the Scorpion/Johnny Cage and Liu Kang/Reptile fights. In 2020, Rotten Tomatoes discussed the film in the "Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong" podcast series. Scott Johnson criticized the film as not being a faithful adaptation, citing in particular the absence of R-rated gore (which he felt was the only thing genuinely appealing about the game) and the presence of Reptile (who he erroneously said does not appear in the original game). Co-panelist Jacqueline Coley countered that an R rating would have blocked out the Mortal Kombat fan base, recounting how even with a PG-13 rating she could only see the film in theaters by sneaking in, and noted that the most beloved video game films are not faithful adaptations but well-crafted cinema which capture the essence of the games. Mark Ellis agreed with Coley that Mortal Kombat succeeded in this respect, commenting in particular how it mimics the game's minimal plot by focusing on the tournament, creating an experience similar to watching March Madness. JoBlo.com called Mortal Kombat "colorful, ambitious, and surprisingly funny; Anderson tied everything around a perfect cast lead by the great Robin Shou." Screen Rant referred to the choreography as "top notch", the locations as "amazing", the soundtrack as "pure perfection", and the cast as "dedicated and outstanding", but the CGI as cartoonish and "laughable", the violence as not true to the source material, the Goro animatronic as "not even that impressive by 1995 standards", and the portrayals of Scorpion and Sub-Zero as insulting and "completely wasted". CBR mentioned that Mortal Kombat is "an above-average martial arts classic that was high on fun and easily one of the most rewatchable video game movies, 25 years later". Bloody Disgusting said the film does an excellent job of paying tribute to its source material by including a large number of characters from the game without any of them feeling shoehorned in and by capturing the intense action feel of the game, while Collider stated that "The film knows how to walk the line between reverence and goofiness". Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa's take on Shang Tsung is now regarded as the ideal portrayal of the sorcerer. JoBlo.com noted that every actor who has taken the role since have been compared to Tagawa, commenting that his delivery "has all the cadence and embellished style like he's on Broadway, but he holds himself physically like he's just casually laying down the law. Tagawa is Shang