Mortal Kombat VHS Movie Review

Matt and Steve discuss another New Line 90’s movie with an amazing look, that movie is Mortal Kombat!!!!

 

Podcast Time code:

00:00 Welcome and our experience with the Mortal Kombat game

05:02 VHS Box Art

09:44 Crew and Cast

21:56 Trailer and Movie Breakdown

47:28 Behind the Scenes & The Animated Film

59:41 What’s going in our Museum?

01:02:12 What’s Next?

 

Cast/Crew/Notes

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

Produced by Lawrence Kasanoff

Based on Mortal Kombat by Midway Games

Starring

• Christopher Lambert as Raiden, god of thunder and protector of Earthrealm who guides the warriors on their journey. He desires to aid the heroes in defending Earthrealm, but as he himself is not mortal, he is not permitted to participate in the tournament and may only advise them and act to prevent cheating.

• Robin Shou as Liu Kang, a former Shaolin monk, who enters the tournament to avenge his brother's death. He is also Kitana's love interest and among the first who notice her sympathy towards Earthrealm. As in most of the games in the Mortal Kombat series, Liu Kang is the main protagonist. This was Shou's second American film, as his last American role was in 1990, for the made-for-television film Forbidden Nights.
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung, a powerful, sadistic and treacherous demon sorcerer, he is the film's main antagonist who killed Liu Kang's brother Chan. Tagawa was the filmmakers' first and only choice for the role; he was instantly selected after he came to his audition in costume, and read his lines while standing on a chair.
• Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, a Hollywood superstar that enters the tournament to prove to the world that his skills are for real. He is also Sonya's love interest. Ashby trained in karate and tae kwon do especially for this film. Despite the intensity of the fight scenes coupled with the actors performing most of their own stunts, on-set injuries were surprisingly minimal; the only notable occurrence was a mildly bruised kidney Ashby suffered while shooting Cage's fight scene with Scorpion.
• Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade, an American Special Forces officer from Austin, Texas who's in hot pursuit of Kano, the criminal who killed her partner. She is also Johnny's love interest. Cameron Diaz was originally set to play Sonya, but she broke her wrist during a martial arts training session prior to shooting and was replaced by Wilson, who was jokingly nicknamed "RoboBabe" during production by director Paul W. S. Anderson. Wilson performed all her own stunts, including fight scenes.

Release Date: August 18, 1995

Budget: 18 Million

Box Office: 122.1 Million