Mortal Kombat is Hbo Max's latest hit, and in its first weekend it won more viewers than Godzilla vs Kong and Zack Snyder's Justice League. But I'm not here to talk about it. I'm here to talk about other Mortal Kombat movies. From 1995.

There seems to be a lot of love for the original Mortal Kombat, and I've seen some "best video game movies" lists that feature it prominently, but Mortal Kombat 1995 sucks, so there's a big problem. It's really very scary, and it's time to stop pretending otherwise.

Being one of the "best" video game movies is not particularly hard.1 Historically video game movies have been so bad, that it means the whole idea is completely tainted. Things have improved in recent years, but that stigma still lingers. It's a stigma that the new Mortal Kombat also had to fight. However, Mortal Kombat in 1995 was still on the list of many "Best video game movies" online. Last week we saw many of them replaced by a reboot in 2021, but in some cases it still remains.

Variety referred to the film's "cult classic state" when discussing the reboot, thanks to the positive reception the film has received from fans over the years. Vulture, on the other hand, positioned it as the "worst" video game movie.

Esquire puts it at the top of its own list, but given that it also includes Adam Sandler's pixels, one of the publications' expertise on the issue

Meanwhile, on Twitter, fans were promoting themselves before the release of the reboot on hbo Max. People were talking about how much they all loved the original and couldn't wait to see what the new version had to offer. In addition, some believe that the original is still better, despite many flaws.

Mortal Kombat2021 is by no means a masterpiece, but a much better attempt to show Mortal Kombat on the big screen. It not only helps to capture the essence of the game and the array of its characters, but it is also a much better film. It has a better script, with better production value and effect, and in general it is a much more enjoyable experience.

I can prove this fact because I've seen both movies this weekend.

Mortal Kombat has earned a lot of praise for "capturing the essence" of the game and translating it into movies. That's fair enough. Video game movies often focus on aspects of the movie, rather than what makes video games great. But capturing the spirit of a video game is pretty pointless if you can't build a quality story around it.

Take Doom (2005), for example, has been tried fairly disjointed in video game films. There is very little to distinguish most of the plot from some common space horror B-movies. In any case, to the point when the movie goes into first-person mode. A 5-minute sequence made to feel like pulled out of a video game.

This sequence captures the essence of the Doom game quite perfectly. But unfortunately, that game is Doom3, and the whole thing is so laughably bad that it turns the movie into a parody of itself.

Before that moment, you had a weak take on the basic plot of the first Doom game, albeit without any of the supernatural elements. In the sequence, I wonder if the director was actually messing with the audience.

It is not a deal with Mortal Kombat. Like so many things from the 90s, it does fall into the trap of trying to take itself too seriously, so one thing you try and do it all

1 that bothered me really about Mortal Kombat was the effect. Many of the practical effects looked cheap and CGI was laughable. But this is a 1995 film with a budget of11800 million. We were not going to get the special effects of the Jurassic Park layer.

All that can be forgiven if the rest of the movie is something good. The plot is not only quite difficult to follow, even if you know the background of the Mortal Kombat tournament, the acting of the film was really strange. Sometimes it was cheesy and on, but in others the actors just looked boring and did not have their minds in it.

No more true than Christopher Lambert. Aside from the obvious problem of white French playing the Japanese Thunder God, Lambert doesn't seem to be interested in the film at all. He gives off all the acting abilities of Tommy Wiseau in the room, but without enthusiasm.

The film does a pretty good job in terms of casting, but Lambert was completely wrong about the role. He had a low right to play Leiden (or Leiden as the movie spells it out) and played Connor MacLeod in the Highlander.

In addition, the characterization of the main characters of the film is roughly explained. Sure, the original game did not have much of a plot and just threw you straight there. But at the same time, we were able to focus more on who these people really are.

Most of the focus is on Liu Kang, which is fair given how prominent he is in the game. But even then, we only get a few details about where he came from and what he's doing. A sure revenge for the death of his brother is a great motive, but the whole process was in a hurry. In addition, not much is said about his anti-climax final fight with Shao Tsung.

It's okay to like bad things. If someone likes to watch Mortal Kombat, by all means they have the right to see it many times. Or fire an angry tweet about why they enjoy it so much.

Heck, I sometimes enjoy watching Doom. It is mainly for first-person sequences. But I can't pretend the movie is actually good. It sucks because it's not. It was so bad that even the combination of rock, Karl Urban and Rosamund Pike could not save it from itself.

If you enjoy watching Mortal Kombat, don't let anyone stop you. But let's all agree that it must stop acting like a good movie. Because it is as far away as possible from it.