held.
Inside the castle tower, Shang Tsung challenges Sonya to fight him, knowing full well that her refusal to accept will result in Earthrealm forfeiting Mortal Kombat. All seems lost for Earthrealm until the three Outworld monks inside the tower reveal themselves to be Kitana, Liu Kang, and Johnny Cage. Kitana berates Shang Tsung for his treachery to the Emperor as Sonya is set free. Shang Tsung challenges Johnny Cage, but Liu Kang demands to fight Shang Tsung. During the lengthy battle, Liu Kang faces not only Shang Tsung, but the souls that Shang Tsung had forcibly taken in past Mortal Kombat tournaments, and the image of his brother, Chan (actually a transformed Shang Tsung intending to lure Liu Kang to his death). Liu Kang rises above the challenges and takes on Shang Tsung with renewed determination and ultimately fires an energy bolt at Shang Tsung, knocking him from the battle platform and impaling him on a row of spikes below. Shang Tsung's death releases all the captive souls, including Chan's. Before ascending to the afterlife, Chan tells Liu that he will remain with him in spirit until they are once again reunited.
The warriors return to Earthrealm, where a victory celebration is taking place at the Xiaolin temples. The jubilation abruptly stops, however, when Shao Kahn's giant figure suddenly appears in the distance. When the Emperor declares that he has come for everyone's souls, Raiden and the warriors take up fighting stances to confront him.
Cast
- Robin Shou as Liu Kang, a former Xiaolin/Shaolin monk that enters the tournament to avenge his brother's death. Among those who auditioned for the role of Liu Kang were Jason Scott Lee, Russell Wong, Dustin Nguyen and Phillip Rhee.
- Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage (doubled by Brad Martin and J.J. Perry), a Hollywood superstar that enters the tournament to prove to the world that his skills are for real. Jean-Claude Van Damme turned down the role of Johnny Cage to star on Street Fighter. Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Gary Daniels were also considered for the role. Brandon Lee was originally cast, but died before production began. Linden Ashby trained in Karate and Tae Kwon Do especially for this film. Despite the intensity of the fight scenes coupled with the actors performing most of their own stunts, on-set injuries were surprisingly minimal; the only notable occurrence was a mildly bruised kidney suffered by Ashby while shooting Johnny Cage's fight scene with Scorpion.[2]
- Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade, an agent of the law in hot pursuit of the criminal that killed her partner. Cameron Diaz was originally set to play Sonya, but she broke her wrist during a martial arts training prior to shooting and was replaced by Wilson, who was jokingly nicknamed "RoboBabe" during production by director Paul Anderson.[2] Wilson performed all her own stunts, including fight scenes.
- Christopher Lambert as Raiden, the God of Thunder and Protector of Earthrealm that guides the warriors on their journey. An enthusiastic gamer himself, Lambert also voiced Raiden in the French dubbed version of the film.
- Talisa Soto as Princess Kitana (doubled by Dana Hee), the stepdaughter of the Emperor who decides to help the Earth warriors.
- Trevor Goddard as Kano, a mercenary that joined forces with Shang Tsung.
- Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, a powerful and greedy sorcerer, and the primary antagonist of the movie. Tagawa was the filmmakers' first and only choice for the role. He came to the audition in a costume, and read his lines while standing on a chair.[2]
- François Petit as Sub-Zero (doubled by Mark Caso), one of Shang Tsung's warriors. As his name implies, he possessed the ability to freeze. The rivalry between Sub-Zero and Scorpion is only quickly mentioned by Shang Tsung at the beginning of the movie.
- Chris Casamassa as Scorpion (doubled by Mitchell Gaylord and Jeff Imada), one of Shang Tsung's warriors. His trademark spear from the games was changed to a snake-like harpoon that shot from a slit in his palm. The character was voiced by Ed Boon, co-creator of the original Mortal Kombat. Chris Casamassa was originally hired as a background ninja/stuntman, but during his audition demo he impressed the producers so much that they gave him the part of Scorpion.
- Keith Cooke as Reptile (as Keith H. Cooke), a creature serving Shang Tsung. Reptile's lizard form was rendered with the use of computer-generated imagery, while the character's human form is portrayed by Keith Cooke.[3] Originally not included in the movie, Reptile was added in response to focus groups being unimpressed with the original fights in the film.[4] Actor Robin Shou and director Paul Anderson noted that neither knew what Reptile's lizard form would look like until after filming, making the pre-fight sequence difficult to shoot.[5]
- Kevin Michael Richardson voices Goro, the undefeated Mortal Kombat champion.
- Gregory McKinney as Jax, Sonya's partner at the beginning of the movie.
- Frank Welker voices Shao Kahn, the Emperor of Outworld. Welker also provided uncredited vocal effects for Goro and Reptile.
- Steven Ho as Chan Kang, Liu Kang's younger brother who is killed by Shang Tsung. Ho was a former national Karate champion who performed stuntwork for Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.[6]
- Hakim Alston as 'fighting monk'. He has no lines and is not named, but he has the first fight against Liu Kang on the beach. Hakim Alston is a famous martial artist and would later appear with Chris Casamassa on WMAC Masters and work again with Robin Shou and Keith Cooke on Red Trousers.
Sandy Helberg is briefly seen in the beginning of the film as the director of Johnny Cage's latest movie, while Peter Jason appears as Master Boyd. Kenneth Edwards played Cage's friend Art Lean (a character who does not appear in the games created exclusively for the film). Lloyd Kino appears as Liu Kang's grandfather.
Mortal Kombat II references
Although the movie was primarily based on the first game in the series, there are several notable elements that were incorporated from the second game.
- Outworld was seen in the movie, but was never mentioned in the first game. Similarly, Shao Kahn is seen in the final scene of the movie, but was not even referenced in the first game.
- Jax and Kitana were introduced in the second game as well as Reptile's ability to turn invisible and reptilian nature first being demonstrated (in the first MK, he did not have the invisibility move and was only seen in human form).
- The "ice grenade" with which Sub-Zero kills one of the guards during the demonstration after Shang Tsung's talk with the fighters was only seen in one of his MKII Fatalities.
- In his match with Reptile, Liu Kang uses his "Bicycle Kick" special move, which was first introduced in MKII.
- Shang Tsung did not regain his youthful appearance in the game series until the second game, but has it throughout the film. Also, his ability to steal the souls of fallen victims - which is seen twice in the film - was first seen in MKII as one of his Fatalities.
- After killing Scorpion, Johnny Cage drops an autographed picture of himself near his remains. This is a reference to his Friendship move in MKII.
- When Reptile assumes his human form, the voice of Shao Kahn - sampled directly from MKII - can be heard announcing "Reptile".
- The Shadow Priests, seen before the final battle, were first seen in the second game as part of two of the backgrounds.
Production
Scripted but not filmed was a scene where Shang Tsung allowed the heroes a night to bury Art Lean and mourn his loss. They buried him in the Garden of Statues, underneath the statue of Kung Lao; this is the only place where Kung Lao appears in any of the movies, although Liu Kang claims he is Kung Lao's descendant in the film before his final battle with Shang-Tsung. In actual Mortal Kombat canon Liu Kang is the close friend of the current Kung Lao, who is in fact a descendant of The Great Kung Lao. Also scripted but not filmed was a battle between Sonya and Jade, another of Shang Tsung's servants.
The Outworld exterior scenes were filmed at the abandoned Kaiser Steel Mill in Fontana, California; the site is now the Auto Club Speedway. All of Goro's scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.[2] Shooting locations in Thailand were accessible only by boat, so cast, crew and equipment had to be transported on long canoe-like vessels. Producer Gerrit Folsom constructed an outhouse in a secluded area near the set in order to alleviate the problem of repeated trips to and from the mainland.[2] The bows of the boats were fitted with ornamental dragon-head carvings and used in the movie as the fighters' secondary transport to Shang Tsung's island from his junk.[2]
Marketing
In 1995, several months before the movie's release, Threshold Entertainment released a tie-in animated film on VHS and Laserdisc, Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins. It featured traditional animation, motion capture and CGI to explain the origins behind some of the movie's main characters. The video also featured a 15-minute behind-the scenes documentary of the theatrical release.
A novelization of the movie by Martin Delrio was released through Tor Books. A music video was also created for the KMFDM single "Juke Joint Jezebel" and featured clips of fight scenes from the movie, but it was pulled by MTV due to complaints about its violent content.
Soundtrack
Mortal Kombat was nominated for the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA Golden Reel Award. It won the BMI Film & TV Awards BMI Film Music Award.[7]
Three songs from Stabbing Westward (a favorite band of MK co-creator John Tobias at the time) were included in the movie, but were omitted from the soundtrack: "Lost", "Lies", and "Can't Happen Here", all of which appear on the album Ungod.
Reception
Box office
Mortal Kombat opened on August 18, 1995, and cruised into the top box-office spot with $23.2 million,[8] nearly eight times the opening amount of the only other new release that weekend, The Baby-Sitters Club. At the time, it was also the second-highest August opening after 1993's The Fugitive. MK enjoyed a three-week stay at number one, grossed roughly $70,454,098 in the U.S., and earned an estimated $122,195,920 worldwide,[1] while the soundtrack went platinum in less than two weeks.
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Gene Siskel gave it a "thumbs up" rating on Siskel & Ebert.[9] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a martial arts action-adventure with wondrous special effects and witty production design [that] effectively combines supernatural terror, a mythical slay-the-dragon, save-the-princess odyssey and even a spiritual quest for self-knowledge."[10] Bruce Diones of The New Yorker wrote that the film "starts out promisingly: the actors look sinewy and primed for action, and the effects are convincing. But soon the movie falls flat under an uninspired good-versus-evil plot and pathetically simple-minded dialogue."[11]
The film holds a score of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "despite an effective otherwordly atmosphere and appropriately cheesy visuals, Mortal Kombat suffers from its poorly constructed plot, laughable dialogue, and subpar acting",[12] and on Metacritic, holds a rating of 58/100.[13]
Possible remake
It is still in debate whether Warner Brothers will produce the remake of the film[14] and all projects are currently stalled, but the storybook will be written by Oren Uziel.[15] Anderson had also talked about making the reboot Mortal Kombat film called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.[16]
Before anything can be considered, though, the studio is going to have to fight off a legal challenge from previous owners, Threshold Entertainment. The Wrap reported that the production company has filed a class-action lawsuit against Warner Brothers, claiming the studio has frozen them out of developing the video game adaptation. Threshold were the original development partner with Midway on the 1995 film and in 2006 signed a deal to make another movie. Midway went bankrupt last year however, and WB swooped for the rights to Mortal Kombat. Threshold, however, has insisted that federal bankruptcy proceedings upheld the agreements it had signed with Midway and passed over to WB. According to Blogomatic3000.com, Threshold is now working on the next Mortal Kombat film, either together with WB or alone.[17]
References
- ^ a b Mortal Kombat at Box Office Mojo
- ^ a b c d e f Goldman, Michael. Mortal Kombat: the Movie. Prima Lifestyles, 1995; ISBN 0-7615-0082-0
- ^ Goldman, Michael and Aaron, Richard E. (1995). Mortal Kombat: The Movie Behind the Scenes. Prima Games. ISBN 0761500820.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Reed, Dr. Craig D. (1998-01-01). "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation - Behind the Scenes at the New Hollywood Blockbuster". Black Belt. 36 (1). Active Interest Media, Inc.: 85. ISSN 0277-3066.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins. Behind the Scenes commentary: Turner Home Entertainment. 1996-05-21. ISBN 6303541356.
{{cite AV media}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help);|format=requires|url=(help); Check|isbn=value: invalid group id (help) - ^ IMDB
- ^ Mortal Kombat - IMDB
- ^ citation needed
- ^ Review of Mortal Kombat - Siskel & Ebert
- ^ Mortal Kombat review, Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, August 21, 1995
- ^ Mortal Kombat review, Bruce Diones, The New Yorker, September 4, 1995
- ^ Mortal Kombat reviews, RottenTomatoes
- ^ Mortal Kombat reviews, Metacritic
- ^ A New Battle For Mankind Begins in 'Mortal Kombat' Tourney, Redo in the Works
- ^ Threshold Entertainment Lands Fatality on Warners, 'Mortal Kombat' Lawsuit Filed
- ^ Paul W.S. Anderson Interested In Shooting Another Mortal Kombat Movie
- ^ EXCLUSIVE: Larry Kasanoff working on third ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie?
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