Mortal Kombat (1995)

For a plot that essentially consists of a trio of hard-bodied good guys beating the stuffing out of a supernaturally evil army of bad guys, Mortal Kombat, a contentedly empty-headed extended advertisement for the joy of joypads (filmed in cheesily ornate cinema de Hong Kong style), is notably free of blood and gore. And although director Paul Anderson treats the story with appropriate deadpan respect, there are enough sparks of humor (particularly generated by Linden Ashby as a shallow martial-arts actor who worries that he's a fake, with good reason) to amuse the adults accompanying the 10-year-old boys in the audience. The guys in the recording studio who made the ooofff! augghhhh! sounds are the ones who really had all the fun.

You Might Also Like

• Video Review Mortal Kombat | Glenn Kenny
• News + Notes A brief history of Cinema's Spanish swordplay (May 05, 2000) | Scott Brown
• Movie Review Fortress (1992) | Ty Burr
• In the News Fox blasts off with ''Alien vs. Predator'' (Aug 13, 2004) | Gary Susman
• Reel World News From Hollywood (Mar 15, 2002) | Rebecca Ascher-Walsh
• Movie Preview Dragonball: Evolution (Apr 08, 2009)