Mortal Kombat Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Mortal Kombat Blu-ray Movie Review

Round one... fight!

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown April 16, 2011

There it was. Stretching towards the heavens as if it had erupted from the bowels of the Earth, parting the arcade crowds as if Moses' staff were raised above its frame. Those who came near it suddenly grew still. Those who stared into its tranquil glow fell eerily silent. To its sides, a fearless warrior attacked an unseen assailant, a golden dragon adorning the darkness behind him. From its depths, a disembodied voice greeted its transfixed disciples with commands like "fight," "test your might" and "finish him." Upon its face, seven deadly combatants waited anxiously for the same voice to utter "Johnny Cage," "Kano," "Raiden," Liu Kang," "Scorpion," "Sub-Zero" or "Sonya." And on the monolithic cabinet's forehead hung the words, "Mortal Kombat." Suffice it to say, gamers old enough to remember Midway's immortal fighting game's debut also probably remember that fateful day when they first encountered the original "Kombat" in arcades. It not only changed the culture, landscape and impact of gaming, it dismembered the notion that videogames were just for kids, sent parents and lawmakers into a twenty-year tailspin, and soon became the Genesis and SNES cartridge to sneak into your basement. The original game remains the stuff of videogame legend. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of Paul W.S. Anderson's 1995 film adaptation of the same name. While it certainly had its charms in the mid-90s, at least among avid gamers, Mortal Kombat hasn't aged gracefully and stands as an all-too-guilty guilty pleasure.

I feel a fireball coming on...

Every generation, a multidimensional tournament pits the greatest warriors on Earth and the fiercest fighters of Outworld against each other in a battle for all existence. But for nine generations in a row, Earth's enemies have claimed the prize. If they win a tenth time, control of the planet will be relinquished to Outworld's tyrannical emperor, Shao Kahn. In a final attempt to thwart Kahn, Lord Rayden (Christopher Lambert, Highlander), God of Thunder and Guardian of Earthrealm, chooses three skilled fighters to compete on Earth's behalf: Shaolin monk Liu Kang (Robin Shou, Death Race 2), Hollywood action star Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby, Wyatt Earp) and Special Forces knee-breaker Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson, Billy Madison). To win, they'll have to face Outworld's deadliest champions: the mysterious Princess Kitana (Talisa Soto, License to Kill), human mercenary Kano (Trevor Goddard, Deep Rising), icy assassin Sub-Zero (François Petit), rival brother-in-blood Scorpion (Chris Casamassa), shape-shifter Reptile (Keith H. Cooke), four-armed monstrosity Goro (voiced by Frank Welker), and the treacherous Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, The Last Emperor), a soul-swiping sorcerer with his own agenda.

What follows is a bloodless bout of mediocrity mercifully redeemed by a number of enthusiastic performances and some rather memorable set pieces. Tagawa and Shou sell their every line as if it were their last, and even inject a bit of gravitas into Anderson and screenwriter Kevin Droney's at-times weightless adaptation. Lambert, Ashby, Goddard, and the martial artists playing Tagawa's brooding masked assassins deliver the videogame goods as well, spreading just enough cheese on their one-note crackerjack performances to make their dust-ups and beatdowns inexplicably entertaining. Yes, the heavily edited fights rarely pack any real punch (save Kang's fight with Reptile). Yes, the chop socky, melodramatic conventions of mid-90s, PG-13 action-movie-making are out in full force. And yes, the film's ancient CG and visual effects work will elicit little more than snickers, disbelief and bursts of nostalgic laughter. But this is Mortal Kombat. The franchise isn't exactly the pinnacle of videogame storytelling or hard-hitting realism, nor is it as deadly serious as its most ardent players seem to insist. You'll crack a grin when a ninja pulls off his hood to reveal a rubbery, fire-breathing skull. It's unintentionally funny, and that's alright. You'll beam when Reptile springs to life and marvel at how far CG has come. That's okay, it makes the voracious little lizard all the more endearing. You'll shake your head when Shang Tsung takes Sonya prisoner and disguises her as a Caveman castaway. Embrace it. Trust me, Johnny Cage shares your sentiment. But that's the fun of revisiting an old B-fantasy actioner like Kombat. There's no need to rekindle old feelings; there's no reason to expect to enjoy a film in the same ways you did some sixteen years ago.

But while I'll be the first to admit there's plenty to love about Mortal Kombat -- even in 2011 -- that doesn't mean it's a very good film. Droney's dialogue is full of stilted high-speech, forced comic relief and senseless genre mumbo jumbo, the combatants' costumes border on high-end cosplay, several elements lifted directly from the videogame are little more than aimless distractions, a sleepy second act meanders when it should charge ahead, and Anderson's endgame falls flat on its face. Worse, Shang Tsung's endless supply of red-shirts doesn't help (and only serves to diminish the threat of Outworld's nastiest beasties), Wilson and Soto reduce Sonya and Kitana to a middle-school boy's daydream, Goro goes down far too easily, and the biggest, baddest showdowns are anything but big and bad. The only thing that's "big" about Mortal Kombat is its dumb fun. Again though, a healthy love of the series may leave you shrugging off every shortcoming and embracing every twist and turn. Gamers, ever a patient bunch, are still waiting for a faithful videogame adaptation that stands on its own cinematic merits. (Prince of Persia came closer than most, but left a lot to be desired nonetheless.) Mortal Kombat is not that film. It never was. It's just a chewy bite of Big Dumb Fun worth its weight in popcorn.

Mortal Kombat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There are moments when Mortal Kombat's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer is as striking as I hoped it would be. Then there are moments when it looks as if it's taken a swift kick to the face. Sadly, the latter isn't uncommon. Shadows wrap their tentacles around anything and everything, blotting out detail and consuming backgrounds in one fell swoop. Skintones, though lifelike on occasion, are too overheated and oversaturated for their own good. Textures, while crisp and refined at times, devolve into blotchy, mangled messes whenever visual effects or poor lighting fill the screen. And the presentation is peppered with noise, haunted by intermittent artifacting and banding, and prone to severe crush and obvious ringing. Even so, DVD owners will soon realize how much of an upgrade Mortal Kombat has been afforded. Colors are bold and brawny, black levels are typically inky, overall detail is decidedly decent, and many a scene comes and goes without falling victim to any aggressive foes. Grain has been preserved and Anderson's intentions have been reasonably honored; the image hits hard and the encode, bruised and battered as it sometimes is, makes it through Mortal Kombat in one piece. Ultimately, nostalgic fans will be more pleased with the hit-or-miss results than newcomers, but each camp will recognize how much worse the presentation could have been.

Mortal Kombat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Warner's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers a beating one minute and takes a beating the next. Everything about the mix is wildly inconsistent: dialogue puffs its chest just before retreating, LFE output flexes its muscle then collapses from exhaustion, and the rear speakers roar to life only to whimper shortly thereafter. Whether Mortal Kombat's original sound design or the studio's lossless efforts are to blame isn't entirely clear. But between slapdash directionality, weak-willed dynamics and waning clarity, there isn't much to get excited about. Oh, it's loud at times -- unruly even -- infusing the film's infectious techno anthems and old school sound effects with kick, punch, it's all in the mind precision and power. The track's high points simply don't last very long, leaving fans to wade through underwhelming scene after underwhelming scene to get to the good stuff. Mortal Kombat has never sounded so strong, but it has a long way to go if it ever wants to win a lossless catalog-mix tournie.

Mortal Kombat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Don't expect much in the way of supplemental content. Or really much of anything. The opportunity to download a Digital Copy of the film and unlock a classic character costume in Midway's upcoming PS3/Xbox 360 reboot is appreciated I suppose, but a commentary or a self-effacing retrospective would have brought MK fans running.

• Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins (SD, 39 minutes): Anyone old enough to remember this laughably unwatchable animated tie-in will remember how wince-inducingly awful it truly is. The animation has to be seen to be believed.
• Mortal Kombat Videogame Trailer (HD, 1 minute): A brief preview of the upcoming PS3/Xbox 360 game.
• Jade Classic Character Costume: A code is included that will allow PS3 gamers who buy the new game to unlock Jade's classic costume.
• Mortal Kombat Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)
• BD-Live Functionality

Mortal Kombat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you still haven't managed to scrape the Mortal Kombat theme song out of your head -- it's thumping in there right now, isn't it? -- you're bound to enjoy this Blu-ray release, faults and all. Anderson's film hasn't aged very well, but it casts a nasty spell of nostalgia sure to rope in old fans. Its AV presentation is plagued with issues, but it annihilates its DVD counterpart. And its supplemental package is shallow, but I doubt that will dissuade any potential takers, especially when the Blu-ray edition can be had for such a low price. Like the film itself, Mortal Kombat's high definition debut doesn't earn a flawless victory. It does eek out a messy win by the skin of its teeth though, and that has to count for something.