History Film / MortalKombatTheMovie

* LighterAndSofter: Due to the PG-13 rating, the game's infamous trademark [[LudicrousGibs violence and gore]] isn't present in the film. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, though; the lack of gratuitous violence resulted in the filmmakers relying more on story and characterization, which worked out so well that many of it [[RetCanon would make its way into the games proper]]. And even without the bloodshed, the fight sequences are still legitimately good.

* YourSoulIsMine: TropeNamer Shang Tsung says this to defeated opponents just before he takes their souls.

* YourSoulIsMine: Shang Tsung says this to defeated opponents just before he takes their souls.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mortal-kombat-heroes_3859.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Let Mortal Kombat begin!]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Liu Kang and Raiden trade these in their first meeting, with Raiden's doubling as as ArmorPiercingResponse since it puts in focus Liu Kang's RefusalOfTheCall and ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne mentality.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: [[invoked]] This movie adapted the events of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]] features two characters[[note]] Shao Kahn doesn't appear until after Shang Tsung is killed at the end (thus being the end of ''[=MK1=]'''s story) as a SequelHook, and thus doesn't count.[[/note]] that didn't debut until ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII''. While Jax only makes a cameo appearance, which in turn serves as an EarlyBirdCameo in relation to ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', Kitana plays a prominent role as [[BigBad Shang Tsung's]] personal assassin who does a HeelFaceTurn to aid the heroes in defeating the EvilSorcerer. Though it is interesting to note that when ''[=MK1=]'' was being developed, her prototype character, named "Kitsune", was going to be in the game as the daughter of Shang Tsung, but was scrapped from the final version. Thus, her appearance in the movie doubles as both an adaptational early appearance and a DevelopmentGag.

* AdaptationalNationality: Kano went from being an expediate American to Cockney English. The popularity of Kano's depiction led to his nationality being retconned in the games, albeit as Australian due to a misinterpretation of actor Trevor Goddard's accent.

* AdaptationalNationality: Kano went from being Japanese-American to Australian. The popularity of Kano's depiction led to his nationality being retconned in the games, Ironically, Trevor Goddard, Kano's actor, was actually English.

%%* YourSoulIsMine: This incarnation of Shang Tsung is the trope namer.

* YourSoulIsMine: This incarnation of Shang Tsung is the trope namer.

* FatalFlaw: As stated by Raiden, each of the main three heroes has one that they must overcome.
** Johnny is afraid that he is a fake so he rushes into any fight to prove that he isn't which could prove disastrous especially since he is fighting for the wrong reasons. After [[spoiler: Art Lean's death]], Johnny finally sees there is much more at stake than his own ego.

* FauxActionGirl: Sonya had one tournament fight against Kano (which was proven to be fairly tough) and everyone was involved with the group fight against the mooks earlier. But as soon as Shang Tsung gets her in a hammerlock, she stops even trying to fight back. Compared to the ''very long'' fight scenes of Johnny (who kills Scorpion and Goro) and Liu Kang (who has five fights throughout the movie, including the one against Shang Tsung himself), Sonya didn't get much of a chance to really prove herself. Justified as Sonya was the only one of the main trio whose actress [[RealLifeWritesThePlot didn't know how to fight]] and was a last-minute replacement, which would have been blatantly obvious if they had given her more fight scenes.

* GoGoEnslavement: Sonya goes through this after Shang Tsung captures her and takes her to the Outworld.

* GlowingEyes: The statue's eyes in Outworld glow red when the lizard Reptile fuses with it and becomes a fighter against Liu Kang.

* BadassInANiceSuit: Johnny Cage wears a neat and pressed suit for the fight scene in his in-universe movie. Additionally, when he first gets on the boat, he wears a blazer on top of the green dress shirt and slacks he wears during the rest of this installment.

** Sub Zero vs. random mook. The poor mook doesn't even get a chance to land a hit as Sub Zero freezes him solid as he goes in for a flying kick and [[LiterallyShatteredLives explodes into frozen chunks on smashing into the ground]].

** Shang Tsung vs. Chan.

* AdaptationalNationality: Kano went from being an expediate American to Cockney English. This is zigzagged when the popularity of Kano's depiction led to his nationality being retconned in the games, except he became Australian due to his accent being misinterpreted (though in pretty much everyone's defense, actor Trevor Goddard ''did'' claim to be an Aussie for most of his acting career).

* AdaptationalNationality: Kano went from being an expediate American to Cockney English. This is zigzagged when the popularity of Kano's depiction led to his nationality being retconned in the games, except he became Australian due to his accent being misinterpreted.

** Sub-Zero and Scorpion are DemotedToExtra, becoming Shang Tsung's henchmen in order to streamline the plot and focus more closely on the PowerTrio.