8 Awful Video Game Movies That Got The Most Important Thing Right

7. Mortal Kombat - Capturing That Signature Mysticism

Tomb Raider
New Line Cinema

Far from endorsing Mortal Kombat as anything other than a stinking turd, there was at least one thing that Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 offering managed to absolutely nail.

While the characterisation of the film’s key figures was most certainly a mixed big, the performances varying degrees of awful, and the lack of brutality and bloodshed disappointing, the movie did fantastically capture the grim and dark style, tone and texture of the famed Mortal Kombat video game franchise.

For any Mortal Kombat movie, the basic foundation of capturing the gaming franchise’s spirit and feel was going to revolve around the look of said movie. That part of 1995’s Mortal Kombat? Perfect. The rest of the feature? God-awful. Well, bar the brilliant decision to cast Christopher Lambert as the all-powerful God of Thunder, Rayden.

Still, this first MK film looks like an all-time classic in comparison to 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation – a movie universally regarded as one of the very worst in the history of cinema.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.