Mortal Kombat

Campy B-movie energy, A-movie payoff. That's the trick this thing pulls off, and I'm still a little surprised by it.

The fights are the engine. They're choreographed with actual care, and you can tell because Robin Shou as Liu Kang looks like a guy who's been training for this his whole life, not an actor faking his way through a fight scene. Every kick has weight. Every exchange feels like it matters. My favorite sequence was the one I didn't see coming, and I won't spoil, but it had me leaning forward in my seat.

Campy B-movie energy, A-movie payoff.

Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage is the other thing that makes this work. He turns what could've been a smug cardboard cutout into a guy you actually want to hang out with. He's funny when he needs to be, cocky in the right doses, and he sells the fights too.

The miss is Bridgette Wilson as Sonya Blade. I wanted to like her in this. I didn't. Every time she was on screen the movie sagged a little, and after Shou and Ashby set the bar where they did, the dropoff was hard to ignore.

But that's one weak link in a movie that absolutely should not work this well. Catching it in a theater with friends cranked the whole thing up another notch. I had a blast, and I've been thinking about it since. Sometimes the B-movie just hits.