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Mortal Kombat (1995 film)

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Mortal Kombat
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul W. S. Anderson
Written byKevin Droney
Produced byLauri Apelian
Lawrence Kasanoff
StarringRobin Shou
Linden Ashby
Bridgette Wilson
Christopher Lambert
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Talisa Soto
CinematographyJohn R. Leonetti
Edited byMartin Hunter
Music byGeorge S. Clinton
Production
companies
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
  • August 18, 1995 (1995-08-18)
(United States)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million
Box office$122,195,920[1]

Mortal Kombat is a 1995 American fantasy martial arts film written by Kevin Droney, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Bridgette Wilson, Christopher Lambert, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Talisa Soto. Based on the early Mortal Kombat fighting games, the film was the first part of the Mortal Kombat film series. Its plot follows the warrior Liu Kang, actor Johnny Cage, and Special Forces officer Sonya Blade, all three guided by the god Raiden, on their journey to combat the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung and his forces in a tournament to save Earth. The main inspiration for the film was the original title of the video game series, but it also features some elements and characters from the follow-up game Mortal Kombat II.

Mortal Kombat, a co-production between Threshold Entertainment and Midway Games, was filmed primarily in Los Angeles, as well as on location in Thailand, and premiered on August 18, 1995 in the United States. Its tie-in media included hit soundtracks Mortal Kombat: Motion Picture Score and Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and a prequel animated film The Journey Begins.

Despite receiving mixed reviews by critics, the film proved very popular with fans of the games and spent three weeks as the number-one film at the U.S. box office, earning over $122 million worldwide. Due to its commercial success, the film later spawned a sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, released in 1997, and a prequel television series, Mortal Kombat: Konquest, released in 1998. A reboot of the film was announced by New Line Cinema in 2011.

Plot

Once every generation, there is an inter-dimensional 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 the Earth realm.

Shaolin warrior Liu Kang and his comrades, Hollywood movie star Johnny Cage and Special Forces officer 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 seeks revenge against the tournament host Shang Tsung for killing his brother Chan; Sonya also seeking revenge on crime lord Kano for killing her partner; Cage, having been branded as a fake by the media, seeks to prove otherwise.

At Shang Tsung's island, Liu Kang is attracted to Princess Kitana, Shao Kahn's adopted daughter. Aware that Kitana is a dangerous adversary due to being the rightful heir of Outworld and that she will attempt to ally herself with the Earth warriors, Shang Tsung orders the creature Reptile to spy on her. Liu defeats his first opponent and Sonya gets her revenge on Kano. Cage encounters and barely beats Scorpion. Liu engages in a brief duel with Kitana, who secretly offers him a cryptic advice for his next battle. Liu's next opponent is Sub-Zero, whose defense seems impregnable because of his freezing abilities, until Liu Kang recalls Kitana's advice and turns the tables.

Prince Goro enters the tournament and mercilessly crushes every opponent he faces. One of Johnny Cage's peers, Art Lean, is defeated by Goro as well, having his soul taken by Shang Tsung. Sonya worries that they may not win against Goro, but Raiden disagrees. He reveals their own fears and egos are preventing them from winning the tournament.

Despite Sonya's warning, Cage comes to Tsung to request a fight with Goro. The sorcerer accepts on the condition that he be allowed to challenge any opponent of his choosing, anytime and anywhere he chooses. Raiden tries to intervene, but the conditions are agreed upon before he can do so. After Shang Tsung leaves, Raiden confronts Cage for what he has done in challenging Goro, but is impressed when Cage becomes aware of the gravity of the tournament. Cage faces Goro and uses guile and the element of surprise to defeat the defending champion. Now desperate, Tsung takes Sonya hostage and takes her to Outworld, intending to fight her as his opponent. Knowing that his powers are ineffective there and that Sonya cannot defeat Shang Tsung by herself, Raiden sends Liu and Cage into Outworld in order to rescue Sonya and challenge Tsung. In Outworld, Liu Kang is attacked by Reptile, with Kang slowly gaining the upper hand and defeating him. Afterwards, Kitana meets up with Cage and Liu, revealing to the pair the origins of both herself and Outworld. Kitana allies with them and infiltrate Tsung's castle.

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 Kitana, Liu, and Cage appear. Kitana berates Shang Tsung for his treachery to the Emperor as Sonya is set free. Tsung challenges Cage, but is counter-challenged by Liu. During the lengthy battle, Liu faces not only Tsung, but the souls that Tsung had forcibly taken in past tournaments. In a last-ditch attempt to take advantage, Tsung morphs into Chan. Seeing through the charade, Liu renews his determination and ultimately fires an energy bolt at the sorcerer, knocking him down and impaling him on a row of spikes. 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 Shaolin temple. The jubilation abruptly stops, however, when Shao Kahn's giant figure suddenly appears in the skies. When the Emperor declares that he has come for everyone's souls, Raiden exclaims the final line of the movie, "I don't think so!" as the warriors take up fighting stances to defend themselves.

Cast

  • Robin Shou as Liu Kang, a former Shaolin monk, who enters the tournament to avenge his brother's death. As in most of the games in the Mortal Kombat series, Liu Kang is the main protagonist.
  • Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, a Hollywood superstar that enters the tournament to prove to the world that his skills are for real. 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 Ashby suffered while shooting Cage's fight scene with Scorpion.[2]
  • Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade, a Special Forces agent in hot pursuit of Kano, the criminal who 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 Bridgette Wilson, who was jokingly nicknamed "RoboBabe" during production by director Paul W. S. Anderson.[2] Wilson performed all her own stunts, including fight scenes.
  • Christopher Lambert as Raiden, god of thunder and protector of Earthrealm who guides the warriors on their journey. He desires to aid the heroes in defending Earthrealm, but as he himself is not mortal, he is not permitted to participate in the tournament and may only advise them and act to prevent cheating.
  • Trevor Goddard as Kano, a mercenary that joins forces with Shang Tsung.
  • Talisa Soto as Princess Kitana, the Outworld emperor's stepdaughter who decides to help the Earth warriors.
  • Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, a powerful, sadistic and treacherous sorcerer, he is the film's main antagonist who killed Liu Kang's brother Chan. Tagawa was the filmmakers' first and only choice for the role; he was instantly selected after he came to his audition in costume, and read his lines while standing on a chair.[2] He had previously appeared alongside Talisa Soto (Kitana) in Licence To Kill.
  • François Petit as Sub-Zero, one of Shang Tsung's warriors who, as his name implies, possesses the ability to freeze. The rivalry between Sub-Zero and Scorpion is only briefly mentioned by Shang Tsung at the beginning of the movie.
  • Chris Casamassa as Scorpion, one of Shang Tsung's warriors whose trademark spear from the games was changed to a snake-like entity that shot from a slit in his palm. The character was voiced by MK co-creator Ed Boon.
  • Keith H. Cooke as Reptile, a creature who is serving Shang Tsung. Reptile's lizard form was rendered with the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI), while the character's human form was portrayed by Keith Cooke.[2] Reptile's vocal effects were provided by Frank Welker.
  • Kevin Michael Richardson voices Goro, the undefeated Mortal Kombat champion. His vocal effects are provided by Frank Welker.
  • Gregory McKinney as Jax, Sonya's Special Forces partner. Steve James was originally cast to play Jax, but the actor died a year before production on the film began.[3]
  • Frank Welker voices the unnamed Emperor of Outworld (Shao Kahn), who appears at the end of the film. Welker also voiced Reptile and Goro.

Steven Ho played Liu Kang's younger brother Chan, who is killed by Shang Tsung in the film's opening scene. Peter Jason appears as Johnny Cage's sensei, Master Boyd. Other martial artists to appear in credited onscreen roles are Kenneth Edwards (Art Lean) and Hakim Alston (fighting monk on beach).

Sandy Helberg is briefly seen in the beginning of the film as the director of Cage's latest movie. Originally, this part was to be a cameo appearance by Steven Spielberg, but scheduling conflicts forced him to back out; the "director" character in this scene still resembles Spielberg.[4]

Production

Robin Shou said that in the original script he "was supposed to fall in love with Talisa Soto [Kitana]. I was looking forward to it, but they thought we have so much action, we don't want to add romance to it. They cut it out."[5] Also scripted but not filmed were a short battle between Sonya and Jade, another of Shang Tsung's servants, and 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 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. Originally not included in the movie, Reptile was added in response to focus groups being unimpressed with the original fights in the film.[6] Robin Shou and Paul W. S. Anderson noted that neither knew what Reptile's lizard form would look like until after filming, making the pre-fight sequence difficult to shoot.[7]

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, Mortal Kombat II. Outworld was seen in the movie, but was never mentioned in the first game (only mentioned in the video game's manual). 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. Shang Tsung did not regain his youthful appearance in the game series until the second game, but has it throughout the film. In his match with Reptile, Liu Kang uses his "Bicycle Kick" special move, which was first introduced in the second game, as was Reptile's ability to turn invisible. Shang Tsung's 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, in a reference to his Friendship move in MKII. When Reptile assumes his human form, the voice of Shao Kahn - sampled directly from the second game - 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.

Filming began in August 1994 and ended in December 1994. 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] The film was originally scheduled for a May 1995 U.S. release, but was pushed to August. It was releaseed on October 20 in the United Kingdom, and on December 26 in Australia.

Other media

The Journey Begins

In 1995, several months before the movie's release, Turner Home Entertainment and Threshold Entertainment released a tie-in animated film on VHS and Laserdisc, Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins. It features traditional animation, motion capture and CGI to explain the origins behind some of the movie's main characters, as well as a 15-minute behind-the scenes documentary of the theatrical release. The film was included on the Mortal Kombat Blu-ray released in April 2011.

The plot follows Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade—also the three main characters in the live action movie—traveling on a mysterious boat en route to the Mortal Kombat tournament. On the way they meet Raiden, who provides them with some hints about how to survive the tournament and defeat Shang Tsung and his army of Tarkatan minions. Upon arriving at the island where the battle takes place, Raiden retells the origins of Shang Tsung, Goro, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and the Great Kung Lao in between fight scenes.

Mortal Kombat: A Novel

A novelization of the movie by Martin Delrio was released through Tor Books. It is based on the early version of the film's script and such it includes several deleted/unfilmed scenes.

Music

Mortal Kombat: Motion Picture Score is the instrumental score album with the music by George S. Clinton, released by Rykodisc on October 11, 1995. Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the compilation album released by TVT Records on August 15, 1995. Original Motion Picture Soundtrack won the BMI Film & TV Awards BMI Film Music Award[8] and went platinum[9] in 10 days reaching No. 10 on the Billboard 200,[10] and its popularity inspired the 1996 followup compilation Mortal Kombat: More Kombat.

The hit Mortal Kombat theme was composed by Praga Khan and Oliver Adams. Three songs from Stabbing Westward were included in the film, but were omitted from Original Motion Picture 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, 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. The film enjoyed a three-week stint at number one, grossed $70 million domestically, and earned an estimated $122 million worldwide.[1] Currently, the film sits as the fourth highest grossing video game adaptation ever released, sitting behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Price of Persia: Sands of Time, and Pokemon: the First Movie.[11]

Critical response

The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. It holds a score of 33% 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] The film currently holds a rating of 58/100 on Metacritic.[13]

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave it a "thumbs up" rating on Siskel & Ebert.[14] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a good movie."[15] 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."[16]

Reboot

In September 2011, it was reported that New Line Cinema (MK film rights holders), sister studio to Warner Bros. (current MK franchise holders), has hired Kevin Tancharoen to direct a new feature-length movie based on the franchise. Oren Uziel, who wrote the original short film, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, but was not involved in Mortal Kombat: Legacy, is returning to pen the story, while no actors, nor other crew have been confirmed. Story details known state that the film will not be an extension of the game, nor of Legacy.[17]

New Line President Toby Emmerich said that the success of the video games combined with Tancharoen's vision means, "You don't have to squint too hard to see how it might make a good movie", while Tancharoen says discussions have only concerned an R-rating, with darker, brutally real martial arts.[18] Tancharoen had discussions at the 2011 Comic Con with Uziel and Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon and to expect a very big origin story with the sensibility and realism of Rebirth and Legacy as opposed to the traditional Mortal Kombat mythology.[19] He said, "I've always been a fan of properties like Batman where you can expand the universe in different directions. Mortal Kombat is big enough that you can allow for multiple different kinds of storytelling."[20]

But as for its continuity with the web series, Tancharoen said "you won't have to have seen all ten episodes previously - or have played the videogame - to understand the movie."[20] Shooting was expected to begin in March 2012[19] with a budget of well under $100 million and a release date of 2013, coordinated with the next installment of the video game series being produced by the same studios.[21] It was later delayed due to budget constraints and the director has started working on the second season of Legacy until problems with the movie have been sorted out. In late 2012, Warner Bros executive Lance Sloan has revealed that the Mortal Kombat movie will have a budget of between $40–50 million.[22] In October 2013, Tancharoen announced that he will not be directing the film.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b "''Mortal Kombat'' at Box Office Mojo". Boxofficemojo.com. 1995-10-10. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Goldman, Michael. ''Mortal Kombat: the Movie.'' Prima Lifestyles, 1995; ISBN 0-7615-0082-0". Amazon.com. 1995-08-16. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  3. ^ "CHUD Salutes… Steve James". CHUD.com. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  4. ^ K. Thor Jensen (2012-02-23). "Steven Spielberg - Best Movie Ever: Mortal Kombat". UGO.com. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  5. ^ "Robin Shou 6/6 | Asian American Personalities". Goldsea. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins. Behind the Scenes commentary: Turner Home Entertainment. 1996-05-21.
  8. ^ Mortal Kombat at IMDb
  9. ^ "Search Results for Mortal Kombat". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  10. ^ "Mortal Kombat [Original Soundtrack]". Allmusic. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  11. ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=videogameadaptation.htm
  12. ^ "Mortal Kombat reviews". Rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  13. ^ "Mortal Kombat reviews". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  14. ^ Review of Mortal Kombat - Siskel & Ebert
  15. ^ Mortal Kombat review, Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, August 21, 1995
  16. ^ Mortal Kombat review, Bruce Diones, The New Yorker, September 4, 1995
  17. ^ "'Mortal Kombat' Video Game Headed Back to the Big Screen". The Hollywood Reporter. 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  18. ^ "New 'Mortal Kombat' movie 'needs to feel brutal,' says director". Entertainment Weekly. 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  19. ^ a b "'Glee' director prepares for 'Mortal Kombat' film". Los Angeles Times. 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
  20. ^ a b "Mortal Kombat: Legacy Coming To The Big Screen". The Fan Carpet. 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  21. ^ "New 'Mortal Kombat' movie coming via partnership of Warner units". Los Angeles Times. 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  22. ^ Luke Karmali. "Warner Bros Confirms Mortal Kombat Movie Reboot". IGN. Retrieved 07-11-2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  23. ^ "Twitter / KTANCH: After 3 years of Kombat,I've". Twitter.com. 2013-10-25. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
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