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One of the first successful video game -movie adaptations.  But watch it now and...

Evil Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung needs to win one more MK tournement inorder to claim the Earth for the Emperor Shao Kahn

Earthrealm's protector Raiden sends three fighter to stop him  Lui Kang-Shaolin Monk, Sonya Blade-special forces soilder, and Johnny Cage-movie star.

For fans of the game, it's kind of cool to see the characters up on screen.  All from MK 1 are up there with a few from MK2 to fill out the cast.

The special effects are about the level of a 90' s Saturday afternoon adventure show.  Reptile is mostly CGI while Goro is an animatronic puppet.

A fun movie to watch if you don't take it seriously.  The sequel MK: Annhilation is aslo out there: but that's another topic.

Story wise, it's alright.  One of the biggest changes from the games was Scorpion and Sub-Zero working together, instead of aginst each other.

Just wanted to know what other poeple thought of this movie.

I saw it in the theater on opening day. I remember being less than impressed with it, but subsequent years and repeated viewings has endeared me to it a bit more. I suppose it can be considered pretty cheesy at times, but at least it had some kick ass music...which has popped up time and again in movie trailers (GINO 98' ) and other spots.

I may not want to admit it now, but this is the first movie I saw in theaters multiple times. I watched it either three or four times while it was out...

Last time I saw it was probably back in 1996, seriously.

I used to be heavy into Mortal Kombat in the early to mid 90's.
I mastered the first 3 MK arcade games so well that I was pretty much unbeatable.
Almost every hour outside of work was spent at the arcade dropping countless quarters into MK machines and I was well known by a lot of players at both of the arcades in town for my skills.
All I had to do was pick Johnny Cage and the person next to me at the machine would frown and/or groan.
He was my best fighter.

If there had been an MK tournament in my town back then, I'm fully confident I could've mopped the floor with the competition....I'm not bragging or anything...I was that good.

So, when the movie came out I went to see it opening day and I loved it.
But you know what?  I saw it on cable a couple of weeks ago after not having seen it for years and it just seemed silly to me.
Good...but silly.

I picked up MK3 on the Xbox Live Marketplace recently and I totally sucked at it.  I got my ass handed to me in online play.
I'd better brush up on my skills!

By the way, my favorite MK game was Mortal Kombat 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_2).

(http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/1029/mk2chooseka3.png) (http://imageshack.us)

Man, I miss those days back then when arcades were everywhere.

I liked the MK movie because somehow they took a simple concept like a fighting game and made it interesting.  Unlike say Street Fighter that totally lost me plot and character wise. 

MK 2 had all the makings of an awesome film idea but somehow MK Annihilation (arguably the worst video game movie ever) totally botched it jumping to MK 3's plot (well more or less). 

Guilty pleasure of mine was MK the series which I believe was on TBS after WCW Nitro.  Found the martial arts aspect to be a fun time. 

One thing I never liked about the MK movies is how they made Raiden into a great earth protector.  In the first MK video game plot line he was kind of an arrogant God who actually caused the end of the world if you beat the game with him.

Hey if MK:A hadn't been made then we'd have one less entertaining review from Ken Begg.

I remember liking MK:II the best as a kid. Repitle was my favorite because he spat acid. Now it's Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Arch-enemies are cool.

I always preferred Sonya on the first one, the mutant sister on the second, and Sektor from the third.  I was more of a Street Fighter game player myself.  Chun Li wooooooo!

As for the movies - I remember watching MK1 in the theater with my colleg buddies and we had a great time with it, not expecting much more than a bunch of fights.  The Street Fighter movie, on the other hand, was a complete pile of rolling dung.

MK Annihilation was bad, but any of Uwe Boll's video game "adaptations" is much much worse.

MK: One of the better adaptations of a video game, particularly when the original has a pretty thin plot (compare to the hideous Double Dragon or Street Fighter for example). Cheesy but it works.
MKA: Just shoot me please.

Speaking of video game movies where the original material has a pretty thin plot, anyone anxious about the Castlevania movie? At least Boll's not involved but I'm worried we'll get another Van Helsing or something.

One small gripe I have with the two movies is that they kept killing my favorite characters.  Reptile and Scorpion in the first, Smoke, Baraka, Sheeva and Kabla in the second (Kabal had it the worst-his deth was just reported: he was never on screen)

A new MK movie is supposedly being made-it will be the offiacl sequal and MKA was will forgotten.  I'm just worried they kill Quan Chi.  That's what I get for liking the villians more than ther heroes.

I'm pretty sure that my brother and I saw this film the opening weekend.  I really liked it then, although it's really a pretty silly film.  The fight between Scorpion and Johnny Cage is one of the best I've seen, though.

Sure, it's not exactly a Bergman film -- but it is fun at 3am when there's nothing else on TV, and Christopher Lambert cracks me up with that goofy laugh of his (hah-hah-hah). I don't ever plan on getting the DVD or whatever (and the Streetfighter II animated movie blows them all away, IMO).

I agree that Mortal Kombat is a fantastic bad movie. Its the definition of over the top dumb fun, and that's all it has to be.

But I don't get the hatred for Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Its just a bigger budget, slightly expanded version of the first film. More fights, more cyber-ninjas, more Sonya (yum  :thumbup:) , and more goofy s**t to go around.

Its fun, almost as fun as the first Mortal Kombat.

I thought that it was  fun flick for what it was.

I'm a fan of the early 2D games so it was fun seeing the characters from the 1st game brought to life.

And the actress who played Sonya was gorgeous.

(http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/14/260px-Sonya_Blade.jpg)

Ah yes. I remember watching that one, too. One of Kristanna Loken's early roles.

No complaints here about her in the eye candy department.   :thumbup:

The first MK was a big favorite of mine when it first came out...I even have it on laserdisc.  The more I watch it now though, I see just as much of the cheesiness as I do the awesome fights.  It's a lot like a Ray Harryhausen movie, if you think about it. 

MK:A however...I saw that once in the theater, and I thought it was pretty good...then again,  when I've got popcorn and soda with me, anything seems good.  Watching it now, I find it totally abysmal.  More groan-worthy dialog than the first movie, villains killed off too quickly, a lame, over-the-top Shao Kahn, and worst of all, extremely crappy, plastic-like costumes for the ninja characters.  :hatred: