Mortal Kombat 1995 Review

Hey, this is Greg burger and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Hello and welcome

to episode 101 of the cinema geeks and this will

be another in our series of video game film reviews

so i know everybody has been anxiously awaiting

the next chapter in our video game series and

it is here today and with me to go on that journey

as they have been through the other video game

film reviews is hard candy mandy hello what up

movie revolt dan how's it going it's going well

and for the second i don't think so Fucking Raiden

says that like three times. That's right. You

should have just done his creepy ah ha ha ha.

It's just like all the different lines that are

like iconic for Mortal Kombat. I was not expecting

that one. Obviously we will be talking about

Mortal Kombat today, which is the 1995 film.

It was released August 18th, 1995, hour and 41

minute, PG -13. film and uh... for those of you

that don't know what mortal combat is i don't

know why you're listening to a video game series

of film reviews because it's uh... one of the

probably more popular video game films in history

at least i would like to think so we talked about

a little bit with street fighter and kind of

the comparison so How we normally do this is,

after we give a little bit of information on

the film, we'll be looking at it first from the

video game aspect, and if it's a good representation

of the video games that we remember, and then

obviously we'll judge it as a film standing on

its own. Before we get to that, this film is

directed by Paul W .S. Anderson, not to be confused

with Paul Thomas Anderson, written by Kevin Droney.

Based on Mortal Kombat by Midway and it stars

a whole bunch of people that probably a lot of

you have not heard of, but we'll name a couple

of them. Linden Ashby, Kara Hiroyuki, Tagawa

Robin Shu, Bridget Wilson, Christopher Lambert,

and a few others that we might get into. But

before that, Dan, I know we kind of mentioned

it a little bit when we talked about Street Fighter,

but remind people, what is your experience with

the Mortal Kombat? video games, did you play

any of them, and what kind of knowledge of the

characters in the game did you have going into

watching the film? Well, don't tell my mom, because

I wasn't allowed to, but I did play a lot of

Mortal Kombat as a kid. Yeah, especially the

first one. We played it a great deal. We had

a Sega, and I probably played that more than

I did that of a... The Street Fighter. There

was a Sub -Zero game. I forget what it was called

exactly, but you were just Sub -Zero. It was

like a side -scroller. It wasn't actually even

a fighting game. I played that. So it was all

about the Mortal Kombat games. I never owned

them. I only rented them from Blockbuster. But

I remember when the second one finally came to

Blockbuster, getting home and playing every new

character I possibly could and how exciting that

was. I haven't played a lot of the newer ones,

you know, in the last few years, like post, I'd

say, Xbox era Mortal Kombat. But, you know, the

first four or so around the time that this movie

came out, I did play it quite a bit. Yeah, I

played Mortal Kombat. I never owned a single

Mortal Kombat game But I must have had a couple

friends and I think I had a cousin that also

had of them So I remember that was like a game

that always got played whenever I went to those

people's houses But I never had it myself So

I didn't have like a ton of experience and I

was not very good at it for sure because of not

owning it probably I was probably with the annoying

kid that Used a certain move over and over and

over again or like I had like a four move arsenal

So I was probably really frustrating to play

me, but I do remember playing the first probably

two to three of them quite a bit. I haven't played

hardly anything. I think I played one newer version

just for like an hour once, but not any experience

with the newer games. But Dan, before we get

Amanda and Matt's history with the games, did

you have a favorite character to play or one

or two that you always liked your go -to guys

or girls? Well, I was I was cheap I did I did

like playing actually Raiden was one of my favorite

characters in the first one I loved though like

the flying movie would do like the Superman one

but and sub -zero, of course And I man, I feel

old but I forget the one guy's name. He had the

hat that he would throw I would use him. Yeah

him. There you go. I He was one of my favorite

characters to the play. So and for me it was

always always down to either Sub -Zero or Scorpion

those were the two that I always wanted to play

or any variation of those characters I just like

to look at them so that was cool and I just liked

hearing the guy say get over here like a thousand

times so yeah that was my annoying move so Amanda

let's go to you next what kind of experience

do you have with the old Mortal Kombat games

the new Mortal Kombat games and what was your

favorite character to play as? I did play the

original the older Mortal Kombat games, but like

you guys I was not allowed to own them, but I

practically live in my cousin's house and They

they had every single game possible So I did

get to play it a lot with my older cousins and

they beat me a bunch But I also got got my kicks

in you know get it do the one the little sweep

kick over and over again I do own like the Xbox

uh, Mortal Kombat. Uh, my PlayStation 2, I owned

every single Mortal Kombat for the PlayStation

2. Uh, even the ones where you can, like, design

your own character and stuff, like, I got super

into those. Uh, I always loved fighting games.

That's, like, my shit, so this was definitely

a staple for me. Probably my favorite game to

play growing up, and even watching the movies,

totally psyched about it. Watch it over and over

again. I'm gonna watch it a billion more times.

I know. It's okay. But I think that my favorite

character to play was Sindel. And she's legit.

Just don't hate. And I also like Sony Blade.

I like the little kiss thing and hit people on

the face with it. All right. Matt, what about

you? What was your experience with Mortal Kombat?

So, yeah, I played... I think I played Mortal

Kombat originally the very first time on a Super

Nintendo, which if anyone remembers, that was

the controversial version that was hyper -edited.

They removed the blood from it because Nintendo

didn't want that and other things like that.

I guess I get to be the winner here because I

owned Mortal Kombat 2 for the Sega Genesis. Nice.

So I got to play that all I ever wanted. And

you know, I've played, you know, renting Mortal

Kombat 3. I think 3 was the one where they added

weapons, which got really weird. And then like,

it was a half side, not a side scroll, a half

3D, like 2 .5D, I think they call it. And you

know, I've played them, I wouldn't say all of

them, because there are so many of them, but

I have played them coming through. I've played

Mortal Kombat versus DC. I've played Mortal Kombat

7? or eights like maybe not the newest newest

one but the one before that and then also some

of the crossover stuff before that so i mean

i've played them from from beginning to most

recently and did you have a favorite character

that you like to play zero was the man like i

always felt like super from people are like oh

you know my reaction is always the same thing

like oh you got to be sub -zero now like you

just got to kick my ass is sub -zero you can

come in here with sub -zero kick my ass like

I was always pissed when the other person picks

up zero like you can come in here and freeze

me the whole time okay so if we play and then

this is funny because we finished watching the

movie for this record and Amanda immediately

wanted to play Mortal Kombat so a copy that she

has for the Xbox and I'm glad we didn't because

now I know I can't be Sub -Zero. I actually had

the same feeling I was trying to like I don't

own any I'm like I was trying to look online

like are there ways to play yeah Just to relive

some of it. It was like 15 minutes before the

record and I was like, so you're telling me I

don't have time to go play Mortal Kombat right

now. He's like, you have 10 minutes. I'm like,

so you're telling me I don't have time to go

play Mortal Kombat right now. Matt, did you have

any luck supplying us with any type of backstory

based on the actual game or manual? So I've got,

I believe, Mortal Kombat 1's manual. and the

back of Mortal Kombat 2's box because in my head

it's this uh even the first one is Mortal Kombat

2 but I could be wrong about that so um what

we got for the first one the Shaolin temp the

Shaolin tournament for martial arts it just says

that and then and then the next paragraph is

for ages is a competition of honor and glory

noble warriors from around the globe were invited

to take part each seeking to win the title of

grand champion But that was a long time ago before

the tournament was corrupted by the evil demon

Shang Tsung, a warrior who took not only the

lives of his opponents, but their very souls.

With the aid of his pupil Goro, a hideous half

-human dragon, Tsung began a domination of the

contest, which has lasted for centuries. Today,

500 years later, the contest begins anew as warriors

once again gather to partake in mortal combat.

Doesn't get much more straightforward than that.

I guess so I didn't get the dragon aspect out

of it. Yeah, not so much dragon Alright so in

your experience Dan playing the video games the

various versions and whatnot Obviously this is

movie is supposed to be somewhat based off a

combination of the first and second games We

don't go into Mortal Kombat 3 territory quite

yet How do you feel like it portrayed the universe

you remember being? Depicted in the actual video

games and how well does it represent the video

games? Maybe in comparison to the other films

that we've talked about so far I think it's probably

the best so far that we've gotten to I would

say I mean it helps that you know the the premise

of it is rather straightforward it is a Fighting

tournament and of creatures from different and

characters from different dimensions or what

-have -you for the fate of of the earth and i

thought overall the characters felt that were

pretty well represented i mean they all kind

of looked apart and seemed like they fit what

i would imagine so i was i was pretty happy with

its representation when it came to taking what

the game gave it and making a movie movie out

of it at least for the first yeah amanda agree

or disagree that this is the best we've had so

far as far as the representation of the video

game Oh, definitely, hands down. I'm waiting

to be proven wrong, but I think this might be

the most true to the game that we're gonna get,

as far as just straight up, this is what you're

getting, meaning this is what the game is. And

you'd think that it'd be easy. It's like Mario,

but no jumping. Street Fighter, but no fighting

in the streets. But now finally we're getting

Mortal Kombat and we're getting actual combat.

There's legit fighting. They have the taglines,

they've got the characters, they've got the look

of the characters, they've got a really cool

showcasing of some of their abilities and stuff.

I do have a couple nitpicks about what was actually

showcased, but I think overall, I'm super, super

satisfied with how it translated over. Matt,

are you in agreement with Dan and Amanda? Just

how well it captures the game. And if it's the

best representation of the game that we've gotten

so far out of the four films we've talked about.

Well... Yeah, I mean, I guess it's closer to

the original game than those other ones have

been. Like, they... I sense some disagreement

somewhere in here. Oh, I just... I just think

it's... We'll get to that later. They did a pretty

good job representing the game from a visual

standpoint. There are a number of weird little

things like... Scorpion and Sub -Zero are enemies,

and they were not enemies in the first movie.

Like, Scorpion, according to the manual, Scorpion

wears Sub -Zero's outfit as a mock of his clan,

particularly taking the color yellow to show

that that clan is cowards. And so, like, the

fact that they're both under Shang Tsung, you

could argue, like, ah, soul manipulation or whatever,

I don't know. but like well if they do they do

make a mention that they are enemies in the very

first scene that they're both depicted in Shang

Tsung says these are you know mortal enemies

or or whatever have a feud but I have them under

my control yeah that's so I guess that's just

a get out of jail freak yeah I mean he could

just do whatever he wants like that but yeah

I mean Yeah, it's pretty good representation

of the game. Like, they definitely tried their

best to copy and paste the game into the movie.

Yeah, I will make it 4 for 4, too. I agree that

it's by far the best representation we've had

so far. Lightyear's ahead of Mario and Double

Dragon and Street Fighter. And, I mean, they

actually are fighting. So, I mean, that is the

key thing that Street Fighter missed is there

was very few actual one -on -one fights. And

here we get it. almost from the beginning it

seems like and we get it over and over again

with different pairings so I mean that's the

main thing that you're looking for but like Amanda

was saying too they did an excellent job of giving

us those trademark you know lines and stuff like

that whether it be fatality, flawless victory,

finish him you know different things that the

people say even if a couple of them we'll get

to later and my nitpicks are not necessarily

accurate uses of those terms but But they have

all that and they also have the music right as

far as the sounds from the game and that type

of thing. So even to the point where I remember

in the game, you have fights where Shang Tsung

is sitting in the background. I don't remember

which version of the game that was. That was

the first Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat 2. But

I remember fighting with him sitting in the background

observing as you're kind of in that environment,

whether it be a circle or whatever it is. And

they literally depict that. right into the movie.

You have those settings where he's watching and

they have the circle where they're fighting and

stuff like that. So I mean I think from a visual

standpoint and from a sound standpoint they captured

a lot of the game pretty accurately and I didn't

find too many of the characters where I was questioning

their outfits or their costumes or their coloring

or different things like that so I think it's

a very good representation of the actual video

game on screen. As far as how the film did financially,

before we get into how it actually works as a

film in general, the gross was 70 million as

far as domestic gross. I think I added another

probably around 50 internationally, so it was

over 120 million total. But 70 million domestic,

which was pretty darn good. It's the fifth...

best video game adaptation according to box office

mojo so there's uh it was fourth up until this

year so now it's dropped down to five and there's

only three that we're going to be talking about

in the rest of the video game series that will

have made more money than Mortal Kombat because

the other one is Pokemon the movie which we won't

be covering so it's up there as far as the money

that it made it also had the seventh best opening

weekend in 1995 and it was number one at the

box office three weeks in a row when it came

out so financially successful when it comes to

Rotten Tomatoes 33 % from the critics and 58

% from the fans, so maybe that's a good transition

into how the film actually worked as a film in

general. Dan, we haven't heard from you in a

little while, so where do you start when you

try to look at Mortal Kombat as an actual film,

whether it be plot, writing, characters, et cetera?

How do you think it worked as a film, regardless

of if it was a good video game adaptation or

not? I guess where we'd start, looking at the

plot. I mean, the plot is... Straightforward,

I mean it is pretty much Liu Kang's story here

and you have the element of him basically trying

to avenge or what have you his brother who passed

away or was killed by Shang Tsung and like that

I think that element of it was never really strong

enough like if you're looking at it on a straight

plot standpoint and I think it tries to do some

things but ultimately it also is stuck trying

to do some fan service And it is also a tournament

that makes no sense whatsoever, like how characters

fight, and then they have these fights, and then

the tournament's set up, but then nothing really

happens, and then they kind of scrap that to

the end. So that part of it is, I think it's

just clearly designing to get having certain

things happen. I guess the way I look at it is

not so much... a film is more of a piece of entertainment

and I think it works on that level. I think there

are some, the set design is pretty fun. Some

of the character dynamic within that group is

interesting. You know, the acting is not phenomenal

throughout, but I did enjoy it overall, especially

compared to what we received. I think the filmmaking

is much better than, you know, something like

Double Dragon for sure or Street Fighter. I feel

like a little bit more competently made. Especially

the fight sequences seem like they incorporated

a lot of the classic maneuvers per se Especially

like the sequence with Sub -Zero in the, not

Sub -Zero, but Scorpion in the forest, even though

that comes out of nowhere, but I would say it's

not as good as I remember. Like I thought, I

remember thinking this was a really good movie

or like it was like this it was really solid

and it's not There are some more cringeworthy

moments than I than I remembered when I first

saw it. Though I will say, we're not completely

talking about it, after watching the sequel,

Annihilation, this thing is like freaking good,

fellas, compared to that, which is like, man,

that is one awful movie. It is god awful. Don't

remind me of that existence of that movie. Yeah,

there's so much to say about it besides don't

watch it. Yeah, don't ever watch Mortal Kombat

Annihilation. I wanted to jump off something

you said real quick before we get to the other

guys. take and that is talking about the tournament

and how it doesn't make sense. That was something

that I think even bothered me as a kid but I

didn't really know why is I never could follow

what was going on because it was like okay the

first time you have a setup and you're saying

you know person on the right person on the left

come fight and everybody will watch and that

type of stuff and then it seemed like you just

had to be ready at any time later on in the movie

like you could just be walking down the block

and all of a sudden there's a fight and there's

the person that you're going to be fighting with

no warning whatsoever. and then it also seemed

like you had it was like that one kid that you

used to play with uh outside when you were growing

up where every time something was working out

in the game that wasn't to their favor all of

a sudden the rules got changed and it was like

well that didn't go how i wanted to so now um

i can make this rule and i can call you out and

you have to do that and then if that's not working

we'll change the rules again so it did seem like

That was happening a couple times from Shang

Tsung which kind of threw off the whole tournament

and like that whole there's rules that you have

to follow or the Emperor is going to be upset

or this that and the other or it doesn't qualify

because of the thousand -year tradition that

we have going on. It seemed like a lot of that

kind of went out the window when they needed

to from a plot standpoint so I definitely agree

with that. Amanda, how did you think it worked

out as a film and what were some of the highlights

or lowlights for whichever way you want to go?

I think that it definitely worked as a film even

if it didn't have any connection to a video game.

I think that the premise and the execution was

super fun and well done. I mean we've got like

the highest stakes to thus far that we've seen

out of any of the the films that we've been watching

like bitch you will get killed and your soul

will get taken out and then earth is gonna get

absorbed like stuff's gonna happen and it's not

good. I think that it had - Wait a second, are

you talking about - are you like downplaying

Super Mario Brothers and the de -evolutionizing

of society? Um, I can believe more or less how

that would happen before that, I believe. I think

that it's got the best visuals that we've seen

too, some super legit visuals. Also, like you

guys brought up too, legit fighting. There was

definitely some time put into the choreography

and stuff and - This is in stark contrast to

the Street Fighter where we talked about where

they were supposed to have all this time to train

with like the choreographers and the martial

artists and they got nothing and you could definitely

see that whereas here it seemed like they had

a lot of time with the specialist and going through

this. I think even one of the actors is well

versed enough where he did some of the choreography

themselves because there was a couple scenes

that were re -shot. afterwards that were kind

of added into the film where he had a hundred

percent of the choreography responsibility and

those are some of the best fight scenes so I

think it helped that they had what seemed like

a lot more time and a lot more people that do

what they were doing when it came to those fight

scenes but go ahead and continue. Well I think

that Mortal Kombat Q or B in combat that they

definitely should have spent more fucking time

on the fighting. That's what they did not accomplish

while in Street Fighter. And I think that with

this, there were some super cool displays of

different fighting styles, too. It wasn't just,

you know, this generic kind of kung fu stuff

going on. There was some definite styles of fighting

going on. And I really dug it. Matt, what about

you? How did it work for a film for you? I think

it's trash. And I think anyone saying anything

positive about it is wrong. I think it's so bad,

like. Like I don't know man. This movie was garbage

Like when did you see it though? Like did you

see it back in the day? I saw it in the theaters

when it first came out and it was amazing It

was my favorite thing ever like my friends and

I talked about it for years And then I watched

it again less than a week ago, and it's garbage

like just it's bad like No, no, that's not an

argument. You can't make that argument. No. This

is what it is. How can you not like it for what

it is? How can it be any better for Mortal Kombat?

It isn't. Again, because the Mortal Kombat story,

I got the booklet here, makes more sense than

this. There's logic to why people are doing things.

And I don't know, man, Sonya Blade was just there

to be a princess. That was the whole point. And

also, why was anyone motivated to do anything?

It was like, why is Shang Tsung gathering everyone

that's gonna beat him? Like, why wasn't it Raiden?

That would've made infinitely more sense. But

no, he gets Johnny Cage, he gets Sonya Blade,

like, he even kinda gets Liu Kang. It's just

like, it's... He was trying to pad it so he could

win, because he thought that these people were

pushovers, so he wanted to get the contestants

to be people that he thought he could beat. Why

is the guy who's going to do that the one who

gets to choose? I don't think he is. He's doing

this shady business to try to get these people

that he knows that will pad the competition that

are just people that he can blow over with his

dominant fighting force. And then like but I

mean, I don't know man earth to be able to choose

zone defenders I feel there's only one chosen

one and that was And so Liu Kang Liu Kang goes

to the tournament he has to fight everyone that

Shang Tsung picks like All these other people

show up to like how they get there. We don't

know That one black dude that's no purpose except

for to be there at the beginning and then die

immediately When he should have just been jacks

and got his arms torn off so that he could show

up in the text movie Yeah, they don't they definitely

don't go into the selection process too much

of this one I think it's more we're just supposed

to understand that are supposed to kind of take

You just have to accept the fact that these are

quote -unquote the best fighters and whether

it's Shang Tsung Recruiting them Raiden recruiting

them or whoever it's all almost like this other

force that somehow Decided these are the best

fighters in the world so they have to assemble

or from the different galaxies So I don't I don't

know I guess I had to give it a pass on the selection

process I'm surprised man I thought you were

gonna like this a lot so did I like I remembered

loving this movie but it's just like you just

can't follow it there are no rules they're just

no rules at all anytime they tell you there's

a rule they can break it at any moment for no

reason like it's just like hey I don't want this

guy to kill my friends he's like okay well then

I get to challenge anyone for any reason and

then that person if they lose I get I get your

world for forever what the fuck does that even

mean Like, it's just like, oh, I could challenge

anyone. And he's like, there's this, there's

this, there's this. I could challenge literally

anyone. And it's like, oh, but did you know they

have to accept? It's like, okay, well, I'm gonna

kidnap your girlfriend and I'm gonna tear all

her clothes off and put her in a dress for no

reason and tie her up and just be like, I'm gonna

fight you. And she's gonna be like, no, I'm gonna

fight you. No, I'm gonna fight you. Like, it's

fucking gibberish. This movie is terrible. He

wanted her as his, like, her. his love slave

kind of thing he dressed up like a cave woman

so like so like multiple hundred year old ninja

warriors that have been resurrected from the

dead he can control but uh like a 22 year old

black ops well it's it's that has to do with

the fact of where he's from i think if you go

into the mythos a little bit it's the same reason

raiden can't go to the what is it whatever it's

called the outer realm or whatever yeah like

shang Tsung only has control over the people

from his Whatever you want to call it dimension

type of thing so you can't control the king and

all those other guys Dan Dan are you a scorpion

or both from earth originally? Well, I but they

they claim that how it spun off in this film

though. They're acting like they're from Aren't

they acting like they're from a different realm?

I think, I think you're right. I do think they

do pretend to be from Outland. Yeah, I mean,

regardless of whether they're from the game,

and that might be something where they get it

wrong as far as how, where they come from, but

they kind of pretend like, you know, Goro, Sub

-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile are all, even, whatchamacallit,

Katana are all kind of from a different realm

besides Earth, I guess, so to speak, but... Dan,

are you surprised Matt's coming down on this

one that hard, or do you agree with his complaints

so far? I don't disagree with that, but it makes

no sense, like I mentioned, like the rules of

the tournament, it's like... Would like to see

the chart of them and like how it works exactly

the bracket bracket of this tournament It's like,

okay this line then goes here and then this is

a the portal line where we go to different Yeah,

it makes like I said like when I was some double

I've seen some double illumination tournament

brackets that make as little sense as this challenge

dude Yeah, I want to do that. We challenge this

team. I don't care that we're not in the play

It's just dangerous like everywhere you're gonna

be in that realm though. I don't think it's just

like like, oh hey, now this isn't just a fight

breaking out. I mean, people are just out to

kill each other, they're different realms, they're

at odds. If they're forced to be in the same

area, they're definitely gonna bump heads, which

is gonna result in some ass kickery. I mean,

I agree that that's the weakest part of the movie,

is the actual tournament and what kind of rules

or logic we're gonna follow going through there,

but for some reason it didn't bother me, like

I guess it bothered you, Matt, but. Like yeah,

I am again like I just I hate that the term turned

her brain off but like he kind of and I'm also

looking at this in comparison to what we've gotten

up to this point when it comes to video game

movies and like thinking of something like Double

Dragon or what -have -you and also the sequel

which I did watch too and looking at the original

it's like wow that's you know watching that after

like that it seems like a much better movie but

I think what worked for me, I did like Liu Kang,

the actor that played him. I thought he was competent.

The guy who played Cheng Chong, I thought he

was good as well. And I did enjoy their back

and forth. And like I said, the fights were well

done. Plus, you gotta love the Mortal Kombat

theme. They don't get tired playing that at all.

But yeah, I think it's one thing when you try

to connect the dots and figure out why things

are happening. It doesn't necessarily really

flow and it is a lot of like a lot of contrivances

from here, you know, in making it all fit together.

But I guess at the end of the day, I just at

least enjoyed some things that were on screen.

And though I was surprised after watching this,

even though I'm not doing the comparison, I thought...

I might have even enjoyed Street Fighter more

because I thought that was more purposely comedic

and had a little was rather surprised me like

what I mentioned like this wasn't it was not

in the movie I had in my head not nearly to that

like the what Matt where he hated it and liked

it before but it I thought I was gonna like it

a lot more than I did Matt did you watch Mortal

Kombat Annihilation? I did and it was an infinitely

better movie than the original Really? I feel

like the, I feel like the, the kung fu. Are you

just pulling a joke on me? No, no, no. Legitimately,

I thought the fighting, um, looked better. thought

the story was followed its own logic a little

bit better I feel like it was a little more tongue

-in -cheek it was aware that the other one made

no sense and so like it tried to make sense like

and it even kind of referenced how dumb some

of the elements the other one was was like oh

now that you now that we're at the final battle

you're gonna have to do three things to win and

like they're like you guys do three things he's

like I did two is that enough and it's like yeah

sure that's enough let's keep going Like, it

was more entertaining and it felt like it fit

better as a logical from beginning to end thing.

Like, there were some dumb elements in it, just

like the other one, like whatever the fuck the

ball thing was, what was that about? Why did

that even need to exist? It didn't. But it was

better as a movie. Neither one of them was good.

But the second one was more entertaining. I can't

agree with that either. Like the even just looking

at the special effects there's like more of them

in the second one and just like the ball thing

or like Just like think again coming out of nowhere

where you have characters somehow show up to

where they're gonna be and kidnap people and

you have We can't going on a spirit quest with

a Native American stereotype character that gets

from the game But suddenly can now change into

an animal and I get that's from the game, but

it's like and you start off by like You know

killing probably, you know, I get it. I get it

cuz he couldn't get Johnny Cage So you killed

him and then that spoiler alert, I guess but

whatever I don't know. I just felt like It was

the casting for the first one wasn't like superior

Like they did they I thought they knocked some

out of the park with the casting on the first

one and some others are questionable The casting

for the second one is is ridiculous. I couldn't

take I the guy who played I have to get the name

of the villain in the Shao Kahn and then I just

couldn't take him seriously. It just he just

From where they left it at the end of the first

one with the Frank Welker voiceover of this guy

with like a skeleton looking face was like, oh,

this guy is even more intimidating than Shang

Tsung in Goro. And then the second one opens

with some generic Mad Max type character in like

a suit. It was just, I had to fuck out of the

room. In the holy god sequence and like Raiden

could have killed all the generals, but then

he didn't. Wait, and then I don't know like I

I don't I agree like neither of them either like,

you know, we're good movies by any means as fresh

as imagination, but Are we gonna ignore the fact

that He turned into like Liu Kang turned into

a dragon at the end? Like that doesn't happen.

It's my animality I'm a fucking dragon and that's

how I have to defeat the boss is to become a

fucking dragon. Are you talking about the second

one? Yeah We reference that that that's from

the game and also he learned that in the spirit

quest So he turned into a dragon in the fucking

game? Yeah, there was animality. That's when

I stopped playing with the beast, or whatever

it was. That was actually on the back cover of

the second game, was actually him as a dragon.

And I was not allowed to have video games, so

I didn't even see the box. My cousins put it

in the system, and I started pushing buttons.

That's what happened. Man, but Matt, you didn't

like the visuals or the sets from the first one?

I thought the sets they created were pretty awesome.

The venues were pretty spot on. The only visuals

that I didn't like from the first one is at times

Goro looked like a retarded puppet. I mean at

times he looked okay, like on some close -ups,

and other times it was like... A weird claymation

thing? Yeah, a weird claymation thing where his

arms and his mouth weren't synced up together

and whatnot, but when it came to like the actual

worlds and like the settings, I thought those

were better than anything we've seen so far in

the video game film. I think they were less interesting

than the Mario ones, but generally, yeah, they

weren't terrible. The visuals weren't the bad

thing, other than, again, like, Goro. But even

then, in the second one, they did a better job

with Mintaro and Shiva. But other than Goro,

yeah, it looked nice. It was, like, that wasn't

my problem. For some reason, the kung fu, the

fighting sequences, I didn't like them in the

first one. It just felt, like, poorly choreographed

for most of it. I can't agree with that, man.

I mean, rewatch it and do it side by side and

watch the fighting in Street Fighter and then

watch the fighting in Mortal Kombat. I mean,

most of it seems like it's pretty well choreographed.

It's like they have actual black belts fighting

in the first Mortal Kombat movie. Like that monk

that Liu Kang fights first, that guy has mastered

a ton of different fighting and stuff. Yeah,

maybe my problem is more with some of the not

people, like the Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage.

Because the Johnny Cage versus Scorpion fight

was definitely weird and awkward. That was one

of my favorite scenes in the entire movie. The

Sonya Blade, I can kind of see because she did

not allow a stunt person to do anything for her.

So that actress was doing all of her own stunts.

So I could see anything that was involving her

maybe not coming across as polished. But the

ones with like, especially like with Reptile

and Scorpion Sub -Zero seemed to me like they

were some of the better fighting that I've seen

so far out of the four films. Not that we've

seen a lot of fighting. A way better job than

the Street Fighter fighting. I'm not saying that

this... I'm just saying, and maybe it's just

like a modern Hollywood where they've got more

CG and they've got better ways to do stunt doubles.

Maybe I'm just used to better, like I didn't

like the choreography of the first one very much.

The second one was a slight improvement. But

yeah, yeah, they're better fighting than Street

Fighter. I just don't think it was a better movie.

I don't think there was much fighting in Street

Fighter to really even compare it. Yeah, there

wasn't enough to compare. There was another comical

thing as far as the fighting goes because...

There's one scene, apparently the guy that was

doing Liu Kang, I don't know if he did all of

his own stuff or not, but there's that one part

where Sub -Zero goes down that ramp and does

like three somersaults or flips or whatever,

and then Liu Kang just like runs after him yelling

at him. He was supposed to do the exact same

thing Sub -Zero did, but he couldn't physically,

so then he just like ran after him. He was supposed

to do like three somersaults as well. Instead

of just like held out his arm and just yelled

and went forward. Man, going into a couple of

the other things, we talked about casting a little

bit, and I know Danny mentioned a little bit,

but I want to get you guys to take on a couple

of the characters and how you feel like they

matched up, because obviously we don't have a

lot of big name actors and a lot of Hollywood

playing these guys necessarily. I thought they

did, like Dan said, I thought they did a fantastic

job with Sang Soon, I thought, or however you

say his name differently. I thought that was

perfect casting, and I also thought that... Um,

Christopher Lambert was good as Raiden. I don't

know if everybody agrees with that or not, but

my weakest two spots were probably Sonya and

Johnny Cage, um, as far as... I don't... But

I think it might have been distracting if it

was anybody known, but I mean, I don't think

those guys were expert actors nonetheless, but

Amanda, what did you think about the people they

got playing some of these parts? I thought they

were pretty spot on in the first one, if we're

just focusing on the first one. I think that

I loved the first Raiden. I know that, wasn't

this guy like the Highlander? He's super legit.

I like that actor and I thought that he was really

awesome as Raiden. It was a pretty cool take

on it. Also way better than James Reymar in the

second one, Matt. No, I'm willing to agree. Here's

the thing, I don't think Lambert did a good job

either. I think they're both bad. I think it's

cheesy, but I liked him. Amanda, I keep going

to interrupt you. I think Johnny Cage was the

best in this film. I don't even like him in Legacy,

like who they have cast for that. I think he's

super useless in everything else, but I feel

like in this at least they set him up as kind

of a contender. Like he takes on Goro, which

is... he's super fucking scary like i was terrified

of him when i was little and i think that um

sony blade was probably my weakest casting i

just feel like like matt said she's like the

princess character she gets fucking kidnapped

over and over again it's stupid like you're supposed

to be some super is she in like the marines or

the army she's in some kind of special forces

you should be a little bit more tactical and

she's just like this bullheaded I'm on one mission

and that's to kill Kano the whole time and she's

just one track minded and she's not really adapting

like she should and so that was kind of bogus

but I think that Liu Kang was perfect I think

maybe Kitana her portrayal was a little weak

like Bitch didn't even pull out her fans like

the whole time a little stoic yeah and I think

um the not having a couple of the other characters

that I would like to see in the first one kind

of made the casting for just the characters in

general a little sad for me I wanted a few more

in the first movie but then focusing on the three

that they did I kind of just had to be okay with

it I also kind of like the way they wrote a couple

of the characters I know the writing this film

obviously gets trashed on a lot especially in

a lot of the reviews but I actually like some

of the writing that they did for Raiden and for

Johnny Cage. I like the comic aspects of Raiden,

you know, laughing and then apologize to whatever

he was doing. And they almost wrote Johnny Cage

almost in like a Han Solo -esque type, some lines

in there, like that one line where he's like,

come to a little tournament, he said. It'll be

good for your career. He said those types of

things like I kind of got that feel for him So

I didn't mind the writing of those two characters,

but I am in complete agreement about Sonya blade

Dan or Matt any other thoughts on the casting

or some of these characters and how they were

portrayed that's scorpion and Sub -Zero cast

well Dude, I don't think they did a good job

with like casting or writing the female characters

in this movie. Like Amanda said, Sonya Blade's

whole thing was, I need to go beat Kano. And

then they get to the tournament, and she kills

Kano. And it's like, oh, now we have a superfluous

female character. Let's get her kidnapped a couple

of times. Like, it's fucking pointless. And like

Kitana, it's like, she's the daughter of the

previous ruler of Outworld. She's over 1 ,000

years old. She's a martial artist that's been

training for 1 ,000 years. Liu Kang beats her

in about 20 seconds, even though he's what, 24?

A thousand years of martial artists makes no

sense. Their female characters are weak. They're

not - Well, she - she wasn't - she was not. You're

talking about Katana? Yeah. Yeah, she wasn't

trying to fight. Wow, yeah, true. But what's

up with that whole fight where Shang Tsung's

like, I needed to make sure that Liu Kang and

Katana never meet. And then Ami - immediately

fucking cut to them on a beach where he's like,

yes, meet, ha ha! Fight and then immediately

cut to you guys don't have to finish this fight.

There doesn't need to be a winner Also quit talking

quit. I mean you shouldn't be talking. There's

too much talking This fight is over like there's

so many fights that just don't even make sense

like like even the Johnny Cage Goro fight Which

is hilarious because it showcased Johnny Cage

like I'm willing to low blow a dude because I've

got a win But it's like punch him in the nuts

and then immediately run for a mile to go And

then I was like, why don't you kick this guy

in the head like right now? I not set the fight

on a cliff Just get the nut punch and then get

him to knock over and it's like it's hilarious

He just fucking cheated his way to beating Goro

like and it was that quick and it made set like

It was just like nope. I'm gonna climb up. I'm

gonna climb up this wall. I'm gonna go off that

door. I'm gonna go like It's incomprehensible.

This movie doesn't make sense on any level and

it pisses me off every scene. Oh geez You were

in a bad mood when you watch this film. I'm just

kidding. I I can agree with most of your com

with most of your critiques though I just for

some reason did not have the same effect of making

me angry. I kind of just took it like dance.

I'd shut your brain off and You know just allow

yourself to be entertained. Maybe is how my brain

was going with it, but I don't know I wanted

to go through a couple other things with you

guys and then get some final thoughts and let

everything else get aired out, but a couple behind

-the -scenes things trivia facts and stuff like

that apparently Brandon Lee was supposed to be

Johnny Cage but then obviously he had the he

was tragically killed on the set of what was

a film to grow right so then they offered the

part to Jean -Claude Van Damme who turned it

down because he was doing Street Fighter. Who

could have Jean -Claude Van Damme be Luke King?

No, Johnny Cage. This is for Johnny Cage and

that's why... You were originally going to make

the game about... Jean -Claude Van Damme character

weren't they? I'm not sure. That's what it is.

Also interesting trivia on Trevor Goddard who

was the guy that played Kano. Apparently the

people behind the game liked him so much that

they rewrote, according to what I read, they

rewrote the character of Kano in all the future

games to be Australian because they thought Trevor

Goddard giving him like, well first of all they

thought Trevor Goddard was Australian and they

were incorrect, he's British. So they went through

and rewrote the character in future games to

be Australian, thinking that the actor was Australian

and they liked what he did with it. So Kano as

a character is supposed to be Japanese -American.

So that was kind of an interesting tidbit I thought

for that. And Cameron Diaz was cast as Sonya

Blade and broke her wrist, I guess, in the first

week of doing some martial arts training or whatever.

According to the internet, that's a fact. I don't

know if that's confirmed or not. So that's why

I got changed to whoever did place on your blade.

The original screenplay had an R rating for graphic

violence and language until it got down to a

PG -13. And of course, this is one thing that

does bug me and Matt, I'm sure, I don't know

if one of you guys mentioned it or not, but that

Arlene character obviously was not a game character.

Because we didn't have enough characters? That's

what I'm saying. I hate it when they do that

because you could have easily put one of the

other characters in and killed them off if you

needed to. And there was also supposed to be

a love story in the film between Katana and Liu

Kang in the very first film that they eventually

cut out because they wanted to focus more on

the fighting. There's also two cut scenes. One

was the burial of Art Lin. I guess they go to

bury him and they bury him under a statue of

Kung Lao and that was the only mention of...

the only visual depiction of that character.

There was also a cutscene between a fight between

Sonya and Jade that was cut out of the film.

Reptile, not originally in the movie at all until

they tested it with some test audiences and the

audiences wanted more fighting and stuff like

that so they added reptile in so they could get

a couple more fight scenes. That's the trivia

that I have for you guys, but let's go around

the horn one more time and get people's anything

that you haven't been able to mention, and then

we'll go around one more time for some greats.

So, Dan, what else, if anything, did you want

to mention that you like, disliked about Mortal

Kombat? Like, I don't know if it's like a Stockholm

situation where it's like we're watching all

these video game movies, so you're just coming

to accept them and like them from what they are,

but it's just you're forced to, but... Like I

said, I really have not much more to say about

it than it's already been said. Again, it does

not hold up that well, ultimately. It's probably

perhaps maybe the best thing we're gonna get,

maybe? I don't know. But like I said, if you

can forgive a lot of its sins, and there are

a lot there, I think there are some things to

enjoy. We can accept the fact that it has no

logic, accept the fact that it... doesn't really

kind of just change things it goes as it is I

Think there you can at least have fun with it

possibly But you know if my overall grade of

the film I would probably give it five out of

ten All right, Amanda. What about you anything

that you haven't said yet, and what grade would

you give Mortal Kombat? Just mentioned that eating

food in another realm seems super sketchy Like

I ate some produce in Italy and got super sick

What would happen to you if you ate food in another

fucking realm? Don't worry about it because two

minutes after the meal starts They're gonna flip

all the tables for no reason and then walk away

I think that it did have some pretty adult themes

and language and stuff to fit like the you know

the mature Let's be honest the mature nature

of the the video game, and I can see it kind

of you know Leaning towards are if they would

have made it a little bit more I think that would

have been a little bit more legit But I just

like our movies and I think that it had tons

and tons of set work like there's some super

intricate Stuff going on in these realms like

it definitely looked like you were not on earth

anymore So I think as far as my grade goes, I'm

gonna give it a seven Whoa, whoa, you're gonna

give it two points higher than you gave Nausicaa.

Yeah, I couldn't even stay awake in Nausicaa

Matt we'll let you go next time Man, ah, I just...

I also like Batman vs. Superman. I'm just gonna

throw that out there. Oh, man. I don't know how

you can stand to be around me. Like, this movie

was a gem of my youth that has been ruined by

me rewatching it. Like, I'm glad I rewatched

Annihilation because I hated that as a kid. I

think I got really upset when... when my second

favorite ninja, Rain, dies after getting one

line for no reason. But yeah, I don't know. My

suggestion is seek out the spin -off doctor's

take on Mortal Kombat because they're more forgiving

than even I am, but they list out why this is

such a bad movie. And it's a... Maybe you should

stop listening to them before you podcast with

us. That podcast came out like a while ago, but

it was good. The Need for Speed one makes me

very worried about when we have to watch that

movie. Oh, I'm worried about that regardless.

I don't need anybody to add to the worriedness

of that. But I don't know, man. It's not the

worst movie I've seen. It's, I think... maybe

more entertaining than Mario. The only reason

I seem to be more angry about it is just because

no one else is angry enough about it. It's...

I mean, it's... It's not... I don't know, man.

Why not compare it to Batman v. Superman? Because

that's what I do, like, everything in 2016 for

whatever reason. Like, I feel like the characters'

motivations are slightly more logical, but generally

it's less... interesting. I don't know, I'm gonna

give it, like, a 3. Ouch. So you put a, I don't

remember where you put the other ones, so you're

putting this worse than which ones that we've

watched already. Definitely worse than Street

Fighter. I don't know, like probably Tied with

Double Dragon and maybe Better Than Mario? Alright.

That's the part I can't agree with, but I mean,

I agree with some of your flaws, but like I said,

from an entertaining standpoint and the pacing

and everything like that, I had fun with it.

I thought I laughed at stuff. I liked the action

and the fighting sequences, so I'm gonna be on

a different end of the spectrum from you on this

one. Some other nitpicks, though. Earth, why

are you not prepared well for these Mortal Kombat

things? You've already lost nine tournaments,

and the next one you lose, you're gonna be...

overtaken why are we not preparing our fighters

and at least talking to them and getting them

prepped up like it's we we don't find them until

the day of yeah and then and then it's like hey

guys you're gonna go fight for i mean we are

pretty big procrastinators we are procrastinators

and i get i get that some of them have some fighting

backgrounds but i would at least like to prepare

them for these other realm like uh supernatural

powers they're going to be going against because

at least raiden knows about those so that's kind

of weird let's not say flawless victory when

it's not a flaw i get the fatality and i get

the one was a flawless uh victory because the

other person didn't touch him but the one literally

they were like trading blows back and forth and

then it was like flawless victory i'm like what

do you just needed another reason to say that

you didn't cheek it on so it didn't hurt him

And then a couple of character moments where

I guess they had no intelligence whatsoever.

They're following Katana and Johnny Cage is convinced

that they went down this hall that they have

to break through 700 spider webs to go through.

If she went that way, you wouldn't have to break

all the spider webs. She would have broke them

when she went through the hallway. That's not

real good tracking skills from Johnny Cage. And

Liu Kang, you're an idiot because you literally

saw Shang Tsung change into your brother right

in front of you and then continued to be fooled

that it was your brother for a second. You were

just looking at Shang Tsung and he turned into

the brother right in front of you. No, he kept

saying, you're not real, you're my brother. He

never was like, oh shit. Yeah, but he was like,

you can't be. You can't be my brother. No shit,

he can't be your brother. Well, his brother fucking

died. He's still got some trauma from... I don't

know about that. And all these nightmares he

keeps having. But my biggest grief was that Sub

-Zero and Scorpion were killed too early on in

the tournament. I would have liked to see them

stick around since they were my favorite characters

from the game. From just a personal... standpoint

there but uh don't worry they'll bring back scorpio

with no explanation and then sub -zero will just

be a different dude but it'll be back right and

then but actually the person that played reptile

in this movie is the character is the actor that

plays sub -zero in the second movie so that'll

just confuse things even more for a grade though

for me i i genuinely enjoyed my time with it

i like the mortal kombat franchise i like the

legacy uh web whatever you want to call it The

web series? The web series. I think those are

fun. The only thing I don't like Mortal Kombat

is Annihilation, really. I think that's a ridiculous

nonsense. But I'd be in the 6 or 7 range for

this one, honestly. It's the best video game

film we've seen so far, in my opinion. It's way

better than Double Dragon and Super Mario, and

I think it's better than Street Fighter as well.

So I'm gonna go with a 6 out of 10 for Mortal

Kombat. Genuinely enjoyed it regardless of if

it didn't make sense or not I didn't expect I

don't expect most of these video game films to

make sense So I guess that's just my take on

it So you have to let us know what side of the

spectrum you guys are on listeners and if you're

more on Matt's camp or more on Amanda's camp

or somewhere in the middle like I guess Dan and

I fell and What your take is on Mortal Kombat?

Is it the best video game film we've reviewed

so far out of the four or not? And we'll have

to see how that goes. You can leave those comments

at geekcastradio .com. You can just click on

the episode post, and you can write your comment

right there, and we will interact. Or if you

want instant interaction, you can tweet us, and

we'll reply as soon as we get the notification.

And Amanda, how can people tweet right at you

and let them know that they're agreeing with

you? You can hit me up on Twitter, at Hard Candy

Mandy. I is no lie. And Matt, if they agree with

you, how should they reach out and say that you're

right? You should definitely let me know that

you agree with me, at FridleySense. Dan, what's

your Twitter? I'm at MovieRevolts. And my Twitter

is at OptimaSolo. If you just want to send a

general tweet to the show, you can do that at

CinemaGeekCast. And that means next up on our

video game series, when we get back to it, we'll

actually be going a completely different route.

And I believe the next up is Wing Commander.

So starring Freddie Prince Jr. and Matthew Lillard.

So, I mean, the anticipation is just building

on that one. I'm excited, I've never seen it

before. They were also both in the live -action

Scooby -Doo together. So, that's what we have

to look forward to next time, and then I think

after that we go into the world of Tomb Raider.

So, those will be the next two on the video game

series. So, that's it for this week, and tune

in next week for another chance to listen to

The Cinema Geeks. Choose your destiny Flawless

victory Choose your destiny Flawless victory