Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Mortal Kombat (1995)
Director: Paul WS Anderson
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
As video-game-inspired movies go, this remains leagues ahead of last year's Street Fighter. Of course, there's only so much one can do with a game that never leaves the fighting arena, but 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. That the plot occasionally reaches areas so ambiguous as to be unfathomable is beside the point; this is about hand-to-hand combat, pure and simple. Lambert plays Rayden, a highly-charged friendly God from the mystical Outworld. Not so friendly is sorcerer Shang Tsung (Tagawa), host of Outworld's infamous tournament where groups of humans go into battle against unearthly combatants and generally wind up getting thrashed. With Earth as the main prize, it's finally left to the skills of Rayden's three new hopefuls - Liu Kang (Shou), Johnny Cage (Ashby), and Sonya Blade (Wilson) - to wrest the fate of the planet from Outworld's grasp.Author: DA
Cast & crew
Director: Paul WS Anderson
Producer: Lawrence Kasanoff
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Bridgette Wilson, Talisa Soto, Trevor Goddard full cast
Genre(s): Fantasy
Duration: 101 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Michael Haneke discusses 'The White Ribbon'
Dave Calhoun met with Michael Haneke in Munich to mull over the details of his Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now