Mortal Kombat
Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson
Produced By: Lawrence Kasanoff
Written By: Kevin Droney
Based On: Mortal Kombat by Midway Games
Cast
Robin Shou as Liu Kang
Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade
Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage
George Takei as Raiden
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung
Ming-Na Wen as Kitana
Trevor Goddard as Kano
Chris Casamassa as Sub-Zero
J.J. Perry as Scorpion
Ray Park as Reptile
Kane Hodder as Goro (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson)
Kenneth Edwards as Art Lean
Steven Ho as Chan Kang
Michael Jai White as Jax Briggs
Peter Jason as Master Boyd
Frank Welker as the voice of Shao Khan
Budget: $25 million
Box Office: $250 million
So, given how the past three years of TTL have seen box office success for at this point four video game movies (now five with Zelda) there's a lot more money put into the Mortal Kombat movie. This will help mainly with some of the visual effects, especially with the addition of blood as this is an R-rated picture. It's a risky move, no doubt, as video games haven't gone farther than PG-13 in theaters. But Mortal Kombat has always been known for being the edgier alternative to games like
Street Fighter so the R rating becomes a badge of honor for this movie. The story remains the same from OTL, though with Reptile not possessing a statue and instead is a ninja in Shang Tsung's employ with an animatronic lizard head underneath his mask, a la Scorpion. The movie is somewhat mixed among professional critics, who feel the gorier aspects, while visually catching, act as little more than a thick layer of flavoring over an otherwise anemic story. The movie relights the flame of controversy, having come out just after
Zelda II left theaters. But among fans and the teenagers willing to sneak their way to see the movie, it was an awesome experience overall and helped keep up the franchise momentum, plus it actually managed to make big money as an R-rated film, just after Judge Dredd notoriously cut down to a PG-13 rating and was one of the many victims of
Zelda II.