@@joshuagorski9452 yeah i ment that was shit since story was off, characters were not promising enough....even Lambert said once I saw the script...it was bad that i quit
Same. It's so over the top it's fun. Most movies nowadays are just stupid without the fun. The Liveaction movie of Street Fighter on the other hand take it way to serious and that makes it stupid.
As all things MK, Kung Lao is a little complicated... there are two of them, one is the Legendary Kung Lao from one of the first mortal kombat tourneys who is the ancestor to Lui Kang AND the "current" Kung Lao who is headstrong and brash chasing the influence granted by his namesake. edit: also as a point of clarity, Sonya being tied up and being the damsel is an homage to the video games, one of the levels/stages in mortal kombat 2 has her in the background chained up between two small pillars as a prisoner of the Emperor.
So, the reason the Sonya/Kano fight is so telegraphed is because the actress who played Sonya isn't actually a fighter, unlike the others. They originally cast a different actress to play her for the movie but she got hurt before filming started so they had to recast and work with what they had. She does a great job for most of the movie but she can't quite sell a one on one fight scene, which is also likely the reason Sonya has the least to actually do in the movie. The games' creator actually liked this version of Kano so much they changed him in the games to match, this was the first time he was depicted as Australian. The movie is also the source of a lot of things that made it into the games: the idea that one Realm had to win ten consecutive tournaments to merge realms, the romance between Kitana and Liu Kang, Johnny being the funny one-liner dropping character, and Raiden's role as a mentor character who couldn't directly interfere.
I still think Sub-Zeros and Scorpions entrances is the greatest entrance to characters cinema has done. It is so well done. Even if you don't know who they are the way they come out, the music, the slow mo just tells you they don't fuck around.
Doesn't he just slide into frame with his face right at the camera? Ehh, I will give you his fight scene though at the end of the movie being amazing.@@Arobein
So regarding Liu Kang saying "Flawless Victory" @ 37:14, it still kinda works in a way if you play out the fight like the video games. Round 1: Liu Kang wins the initial brawl by knocking Shang down. Round 2: Shang wins by wearing Liu Kang down with minions, then beating him down. Final Round: Liu Kang doesn't take a single blow after he stands back up at that point. Hence, Flawless Victory.
@@KaylasStarWorld seeing more things like they're inspired rather than a logical plot element would help people. Like how in the games there is always a flourish/pose at the start of the fight, so in this they all do little flex routines before fighting, and then when defeated they writhe on the ground as in the victory screen
Yeah. Reptile took some special stuff to unlock and his AI Aggression was dialed way up for the initial fight. He was incredibly fast and he could do both Sub-Zero's and Scorpion's special moves
This is not true. The movie made an amalgamation of Liu Kang and Kung Lao into Liu Kang, but in the games, they have never been related. This is a common mistake.
It's my understanding that the animatronic for Goro was one of the most expensive parts of the movie, and also one of the last prominent animatronics before they were replaced with CGI. You still see a few animatronics as an artistic choice, but not in prominent roles like this one. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It's been years since I looked this up, and my info could be mis-remembered or outdated.
33:50 The Great Kung Lao is mentioned many times in the video games and is seen in Liu Kang's MK11 Aftermath ending. Both Liu Kang and Kung Lao are descended from him in the games
This is not true. The current Kung Lao is the descendant of The Great Kung Lao, but Liu Kang is not. There is a scene in Shaolin Monks that shows the souls of The Great Kung Lao and Liu Kang's ancestors fighting. Liu and current Kung Lao witness this fight and Liu Kang says "They are our ancestors." He does NOT say "He is our ancestor." In the games, Liu and Kung have never been related. People make this mistake all the time. Mainly because this movie combines Liu Kang and Kung Lao into one character.
This movie is the source to a lot of stuff that stuck around in MK cannon. This is the first time that Kano was Australian instead of Japanese (even though the actor was going for a British accent), this is where Johnny X Sonya and Liu Kang vs Kitana were first established, this is where many famous quotes like "it has begun" and "your soul is mine" originated from.
@jedley01 Which is funny, since the initial reaction to Kano finally sounding proper Australian in MK11 was not so positive. People got used to the Cockney Kano, so the change was a bit much for some of them. Personally, MK11's Kano is my favorite version of him, and I liked it from the get go.
About Shang Tsung: I believe they blended MK1 and MK2 lore together without wasting time on the revitalization story. When Shang Tsung returns to Outworld in MKII, Emperor Shao Kahn rewards him with a second chance and grants him more power by returning his youth. This is why in MK1 Shang Tsung is a flying old white haired sorcerer but in MK2 he had black hair in a fighting gi. The funny thing about Sonya Blade is that her and Kano wasn't playable characters in MKII because they were the least used characters on the Arcade. They had them chained up on platforms in the background of one of the arenas in MKII.
Didn’t realize that was why they had Sonya and Kano chained up but it makes sense. Bethany always played as Sonya in arcade game so clearly that was 1 and not 2 she was playing 😅
I like it more then the 2021 movie like the 2021 looks way better but the plot and shit was so off this movies plot is better but not by much but better lol
The bit where Sub Zero and Scorpion walk through the door will always be the most hype scene of any movie for me, even to this day I still get goosebumps.
Fun fact: The actors who played Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Raiden reprised their roles in the MK 11 game as special DLC skins. The actor who played Shang Tsung played him in the MK 11 game as well.
The best Mortal Kombat movie or video game adaptation EVER! Nobody can top it. In fact many tried and many failed. Also, that was the time when MK video games was good, movie was good, then we got good TV show, which is Mortal Kombat Conquest, cool second cartoon. Man, that was amazing time to be alive, especially if you are Mortal Kombat fan. The best fights in this movie is Johnny Cage vs Scorpion, Liu Kang vs Sub-Zero and Liu Kang vs Reptile. Those 3 are the top! And as a metalhead I freaking LOVE the soundtrack that plays during the fight between Johnny Cage and Scorpion. And it is called Zero Signal by band called Fear Factory. I listened to that track so much that I know who lyrics to it and can make it play in my head instantly.
Reptile fight was the best of the 3. Like 100% Scorpion fight was slightly worse but like a 95% Sub zero’s fight was like a 70% Shang Tsung was like 90% because it had a lot of slow moments.
The actors who played the villains Shang stung and Kano pulled it off....too bad Kano's actor died in suicide after few years from the film.....he will be remembered for this role atleast
The part where Liu Kang says “Flawless Victory” is actually accurate if you think of it like the games. They had Round 1, which went to Liu Kang because he drew first blood and beat the dead warriors. Round 2 goes to Shang Tsung after he changes back from Chan. Finally they start Round 3 when Liu says, “I am the chosen one.” He didn’t get hit once and finished off Shang Tsung. So technically, that is a Flawless Victory for that round.
Fun fact: The theme that plays 4000 times is called "Techno Syndrome", by The Immortals. And, if you ask any professional musician, is obnoxiously simple and easy to reproduce. However, dude was paid $10,000 to spend half an hour farting out a cheesy melody that became so permanently engrained in the public zeitgeist that even 25 years later, I can go down to my local skating rink and it'll play during speed skating. Bonus fact: The famous "Mortal Kombat" scream is actually a pitch-shifted scream of a 12 year old boy from the original commercial for the game.
In addition to Johnny's latest introduction, 11 references "Where do you get these guys?" With "Who hired this guy!?" (The triple uppercut fatality). Kitana's presence during the events of the first game, while logical, also harkens back to Kitsune. She was a dropped prototype of Kitana who would have been Shang's daughter and liu Kang's love interest.
The campiness and clunky CGI only add to the charm, especially how Cary Hiroyuki hams it up as Shang Only major qualm I have is Reptile. Man, they butchered him worse than any fatality.
Best of the cheese. Let that song breakout in Walmart and 20% of the shoppers will be like "this is what we have been waiting for lol". A movie that will always be in my heart
the lady who played Sonya was also the hot teacher in Billy Madison oh yeah he's right! Reptile in MK1 is an unplayable hidden fight and quite a challenge compared to the other ones encountered before him
About Raiden's casting, I think it happened that way because Christopher Lambert was so good in Highlander and the studio wanted to capitalize on him. And he did a pretty good job, all things considered. Fun fact: Raiden was originally played by an Hispanic actor/martial artist in the games, Carlos Pesina. He would go on to do the motion capture of the games when they transitioned into 3D character models, which led to the creation of the joke character "Mokap" in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
Robin Shou, the guy who plays Liu Kang, had a bit part in another movie that was adapted from a fighting game. DOA: Dead or Alive. He gets his ass kicked, twice. He was also in the Chris Farley movie Beverly Hills Ninja
That one ship, fun fact its Cgi, and when i heard that i dint believe it, when looking at the behind the scenes it was more awesome, this is why a lot of people who was in the original MK franchise loved this film.
i remember searching for christopher lambert movies after watching greystoke and highlander when i found this one, i fell in love with it, soooooo cheese and extravagant and over the top, it's in my dvd collection and i watch it every now and then just for lols, anihilation wasn't quite the same and haven't watched the 2021 but this one i quite enjoyed
Done by the same studio that gave us the one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movies (worth mentioning) with some of the best actors for the roles (some even brought back in videogames to reprise those roles) and the greatest soundtrack to any and all video game movies! Hell yeah! There's only two words for this movie; FLAWLESS VICTORY!
The Kung Lao from the games is Liu Kang's cousin but is only named after their shared ancestor. The original Kung Lao was the Mortal Kombat champion before Goro. Also: there is no second movie in Ba Sing Se.
Cameron Diaz was supposed to play Sonya but she broke her wrist before filming and had to be replaced by Nielsen who went in with basically zero training. As for the Reptile fight, Robin Shou (Liu Kang) helped choreograph most or all of the fights in the movie but all the previous fights had to showcase powers or story beats and end up feeling slow. The Reptile fight wasn't in the original script but was added when the filmmakers realised they didn't have enough action. So Shou essentially took a crew to film the fight and choreographed and shot the whole thing himself. Notice that Cage disappears for the entirety of the fight, because the actor wasn't there to film anything. With no real script to work from he was able to have carte blanche and do whatever he wanted and the result is the most energetic fight in the whole film.
Let's be fair: Yelling "Mortal Kombat!" while that dance track blasts is so much fun. "Your soul is mine!" remains a great line read, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa remains one of the best interpretations of Shang Tsung.
Yeah, in some entries they claimed Kung Lao and Liu Kang are distant cousins. Lao being a direct descendant of the Great Kung Lao, while Liu Kang is from an offshoot branch of the family through a female ancestor.
I was a kid when this came out in theaters. By this time the second game was out in the arcades and in regards to the lore and story, most people only got the short paragraph descriptions of each character's background within the arcade cabinet's demo reel when nobody was playing it (which was almost never) or if they completed the game with a character to see their ending screen, which was also rare. So the mainline story of the series was not exactly common knowledge even to a lot of the ppl who played it unless you dug a little deeper, and the main draw was very much on the gameplay itself. There was a comic book, and a cartoon series as well which expanded on the universe a bit more. The comic was gritty, and a bit rough, keeping in line with the theme of the arcade game itself, but the cartoon was very Saturday morning kids type fare, so there were a lot of alterations for the sake of being more kid friendly. The movie drew on the extended lore of the series that had been established thus far while adding in its own interpretations of some of the characters. Funnily enough, the movie would go on to inspire the main plot of the game rather heavily in its newest iterations starting with the MK Anthology moving forward. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the actor for Shang Tsung would be the inspiration for Shang Tsung's model in MK11 and MK1 along with his iconic voice performance. It is canon that Kung Lao is Liu Kang's ancestor. The Kung Lao we meet within the games is also a descendant of the same, and shares a namesake as his heir. In the original timeline, Kung Lao was Raiden's original chosen champion who won Mortal Kombat and began the tradition of shao-lin training to protect Earth Realm. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are both his modern-day descendants.
Bridgette Wilson is the name of the actress who later on married Tennis Player Pete Sampras 🙂 she was in a movie Billy Madison starring Adam Sandler if you have seen that
This movie did very well in the 90s because it was like everything that people liked about the pop culture at the time: it was like a Jean Claude Van Damme tournament movie, mixed with the supernatural mysticism of movies like Big Trouble in Little China and amazing techno music, while also respecting the source material, which was uncommon for video game adaptations at the time, with bad movies like Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter having been released around the same time period (I mean the Van Damme Street Fighter movie, not to be confused with the animated movie for Street Fighter II, which is one of the best adaptations of all time). They actually asked for the opinions of kids who played the game when crafting the look of the characters. Kano wasn't supposed to have the metal face plate on his eye originally, they made one for him because the kids they consulted warned them that the character had to have one because that's how he was in the game. It was even critically liked by one of the most important critics of the time, Roger Ebert. Which is crazy, because this critic is infamous for having said that video games would never be art.
3:18 This movie changed so much of Mortal Kombat it's pretty funny. If I remember right this movie is responsible for changing Kano from American/Japanese to Australian in all future installments, created the Johnny Cage and Sonya romance, created the Kitana and Liu Kang romance, changed Raiden's hair color from black to white in all future installments and I'm pretty sure it's responsible for the Raiden character change/retcon(making him competent and caring rather than arrogant and uncaring for humanity) from MK1 to MK2 and that's all I can remember off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure it's responsible for more.
Fun facts: 1. A lot of the ideas and arcs from this movie bled into the games from this point onward (Liu Kang being the chosen one and the canon fighter that beats both Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn, Johhny's arc of fighting for more than himself, Kano's overall personality, demeanor and even accent etc) 2. Johnny vs Scorpion and Liu Kang vs Reptile were originally MUCH shorter, but the outrcry from the fans made the director and cast go back and expand on the fights *greatly*
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung was amazing he's known for his villain roles and does an awesome job, all the actors in this movie were awesome i remember seeing it the first time at the age of 4 since i was born in 1992, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation 1997 is a very good movie too, it's the sequel to this one
So, the guy you thought was Cyrax at first used to be on a martial arts television show called WMAC Masters, that ran from 1995-1997. His name is Hakim Alston, and he played The Machine on the series. Hakim is a kickboxing champion with 30 years of experience in martial arts.
the quintessential 90s movie. Despite the pg13 rating and being pushed back after the summer release it was supposed to have, this movie was the most successful video game adaption of all time until pokemon dethroned it recently, the MK film earning ten time its budget. The actors also basically remolded the characters thereafter, with those characterizations carrying forward to this day. Trevor Goddard, RIP, essentially made the Kano we now know. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa also elevated Shang Tsung into the perennial series defining badass he is now, at the time he was actually being phased out for Quan Chi at the end of UMK3. The reason the reptile fight exists is fans of the series kept asking where the hell is reptile when they had his stage present in the movie without him, the first initial screenings only gave the final fight between Shang and Kang high marks, calling the rest amateurish aside from the Scorpion and Sub Zero fights, which were "too short". So the Reptile fight was filmed in Van Nuys in a garage and added, and literally boosted a letter grade to the movie's Cinemascore. Why is Highlander Raiden? Because he asked to be. Christopher Lambert is huge video game nerd and when he heard his buddy Larry Kasanoff had managed to actually secure the rights, he literally called in a favor.
Ooooooh I just remembered some interesting note....the orginal actress Cameron Diaz was supposed to play Sonia blade but was badly injured during the trial or prep and was replaced fast...even Robin shou(Lui Kang) nearly had a injured spine...ouch.....close to real life brutality
Despite the not enough violence in this movie ..it did well....but the sound track(MORTAL KOMAT!!!) is what makes want to see it over and over again kinda....the 2021 version uses similar base of the track
Im not sure where Christopher Lambert is from but he already has experience playing an immortal, they needed some known actor so he got the part, raider is a lesser god not actually Asian MK lore just takes place in Asia
Raiden has literally never been portrayed by an Asian 'till the 2021 film, that being supposed to be a thing was YOUR assumption. His sprite-actor for the original games was Carlos Pesina and Ed Boon voiced him, then Jon Hey, then Richard Epcar. Michael Garvey played him in MK Mythologies, Jeffrey Meek in Conquest. Sonya literally spent MK2 being a damsel in distress. This was absolutely in character for her.
Something that I’m not sure was intentional but is neat nonetheless. Johnny Cage got a perfect on Goro and performed a Stage Fatality without blocking. That’s how you unlocked the Reptile fight in the original MK. How funny that the next opponent that was fought after that match was Reptile. Again not sure if that was intentional but it was still a neat detail.
Mortal Kombat is like a mix of Blood Sport and Enter the Dragon. Jean Claude Van Damm and Brandon Lee were both considered for the role of Johnny Cage. Cameron Diaz was originally gonna play Sonya but she injured her wrist and had to stop. Yup Bridgette Wilson who played Sonya was also in a few episodes of Saved by the Bell and played Gov Schwarzeneggers daughter in Last Action Hero.
@44:50 I dunno, considering how well One Piece is doing they may start sticking to the IP/fan endorsed interpretations more... Also, Christopher Lambert was The Highlander. He gets a bit of a pass. 🤣
Actually it was a flawless victory(r3) vs shang that fight was broken down into 3 rounds 1st Kang won, 2nd shang won, 3rd round was a flawless for Kang.
Have you guys ever heard of a show called WMAC Masters? Ran for 2 seasons in the mid 90s. Kind of a martial arts game show. Lot of the characters there played characters in this movie as well as the 1st 3 MK games. (Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, the 1st guy who loses to Liu Kang) All the episodes are on UA-cam
I remember watching Saved by the Bell. The dumb blond from the late seasons that ppl liked ended up as "Sonya Blade was cool. Just to see her in a movie and have a serious attitude.👏🏼
30:32 Liu Kang's actor actually broke a rib or two during that shot. So the sound is apropriately brutal In fact, almost all the actors suffered *some* form of serious injury during the figgt scenes. They were just *that* dedicated to getting the main thing people wanted to see right.
Omg I had no idea you both made this video ! I love watching your reactions I love this original mk movie despite what people say you grow up in the 90s with this and its the best the next movie not so much lol
I don't blame your viewpoints on Reptile. The 3D era (mid-2000s) Mortal Kombat put Reptile on the back burner, it seems like they were unsure of what to do with him hence his drastic changes through each game. Also I kinda feel that Big Trouble in Little China kinda help wider audiences accept the things that went on in this film. The biggest hook for me as a kid was the music alone, we also had MK2 arcade machine at my dad's nightclub business.
18:22 to the comment about cyrax, it would have been cool if he was cyrax because in the show called WMAC masters aired a month before the movie released in theaters and the actor hakim alston played a warrior named the machine in that show and MK3 released in arcades. but i know the movie was filmed before hand but would have been a cool nod since the movie and MK3. but yeah also Ho Sung Pak who played liu kang in mk1 and mk2 games was also in the WMAC show as well.
I remember watching this in the early 2000s and it still held up. Cheesy movies were all the rage back then. Anyway...It all started to get all too serious circa 2005, when Batman begins and James Bond came out.
I don’t care what anyone says! This movie was a BLAST 😂
For its time....and still manages to catch some crowd...sadly part was shit...but this mk was better than 1990 street fighter live
@@madhavmandavaAnd Annihilation in 1997
@@joshuagorski9452 yeah i ment that was shit since story was off, characters were not promising enough....even Lambert said once I saw the script...it was bad that i quit
Same. It's so over the top it's fun. Most movies nowadays are just stupid without the fun. The Liveaction movie of Street Fighter on the other hand take it way to serious and that makes it stupid.
@@madhavmandava yet the greatest movie based on a game
Ah yes, the movie that a lot of people thought would fail…
And yet years later everyone looks forward to “YOUR SOUL IS MINE” and “IT HAS BEGUN!!!”
And "Those were $500 sunglasses, asshole!"
Reptile fight is the best and the song with it and the announcer... just perfect to me.
Which makes it really funny it was only filmed after the rest of the movie to make it longer.
Seems like the guy who plays reptile is one of the better fighters overall
Its not even close
@@baneh1329 Keith Cooke
You get the skin for Sonya, Johnny Cage, and Raiden from this movie in MK 11, which is voiced by the actors from this movie
Love that they brought in the actors for MK 11 😁
Shang Tsung from this movie reprises his role in MK 11 as well. Too bad he couldn't come back for MK 1
@@condorgaming4000 alan lee did a good job sound like him
As all things MK, Kung Lao is a little complicated... there are two of them, one is the Legendary Kung Lao from one of the first mortal kombat tourneys who is the ancestor to Lui Kang AND the "current" Kung Lao who is headstrong and brash chasing the influence granted by his namesake.
edit: also as a point of clarity, Sonya being tied up and being the damsel is an homage to the video games, one of the levels/stages in mortal kombat 2 has her in the background chained up between two small pillars as a prisoner of the Emperor.
Oh nice! Had totally forgotten about that Sonya thing in MKII and thanks with the clarity on Kung Lao 🙂
So, the reason the Sonya/Kano fight is so telegraphed is because the actress who played Sonya isn't actually a fighter, unlike the others. They originally cast a different actress to play her for the movie but she got hurt before filming started so they had to recast and work with what they had. She does a great job for most of the movie but she can't quite sell a one on one fight scene, which is also likely the reason Sonya has the least to actually do in the movie.
The games' creator actually liked this version of Kano so much they changed him in the games to match, this was the first time he was depicted as Australian.
The movie is also the source of a lot of things that made it into the games: the idea that one Realm had to win ten consecutive tournaments to merge realms, the romance between Kitana and Liu Kang, Johnny being the funny one-liner dropping character, and Raiden's role as a mentor character who couldn't directly interfere.
This movie inspired a lot 🤩😀
@@DefinitelyNotDefinitive2the aforementioned other actress was Cameron Diaz
Ah yes, the "Australian" with a Cockney accent.
Hes actually English in this film
@@leonrussell9607 Not my fault they misunderstood his accent. XD
MK1 Liu Kang:
"There's nowhere to run,Shang Tsung!"
Movie Shang Tsung:
"I DON'T NEED TO RUN!"
I still think Sub-Zeros and Scorpions entrances is the greatest entrance to characters cinema has done. It is so well done. Even if you don't know who they are the way they come out, the music, the slow mo just tells you they don't fuck around.
Dunno. I like Shredder's entrance in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)" better.
Doesn't he just slide into frame with his face right at the camera? Ehh, I will give you his fight scene though at the end of the movie being amazing.@@Arobein
Blade.
So regarding Liu Kang saying "Flawless Victory" @ 37:14, it still kinda works in a way if you play out the fight like the video games.
Round 1: Liu Kang wins the initial brawl by knocking Shang down.
Round 2: Shang wins by wearing Liu Kang down with minions, then beating him down.
Final Round: Liu Kang doesn't take a single blow after he stands back up at that point. Hence, Flawless Victory.
I thought I was the only one that saw it like that lmfao
@@KaylasStarWorld seeing more things like they're inspired rather than a logical plot element would help people. Like how in the games there is always a flourish/pose at the start of the fight, so in this they all do little flex routines before fighting, and then when defeated they writhe on the ground as in the victory screen
Ah okay. That’s a great way to break it down. This whole movie really is just one big homage to the video games in every little detail 😅🤩
Yeah. Reptile took some special stuff to unlock and his AI Aggression was dialed way up for the initial fight. He was incredibly fast and he could do both Sub-Zero's and Scorpion's special moves
He was insane 🤯
Liu Kang and the modern Kung Lao are both descendants of the original Kung Lao that won the tournament 500 years ago. That's why they're cousins.
This is not true. The movie made an amalgamation of Liu Kang and Kung Lao into Liu Kang, but in the games, they have never been related. This is a common mistake.
It's my understanding that the animatronic for Goro was one of the most expensive parts of the movie, and also one of the last prominent animatronics before they were replaced with CGI. You still see a few animatronics as an artistic choice, but not in prominent roles like this one.
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It's been years since I looked this up, and my info could be mis-remembered or outdated.
there's CGI in the walking parts, actually!
the beauty here is that for its time it's actually very good, enough to make it almost believable
33:50 The Great Kung Lao is mentioned many times in the video games and is seen in Liu Kang's MK11 Aftermath ending. Both Liu Kang and Kung Lao are descended from him in the games
This is not true. The current Kung Lao is the descendant of The Great Kung Lao, but Liu Kang is not. There is a scene in Shaolin Monks that shows the souls of The Great Kung Lao and Liu Kang's ancestors fighting. Liu and current Kung Lao witness this fight and Liu Kang says "They are our ancestors." He does NOT say "He is our ancestor." In the games, Liu and Kung have never been related. People make this mistake all the time. Mainly because this movie combines Liu Kang and Kung Lao into one character.
This movie is the source to a lot of stuff that stuck around in MK cannon. This is the first time that Kano was Australian instead of Japanese (even though the actor was going for a British accent), this is where Johnny X Sonya and Liu Kang vs Kitana were first established, this is where many famous quotes like "it has begun" and "your soul is mine" originated from.
😂 love that he was going for a British accent and it came out Australian. Feels like that happens a lot both ways when people try to do impressions
@jedley01 Which is funny, since the initial reaction to Kano finally sounding proper Australian in MK11 was not so positive. People got used to the Cockney Kano, so the change was a bit much for some of them. Personally, MK11's Kano is my favorite version of him, and I liked it from the get go.
Oh wow... Haven't seen this movie in a long time. This brings back memories. Glad to see ya'll react to this
This is a classic to me . I had it on VHS and would watch it all the time back in the day ❤.
About Shang Tsung: I believe they blended MK1 and MK2 lore together without wasting time on the revitalization story. When Shang Tsung returns to Outworld in MKII, Emperor Shao Kahn rewards him with a second chance and grants him more power by returning his youth. This is why in MK1 Shang Tsung is a flying old white haired sorcerer but in MK2 he had black hair in a fighting gi.
The funny thing about Sonya Blade is that her and Kano wasn't playable characters in MKII because they were the least used characters on the Arcade. They had them chained up on platforms in the background of one of the arenas in MKII.
Didn’t realize that was why they had Sonya and Kano chained up but it makes sense. Bethany always played as Sonya in arcade game so clearly that was 1 and not 2 she was playing 😅
This movie changed Kano's race. He was Chinese-American before this.
And I have no complaints.
Glad it didn’t change Raiden’s. 😅
I love that bit between them when Liu Kang said it's not her mind that Johnny is admiring, and he said it's true.
At the end there when she says, "you know we gotta watch that one too." The look on his face says it all 🤣
I saw this at least 3 times in the theater, it was so fun as a kid. Still is, I prefer it over the new movie.
Yes new one was all over the place no tournament and everyone says it was good cause of fatalitys lmfao it was not for me
It’s funny watching these special effects and fights after playing the games. We have come a long way
"Did they make a sequel to this?"
They did, but unlike this one, it didn't become a cult classic, it's just kinda bad, unfortunately.
Mother, you’re alive
Too bad you………will die.
The guy that played "Raiden was a big star,from TV. He was the legendary "Highlander.
Its funny that due to this movie, that Kano becomes Australian in the games moving forward.
“It has begun!”
30:33 The Liu Kang actor legit was injured here but it looks so cool that they kept the shot
This movie might not be a Masterpiece but it’s a fun movie to watch
I like it more then the 2021 movie like the 2021 looks way better but the plot and shit was so off this movies plot is better but not by much but better lol
This is my favorite movie right here Johnny cage ,Liu Kang, sub-zero, and scorpion are my favorite characters
Kano wasn't Australian in the video games until this performance by Trevor Goddard
Fun fact the director for Johnny cage was supposed to be Steven Spielberg but they couldn't get but Mr. Spielberg is a fan of MORTAL KOMBAT
Liu Kang and Kung Lao (hat boy) are both the descendants of the original Kung Lao.
The bit where Sub Zero and Scorpion walk through the door will always be the most hype scene of any movie for me, even to this day I still get goosebumps.
Fun fact: The actors who played Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Raiden reprised their roles in the MK 11 game as special DLC skins. The actor who played Shang Tsung played him in the MK 11 game as well.
And im MK1 IT'S HIM AGAIN
@@PAINNN666It's not. It's a different voice actor in MK 1. He just does a good job in imitating him.
@@condorgaming4000 Oh. Ok
The best Mortal Kombat movie or video game adaptation EVER! Nobody can top it. In fact many tried and many failed. Also, that was the time when MK video games was good, movie was good, then we got good TV show, which is Mortal Kombat Conquest, cool second cartoon. Man, that was amazing time to be alive, especially if you are Mortal Kombat fan.
The best fights in this movie is Johnny Cage vs Scorpion, Liu Kang vs Sub-Zero and Liu Kang vs Reptile. Those 3 are the top! And as a metalhead I freaking LOVE the soundtrack that plays during the fight between Johnny Cage and Scorpion. And it is called Zero Signal by band called Fear Factory. I listened to that track so much that I know who lyrics to it and can make it play in my head instantly.
Reptile fight was the best of the 3. Like 100%
Scorpion fight was slightly worse but like a 95%
Sub zero’s fight was like a 70%
Shang Tsung was like 90% because it had a lot of slow moments.
This movie and the '93 Super Mario Bros is top tier video game movies. Love 'em both.
the Street Fighter movie is awesome too!
@@Lightning_Lancemight as well mention Double Dragon, Alone in the Dark, Blood Rayne 😂
The actors who played the villains Shang stung and Kano pulled it off....too bad Kano's actor died in suicide after few years from the film.....he will be remembered for this role atleast
Raiden’s punch on the guy next to him followed by “oh, sorry” is my favourite bit in the movie. (Well, everything with this version of Raiden)
He my favorite Raiden
The part where Liu Kang says “Flawless Victory” is actually accurate if you think of it like the games. They had Round 1, which went to Liu Kang because he drew first blood and beat the dead warriors. Round 2 goes to Shang Tsung after he changes back from Chan. Finally they start Round 3 when Liu says, “I am the chosen one.” He didn’t get hit once and finished off Shang Tsung. So technically, that is a Flawless Victory for that round.
Fun fact: The theme that plays 4000 times is called "Techno Syndrome", by The Immortals. And, if you ask any professional musician, is obnoxiously simple and easy to reproduce. However, dude was paid $10,000 to spend half an hour farting out a cheesy melody that became so permanently engrained in the public zeitgeist that even 25 years later, I can go down to my local skating rink and it'll play during speed skating.
Bonus fact: The famous "Mortal Kombat" scream is actually a pitch-shifted scream of a 12 year old boy from the original commercial for the game.
Sounds like he was underpaid.
Shang is honestly the Best Character in this movie by a Wide Margin besides Liu Kang.
In addition to Johnny's latest introduction, 11 references "Where do you get these guys?" With "Who hired this guy!?" (The triple uppercut fatality).
Kitana's presence during the events of the first game, while logical, also harkens back to Kitsune. She was a dropped prototype of Kitana who would have been Shang's daughter and liu Kang's love interest.
The campiness and clunky CGI only add to the charm, especially how Cary Hiroyuki hams it up as Shang
Only major qualm I have is Reptile. Man, they butchered him worse than any fatality.
Best of the cheese. Let that song breakout in Walmart and 20% of the shoppers will be like "this is what we have been waiting for lol". A movie that will always be in my heart
Do you guys plan on reacting to the Mortal Kombat 2021 movie in the future?
I think they have already watched that one.
@@gabrielchin4161 oh okay
If Kitana walked down the hallway than why the hallway was blocked by a lot of spider webs. It was clear that hallway wasn't used.
Bridgette Wilson who portrayed Sonya was also in 5 episodes of Saved by the Bell (1992), Last Action Hero (1993), and Billy Madison (1995).
Id has begun..Dun..dun..dun..MORTAL KOMBAT!
the lady who played Sonya was also the hot teacher in Billy Madison
oh yeah he's right! Reptile in MK1 is an unplayable hidden fight and quite a challenge compared to the other ones encountered before him
Y'all should totally check out the animated trilogy that starts with Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge!!!
Only thing I don't like is it makes scorpion like the main character at the end for no reason and treats Liu kang like a jobber
“That was a dick love.”
A few seconds later, nope, *this* is a dick move
You should also watch the most recent mk movie if you haven't already
Sonya Blade actress was in 'The Last Action Hero' with big Arnold.
About Raiden's casting, I think it happened that way because Christopher Lambert was so good in Highlander and the studio wanted to capitalize on him. And he did a pretty good job, all things considered.
Fun fact: Raiden was originally played by an Hispanic actor/martial artist in the games, Carlos Pesina. He would go on to do the motion capture of the games when they transitioned into 3D character models, which led to the creation of the joke character "Mokap" in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
Robin Shou, the guy who plays Liu Kang, had a bit part in another movie that was adapted from a fighting game. DOA: Dead or Alive. He gets his ass kicked, twice.
He was also in the Chris Farley movie Beverly Hills Ninja
Also a role in another movie that was adapted from a fighting game, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li as Gen.
He was also a voice actor in another video game, Sleeping Dogs.
The sunglasses part has become a recurring reference/Easter egg in the games as well
You both are phenomenal. Thank you for taking the time to reaction ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
That one ship, fun fact its Cgi, and when i heard that i dint believe it, when looking at the behind the scenes it was more awesome, this is why a lot of people who was in the original MK franchise loved this film.
Also Goro is a real prop, and not cgi, he’s really being operated by a real person
i remember searching for christopher lambert movies after watching greystoke and highlander when i found this one, i fell in love with it, soooooo cheese and extravagant and over the top, it's in my dvd collection and i watch it every now and then just for lols, anihilation wasn't quite the same and haven't watched the 2021 but this one i quite enjoyed
Done by the same studio that gave us the one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movies (worth mentioning) with some of the best actors for the roles (some even brought back in videogames to reprise those roles) and the greatest soundtrack to any and all video game movies! Hell yeah! There's only two words for this movie; FLAWLESS VICTORY!
The Kung Lao from the games is Liu Kang's cousin but is only named after their shared ancestor. The original Kung Lao was the Mortal Kombat champion before Goro.
Also: there is no second movie in Ba Sing Se.
30:36 when Lui Kang gets thrown by Reptile, the actor for Kang, Robin Shou, broke his ribs in that take.
Cameron Diaz was supposed to play Sonya but she broke her wrist before filming and had to be replaced by Nielsen who went in with basically zero training.
As for the Reptile fight, Robin Shou (Liu Kang) helped choreograph most or all of the fights in the movie but all the previous fights had to showcase powers or story beats and end up feeling slow. The Reptile fight wasn't in the original script but was added when the filmmakers realised they didn't have enough action. So Shou essentially took a crew to film the fight and choreographed and shot the whole thing himself.
Notice that Cage disappears for the entirety of the fight, because the actor wasn't there to film anything. With no real script to work from he was able to have carte blanche and do whatever he wanted and the result is the most energetic fight in the whole film.
Let's be fair:
Yelling "Mortal Kombat!" while that dance track blasts is so much fun. "Your soul is mine!" remains a great line read, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa remains one of the best interpretations of Shang Tsung.
Bridget wilson was also veronica Vaughn in billy madison she was the 3rd grade teacher
Yeah, in some entries they claimed Kung Lao and Liu Kang are distant cousins. Lao being a direct descendant of the Great Kung Lao, while Liu Kang is from an offshoot branch of the family through a female ancestor.
I was a kid when this came out in theaters. By this time the second game was out in the arcades and in regards to the lore and story, most people only got the short paragraph descriptions of each character's background within the arcade cabinet's demo reel when nobody was playing it (which was almost never) or if they completed the game with a character to see their ending screen, which was also rare. So the mainline story of the series was not exactly common knowledge even to a lot of the ppl who played it unless you dug a little deeper, and the main draw was very much on the gameplay itself. There was a comic book, and a cartoon series as well which expanded on the universe a bit more. The comic was gritty, and a bit rough, keeping in line with the theme of the arcade game itself, but the cartoon was very Saturday morning kids type fare, so there were a lot of alterations for the sake of being more kid friendly.
The movie drew on the extended lore of the series that had been established thus far while adding in its own interpretations of some of the characters. Funnily enough, the movie would go on to inspire the main plot of the game rather heavily in its newest iterations starting with the MK Anthology moving forward. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the actor for Shang Tsung would be the inspiration for Shang Tsung's model in MK11 and MK1 along with his iconic voice performance.
It is canon that Kung Lao is Liu Kang's ancestor. The Kung Lao we meet within the games is also a descendant of the same, and shares a namesake as his heir. In the original timeline, Kung Lao was Raiden's original chosen champion who won Mortal Kombat and began the tradition of shao-lin training to protect Earth Realm. Liu Kang and Kung Lao are both his modern-day descendants.
Bridgette Wilson is the name of the actress who later on married Tennis Player Pete Sampras 🙂 she was in a movie Billy Madison starring Adam Sandler if you have seen that
This movie did very well in the 90s because it was like everything that people liked about the pop culture at the time: it was like a Jean Claude Van Damme tournament movie, mixed with the supernatural mysticism of movies like Big Trouble in Little China and amazing techno music, while also respecting the source material, which was uncommon for video game adaptations at the time, with bad movies like Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter having been released around the same time period (I mean the Van Damme Street Fighter movie, not to be confused with the animated movie for Street Fighter II, which is one of the best adaptations of all time).
They actually asked for the opinions of kids who played the game when crafting the look of the characters. Kano wasn't supposed to have the metal face plate on his eye originally, they made one for him because the kids they consulted warned them that the character had to have one because that's how he was in the game.
It was even critically liked by one of the most important critics of the time, Roger Ebert. Which is crazy, because this critic is infamous for having said that video games would never be art.
Yo I’m dead🤣 Ken over here y’all don’t know what the f**k a flawless Victory is, do you🤔😂
Kano fought Sonya like an abusive husband.
The actress playing Sonya blade here is also in Billy Madison.
3:18 This movie changed so much of Mortal Kombat it's pretty funny. If I remember right this movie is responsible for changing Kano from American/Japanese to Australian in all future installments, created the Johnny Cage and Sonya romance, created the Kitana and Liu Kang romance, changed Raiden's hair color from black to white in all future installments and I'm pretty sure it's responsible for the Raiden character change/retcon(making him competent and caring rather than arrogant and uncaring for humanity) from MK1 to MK2 and that's all I can remember off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure it's responsible for more.
Fun facts:
1. A lot of the ideas and arcs from this movie bled into the games from this point onward (Liu Kang being the chosen one and the canon fighter that beats both Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn, Johhny's arc of fighting for more than himself, Kano's overall personality, demeanor and even accent etc)
2. Johnny vs Scorpion and Liu Kang vs Reptile were originally MUCH shorter, but the outrcry from the fans made the director and cast go back and expand on the fights *greatly*
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung was amazing he's known for his villain roles and does an awesome job, all the actors in this movie were awesome i remember seeing it the first time at the age of 4 since i was born in 1992, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation 1997 is a very good movie too, it's the sequel to this one
So, the guy you thought was Cyrax at first used to be on a martial arts television show called WMAC Masters, that ran from 1995-1997. His name is Hakim Alston, and he played The Machine on the series. Hakim is a kickboxing champion with 30 years of experience in martial arts.
the quintessential 90s movie.
Despite the pg13 rating and being pushed back after the summer release it was supposed to have, this movie was the most successful video game adaption of all time until pokemon dethroned it recently, the MK film earning ten time its budget.
The actors also basically remolded the characters thereafter, with those characterizations carrying forward to this day. Trevor Goddard, RIP, essentially made the Kano we now know. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa also elevated Shang Tsung into the perennial series defining badass he is now, at the time he was actually being phased out for Quan Chi at the end of UMK3.
The reason the reptile fight exists is fans of the series kept asking where the hell is reptile when they had his stage present in the movie without him, the first initial screenings only gave the final fight between Shang and Kang high marks, calling the rest amateurish aside from the Scorpion and Sub Zero fights, which were "too short". So the Reptile fight was filmed in Van Nuys in a garage and added, and literally boosted a letter grade to the movie's Cinemascore.
Why is Highlander Raiden? Because he asked to be. Christopher Lambert is huge video game nerd and when he heard his buddy Larry Kasanoff had managed to actually secure the rights, he literally called in a favor.
oh god wait till you see it it's called MK Annihilation for a reason it eliminates everything good about this movie
Such a good, fun movie given what it was. The music was great and somewhere in my black hole of a house I still have the cassette soundtrack.
Ooooooh I just remembered some interesting note....the orginal actress Cameron Diaz was supposed to play Sonia blade but was badly injured during the trial or prep and was replaced fast...even Robin shou(Lui Kang) nearly had a injured spine...ouch.....close to real life brutality
Despite the not enough violence in this movie ..it did well....but the sound track(MORTAL KOMAT!!!) is what makes want to see it over and over again kinda....the 2021 version uses similar base of the track
The baddest Kitana. She was a dime
Im not sure where Christopher Lambert is from but he already has experience playing an immortal, they needed some known actor so he got the part, raider is a lesser god not actually Asian MK lore just takes place in Asia
Raiden has literally never been portrayed by an Asian 'till the 2021 film, that being supposed to be a thing was YOUR assumption. His sprite-actor for the original games was Carlos Pesina and Ed Boon voiced him, then Jon Hey, then Richard Epcar. Michael Garvey played him in MK Mythologies, Jeffrey Meek in Conquest.
Sonya literally spent MK2 being a damsel in distress. This was absolutely in character for her.
Something that I’m not sure was intentional but is neat nonetheless. Johnny Cage got a perfect on Goro and performed a Stage Fatality without blocking. That’s how you unlocked the Reptile fight in the original MK. How funny that the next opponent that was fought after that match was Reptile. Again not sure if that was intentional but it was still a neat detail.
This will always be the best Mortal Kombat movie.
😎🤟
Mortal Kombat is like a mix of Blood Sport and Enter the Dragon. Jean Claude Van Damm and Brandon Lee were both considered for the role of Johnny Cage. Cameron Diaz was originally gonna play Sonya but she injured her wrist and had to stop. Yup Bridgette Wilson who played Sonya was also in a few episodes of Saved by the Bell and played Gov Schwarzeneggers daughter in Last Action Hero.
That was Liu Kang's brother, Chen
@44:50 I dunno, considering how well One Piece is doing they may start sticking to the IP/fan endorsed interpretations more...
Also, Christopher Lambert was The Highlander. He gets a bit of a pass. 🤣
Actually it was a flawless victory(r3) vs shang that fight was broken down into 3 rounds 1st Kang won, 2nd shang won, 3rd round was a flawless for Kang.
Have you guys ever heard of a show called WMAC Masters? Ran for 2 seasons in the mid 90s. Kind of a martial arts game show. Lot of the characters there played characters in this movie as well as the 1st 3 MK games. (Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, the 1st guy who loses to Liu Kang) All the episodes are on UA-cam
Absolutely phenomenal movie,and one of the only few that is close to what it's based on. Awesome video Bethany and ken. Stay amazing
Thanks so much. Also love the profile pic 🤩
I remember watching Saved by the Bell. The dumb blond from the late seasons that ppl liked ended up as "Sonya Blade was cool. Just to see her in a movie and have a serious attitude.👏🏼
30:32 Liu Kang's actor actually broke a rib or two during that shot. So the sound is apropriately brutal
In fact, almost all the actors suffered *some* form of serious injury during the figgt scenes. They were just *that* dedicated to getting the main thing people wanted to see right.
Omg I had no idea you both made this video ! I love watching your reactions I love this original mk movie despite what people say you grow up in the 90s with this and its the best the next movie not so much lol
12:35
OY!
16:36
Ken’s like a little kid
😁😄😆😂🤣
I don't blame your viewpoints on Reptile. The 3D era (mid-2000s) Mortal Kombat put Reptile on the back burner, it seems like they were unsure of what to do with him hence his drastic changes through each game. Also I kinda feel that Big Trouble in Little China kinda help wider audiences accept the things that went on in this film. The biggest hook for me as a kid was the music alone, we also had MK2 arcade machine at my dad's nightclub business.
1995?!? Damnit, I'm old now
Guess I gotta complain about my back and my knee's now
18:22 to the comment about cyrax, it would have been cool if he was cyrax because in the show called WMAC masters aired a month before the movie released in theaters and the actor hakim alston played a warrior named the machine in that show and MK3 released in arcades. but i know the movie was filmed before hand but would have been a cool nod since the movie and MK3. but yeah also Ho Sung Pak who played liu kang in mk1 and mk2 games was also in the WMAC show as well.
The music during reptile fight… 👌
I remember watching this in the early 2000s and it still held up. Cheesy movies were all the rage back then. Anyway...It all started to get all too serious circa 2005, when Batman begins and James Bond came out.