Mortal Kombat (1995)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1995
	Director: Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Death Race, Pompeii)
	Actors: Christopher Lambert (Greystoke, Fortress), Robin Shou, Linden Ashby
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: 08.04.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Three unknowing martial artists are summoned to a mysterious island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will decide the fate of the world.
Review: Watching this movie at the time when the video game was a hit and the special effects recent was something, watching it now is very different. Fortunately I manage to keep the time period in mind when I watch this kind of movies. One interesting side of it is that you get to see the story of your favorite video game characters developed... well again, that works only if you are 17 years old and in 1995. I managed to remember some of them and could get a few winks in the movie, like the fatalities for which the original game was most famous. The rest of the story is vastly extrapolated from the game, in particular the characters are not all equal to fight one-on-one, but some are powerful Gods (like Raiden played by Christopher Lambert) while others are simple mortals. I managed to take enough distance to accept the loose story (until the predictable but unrealistic ending) and wait for the fight scenes which are in fact not the best part of the movie. The martial arts background, colorful characters and dated special effects are. Indeed, two years after the Jurassic Park revolution, Mortal Kombat was ambitious with a combination of optical, practical and digital effects. The whole mix was for me fun to watch. I was impressed in particular by the giant Goro which I thought would be limited to a few scenes to hide poor effects but was in fact often present and not so bad, in comparison to the rest. I am amazed by the number of (likely bad) sequels that were produced over the years, teaching me that new versions of the video game are still produced! An ambitious reboot of the movie franchise will be released in 2021, but I don't know for which audience and with which hopes of success.
Rating: 4 /10