Product Details

• Actors: Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Bridgette Wilson
• Directors: Paul W.S. Anderson
• Writers: Ed Boon, John Tobias, Kevin Droney
• Producers: Alison Savitch, Danny Simon, Lauri Apelian, Lawrence Kasanoff
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 21, 1996
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (168 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303890253
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,383 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

This martial-arts film, based on a video game and set to a techno beat, starts out promisingly: the actors look sinewy and primed for action, and the effects (mostly morphing) are convincing. But soon the movie falls flat under an uninspired good-versus-evil plot and pathetically simpleminded dialogue. To be fair, it tries for a tongue-in-cheek punch here and there, and, thanks to Christopher Lambert (sporting a Catherine Deneuve-like wig in the Obi-Wan Kenobi role), it lands a few. But the bulk of the movie is set in a grotto that owes much to Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion-animation isles without improving on them, and the fighting is endless. It's all paced swiftly enough-like an old kung-fu movie with a budget-but it could have used some witty dubbing. Directed by Paul Anderson. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Product Description

based on the best-selling home video game, this action adventuretells of a group of expert fighters who compete in a dangerous tournament for the fate of mankind on a mysterious island.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Rocks, February 20, 2005

By	Johnny Biggs (Brampghanistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mortal Kombat (DVD)

This movie still rocks. The Reptile effects are kind of dated, but everything else... hell yes! Next to Resident Evil (One, not Two), the best video game adaptation ever. No, it ain't a life affirming oscar worthy masterpiece, but its' a damn good time, with rockin' music, excellent fight scenes and gorgeous scenery. It stays pretty close to the game (minus the extreme gore). If you dug Enter The Dragon, you'll dig this.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still love it, August 30, 2006

By	Ebby D "Ebby" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mortal Kombat (DVD)

When this movie came out, I was twelve years old and horribly afraid of being caught out as not old enough to see a PG-13 movie without an adult. In spite of that fear however, I saw this movie no less than seven times in the theatre alone. Now at almost 23 years old, I can say that this movie still makes me giddy with enjoyment. I love Liu Kang, Raiden and especially Reptile. Annihilation didn't come close to matching this movie. They couldn't keep the actors from the first film, Johnny Cage died in the first five seconds and the actor who had replaced Christopher Lambert as Raiden was terrible. But this movie, this movie captured my imagination over and over again and will likely continue to do so.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still The Best Film Based On A Video Game, November 5, 2005

By	K. Forte "Nightmare Freak" (Queens, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mortal Kombat (DVD)

Video game films are either awful or just entertaining...nothing more. Mortal Kombat is the only film based on a video game that was very good. Kevin Droney, who wrote this film really did job writing it close to the game. Even the characters from the game were done well. The only problem is that some of the dialogue sucks and the fatalities were watered-down.

Paul W.S. Anderson showed his talent in directing for the first time in the USA. He is a good director, too bad his directing isn't as strong now as it was before he did Resident Evil. And I'm glad he didn't write this because he's one of the worst writers in Holloywood today.

Johnny Cage {Ashby} was the best character in this movie and he the best fight scene, the battle between him and Scorpion {Casamassa}. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa has played many villians in his career, but Shang Tsung is his best performance. Liu Kang {Shou} Sonya Blade {Wilson} Kano {Goddard} and Rayden {Lambert} were all good characters too.

Nothing has beat Mortal Kombat as the best film based on a video game because films based on video games are never done right. A lot of them are just films using the game's title to make money.

Hopefully one day, a real director/writer will make one super cool...and not written by Paul W.S. Anderson or anything by Uwe Suck.

But for now, Mortal Kombat will still hold on to that title as the best film based on a video game.