Released: November 1997
Director: John R. Leonetti
Rated PG-13
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Cast:
Robin Shou: Liu Kang
Brian Thompson: Shao Kahn
Sandra Hess: Sonya Blade
Talisa Soto: Kitana
Lynn ‘Red’ Williams: Jax
James Remar: Rayden
Reiner Schoene: Shinnok
I may have said my piece about why movies based on video games suck for the most, but I’m going to say it again with emphasis: Do it right, or don’t do it at all. There are countless movies based on video games, and most of them are garbage. If it has Uwe Boll attached to the movie, it’s almost guaranteed to suck. He’s the Ed Wood of video game movies. But even before Boll showed up with House of the Dead, video game licenses were being handed out like candy to movie studios to be able to make more money and bring more attention to the franchise. There was Super Mario Bros. which was a complete catastrophe; Street Fighter was completely bonkers with Raul Julia being the only saving grace(God rest his soul), and the Mortal Kombat films. Here’s the thing with Mortal Kombat, though: The first movie was actually pretty decent. While the visual effects were kinda goofy, it had solid fight choreography, interesting characters, and surprisingly decent acting. Oh, and it had Christopher Lambert as Rayden, the God of Thunder, so it was a win-win situation. I thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of it. I will defend the first movie until the day that I die. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, though? Oh, dear.
Beginning right where the previous film left off, Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, and Kitana have returned from Outworld after a decisive victory in the tournament of Mortal Kombat. After a brief period of rest and relaxation, it turns out that the emperor of Outworld, Shao Kahn, isn’t willing to admit defeat. So, he breaks the rules of Mortal Kombat and invades the Realm of Earth. With a horrendously rendered sky being torn apart, Shao Kahn begins to merge Earth and Outworld into one realm, effectively annihilating mankind in the process(see what I did there?). After a brief encounter which leaves Johnny Cage dead and Rayden defeated, our heroes escape to fight another day, but not without help. The “story” is ripped right from the Mortal Kombat 3 video game, if you can call it a story. It’s just a reason for people to start fighting and beating the hell out of each other. I’m absolutely okay with that, if it was properly done. In the case of the first Mortal Kombat, they used the whole tournament backdrop to tell the story and get things moving. It worked. But with the sequel, it’s no longer a tournament, but a fight for survival. A poorly choreographed fight for survival, I might add. Let’s start off with the obvious, shall we? The visual effects are abhorrent. Even for 1997, the visuals effects in Mortal Kombat: Annihiliation were very, very bad. The film apparently had a smaller budget than the previous film, and it shows. The opening scene at the Temple of the Order of Light was just bombarded with absolutely horrid CGI effects. The sky has lines in it. I don’t know how they managed to get a theatrical release with this one. There is a fight with Shao Kahn and Liu Kang at the end of the movie where they use their Animalities, which is where they turn into their spirit animal…or something like that. Honestly, it’s worse than it sounds. Don’t believe me? Please Click Here.
The visual effects can be forgiven if the rest of the movie is okay, right? Right? Wrong. Before I even get into how bad the choreography is, let’s discuss the casting. See, the first film had a pretty solid cast, with Christopher Lambert chewing the scenery as Rayden. He was awesome. So who had the bright idea to let James Remar play the role? They also replaced the actress for Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage, who gets killed in the first 10 minutes of the film. The only two actors to reprise their roles were Robin Shou as Liu Kang and Talisa Soto as Kitana. Given the horrific dialogue these guys had to speak, I’m amazed people had a straight face while making this movie. The only actor who seems like he’s having a real good time was Brian Thompson, who plays Shao Kahn. He chews the scenery like it’s nobody’s business. The amount of characters that they threw in is so ridiculous that some of them don’t even get to fight. Rain, the purple ninja just shows up only to be killed off by Kahn. The writing in this movie is absolutely rotten to the core. It’s like the film was written by a 5 year old with no hands. The dialogue is absolutely cringe-worthy.
How about the fighting? Is that any good? Eh…it’s a mixed bag. Some of the fights are actually really, like Jax vs. Cyrax. That was actually pretty awesome. There are a lot of cool moves and stunts, but that doesn’t make a good movie. Some of the fights are so poorly done, it’s wonder why they even bothered. The fight between Liu Kang and Baraka is just plain bad. It also hurts the film that the editing is sloppy. It doesn’t cut when it needs like when the prison cell drops down on Sheeva, you can tell that it stops before the scene cuts. The fight scene with Rayden and the ninjas was pretty cool, but you could obviously tell that it wasn’t James Remar doing the fighting. His stunt double was Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in Star Wars. It was painfully obvious. Painful is generally how I would describe the choreography in this movie. It was choreographed by Robin Shou, who should have left it to somebody else. The music on the other hand, is fantastic. Like the film before it, the music in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a combination of techno and heavy metal, featuring bands like Rammstein with the main score being conducted by George S. Clinton(no relation to the politicians). The main theme of the movie is a remix of the theme song done by The Immortals for the video game during the 90’s. So, that was pretty cool. At the end of the day though, this is not a good movie. Is it the worst video game movie? Not really. But as far as sequels go, this one falls way short. I’m not saying the first movie was a masterpiece, it was definitely not, but it was competently made and a great deal of fun. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation? Not so much. Here’s a couple of options. 1. Stick with the original film, which was kind of a blast. 2. Go for the YouTube series, Mortal Kombat Legacy. Both seasons. Those are actually very, very good. I definitely recommend them. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is only good for a drinking game. I’m going to change-up how I rate movies from here on out. If a movie gets below a 5/10, it gets a different kind of rating. Otherwise it’s still the same. The final verdict for Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is: BAD MOVIE.