From Bloodsport to The Wrestler, these are the 10 films that Mortal Kombat’s resident star Johnny Cage would call his favorite movies.
Johnny Cage has always understood the value of a good entrance. One of the central characters in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise, Cage is a Hollywood actor and martial artist who joins the tournament hoping to prove that his abilities are real and not merely the work of stunt doubles and special effects. What initially resembles a publicity stunt eventually turns him into one of Earthrealm’s most dependable defenders, though saving the world has never completely cured him of the need to remind everyone that he is famous.
His connection to cinema is built into his creation. Johnny Cage originated as a parody of Jean-Claude Van Damme, whose performance in Bloodsport helped shape the character’s appearance and Hollywood persona. That makes imagining his favorite movies unusually easy. Johnny would naturally admire martial arts classics, though the list also exposes parts of him that he usually keeps behind the celebrity act. According to Johnny, several of these films would have been improved considerably by casting him.
1. Bloodsport (1988)
Johnny Cage has never considered Bloodsport an influence. Influences are things that happen to other actors. As far as Johnny is concerned, the filmmakers simply looked forward through time, saw his future career and made a movie about it before he had the opportunity to object.
Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Frank Dux, an American martial artist who travels to Hong Kong to compete in the Kumite, a secret tournament where fighters from around the world test themselves against increasingly dangerous opponents. Between the international competition and the hero’s need to prove that his abilities are legitimate, Johnny recognizes nearly every element of his own biography.
Cage watches Bloodsport whenever he needs to reconnect with what he calls his artistic roots. He has also spent years insisting that his famous groin punch came first, despite all available evidence. Somewhere in his house is a framed photograph of Van Damme with Johnny’s autograph on it.
2. The Last Dragon (1985)
The Last Dragon treats martial arts as a branch of show business, which means Johnny Cage regards it as one of the most truthful movies ever made.
Taimak plays Leroy Green, a gifted fighter searching for the final level of martial arts mastery known as “the Glow.” His journey brings him into conflict with Sho’nuff, the self-proclaimed Shogun of Harlem. The film combines kung fu with music-video spectacle, and its villains behave as though every confrontation has already been scheduled for prime time.
Johnny admires Leroy’s discipline but identifies more closely with Sho’nuff’s commitment to personal branding. He does not see why a martial artist should choose between spiritual enlightenment and making sure everyone in the room knows his name. Johnny has repeatedly tried to reproduce the Glow during public appearances, usually with hidden lighting operated by an assistant.
3. Police Story (1985)
Johnny Cage respects stunt performers. He simply believes that the greatest possible honor for a stunt performer is making Johnny Cage look good. Jackie Chan’s Police Story, however, briefly forces him to recognize that some action stars are capable of doing the work themselves.
Chan plays Hong Kong police inspector Chan Ka-kui, whose attempt to bring down a crime lord leads to false accusations and an escalating series of physical disasters. The plot matters, but not as much as the film’s astonishing stunt sequences. Chan hangs from a speeding bus and turns an ordinary shopping mall into an environment in which nearly every surface can cause serious injury.
Johnny’s first response was to claim that he had performed more difficult stunts on several of his own films. His second was to check whether anyone in the room believed him. What stays with him is how Chan keeps fighting while looking exhausted and frequently overwhelmed. Johnny would never describe himself in those terms. That does not mean he fails to recognize the resemblance.
4. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Jack Burton believes he is the hero of Big Trouble in Little China. Johnny Cage believes this too, which may explain why the film has remained one of his favorites.
Kurt Russell plays Burton, a loud and supremely confident truck driver who becomes involved in a supernatural battle beneath San Francisco’s Chinatown. He enters every situation as though the universe has been waiting for him to arrive, even as the more competent Wang Chi does much of the fighting and understands considerably more about what is happening. Burton survives through luck and a complete inability to notice that he is rarely the most important person in the room.
Johnny considers Burton one of American cinema’s great action heroes. He admires the reflexive one-liners and especially the determination to maintain control of a story that clearly belongs to someone else. When Sonya Blade, Cage’s love interest, once suggested that Burton is actually the comic relief, Johnny laughed for several minutes. He thought she was joking.
5. Le Samouraï (1967)
Sooner or later, every action star decides that he would like to be taken seriously. For Johnny Cage, that decision arrived after a critic described one of his performances as “surprisingly audible.” He responded by watching Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï and announcing that he was ready for European cinema.
Alain Delon stars as Jef Costello, a professional killer whose life is defined by silence and routine. After carrying out a contract, Costello becomes trapped between the police and the employers who now view him as a liability. Melville strips the story down to gestures and glances, allowing Delon’s stillness to become the film’s defining presence.
Johnny loves Le Samouraï because Costello barely speaks and always looks immaculate. He considers this proof that sunglasses and cheekbones can carry an entire film, a theory around which he has attempted to build several unsuccessful projects. Johnny never notices how trapped Costello looks inside that coolness.
6. The Killer (1989)
John Woo’s The Killer is the movie Johnny Cage shows people when they accuse him of having no interest in dramatic acting. He usually begins explaining this before anyone has made the accusation.
Chow Yun-fat plays Ah Jong, an assassin who accidentally injures a nightclub singer during a job. Burdened by guilt, he accepts one final assignment to pay for the operation that might restore her sight. Woo turns the familiar story of a killer seeking redemption into an operatic tragedy built around loyalty and sacrifice.
Johnny appreciates the film’s emotional intensity, but he is equally fascinated by the fact that Chow Yun-fat can enter a church carrying two guns while doves fly around him without appearing remotely embarrassed. Johnny considers this the peak of acting. He has tried to introduce doves into three different productions. The birds refused to cooperate, and Johnny blamed the director.
7. Wild at Heart (1990)
Johnny Cage considers Sailor Ripley a restrained dresser. This tells you almost everything you need to know about his relationship with David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.
Nicolas Cage plays Sailor, a young man who travels across the American South with his girlfriend Lula after being released from prison. Their escape from Lula’s controlling mother becomes a violent and increasingly surreal journey. Sailor moves through it all in his snakeskin jacket, treating Elvis Presley songs as romantic declarations and statements of personal philosophy.
Johnny admires any man who understands that clothing should announce its wearer before he speaks. He is also moved by Sailor’s devotion to Lula, though he prefers to focus on the jacket whenever the film approaches genuine emotional vulnerability. Johnny once attempted to serenade Sonya in the middle of an argument after watching Wild at Heart. She asked him to stop. He interpreted this as proof that the scene had affected her deeply.
8. The War of the Roses (1989)
Johnny Cage insists that The War of the Roses is a romantic comedy. Sonya Blade considers this one of the most troubling things he has ever said.
Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner play Oliver and Barbara Rose, a wealthy married couple whose relationship deteriorates into open warfare. What begins as resentment becomes a campaign of sabotage conducted inside the home neither person is willing to surrender. Danny DeVito directs their conflict as a vicious comedy in which love and hatred become almost impossible to separate.
Johnny recognizes the belief that conceding any argument would constitute a permanent moral defeat. He does not believe the film resembles his marriage to Sonya, but he has occasionally paused it to point out which character is being unreasonable. The character is never Michael Douglas.
For all his laughter, Johnny sees the warning clearly, at least until the next argument with Sonya.
9. Big Daddy (1999)
Johnny does not discuss Big Daddy during interviews. Martial arts stars are permitted to cite Kurosawa, Bruce Lee or whichever recent foreign thriller their publicist has placed on a list. They are not supposed to admit that an Adam Sandler comedy makes them reconsider their failures as a parent.
Sandler plays Sonny Koufax, an irresponsible man who adopts a five-year-old boy in an attempt to impress his girlfriend. The plan fails immediately, leaving Sonny to care for a child despite having little structure in his own life. The relationship gradually forces him to think beyond his own comfort.
Johnny originally watched the film because he believed the title referred to a crime boss. He stayed because Sonny’s transformation felt uncomfortably familiar. Johnny loves his daughter Cassie, but love has not always prevented him from being absent or childish. He takes some comfort in watching an immature man stumble into something resembling fatherhood.
10. The Wrestler (2008)
Johnny Cage has watched The Wrestler more often than any other film on this list. He has admitted this to no one.
Mickey Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a professional wrestler whose greatest years are behind him. His body is failing, his relationship with his daughter is damaged and the audience that once treated him like a hero has largely moved on. Randy tries to build a life outside the ring, but ordinary existence cannot provide the applause around which he has constructed his identity.
Johnny understands the strain of trying to remain the person an audience remembers. He knows what it means to enter a room hoping someone will still recognize you. More frighteningly, he understands why Randy returns to the ring even when doing so may destroy him.
Johnny watches The Wrestler late at night, after the sunglasses have come off and there is nobody nearby to impress. He would still say that he likes the fight scenes.