Mortal Kombat: Critic Reviews

The most intriguing is a glassy-eyed follower whose right hand shoots out a hissing reptile that can extend itself for miles. Exotic creatures like these make watching Mortal Kombat feel like being in a high-tech fun house.

Likely to satisfy only the core audience already hooked on video and arcade games, and even that's not a sure thing.

Where others have sunk in the mire of imitation, director Paul Anderson and writer Kevin Droney effect a viable balance between exquisitely choreographed action and ironic visual and verbal counterpoint.

The movie that most nearly approximates a video game: lots of action, no plot, eye-catching computer effects and a dollop of violence.

Just looks and plays a lot like Johnny Mnemonic, Double Dragon and other video-game-inspired, mayhem-filled messes.

...a one-note gimmick that comes with everything but a joystick for the viewer to control the robotic characters.

We'll concede that four-armed Prince Goro is a hoot, Christopher Lambert looks fabulous in a flowing white wig, and Talisa Soto, who plays some kind of princess, can lord it over us anytime.

All the head-crushing and thigh-flexing doesn't compensate for the monotony of a story that simply traipses from one combat (sorry, kombat) to the next.

cheesy but still, kick ass

British director Anderson does a fair job with what he was given: four good-looking leads, some very impressive sfx, Babylonian sets, a bone-crunching soundtrack, and a battery of well-choreographed fights.

Like watching a lot of sweaty fist fights while trapped in the world's loudest night club.

This one's a howler that's so bad it's almost good -- almost.

If the movie Mortal Kombat were a character in a Mortal Kombat video game, its special maneuver would be to climb on its opponent's shoulders and defecate on his head.

Hopeless? Oh yes. It's hopeless alright. Mondo hopeless.

Cheesy with no nutrients. But hey, anything's better than Street Fighter.

[A] surprisingly good movie.

What it's missing, ironically, is the edge that's made Mortal Kombat the video game such a powerful icon in American pop culture.

The impressiveness of skill is lost in the technical production.

Offers a visceral jolt of pleasure for those who formerly believed the martial arts movie genre belongs exclusively to Hong Kong's John Woo.

It should be worth noting that you can play the game much cheaper than seeing the movie, and the end result is much the same.

The characters are cardboard, the humor is lame and the heroes are all so unlikable most of the way that the audience won't be able - or want - to identify with them.

The movie has everything a teenage boy could want... Everything, that is, but an interesting plot, decent dialogue and compelling acting.