History Film / MortalKombatTheMovie

'''Grandfather:''' [PleaseSpareHimMyLiege Spare him, my lord Raiden!]] American life has...enfeebled his mind! Too much television!

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: This film adapts the events of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], but takes many elements from [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII the second]]:

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Shang Tsung to Sonya as he makes unwanted advances towards her.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the games, Johnny Cage was simply the PluckyComicRelief of the heroes. This movie has him defeat Scorpion and Goro, two of the biggest badasses in the ''Mortal Kombat'' universe. [[RetCanon/MortalKombatTheMovie Like many other things]], this carried over to later games: ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' in particular sees him [[spoiler:''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu defeat]] [[PhysicalGod Shinnok]] on his own.'']]

'''Grandfather:''' Spare him, my lord Raiden! American life has...enfeebled his mind! Too much television!

* DullSurprise: Kitana.

* RefusalOfTheCall: Liu Kang did this before the movie starts, not wanting to take up the mantle as Earthrealm's greatest hope and running off to America. His brother decided to step up instead and got killed for it, bringing him great guilt that he tries to project into vengeance rather than fulfilling his destiny.

* ShoutOut: To ''Film/EnterTheDragon''; like the character Roper in that movie, Johnny has [[LotsOfLuggage a bunch of luggage]] that he brings with him to the tournament, but here, nobody helps him and he loses and ruins all of it trying to carry it himself.

* ThisIsThePartWhere: Done twice by Johnny, once to a stuntman who botches a take while filming a fight scene, and an IronicEcho as noted above, to Goro while he's hanging onto the ledge of a pit.

* TokenTrio: Liu Kang is Chinese, Johnny Cage is white and Sonya is white and female.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Goro dismisses Liu and Johnny as inconsequential weaklings. The former defeats Sub-Zero, Reptile and [[spoiler: Shang Tsung]]. The latter kills Scorpion and [[spoiler: Goro himself as retribution for killing Johnny's friend Art Lean.]]

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: How Johnny got into the tournament thanks to his old instructor, [[spoiler:who's actually Shang Tsung in disguise]]:
-->"Come to a little tournament, he said. Good for the career, he said. Yeah, right..."

* FaceYourFears: Raiden talks to Sonya, Johnny and Liu Kang about confronting their own fears: fear to admit the need of help, fear of being a fake, and fear to face one's destiny, respectively.

** 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.

** Liu Kang has two. The first is his prioritizing his revenge against Shang Tsung for killing his brother over saving Earth from Outworld. The former flaw, however, hides the fact that Liu does feel responsible for his brother's death since Chan only fought Shang Tsung in his place.
* 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. This is 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.

* NiceToTheWaiter: While Johnny assuming that Liu was a porter, apparently simply because he was Asian, [[InnocentlyInsensitive was pretty boneheaded of him]], he DID give him a pretty generous tip and seemingly [[GracefulLoser brushed off his luggage gettinng dumped into the harbor with nothing more than a shrug and a quip]].

* RaceLift: Raiden is curiously white for an Asian deity.

** As part of his CompositeCharacter status, Liu Kang mentions being a descendant of the Great Kung Lao, whose eponymous descendant in the games debuted in ''[=MK2=]''.
** In the {{Novelization}}, [[spoiler:Sonya fights Jade, who debuted in ''[=MK2=]'' as a secret character]], and the heroes [[spoiler:bury Art]] below a statue of the Great Kung Lao.

** Jax and Kitana debuted in ''[=MK2=]''.[[note]][[spoiler:Shao Kahn]] should technically also count as a fighter adapted from ''[=MK2=]'', but he doesn't appear until the SequelHook -- after Shang Tsung's death, which represents the end of ''[=MK1=]'''s story -- and thus doesn't count.[[/note]] While the former only makes a cameo appearance, which in turn serves as an EarlyBirdCameo in relation to ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', the latter plays a prominent role as [[BigBad Shang Tsung]]'s personal assassin who does a HeelFaceTurn to aid the heroes in defeating the EvilSorcerer.
** Shang Tsung's shapeshifting ability had already been seen in ''[=MK1=]'', but his soul steal Fatality debuted in ''[=MK2=]''.

** Chris Cassamassa (Scorpion) and Hakim Alston (Liu Kang's first opponent) were already fighters in [[Series/WMACMasters a TV show]].

** Jax and Kitana debuted in ''[=MK2=]''.[[note]][[spoiler:Shao Kahn]] should technically also count as a fighter adapted from ''[=MK2=]'', but he doesn't appear until the SequelHook -- after Shang Tsung's death, which represents the end of ''[=MK1=]'''s story -- and thus doesn't count.[[/note]] While the former only makes a cameo appearance, which in turn serves as an EarlyBirdCameo in relation to ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', the latter plays a prominent role as [[BigBad Shang Tsung]]'s personal assassin who does a HeelFaceTurn to aid the heroes in defeating the EvilSorcerer.[[note]]It is interesting to note that when ''[=MK1=]'' was being developed, Kitana's 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 this movie doubles as a DevelopmentGag.[[/note]]

* AdaptationalBadass: In the games, Johnny Cage was simply the PluckyComicRelief of the heroes. This movie has him defeat Scorpion and Goro, two of the biggest badasses in the ''Mortal Kombat'' universe. [[RetCanon/MortalKombatTheMovie Like many other things]], this carried over to later games: ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' in particular sees him [[spoiler:''[[DidYouJustPunchOutChthulu defeat]] [[PhysicalGod Shinnok]] on his own.'']]
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: This film adapts the events of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], but takes many elements from [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII the second]]:[[note]]Shao Kahn should technically count as one of those, but he 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]]
** Jax and Kitana debuted in ''[=MK2=]''. While the former only makes a cameo appearance, which in turn serves as an EarlyBirdCameo in relation to ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'', the latter plays a prominent role as [[BigBad Shang Tsung]]'s personal assassin who does a HeelFaceTurn to aid the heroes in defeating the EvilSorcerer.[[note]]It is interesting to note that when ''[=MK1=]'' was being developed, Kitana's 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 this movie doubles as a DevelopmentGag.[[/note]]

** During Liu Kang's fight with [[spoiler:Reptile]], the voice clip announcing the latter's name when he transforms is taken from ''[=MK2=]''. Also, there's a wall with a window clearly inspired by the one from the Tower arena in ''[=MK2=]'', and Liu Kang uses his bicycle kick -- a move that would debut in ''[=MK2=]'' -- to end the fight; the move's voice clip from the game can even be heard if you listen closely when he goes up.

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

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: This film adapts the events of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], but takes many elements from [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII the second]].[[note]]Shao Kahn should technically count as one of those, but he 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]]

** In the {{Novelization}}, [[spoiler:Sonya fights Jade (who debuted in ''[=MK2=]'' as a secret character)]], and the heroes [[spoiler:bury Art]] below a statue of the Great Kung Lao.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: [[invoked]] This movie adapted the events of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 the first game]], yet 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.

** A cheat code for a video game releasing at the time is hidden in the closing credits.
** At the end of the film, "Flawless victory!" is heard.

* CoconutSuperpowers: Goro's formidability, due to him being portrayed by a big, awkward-looking and probably fragile animatronic. When Shang Tsung decides to turn him loose, all we see of most of his fights is his opponent falling to the floor in defeat. The one match we actually do see before his fight with Johnny has Goro and his opponent mostly standing around while Goro repeatedly punches the guy. When Johnny fights Goro, he wins by entering the match intending to fight dirty and win on a technicality. First by GroinAttack-ing him, then luring Goro up to a cliff and knocking him off, giving Goro very little chance to do anything.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Shao Kahn.]]

* CoconutSuperpowers: Goro's formidability, due to him being portrayed by a big, awkward-looking and probably fragile animatronic. When Shang Tsung decides to turn him loose, all we see of most of his fights is his opponent falling to the floor in defeat. The one match we actually do see before his fight with Johnny has Goro and his opponent mostly has them standing around while Goro repeatedly punches the guy. When Johnny fights Goro, he wins by entering the match intending to fight dirty and win on a technicality. First by GroinAttack-ing him, then luring Goro up to a cliff and knocking him off, giving Goro very little chance to do anything.

* CoconutSuperpowers: Goro's formidability, due to him being portrayed by a big, awkward-looking and probably fragile animatronic. When Shang Tsung decides to turn him loose, all we see of most of his fights is his opponent falling to the floor in dfeat. The one match we actually do see before his fight with Johnny has Goro and his opponently mostly has them standing around while Goro repeatedly punches the guy. When Johnny fights Goro, he wins by entering the match intending to fight dirty and win on a technicality. First by GroinAttack-ing him, then luring Goro up to a cliff and knocking him off.

-->'''Raiden:''' ''I don't think so.''
-->'''Shang Tsung:''' ''{{Your soul is mine}}.''

** Kano is usually treated as a serious threat in the games and is infamous for his laser eye attacks and ripping out people's hearts. Here, he’s easily intimidated by Shang Tsung and Goro and gets killed before the climax of the movie.

* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Raiden wears one at the beginning of the film, even though he's played by a white actor. However, despite his physical appearance, his name and role in the film implies that he's the Japanese and/or Chinese god of thunder. Despite the straw hat being a trademark of the character, Raiden only wears it for his initial scene at the Temple of Light, ditching it for the remainder of the film.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Mild subversion, as the first character shown to die in the film is actually [[spoiler: Liu Kang's brother]]. However, the black fighter Liu Kang fights and defeats is the first combatant to die in the tournament itself after Shang Tsung takes his soul. Additionally, Art is the only ''named'' Earthrealm fighter to die in the tournament, though other unnamed fighters lost to Goro.

* IHaveTheHighGround: Johnny tries this on Scorpion, but Scorpion simply [[CuttingTheKnot chops down the entire platform]].