Mortal Kombat (1995)- Robin Shou (3)

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Stars: Robin Shou, Christopher Lambert & Linden Ashbey

Genre: Action/Martial Arts/Fantasy

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Fantasy Violence)

Running Time: 91 Mins

Tagline: Nothing in This World Has Prepared You For This

Synopsis:

{According to IMDB}

"Three unknowing martial artists are summoned to a mysterious island to compete in a tournament whose outcome will decide the fate of the world. "

Discussion

Without a doubt this is definitely the best video game adaptation. Every character, every action sequence: true to the Original Video Game from Super Nintendo.  This is one of those movies that I remember seeing as a kid and loved. Seeing it again I fell exactly the same about it: Still love it.  

If you’re not familiar with the plot of Mortal Kombat, let me enlighten you.  A group of fighters have been chosen to attend a tournament known as Mortal Kombat.  But, little do they know that this tournament holds the future of humanity. If the bad guys win, the world gets enslaved by Shao Kahn: Ruler of Outworld.  In charge of the tournament is another baddie: Shang Tsung played marvelously and maliciously by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. It is up to Liu Kang and his friends to win the tournament and prevent the world from being enslaved.

Yeah the effects are dated, it is quite cheesy sometimes, but it’s still a treat. I watch this movie many times a year. There’s something about the fight scenes and the soundtrack that get you in the mood to kick ass! Especially the opening song when the logo of New Line Cinema appears and you hear the roaring sound of MORTAL KOMBAT!!!  

The blu ray I own is a Canadian import; I was so anxious to get this movie on BD I just took the first copy available of this film. So the review will be about the picture and sound quality on the Canadian Blu- Ray Release from Alliance. Not the official American Release.

Video

Presented in Full 1080p HD, I was really blown away with the remastering they did for Mortal Kombat. I had never seen the movie so clear. Both the VHS & DVD had very poor picture quality, especially the early DVD release. The early DVD was Non Anamorphic and the transfer seemed like it came from a Laserdisc or something like it. Anyways, the HD of Mortal Kombat actually improves the dated special effects, in many ways it improves the clarity of Sub Zero's ice power, and Shang Tsung's Transformation into other characters.  From what I've heard the American release didn’t have the same transfer for the BD disc. Then again I wouldn’t know, I haven’t seen the American Blu Ray release. But this Canadian import did the job done, very impressive in the HD dept.

Audio

The audio was just as impressive as the video. When the theme song started and the flames started roaring I was impressed, I hadn’t heard the soundtrack this clear before.   

Bottom Line:

 

This is a nostalgic film for me; I saw this movie at 6 and since then I have re-watched it several times. Even as corny as it is sometimes, I still think this should be in any action movie buffs library. A Must Own!

theatrical trailer:

Belly of The Beast (2003)- Steven Seagal (2 ½ )

Director: Siu- Tung Ching

Stars: Steven Seagal, Byron Mann, Monica Lo

Genre: Action/Martial Arts

MPAA Rating: R (Violence, Language & Brief Nudity)

Running Time: 91 Mins

Tagline: A Father’s Rage Knows No Limit

Synopsis:

{According to IMDB}

"An ex-CIA agent's quest to find his kidnapped daughter leads him on a trail of political intrigue, corruption, danger and betrayal; he will stop at nothing to save her. "

Discussion

Let’s face it, Seagal is FAT! That is a very recognizable fact! However, the guy still keeps making movies, even more so than when he was in shape. Talking about shape, he now has a much thinner double in most if not all the fight sequences. The way I see it, he has some bills to pay, if not he wouldn’t be making these mediocre Direct to Video flicks.  

 

As an avid fan of Seagal, I never miss any of his films, even if they are mediocre or down atrocious; which seems to be the case now with most of his DTV entries. However, this one wasn’t all that bad, no masterpiece of course, but not horrible either. So let’s get into the movie, Seagal Plays Jake Hopper an Ex C.I.A agent, whose daughter has been kidnapped in Thailand by some terrorist, so it seems. Not to quote every action movie out there in history but “they just fucked with the wrong man!’ 

 

Ok it’s quite obvious that this movie has a plot similar to any action movie of the late 80’s or early 90’s: more specifically I would say its carbon copy of Commando Also we know what is going to happen next! A lot of kicking ass is gona take place! As an action buff, what more can I ask for! I didn’t put this DVD on to see a classic; I put it to see mindless action, Period. Now, this movie doesn’t go without criticizing, even if it is mindless action, there is a lot I need to go over.  Firstly, why on earth do they keep dubbing Seagal’s voice? I mean I know the guy has somewhat of a low voice, but he isn’t mute! Not just that, as I said earlier, they keep placing a double in the action scenes. One who is very thin, I say 50 pounds lighter than he is; they even place the double in scenes where it doesn’t call for one. Such as a scene where they arrest Seagal’s Character, he walks into the police station, and from behind it is soo god damn obvious a double was placed. Anyways, the most ridiculous thing in the movie is that there is no such thing as gravity here. The laws of gravity are defied countless times through the movie. Specifically at the end, where the antagonist throws an arrow at Seagal, and miraculously breaks it in half in mid air with a sword!! Cool Beans Huh?  Again, As I said, I wasn’t expecting much from this movie. It at least did the job of entertaining me, I wasn’t bored, even if the film is pretty dumb overall.

DVD
This was one of the last Seagal movies I bought original on DVD. I mostly now just get a back up copy from a friend or wait for Spike or another channel to show them.  There really is no point now in owning them.

Video:
 I found this transfer to be quite decent, being that it was probably shot digitally, it doesn’t have that many artifacts around the screen (pixilation, spots etc) from what I seen on Amazon, this title is slated for release on Blu- Ray soon. I don’t really think I would upgrade, it was a very mediocre flick. I would stick to the DVD if you are interested. But yeah, the quality on DVD was all right

Audio:
There were a lot of fight sequences in this movie, along with gunfire…but I wasn’t feeling the boast in the sound Dept. I had the volume on my Home Theater at 40, and the gun firing sounded worse than a kid’s play gun. I was disappointed in the sound mostly.

Bottom Line:

 

Ok, so I admit the movie wasn’t that good, but it is entertaining. I would say give it a shot if you don’t feel like thinking and just watch mindless absurd action where gravity can be defied

Seagal Defies gravity!

theatrical Trailer:

Track of The Moon Beast (1976)- Chase Cordell (1)

Director: Richard Ashe

Stars: Chase Cordell, Leigh Drake, & Gregorio Sala

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

MPAA Rating: PG (Violent or Disturbing Images)

Running Time: 80 Mins

Tagline: "The Rising Moon Creates A Monster"

Synopsis:

{According to IMDB}

"A young man is transformed into a hideous "moon beast" due to a meteor fragment lodged in his body".

Discussion

Oh man! Where do I begin explaining this mess of a movie? This is a perfect example of a soo bad its good movie. Every element of badness is here; from bad acting to downright cheesy special effects, this one truly has it all. The movie is only 80 min long but it felt like 3hrs. Pacing was the biggest issue here, every scene was extended and elongated for no given reason.  Oh one thing, before we get into the main plot: the cover of the movie, how misleading it is. The way the creature is depicted is as if he is a real threat, but when you actually sit down and see the movie...Completely different story.

This picture to the right is how he really looks in the film. Can you tell the difference between the cover and the finished product? I sure can. Anyways, let’s get into the plot of this odd little film. Early in the movie, we are introduced to our protagonists: Paul, Kathy and Professor Longbow (they always call him Longbone, don’t know why). All of which can’t act for beans. Especially the actress who plays Kathy, all her reactions are stale and lifeless. Anyhow, Kathy and Paul, who are deeply in love (even though they just met 5 min into the film) are sitting in the woods, making out, when all of a sudden a meteorite hits Paul in the head. Fragments of the meteor get inside his head. Paul dismisses it; however he is in for a big surprise...because soon he will turn into: THE MOON BEAST!

That’s as complicated as the plot gets to be honest with you. The rest just involves a Sherriff investigating the mysterious death of civilians, and of course they are being killed by the beast. The beast for some weird reason resembles The Creature of The Black Lagoon...just done really cheaply here. A curious observation, which is pretty obvious through the movie, is 3 things: the sheriff never unhooks his thumbs from his belt, even when sitting down, Paul is seen shirtless for about 80% off the movie, and Kathy is mostly wearing  skanky clothes which distracts most male viewers from the rest of the cheesy mess of a film. I mean this movie was just soo odd, yet I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen LOL. I will admit, it was a guilty pleasure. I might even watch it again, just for the laughs. Trust me, that's definitely what you will get here: laughs. Such as the song they play in a club titled "California Lady" God! How corny can the lines be, there's a part in the song when the vocalist says "My voice been getting froggy I been smoking too damn much" I was bursting out laughing! But at the same time I would see myself later in the day singing the song, I even have it on my I-Pod now. But yeah, this movie is mostly just to sit back on a rainy night and enjoy for the unintentional humor, even if the pacing is slow, there’s a lot of cheesiness to redeem it.

California Lady Song:

Lyrics to "California Lady":

My voice been getting froggy
I been smoking too damn much
Singing songs to the sun that's rising
Rhyming words I cannot touch
Oh I been wandering in circles
With just a guitar in m' hand
Playing one too many barrooms and drinkin' more than I can stand

California lady won't you bring your love to me
California lady she's the one I want to see
My California lady

I'm hung out in Chicago with a California mind
Lady love and lord above
These city mountains aren't my kind
Oh I been wandering in circles
With just a guitar in m' hand
Playing all these funky barrooms and drinkin' more than I can stand

California lady won't you bring your love to me
California lady she's the one I want to see
My California lady
My California lady
My California lady

DVD

I got this movie in a bundle pack; it came in a 50 Chilling Classics Box Set. The box set was only 10 bucks, 50 movies for 10 bucks isn’t bad, even if most of them are as bad as this one. The movie is actually available on YouTube for free, so if you are interested in seeing this cheesy flick, be my guest, I will leave you a link to it. That way you won’t feel guilty about spending money on it. Also, the quality is no different to the one I have on DVD.

Video

Like most cheap DVD's the quality is never anything above average. Presented in 1:33:1, the total feel I got for the picture quality was dark and grainy. Even though the box set said they are "remastered" they aren't, and then again for how bad it is, I’m not expecting it to be anything spectacular in the visual dept. So overall the quality was just bleh. Felt like they transferred it from a second generation VHS

Audio:
Just like the video, The audio is overall a mediocre 2 Channel Mono

Bottom Line:

Man, this is a hard decision, because I enjoyed it for all the wrong reasons. I wasn’t scarred nor amused by the films effects...I was mostly laughing. If you want to laugh at and see a corny 70's "horror/sci-fi" than this is your treat.

Full movie: