I guess recently we've been in an 80's, 90's movie mode at the Gregg household. This week I'd like to highlight one of the best and simultaneously worst movies ever made : Mortal Kombat. At the time this movie was released I was about 14 years old and was an avid fan of the video game that featured over the top gore, causing parents quite a bit of distress at the time.
Surprisingly it wasn't a very difficult sell for my wife. "Wife," I explained to her, "Mortal Kombat is one of the worst movies ever made." Almost immediately she found a copy of it.
Anyone else around my age remember all the cheering in the movie theatre when you went to see Mortal Kombat? I mean one of the best things about this movie is the ridiculous opening 'credits'. They're not really credits, just an insane flaming dragon logo with one of the cheesiest dance songs ever made playing in the background. As if you don't remember the opening of Mortal Kombat, here it is :
Why do I love this song so much? It's 30 seconds of music, repeated ad nauseam (if you ever listen to the full song), with someone yelling 'mortal kombat' in the background. Simple, thrilling and effective. I remember cheers in the movie theatre. And that's before the movie has even started!
I like to think of it this way... Some movies are 'based on' video games. This movie IS a video game. Maybe they take 10 minutes to lay down a plot having to do with a tournament that humans must win or have their world destroyed. The rest of the movie is about half a dozen fight scenes with characters from the video game.
Bad lines, bad acting, bad special effects and a ridiculous story featuring Christopher Lambert reaching new heights of cheesy awfulness, Mortal Kombat is one of those movies that is so unabashedly moronic, it wins you over very almost immediately. The movie seals the deal when Johnny Cage punches the four-armed monster, Goro, in the nuts.
I may never understand why this movie was so successful, or why me and many others shamelessly enjoyed it. These days, lots of movies claim that we're supposed to enjoy them by not thinking about how bad they are. Like Transformers 2 and 3 or pretty much any Michael Bay movie. Well, Mr. Bay, take notes. This is how bad movies are done.
Now, who wants to put together a Mortal Kombat flash dance group with me?
3 comments:
Dude, it wasn't a terrible B movie. Especially when you compare it to the garbage that was the sequel. A sequel so bad that some of the actors refused to return. (Sonia / Rayden / Johnny Cage) - B. Wayne
I had to dance to that mortal kombat music..that means for 9 months long, once a week, I'd have that song played and dance to it. I really loved it hehe I don't remember much about the movie..thus, it prlly sucked.
I guess it can't be that terrible if I loved it so much. But yeah, the sequel is unwatchable. We tried.
Soooo, Hsin, I guess that's a yes to a Mortal Kombat Flash Dance?
Post a Comment