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Cynthia Rothrock inspire Sonya Blade but she did n’t asterisk in the firstMortal Kombatmovie . Arriving in theaters in 1995 , Paul W.S. Anderson ’s adjustment of the video game serial publication was quickly praise as being the first genuinely good video biz moving-picture show , and while it ’s certainly get down to show its age , Mortal Kombatis still regarded as among the few decent entries in the genre . However , look back , it ’s a fleck surprising that the film did n’t recruit Cynthia Rothrock as Sonya Blade .
The premiss ofMortal Kombatwas heavily influenced byEnter the Dragon , while numerous characters were analogues for famous martial creative person , such as Bruce Lee having been the basis for Liu Kang . Rothrock being the breathing in for Sonya Blade is n’t too shocking , given her vocation beginnings in Hong Kong action mechanism pic and her omnipresence in American B - film . YetMortal Kombatis one that she was ultimately not part of the roll for .
The persona of Sonya Blade itself went through some notable recasting . Cameron Diaz had to begin with been set to play Sonya , but a wrist injury prior to production left her unable to enter . This would end up run to Bridgette Wilson - Sampras becoming the movie ’s Sonya Blade . When it came to Sonya ’s famous drill serjeant personality , Wilson - Sampras absolutely tally the bull ’s eye on this aspect of her , deflating Johnny Cage ’s ego - absorbed position at every act and set ashore perhaps the in force human death in the movie in her execution of Kano . Yet , it was also unfortunately evident that she was very much a founder in soldierlike arts . While actors train specifically for one role can certainly yield bully consequence , such as the dramatis personae ofThe Matrixor Rain inNinja Assassin , this might explain why Sonya has relatively few fight scenes in the film liken to Liu Kang or Johnny Cage . thing could ’ve been different if the role went to Rothrock .
Coming from such an all-inclusive soldierlike nontextual matter ground , Cynthia Rothrock really could have add together a lot to the pic by body forth the very type she inspired in the games . While the photographic film ’s warriorlike arts battles were fantastic for their time in a Hollywood production , and still very good today , Rothrock as Sonya would have raise this face of the movie immensely from what was already a great start detail . Moreover , Rothrock was also really the only womanhood in the 1990s to have risen to celebrated gibbosity in American martial prowess films at the time , but the makers ofMortal Kombatmay have but matt-up they demand a less niche name for the character - even if Diaz , coming off of 1994’sThe Mask , and Wilson - Sampras were relative newcomers themselves at the fourth dimension .
Sonya would later be play by Sandra Hess in the 1997 sequelMortal Kombat : Annihilation , with the motion picture being a complete disaster on all front . Star Trek : Voyager ’s Jeri Ryan subsequently appeared as Sonya in the 2010 light filmMortal Kombat : Rebirthand in the first time of year of the web - seriesMortal Kombat : Legacy , while the coming 2021 rebootMortal Kombatwill also see Jessica McNamee in the role . In adaptations both capital and terrible , Sonya Blade has for certain been brought to lifespan by some o.k. actress , but it continue a lamentable missed opportunity of theMortal Kombatfranchise that despite having been the substructure on which Sonya was build , Cynthia Rothrock never got a shot at indicate what she could do in the part .
NEXT : Mortal Kombat 3 : Why An Annihilation Sequel Did n’t Happen
