Christopher Lambert On Kickboxer: Retaliation, JCVD And Mortal Kombat

The first Mortal Kombat movie remains a beloved staple of the franchise: it served some of us as our first introduction to Mortal Kombat in general and consistently comes in at the top of lists of the greatest video game movies ever made.

There's a whole lot to love about the MK movie, from the excellent fight scenes and art design to the brilliant portrayals of Shang Tsung and Goro, but it's hard not to come away from the movie with the distinct impression that the highlight is Christopher Lambert's portrayal of the Thunder God, Lord Raiden.



Given much more importance in the story of the movie than he had been given in official MK canon up to that date, the success of the movie and Lambert's portrayal was a key factor in elevating Raiden to series mainstay, to the point where many fans view him as part of the 'Trinity' that will never be absent from an MK game, alongside Sub Zero and Scorpion.

Lambert's portrayal continues to influence the character to this day, with Raiden's most recent incarnation in Mortal Kombat X incorporating much of Lambert's deadpan snark (a personal highlight being "the fate of billions will depend upon you haha.....sorry").



The French-American veteran of stage and screen, whose most recent big screen performance was in the Oscar-nominated Hail Caesar, recently spoke Loaded.co.uk about, among other things, the current state of the third Mortal Kombat movie (SPOILER: not good as there's a dispute over who owns the rights) and working with Jean Claude Van Damme who's smash hit Bloodsport was, of course, the inspiration behind the first Mortal Kombat game and series mainstay Johnny Cage. Funny ol' world, innit? (Rest in peace Trevor Goddard, you magnificent man)



Read it for yourself at: http://loaded.co.uk/christopher-lambert-interview/

Remember, there can be only one! Leading Mortal Kombat news site that is, and that's right here at TYM, so be sure to check back here regularly for updates on all things MK, Injustice and all the NRS happenings

I cant wait to watch the movie. I just desperately hope it is not as bad as the first one (not the kickboxer from the 80s, which is one of my fav movies)

I appreciated him being upfront about a MK movie reboot. Usually you get people just giving vague answers to build fake hype, nice seeing him just say "yeah, the copyright is up in the air, but I'd be on board"

Original KB was awesome, people miss the fact that it was supposed to be like that for the time and let's be honest, ALL Kung Fu flicks are cheesy at times. I'd like to know how the third MK movie is in a battle, WB owns them so wtf man? I think it's issues with scripts....remember that one horrible one about one of the MK characters working Pathmark or whatever lol, thank God that got rejected.

I'd love to see Lambert be Raiden again, age don't matter since Raiden is well ageless and immortal so he can look young, middle aged, old etc whatever. I would just hope they'd write his Raiden a TAD more serious not completely without humor but little more than his original version, maybe more along Jeff Meek's humor which was contrasted by his seriousness.

There can be only one.

I remember when the movie was released to the cinema, we were all proud to see that Raiden was played by a Frenchman. For us Cage it was Van Damme, without dispute