THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508220062
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Long : 183 lines
``THE FATE OF billions of people are at stake,'' Lord Rayden, a god of thunder and lightning, tells his three champions in ``Mortal Kombat,'' the new martial-arts epic.
So how come we don't care?
``Mortal Kombat'' is such a repetitious parade of senseless and pointless noise that, in spite of its special-effects budget, it becomes tiresome long before it runs its flimsy course. Its lack of plot was to be expected, but one hardly expected quite this much mumbo jumbo about the soul (the usual subterfuge that sellers of manipulative violence use to try to hide their wares).
The special effects are often stunning. There is a four-handed monster named Goro. There is a reptile-dragon creature that emerges from the hand of one evil warrior. One victim, killed by an icicle, is turned to ice. Characters ``morph'' from one image to another. It looks just as professional as ``Terminator 2.''
The target audience of 13- to 14-year-old boys pronounced it ``cool'' during the first half of the local matinee, but they seemed to weary of the repetition before the combat ran its course. In any case, there was a lot of running up and down the aisles, which may be interpreted as a lack of interest.
The animatronic creatures smack vaguely of the Ray Harryhausen creations in ``Jason and the Argonauts'' or the ``Sinbad'' movies, but with none of the humor or sense of wonder. ``Mortal Kombat'' is based on a hugely popular video game that has spawned interactive games and even a touring live show (coming to Norfolk's Scope on Nov. 8). This must have persuaded the producers to invest $20 million in the effects and in an unusually massive ad campaign.
``Mortal Kombat'' fails as a movie for the same reason the two previous films based on video games flopped - it has no plot. Both ``Super Mario Bros.'' and ``Street Fighter'' were duds.
Three ``human'' warriors are the last mortal hope of this world as they go up against the otherworldly demons of evil sorcerer Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). It seems the humans have lost nine consecutive bouts. A 10th loss means that Earth would go into the realm of the Outworld, ruled by this devil. This meanie gets his strength from the souls of defeated warriors.
Our three champions are a lean Bruce Lee look-alike (Robin Shou), a tough female cop who wants to avenge her murdered partner (Bridgette Wilson) and a wisecracking movie star who wants to prove that he's no martial-arts phony (Linden Ashby). Only Ashby, as the square-jawed movie star, has any semblance of humor. The movie would have been better to have centered on his character.
Chistopher Lambert, who was once Tarzan and was once married to Diane Lane (suggesting the best is over for him), looks ridiculous in flowing Biblical robes and a platinum wig and with a prominent lisp. He plays Lord Rayden, the god of thunder and lighting - a kind of cheerleader for the mortals.
The movie is not as gory as its video game counterpart, which allowed the computer characters to pull bleeding hearts from still living opponents and rip out spinal cords. There's none of that here - just squirmy worms and bugs and stuff. Instead, it is suggested that fights to the death are merely playful games that end in charades and noise.
This film deserved an R rating rather than its present PG-13. It also deserves the picket lines of anti-violence protest it has evoked in California. Bloodless, pantomimed violence that brings about no visible pain is the more manipulative form of the genre.
``THE FATE OF billions of people are at stake,'' Lord Rayden, a god of thunder and lightning, tells his three champions in ``Mortal Kombat,'' the new martial-arts epic.
So how come we don't care?
``Mortal Kombat'' is such a repetitious parade of senseless and pointless noise that, in spite of its special-effects budget, it becomes tiresome long before it runs its flimsy course. Its lack of plot was to be expected, but one hardly expected quite this much mumbo jumbo about the soul (the usual subterfuge that sellers of manipulative violence use to try to hide their wares).
The special effects are often stunning. There is a four-handed monster named Goro. There is a reptile-dragon creature that emerges from the hand of one evil warrior. One victim, killed by an icicle, is turned to ice. Characters ``morph'' from one image to another. It looks just as professional as ``Terminator 2.''
The target audience of 13- to 14-year-old boys pronounced it ``cool'' during the first half of the local matinee, but they seemed to weary of the
repetition before the combat ran its course. In any case, there was a lot of running up and down the aisles, which may be interpreted as a lack of interest.
The animatronic creatures smack vaguely of the Ray Harryhausen creations in ``Jason and the Argonauts'' or the ``Sinbad'' movies, but with none of the humor or sense of wonder. ``Mortal Kombat'' is based on a hugely popular video game that has spawned interactive games and even a touring live show (coming to Norfolk's Scope on Nov. 8). This must have persuaded the producers to invest $20 million in the effects and in an unusually massive ad campaign.
``Mortal Kombat'' fails as a movie for the same reason the two previous films based on video games flopped - it has no plot. Both ``Super Mario Bros.'' and ``Street Fighter'' were duds.
Three ``human'' warriors are the last mortal hope of this world as they go up against the otherworldly demons of evil sorcerer Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). It seems the humans have lost nine consecutive bouts. A 10th loss means that Earth would go into the realm of the Outworld, ruled by this devil. This meanie gets his strength from the souls of defeated warriors.
Our three champions are a lean Bruce Lee look-alike (Robin Shou), a tough female cop who wants to avenge her murdered partner (Bridgette Wilson) and a wisecracking movie star who wants to prove that he's no martial-arts phony (Linden Ashby). Only Ashby, as the square-jawed movie star, has any semblance of humor. The movie would have been better to have centered on his character.
Chistopher Lambert, who was once Tarzan and was once married to Diane Lane (suggesting the best is over for him), looks ridiculous in flowing Biblical robes and a platinum wig and with a prominent lisp. He plays Lord Rayden, the god of thunder and lighting - a kind of cheerleader for the mortals.
The movie is not as gory as its video game counterpart, which allowed the computer characters to pull bleeding hearts from still living opponents and rip out spinal cords. There's none of that here - just squirmy worms and bugs and stuff. Instead, it is suggested that fights to the death are merely playful games that end in charades and noise.
This film deserved an R rating rather than its present PG-13. It also deserves the picket lines of anti-violence protest it has evoked in California. Bloodless, pantomimed violence that brings about no visible pain is the more manipulative form of the genre.
``THE FATE OF billions of people are at stake,'' Lord Rayden, a god of thunder and lightning, tells his three champions in ``Mortal Kombat,'' the new martial-arts epic.
So how come we don't care?
``Mortal Kombat'' is such a repetitious parade of senseless and pointless noise that, in spite of its special-effects budget, it becomes tiresome long before it runs its flimsy course. Its lack of plot was to be expected, but one hardly expected quite this much mumbo jumbo about the soul (the usual subterfuge that sellers of manipulative violence use to try to hide their wares).
The special effects are often stunning. There is a four-handed monster named Goro. There is a reptile-dragon creature that emerges from the hand of one evil warrior. One victim, killed by an icicle, is turned to ice. Characters ``morph'' from one image to another. It looks just as professional as ``Terminator 2.''
The target audience of 13- to 14-year-old boys pronounced it ``cool'' during the first half of the local matinee, but they seemed to weary of the repetition before the combat ran its course. In any case, there was a lot of running up and down the aisles, which may be interpreted as a lack of interest.
The animatronic creatures smack vaguely of the Ray Harryhausen creations in ``Jason and the Argonauts'' or the ``Sinbad'' movies, but with none of the humor or sense of wonder. ``Mortal Kombat'' is based on a hugely popular video game that has spawned interactive games and even a touring live show (coming to Norfolk's Scope on Nov. 8). This must have persuaded the producers to invest $20 million in the effects and in an unusually massive ad campaign.
``Mortal Kombat'' fails as a movie for the same reason the two previous films based on video games flopped - it has no plot. Both ``Super Mario Bros.'' (an especially expensive floperoo) and ``Street Fighter'' were duds.
Three ``human'' warriors are the last mortal hope of this world as they go up against the otherworldly demons of evil sorcerer Shang Tsung (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). It seems the humans have lost nine consecutive bouts. A 10th loss means that Earth would go into the realm of the Outworld, ruled by this devil. This meanie gets his strength from the souls of defeated warriors.
Our three champions are a lean Bruce Lee look-alike (Robin Shou), a tough female cop who wants to avenge her murdered partner (Bridgette Wilson) and a wisecracking movie star who wants to prove that he's no martial-arts phony (Linden Ashby). Only Ashby, as the square-jawed movie star, has any semblance of humor. The movie would have been better to have centered on his character.
Chistopher Lambert, who was once Tarzan and was once married to Diane Lane (suggesting the best is over for him), looks ridiculous in flowing Biblical robes and a platinum wig and with a prominent lisp. He plays Lord Rayden, the god of thunder and lighting - a kind of cheerleader for the mortals.
The movie is not as gory as its video game counterpart, which allowed the computer characters to pull bleeding hearts from still living opponents and rip out spinal cords. There's none of that here - just squirmy worms and bugs and stuff. Instead, it is suggested that fights to the death are merely playful games that end in charades and noise.
This film deserved an R rating rather than its present PG-13. It also deserves the picket lines of anti-violence protest it has evoked in California. Bloodless, pantomimed violence that brings about no visible pain is the more manipulative form of the genre. MOVIE REVIEW
``Mortal Kombat''
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Linden Ashby, Robin Shou, Bridgette Wilson
Director: Paul Anderson
Screenplay: Kevin Droney
Music: George S. Clinton
MPAA rating: PG-13 (senseless violence that is made to look bloodless)
Mal's rating: 1 1/2 star ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa...
by CNB