I have for as long as I can remember been a fan of the Mortal Kombat theme, more so than the game itself because I have never been much of a beat em up/fighting game fan. I dabbled with the genre in years gone by – Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Killer Instinct, ClayFighter, Street Fighter 4 many years later and, of course, Mortal Kombat – but I can’t ever say it was something I went out of my way to enjoy, lacking the dexterity and patience to master combos in order to win fights. Well, with the exception of Noob Saibot – I somehow managed to figure out his special moves leading him to becoming my character of choice.
The theme from Mortal Kombat is and will forever be a classic. And that’s not just because of the hit YouTube video from erstwhile creative types Smosh, but because it captures a particular era in video game and music history. For me, it represents my life from around the age of 10 or 11, which I define based almost exclusively on the video games I had access to at that time. Transitioning from the Super Nintendo over to the original Playstation, we owned the Mortal Kombat Trilogy and despite my general lack of interest in that genre, I ended up playing it quite frequently.
The film, which I did not watch until much later when my inner film collector decided to stick his head above the parapet, may not have been anything more than some cheesy action fun but it, much like the theme song, captured the tone of that era perfectly. I’ll always have fond memories of the game series and this song in particular for being capable of taking me back to the mid-90s – sadly not in a time travelling sense.
You may not want to watch the music video if you’re planning on watching the film any time soon as it gives away most of the fight sequences in a 3.5 minute span. Alternatively, use it as an excuse for not having to sit through the entire film. Your call!
