With the recent release of the new Mortal Kombat movie and it being on everyone’s lips, I thought it was a time to have a look at all the other movies and TV shows that have attempted to recreate or plain just cash in on the Mortal Kombat craze and list Every Mortal Kombat Movie and TV-show rated from worst to best. They are up to the 12th game in the series now and that’s without the side games like Shaolin Monks and unlike the street fighter games which seem to rehash the story over and over again. I still don’t even know who won or if they even finished the street fighter 2 tournament. The Mortal Kombat games are all direct sequels and carry on with the story, saying what happened to the winners and losers from the previous games. With a boatload of characters, storylines and lore to follow. Creating a TV or movie of this can be quite a challenge. Most just focus on one particular part of the story of a certain character which is probably the only way to do it. So now. So now let’s have a look at Every Mortal Kombat Movie and TV show rated from worst to best.
Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins.
Nowadays, a movie of such low quality and laughable CGI would never get released……. Well maybe not. Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins was technically the first mortal Kombat movie ever. It was only really created as a promo for the upcoming live-action movie but still technically a movie. Clocking in just under an hour. Mainly traditional cartoon animation but goes completely CG for some reason for some of the fights and the CG is worse than PS1 graphics with stuck on facial expressions. The whole movie consists of our 3 heroes Sonya Blade, Liu Kang and Jonny Cage on a boat travelling to the tournament with Raiden explaining the history of Sub-zero, Scorpion, Goro, Shang Tsung and the original Kung Lao. Then a bunch of Baraka’s attack and the movie ends. The fights are truly horrendous. The artwork on the characters isn’t bad but the animation is horrible. The CG battles are laughable. I honestly think I could do a better job with 3D studio max. Only worth checking out, out of curiosity.
Mortal Kombat Annihilation.
At the time I actually didn’t think Annihilation was that bad but it really is. Picking up directly after the first movie and I mean down to the minute. Our 3 victorious heroes are confronted by Shao Khan. With only two actors returning Robin Shou as Liu Kang and Talisa Soto as Katana. The rest being recast. Johnny Cage is quickly killed off leaving an opening for Jax. Now Liu Kang has to defeat Shao Khan with cameos from characters like Night Wolf, Rain and even Ermac. Other characters like Stryker and Kabal are mentioned as being defeated by the forces of Outworld. With bad CGI and laughable stage design. It’s more like an extended episode of Power Rangers, not a big cinema release. The final nail in the coffin was the end battle where Liu Kang and Shao Khan both unleash their animalities. Liu Kang turning into a horrible CG dragon thing and Shao Khan into Ghidorah. Still very little gore and fatalities on offer leaving fans that little bit more disappointed.
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm.
I actually enjoyed Defenders of the Realm as a kid but now it’s not so great. It’s actually a direct sequel to the Mortal Kombat movie even talking about events that happened in the movie. Our heroes are now joined by Stryker, Sub Zero who’s the younger brother of Sub Zero from the movies, Kitana, Jax and Night Wolf. Raiden guides our heroes in defending the realm with a different story each episode. You’re probably wondering how does Mortal Kombat get turned into a kid’s cartoon, well obviously no fatalities and toned-down violence it’s like watching an episode of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. The art and animation are all good, much better than Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins but the fights are laughably short. The two fighters would square off and literally about two hits would connect then the fights over. I remember one the whole episode was about Sub Zero confronting his nemesis Scorpion. In the end, they finally met up, Sub Zero and Liu Kang were chasing Scorpion, as Sub Zero caught him and literally Scorpion gave him a sweep and knocked him over. Liu Kang caught up and Sub Zero says it’s up to you now Liu Kang, go and beat Scorpion?? Must have been a powerful sweep.
Mortal Kombat: Conquest
I’m not going to lie. At the time I used to love Mortal Kombat: Conquest. I never missed an episode. Set as a prequel following Kung Lao. I’m not quite sure if it’s was supposed to be the original Kung Lao or just a reimagination of the current one because he does were the hat briefly. Fresh off his tournament win where he defeats Shang Tsung. It follows Kung Lao (Paolo Montalban) who’s is joined by new characters Siro (Daniel Bernhardt) and Taja (Kristanna Loken) as they defend the realm against Shao Khan and Shang Tsung. It has a whole bunch of characters regular featured through the series from Quan Chi, Scorpion, Sub Zero, Reptile, Raiden, Kitana plus many more. It all might seem a bit cheesy now but the fights are still spectacular with great choreograph all with some cool techno beats music. It’s similar to the original live-action movie but lower budget obviously. Like many shows, it was a different story every week with an overall story for the series. Well worth checking out even today.
Mortal Kombat (1995)
What Can I say about the original Mortal Kombat movie that hasn’t already been said? Pretty much a cult classic it was the first good movie made of a computer game. People will probably be surprised it’s not in the absolute top spot but don’t forget this is down to personal opinion and to be fair the gap between these last few sections is wafer-thin. They are all as good as each other. The movie starts with Liu Kang (Robin Shou) having a dream about his younger brother being defeated and killed by Shang Tsung. Liu Kang is a decedent of the great Kung Lao, the original Mortal Kombat champion who was defeated by Goro 9 tournaments back. Raiden (Christopher Lambert) gets recruiting fighters to join Liu Kang for the tournament which consists of Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) and Sonya Blade (Brigette Wilson). What follows is some awesome fights against the likes of Sub Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Goro and of course Shang Tsung himself. There are even some very toned-down fatalities. If you haven’t seen this movie yet then you must have been living under a rock. It’s just a shame the sequel was so disappointing.
Mortal Kombat Legacy/Rebirth
When I first saw the Mortal Kombat Rebirth short movie on YouTube I thought it was the best Mortal Kombat live-action I’d ever seen. It features detective Jax perfectly cast as Michael Jai White telling a convict about a hideous man mutant serial killer code name as Reptile. He then goes onto a failed surgeon who was driven mad, started self-mutilating and killing people code name Baraka (Lateef Crowder). It all feels very dark and gritty like a horror movie. Jax then talks about one of the other agent’s ex-movie star Johnny cage (Matt Mullins) and his encounter with Baraka. It goes onto an awesome brutal fight between the two. Jax then talks about Shang Tsung and an underground tournament where all these fighters and many other murderers will participate including Sub Zero. The convict turns out to be Scorpion and they want him to enter and kill all these murderers in one fell swoop. The whole thing was a movie pitch by Kevin Tancharoen to Warner brothers for a full-length movie but of course, they rejected it, probably for another run of the mill rom-com. I really wished it got made as I loved the premise. No fantasy, just a bunch of psycho murderers and assassins fighting in an underground tournament. I honestly can’t recommend this short 8-minute movie enough.
While Warner brother declined on the movie, they did greenlight a web series. What followed was Mortal Kombat Legacy but it was slightly different. They brought the fantasy element back with Outworld. Michael Jai White and Matt Mullins returned at least for the first season. It had the awesome Mark Dacascos as Kung Lao who was trying to put Liu Kang on the straight and narrow. Liu Kang succumbing to the weight of his destiny and become a drunk unhinged lunatic. I actually loved what they did with him. For the first seasons, every episode introduced a new character. One I particularly loved was the one about Raiden. Sent down to earth to a random point as a mortal. The trouble is the random point happens to be smack bang in the courtyard of an insane asylum. So, Raiden temporally mortal going around telling everyone he’s a thunder god in the middle of an insane asylum is not exactly making his situation better. He’s locked up with all sorts done to him. It’s a great episode. It’s a real shame they only made two seasons but still all completely worth and watch and will make you yearn for more.
Mortal Kombat 2021
For me, there’s a new Mortal Kombat live-action king in town. I still love the original and always will but the new Mortal Kombat movie improved on it in many ways. The main part is the violence. They didn’t tone anything down like the first to get that all-important PG rating so the children can go see it. This movie said screw that, Violence and gore are what made Mortal Kombat into the huge franchise it is today so the kids can just wait a bit until they are older to see it… Well, they will probably watch it anyway. A lot of people seemed to hate it; I mean what were they expecting? Shakespeare? Academy nomination Shawshank Redemption type stuff? Plus you can ignore all the so-called experts/critics panning it who have never watched a martial arts movie in their life. They can go back to praising comatose inducing stuff like The Kings Speech. It’s a violent martial arts movie made of a violent martial arts game. What more do you want? Some saying oh they ignored all the lore and history. There are 12 games of lore and history with hundreds of characters. Would be impossible to fit all that into one movie. This time around it’s not all focused on Liu Kang as the chosen one to defeat Shang Tsung. It’s more focused on the new character Cole Young (Lewis Tan) a decedent of Scorpion who is killed in the opening scene by Sub Zero. Sub Zero is the main antagonist of the movie. He seems completely unstoppable, a little overpowered compared to his game counterpart but hey. Remember this is the original sub-zero that is killed by Scorpion and resurrected as Noob Saibot. The fights and violence are awesome. There are decapitations, head getting smashed, arms getting ripped off, people getting sliced in half and all sorts. As a mortal Kombat movie should be and of course the iconic techno music is in there It’s awesome stuff.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
By far the most faithful and violent adaption of the game to date. Scorpions Revenge focuses on Scorpion and why not. Scorpion is badass. Once again, we see Scorpion and his family slaughtered by Sub Zero and the Lin Kuei. In the NetherRealm he strikes a deal with Quan Chi. Enter the mortal Kombat tournament as a vengeful spirit and get a key from Shang Tsung, the key will then release the god Shinnok who will restore Scorpions family. All lies of course. The other main characters are Liu Kang, Sonya and Johnny Cage. These three take the main focus for most of the movie while Scorpion does his own thing. Occasionally assisting and interacting with our 3 heroes. Johnny doesn’t take anything seriously and thinks the whole thing is a movie with hidden cameras. It’s only near the end he realises it’s not and his opponents are actually trying got kill him. Naturally, Scorpions desire for revenge against Sub-Zero gets in the way of his main mission of acquiring the key from Shang Tsung. The artwork and animation are all top-notch. Well detailed with lots of blood and gore. Nearly every fight has a gruesome conclusion. Scorpion does not hold back with his blade. The only letdown was the fights could have gone a little longer with a bit more back and forth and the movie could have been a little longer. It’s all feels like it ended far too quickly making you want more.
With the success of this movie, I don’t see any reason why Warner Brothers cannot greenlight more, continuing the story and bring more iconic characters in such as Sheela, Night Wolf, Kabal etc.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge is the best movie adaption of the franchise to date.
