Mortal Kombat (1995 film)


Mortal Kombat is a 1995 American martial arts fantasy film based on the video game franchise by Ed Boon and John Tobias. It is the first installment in the Mortal Kombat film series. It was directed by Paul Anderson and stars Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Robin Shou, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto, and Christopher Lambert. The film follows a group of heroes who participate in the eponymous tournament to protect Earth from being conquered by malevolent forces. Its story primarily adapts the original 1992 game, while also using elements from the game Mortal Kombat II.
Development of a Mortal Kombat film adaptation began shortly after the release of Mortal Kombat II when independent producer Lawrence Kasanoff acquired the rights from Midway Games. Newcomer director Anderson was hired based on the strength of his debut Shopping, with a screenplay written by Kevin Droney. Filming took place primarily in Thailand, with fight sequences supervised by Shou and Pat E. Johnson.
Mortal Kombat was released by New Line Cinema in the United States on August 18, 1995. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the martial art sequences, atmosphere, and production values, but criticized the performances, script, and toned-down violence from the games. Despite the mixed critical response, the film was well received by fans of the series. It was also a commercial success, grossing $122.2 million on a $20 million budget.
The film was followed by a 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, along with two television series: the animated sequel Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and the live-action prequel Mortal Kombat: Conquest. The follow-ups were unable to match the original film's success and the series was rebooted with a 2021 film.

Plot

Mortal Kombat is a martial arts tournament that is held once every generation between representatives of the realms of Earth and the otherworldly dimension of Outworld. If Outworld achieves ten consecutive victories, the Outworld Emperor will invade and conquer the Earthrealm. They have already won nine times. Shaolin monk Liu Kang, movie star Johnny Cage and Special Forces officer Sonya Blade are chosen by Raiden, the god of thunder and defender of Earthrealm, to prevent Outworld from winning their tenth straight tournament. Kang seeks revenge against the tournament host Shang Tsung for killing his brother Chan and taking his soul; Sonya is lured onto the ship headed for Shang Tsung's island by crime boss Kano, who murdered her partner; Johnny seeks to debunk media claims that his martial arts skills are faked.
Tsung orders the creature Reptile to prevent Princess Kitana, the Emperor's adopted daughter, from allying with the Earth warriors. Kang, Johnny and Sonya advance to the final rounds of the tournament, with Sonya killing Kano, Johnny killing Scorpion, and Liu killing Sub-Zero.
One of Johnny's peers, Art Lean, is defeated by the reigning tournament champion, Prince Goro, and has his soul taken by Shang Tsung. Hoping to protect Kang and Sonya, Johnny challenges Goro.
Johnny uses guile and the element of surprise to defeat Goro. Now desperate, Tsung takes Sonya hostage and takes her to Outworld. Knowing that his powers are ineffective there, Raiden sends Kang and Johnny into Outworld to rescue Sonya and challenge Tsung. In Outworld, Kang is attacked by Reptile but gains the upper hand and kills him. Kitana meets up with Johnny and Kang. She reveals to them that Outworld was a beautiful and peaceful place until the Emperor came from a third realm and brought Outworld to ruin after winning ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments there. He then adopted Kitana and took the throne for himself. Not wanting the Emperor to succeed in taking over Earthrealm, Kitana helps them infiltrate Shang Tsung's fortress, disguised in the robes of his followers.
Kitana berates Tsung for his treachery to the Emperor, distracting him while Kang and Johnny free Sonya. Tsung challenges Johnny but is counter-challenged by Kang. During the battle, Kang faces not only Shang Tsung but also the souls he took in past tournaments. Tsung morphs into Chan to confuse Kang. Accepting that he is not responsible for Chan's death allows Kang to see through the charade. Liu Kang fires a fireball at Tsung, knocking him off a landing onto a bed of spikes. Tsung's death releases all of the captive souls, including Chan's. Before ascending to the afterlife, Chan tells Kang that he will remain with him in spirit until they are reunited and tells him to "Go in Peace."
The Earth warriors return to Earthrealm, where a victory celebration is taking place at Kang's Shaolin temple with Raiden waiting for them. The jubilation stops when the Emperor appears and declares he has come for the heroes' souls. Raiden and the warriors take up fighting stances.

Cast

  • Robin Shou as Liu Kang: A former Shaolin monk, who enters the tournament to avenge his brother's death. He is among the first who notice Kitana's 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 first American role was in 1990, the made-for-television film Forbidden Nights. Shou also served as an additional fight choreographer.
  • Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage: A Hollywood superstar who enters the tournament to prove to the world that his martial arts skills are legitimate. Ashby trained in karate, tae kwon do and kung fu especially for this film.
  • Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade: An American Special Forces officer pursuing Kano after he kills her partner. Wilson, who was jokingly nicknamed "RoboBabe" during production by director Paul W. S. Anderson, performed all her own stunts, including fight scenes.
  • Talisa Soto as Kitana: The Outworld emperor's adopted daughter who decides to help the Earth warriors. She is attracted to Liu Kang, who reciprocates and takes her advice to go further. Soto had previously appeared alongside Tagawa in Licence to Kill.
  • Christopher Lambert as Lord Raiden: The 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. Sean Connery was offered the role, but turned it down.
  • Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung: A powerful sorcerer and the host of the tournament. 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. Tagawa was allowed to play a younger version of Shang Tsung in order to avoid the excessive makeup that would have been required to duplicate the character's aged appearance in the first game.
  • Trevor Goddard as Kano: An underworld crime boss who joins forces with Shang Tsung. Goddard portrayed the character as Cockney English, but due to his accent being misinterpreted, later games would change Kano from being an expatriate American to Australian.
  • Chris Casamassa as Scorpion: An undead warrior under Shang Tsung's control. Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon voiced the character.
  • Sandy Helberg as the director of Cage's latest film. This part was originally intended as a cameo by Steven Spielberg, but scheduling conflicts forced him to back out.
  • Kenneth Edwards as Art Lean: A martial artist and friend of Johnny Cage who competes in the tournament.
  • Steven Ho as Chan: Liu Kang's murdered younger brother.
  • Peter Jason as Master Boyd: Johnny Cage's sensei.
  • François Petit as Sub-Zero: A cryomancer warrior under Shang Tsung's control.
  • Keith Cooke as Reptile: A creature who serves Shang Tsung. Cooke portrayed the character's human form, while his lizard form was computer generated. Reptile's vocal effects were provided by Frank Welker.
  • Gregory McKinney appears as Jax.
Goro, the reigning Mortal Kombat champion, is physically portrayed by Tom Woodruff Jr. and voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, both of whom were uncredited. Frank Welker makes an uncredited appearance as the voice of the Outworld Emperor, in addition to providing vocal effects for Goro and Reptile.

Development and pre-production

While Mortal Kombat II was in the playtest phase and the original Mortal Kombat had still only been released in arcades, not for home consoles, movie producer Lawrence Kasanoff visited some friends at the game's publisher, Midway Games, and played a Mortal Kombat unit that was in their offices. He saw cinematic possibilities in the concept and expressed interest in making a film based on the game, but Midway head Neil D. Nicastro disagreed that the game could be a successful film, particularly given the failure of past movie adaptations of video games. After months of negotiations, Kasanoff finally acquired a limited option on the Mortal Kombat film rights.
Though several top directors submitted pitches for the film, the producer chose then-unknown director Paul Anderson after he saw a screening of his 1994 debut film, Shopping, which Larry felt showed he could take an innovative approach to the material. Anderson had no experience with visual effects but was enthusiastic about making a Mortal Kombat film, so he read every book he could find on visual effects and, in his words, "kind of bluffed my way in."

Casting

Among those who auditioned for the role of Liu Kang were Jason Scott Lee, Russell Wong, Dustin Nguyen, Keith Cooke and Phillip Rhee. Ernie Reyes Jr was at one point considered for the role. A relative unknown, Robin Shou, was cast as the film's lead character. Shou was a wushu champion turned Hong Kong stuntman and actor, whose only prior credit in an American film was in the made-for-television feature Forbidden Nights. Shou, who just quit Hong Kong film industry and returned to the United States, originally turned down the role, because he thought he'd be cast as a stereotypical Asian villain. It was only after his agent told him that Liu Kang was the film's hero that he reconsidered.
Sharon Stone, Christina Applegate and Dina Meyer were originally considered for the role of Sonya Blade. Cameron Diaz was originally cast as Sonya Blade, but dropped out due to a wrist injury and was replaced by Bridgette Wilson. Wilson had accepted a role in Billy Madison after being passed up in the Mortal Kombat auditions in favor of Diaz, and so had to fly out to the set the morning after her last day filming Billy Madison.
For years, many fans assumed or believed that late actor, Brandon Lee was originally slated to play the character of Johnny Cage. Anderson confirmed in 2015, during a Q&A with fans, that Lee was never pitched an offer or heard of the project before his death in March 1993. Jean-Claude Van Damme, whose performance in Bloodsport inspired the game character, was offered the part but turned it down due to being busy filming Street Fighter, also based on a fighting video game *. Coincidentally, both films were shot in Thailand. Linden Ashby got the role in part due to his past martial arts experiences, having trained in karate and taekwondo. Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Gary Daniels were also considered for the role.
The role of Raiden was first offered to Sean Connery, who turned it down because he didn't want to perform a physically demanding role. Danny Glover was also considered.
Mariska Hargitay was in the running for the role of Princess Kitana before Talisa Soto was cast in the role.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was the filmmakers' first and only choice for the role of Shang Tsung. He came to the audition in a costume, and read his lines while standing on a chair.
Steve James was originally cast to play Jax, but he died from pancreatic cancer a year before production on the film began. Michael Jai White was slated to replace him, but dropped out in order to star in Tyson. He would later play Jax in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.