| Mortal Kombat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Paul W. S. Anderson |
| Produced by | Lauri Apelian Lawrence Kasanoff |
| Written by | Ed Boon (video games) John Tobias (video games) Kevin Droney (written by) |
| Starring | Christopher Lambert Robin Shou Linden Ashby Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Bridgette Wilson Talisa Soto Trevor Goddard Chris Casamassa François Petit Keith Cooke |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | August 18, 1995 |
| Running time | 101 mins. |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | MK: Annihilation (1997) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mortal Kombat is a 1995 action movie, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It is based on the popular Mortal Kombat series of fighting games by Midway. It was filmed in Los Angeles and on location in Thailand.
The movie received average reviews from critics, most notably a "thumbs up" from Gene Siskel of Siskel & Ebert. It grossed roughly $70 million in the U.S., and an estimated $122 million worldwide.[1]
The film was considered to be the first major success for video-game movie adaptions, coming out a year after the critically disappointing Street Fighter and two years after the disastrous flop, Super Mario Bros. Director Paul W. S. Anderson would go on to work on a film franchise based on Capcom's Resident Evil games.
A sequel to Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was released in 1997, but is largely considered to be inferior to its predecessor.
Once every generation, there is an ancient tournament known as Mortal Kombat, which was designed by the Elder Gods for the main purpose to save Earthrealm from the dark forces of Outworld. If the forces of Outworld win the tournament ten consecutive times, The Emperor, Shao Kahn (though not explicitly referred by name), will be able to invade and conquer Earthrealm. Thus far, Outworld has won nine straight victories, making the upcoming tournament the tenth, and possibly final one, for Earthrealm. The former Shaolin monk Liu Kang and his comrades, Hollywood movie star Johnny Cage and Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, must risk their lives and overcome their powerful adversaries in order to win the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament, or condemn Earthrealm to eternal damnation.
Although each combatant was handpicked by Rayden to compete in Mortal Kombat, each has his or her own reason for competing in the tournament. Liu Kang seeks to avenge the death of his younger brother Chan, who was killed by Shang Tsung in battle. Sonya Blade is after notorious and cold blooded killer Kano, who is responsible for the death of her partner before Jax. Johnny Cage is competing to prove that he is a true martial artist, and not the fake that the press has made him out to be. Regardless of their individual agendas, they have been recruited and sent to a pier in Hong Kong, where they will be taken to Shang Tsung's island, the site of the tournament. While they are on the boat, the three encounter two of their potential opponents of the tournament, namely the Lin Kuei warrior Sub-Zero and the undead spectre Scorpion, both of whom are being mind-controlled by Shang Tsung. Before any pre-tournament fisticuffs can take place, however, Rayden, God of Thunder, intervenes with two lightning bolts, a blue and a reddish-yellow one, respectively, takes his chosen three aside and explains to them just what they are up against.
Upon their arrival at the island, the Earth Warriors are welcomed by Shang Tsung and the first rounds of the tournament begin the next day. Behind the scenes, however, Shang Tsung expresses his concern to the Mortal Kombat champion, Goro, that Liu Kang is competing in the tournament and that the Emperor's daughter, Princess Kitana, may betray them by allying with him. Despite their concerns, The Outworld warriors draw first blood, with Shang Tsung absorbing the souls of the losing Earthrealm warriors. Worse yet, and much to the horror of Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya, they also witness the death of one of their friends, Art Lean, at the hands of Goro, in another tournament battle.
After the devastating loss, the Earthrealm warriors despair, until Rayden provides them with the inspiration to overcome their fears and compete bravely in battle. Johnny Cage, Sonya, and Lui Kang go on to post victories over Scorpion, Kano, and Sub-Zero, respectively. Before Johnny Cage faces off against Goro, Shang Tsung makes the stipulation that, at any time, he himself may choose to challenge any one warrior at a venue of his choosing. Johnny Cage defeats Goro, sending him falling over the edge of a cliff. Shang Tsung then kidnaps Sonya to Outworld, invoking his earlier stipulation. Rayden explains to Liu Kang and Johnny Cage that they must go into Outworld without him, and, because Sonya cannot defeat Shang Tsung in combat, one of them must defeat Shang Tsung. After Liu Kang successfully fends off an attack from Reptile, he and Johnny Cage are met by Kitana, who reveals the truth about Outworld and her lineage, thus confirming Shang Tsung's suspicions about her. The three, disguised as monks, enter the castle tower where Sonya is being held captive. As Kitana and Johnny Cage free Sonya, Liu Kang challenges Shang Tsung to Mortal Kombat. The fiercely fought battle ends in victory for Liu Kang and Earthrealm, and the freedom of the souls of all the warriors beaten in battle and absorbed by Shang Tsung.
Liu Kang and Kitana happily stride arm in arm back to Earthrealm alongside Johnny Cage and Sonya, whose previous animosity towards each other has given way to a blossoming affection. Rayden catches up to them and congratulates them for their efforts in Mortal Kombat. The celebration is cut short, however, by the arrival of Shao Kahn, who threatens the people of Earthrealm. Rayden and the four warriors assume fighting stances as the screen cuts to the credits.
The following Mortal Kombat characters appear in the movie:
Although the movie was primarily based on the first Mortal Kombat game, there are several elements that were incorporated from the second game.
One plot change in the movie is Sub-Zero and Scorpion's role as slaves to Shang Tsung. In the game, however, they are under no such control, and are in fact deadly enemies (although Shang Tsung does make a reference to their feud in the movie).
| Mortal Kombat: Annihilation | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | John R. Leonetti |
| Produced by | Lawrence Kasanoff |
| Written by | Brent V. Friedman Bryce Zabel |
| Starring | Robin Shou James Remar Talisa Soto Sandra Hess Brian Thompson Lynn "Red" Williams |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | November 21, 1997 |
| Running time | 91 mins. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Mortal Kombat (1995) |
| Followed by | MK: Devastation |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a 1997 movie that was the sequel to Mortal Kombat, and was based on the popular Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The film was produced by Threshold Entertainment and directed by John R. Leonetti (director of photography on the first film) after the departure of Paul W. S. Anderson. The movie also features an almost entirely different cast from the first movie.
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The evil emperor Shao Kahn illegally opens a portal from Outworld to the Earthrealm and has reclaimed his Queen, Sindel, who also happens to be Kitana's long-dead mother. With the portal open, Earthrealm is in danger of being absorbed into Outworld within seven days, a fate which Liu Kang and the others must fight to prevent. Shao Kahn grabs Sonya Blade and holds her hostage to force Raiden into recognizing his claim on Earth, which Raiden returns by holding Kahn's generals hostage to force him to relinquish his control. Johnny Cage attempts to rescue her, only to be intercepted and killed, which forces Raiden and his friends underground to regroup. With very little time to stop the merging, Raiden suggests that they split up; Sonya, Liu Kang, and Kitana are to search for allies to the cause, while Raiden will go ask the Elder Gods why Shao Kahn was allowed to break the rules of Mortal Kombat.
Sonya immediately heads to her headquarters and recruits her old partner, Jax, who had fitted himself with external robotic prosthetics for his arms to enhance his strength. Before they can leave, they are ambushed by a cyborg named Cyrax, along with some of Shao Kahn's warriors. After defeating them, Sonya notices a dragon symbol peeling itself off of Cyrax's shoulder before vanishing. Cyrax then enters self-destruct mode and Jax and Sonya escape just before the headquarters complex is destroyed. Meanwhile, Kitana and Liu Kang search for a Native American shaman named Nightwolf, who they have been told knows how to defeat Shao Kahn. On the way to meet up with Nightwolf, however, they are confronted by a cyborg similar to the one that attacked Sonya and Jax, this one named Smoke. They defeat him with the aid of Sub-Zero, the younger brother of the Sub-Zero Liu Kang had defeated in the previous tournament, who explains that the cyborgs were captured and reprogrammed by Kahn to search after them, instead of him like his clan wanted. As a sign of good faith, Sub-Zero aids the two warriors further by forming an ice bridge over a large chasm, but before Kitana and Liu Kang can cross over completely, Scorpion emerges and attacks Sub-Zero. The attack on Sub-Zero is merely a diversion so that Scorpion can kidnap Kitana, which he does. Sub-Zero exhorts Liu Kang to continue on to Nightwolf before searching for Scorpion and Kitana, knowing that Kitana is now with Kahn, and Liu is not yet strong enough to face the Emperor.
Meanwhile, Raiden meets with the Elder Gods and is allowed to ask them three questions. He asks why Shao Kahn was allowed to break tournament rules and force his way into Earthrealm. He also asks how he can stop Shao Kahn. The answers he receives are sparse and ambiguous; one of the Elder Gods, named Shinnok, says that reuniting Kitana with her mother, Sindel, is the key to breaking Shao Kahn's hold on Earthrealm, but another insists that the defeat of Shao Kahn himself is what is needed. Raiden is then asked by the Elder Gods about his feelings and obligations towards the mortals, and what he would be willing to do to ensure their survival.
Liu Kang manages to find Nightwolf, who teaches him about the power of the Animality (a form of shapeshifting which helps to utilize a person's strengths and abilities), which is essential if he is to defeat Shao Kahn. To achieve the mindset needed to acquire this power, Liu Kang must pass three tests. The first is a trial of his self-esteem and focus. The second comes in the form of temptation, which manifests itself in the form of Jade, who attempts to seduce Liu Kang and make him forget about Kitana. Liu Kang resists Jade's advances, which impresses her. She offers her assistance in fighting Shao Kahn. Liu Kang accepts Jade's offer and takes her with him to the Elder Gods' temple, where he and his friends are to meet Raiden.
Sonya and Jax also head to the temple, only to be confronted by Mileena (who Sonya initially believes is Kitana) and a creature. Jax makes short work of the creature, and Sonya beats Mileena after a brawl in a mud puddle. Mileena is shown to have the same dragon tattoo that Cyrax had, and hers, like Cyrax's, disappears after Sonya's victory over her. At the temple, Earth's warriors reunite with a newly-shorn Raiden, who they are shocked to discover has sacrificed his immortality to freely fight alongside the Earth Warriors. Together, they head for Outworld to rescue Kitana and reunite her with Sindel.
With Jade's help, Liu Kang sneaks into Shao Kahn's castle and rescues Kitana, fending off a quartet of Tarkatan soldiers (led by Baraka), and killing Sindel's former bodyguard, the Shokan woman Sheeva, during their escape. Raiden, Jax, and Sonya find Sindel and reunite her with Kitana. Unfortunately, Sindel remains under Shao Kahn's control, and she escapes while a trio of Reptile-like Raptor warriors ambush the heroes. Jade also steals away, having revealed herself to be a mole sent by Shao Kahn to disrupt the Earth warriors' plans (though Shao Kahn later has her killed for her alleged incompetence). The Raptor ninjas are defeated but not before Raiden is injured, revealing the same dragon tattoo found on Cyrax and Mileena. The tattoo is revealed to be a family crest which allows Raiden and his family safe passage through interdimensional portals. The tattoos on Cyrax and Mileena were only temporary, which explains their disppearance when the two were defeated. Raiden then reveals that Shao Kahn is his brother, and Elder God Shinnok is their father. He realizes that Shinnok had lied to him about reuniting Kitana and Sindel in order to keep him from pursuing Shao Kahn. With renewed purpose, Raiden and the rest of Earth's warriors make their way to the final showdown with Shao Kahn and his generals.
Liu Kang and his friends openly challenge Shao Kahn and his allies, only to be interrupted by Shinnok, who demands that Raiden submit to him and restore their broken family, at the expense of his mortal friends. Raiden flatly refuses, and is killed by an energy blast from Shao Kahn. With Raiden now gone, Shinnok prepares to wipe out Earth's warriors and complete the merger of Earthrealm and Outworld, but the other two Elder Gods appear, having uncovered Shinnok's treachery. They declare that the fate of Earth shall be decided through lawfully agreed means, namely Mortal Kombat.
In the final battle, Jax takes on the Centaur Motaro, Sonya fights the ninja Ermac, Kitana squares off against Sindel, and Liu Kang faces Shao Kahn. Things begin to look bleak for the Earth warriors; Shao Kahn and Sindel simply overwhelm Liu Kang and Kitana, Motaro tears off one of Jax's cybernetic prosthetics, and Ermac double-teams Sonya with his shadowy counterpart, Noob Saibot. Suddenly, Jax rids himself of his prosthetics and gains the inner strength and confidence to beat Motaro naturally. Sonya, for the first time in her life, shouts for help, which Jax is more than willing to give. Sonya, with Jax's help, is then able to take out the two ninjas. Kitana manages to fake out Sindel and subdues her. Liu Kang manages to tap into his Animality but he is barely able to hold his own against Shao Kahn's own Animality. Shao Kahn begins to gloat and taunts Liu Kang, unwittingly riling up the Earth warrior enough to give him a second wind. Liu Kang defeats the Outworld Emperor once and for all, and Shinnok is banished to the Netherealm by the other Elder Gods.
Earthrealm reverts to what it was before the Outworld invasion, and Shao Kahn's hold over Sindel is finally broken, allowing her to reunite with her daughter. Raiden, however, remains dead. Dead, that is, until the other Elder Gods revive him, and bestow upon him his father's former position as an Elder God. Before he leaves to join the other Elder Gods, Raiden tells his friends that they must be there for one another, for they are now a family.
The movie was much less well-received than its predecessor.[1] Though it still possesed the visual spirit of the first movie, it greatly lacked the level of authenticity in both special effects and fight choreography. Additionally, Annihilation suffered from an overtly large and homogenous cast, employed to depict as many Mortal Kombat characters as possible, with a subsequent drop in characterization; in fact, several characters (e.g. Noob Saibot) make only unidentified cameo appearances.
The cast was almost entirely different with only Robin Shou (Liu Kang) and Talisa Soto (Kitana) returning to reprise their roles from the first film. The only other actor to return was Keith Cooke, the actor who portrayed Reptile in the first film. He was recast as the new Sub-Zero. The part of Mileena was performed by Soto's stunt-double, Dana Hee.
The budget for Annihilation was $40 million, but the movie grossed only $36 million in the U.S., with an opening weekend take of $16 million.[2] This represented a drop of 50% of the original movie's total domestic gross ($70 million). Worldwide, the film only grossed $51 million, versus the first film's worldwide take of $122 million.
Following the film's release, preproduction for a second sequel was to commence, but it was shelved, due to Annihilation's poor box office performance.
Nearly a decade later Mortal Kombat: Devastation, is currently in preproduction; however, MK:D has been mired in development hell for a number of years with numerous script rewrites and story changes, along with the destruction of Hurricane Katrina (near where part of the movie was planned to be filmed) further complicating things, no roles have been confirmed cast and limited information regarding the film exists on the official MK website, or from Threshold Entertainment.
Apart from being generally regarded as a classic example of bad filmmaking, this movie was partially responsible for causing the Mortal Kombat franchise to lose strength during the late '90s. Despite the success of Mortal Kombat 4 in both arcades and home console systems, interest in the series began declining due to inevitable overexposure, including projects such as Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (a side-scrolling prequel in which the original Sub-Zero is the lead character) and two short-lived TV shows: the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996) and Mortal Kombat: Conquest (1998). "Defenders" lasted only four months and eleven episodes. "Conquest" was canceled after only one season despite garnering respectable ratings.
In 1999, John Tobias, co-creator of the series, resigned from Midway and took a large number of Midway's staff with him. This occurred while Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was still in production. Ironically, when asked by gaming publication Electronic Gaming Monthly in a 1994 interview whether a Mortal Kombat game would be made without him or Ed Boon, Tobias replied, "It would be over our dead bodies."
By the start of the new millennium, Mortal Kombat seemed to be a relic of the 1990s until the release of the direct-to-console Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002) re-ignited interest in the series.
| Mortal Kombat: Devastation | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | mink |
| Produced by | Lawrence Kasanoff |
| Written by | Drew McWeeny |
| Starring | Christopher Lambert Chris Casamassa |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Mortal Kombat: Annihilation |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Mortal Kombat: Devastation is the third installment in the film franchise based on the Mortal Kombat fighting video game series. Mink is directing, Drew McWeeny is co-writing[1], and Lawrence Kasanoff and Threshold Entertainment are producing the film.
There are currently five possible storylines for the film (note that any of these storyline could be false):
It seems that since the halt of Shao Kahn's invasion, stopping the merger between realms, Earth Realm's balance with the universe has been restored. But it is unclear the future of the tournament thus far. For there are many enemies still burning with hatred, possessing an unquenchable thirst for revenge. And since Kahn's invasion was not prophesized by the Elder Gods, the future of the tournament is unclear. For now our planet remains a precious gateway between realms, inhabited not by gods or sorcerers, but only by humans. Will Earth Realm be challenged again, or taken? And by whom? Sorcerers, corrupt ninja clans, or powerful being from a distant realm? One thing is certain, now that Rayden is an Elder God, it is up to me to watch over Earth Realm and lead our fighters against whomever they may face, in Mortal Kombat. Fujin - God of Wind, Protector of Earth Realm[4]
Filming on the third film began on May 2005[8] and took place in Louisiana. The film was supposed to be released on early 2006, but due to Hurricane Katrina, Casamassa said that it had "set us back a few months" and filming was delayed, so they were able to shoot only a few scenes. Consequently, the film has been in development hell for a number of years. However, the rest of the filming is taking place in Thailand, just like the previous two films.[citation needed]
Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins is an animated film that released by Threshold Entertainment in 1995 as an unofficial prequel to the feature film that debuted the same year, and featured not only traditional 2D cell animation, but also motion capture and CGI to tell the origins behind several of the major characters. Released straight to home video with a running time of fifty-four minutes, it is a relatively forgotten inclusion in the MK franchise. In addition, it was never released on DVD.
The film featured Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade - also the three main characters in the film - traveling on a mysterious boat to battle in 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 minions. Upon arriving at the island where the battle takes places, Raiden retells the origins of both Shang Tsung and Goro, in between fight scenes.
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