Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This is entertaining and the girls have nice tight fitting costumes!The actor who played Raiden carried the film in terms of acting, good job.Everything else was of questionable skill level but was greatly entertaining.Some special effects have aged badly (poorly done green screen) but adds to the entertainment value even more!Motaro the centaur-man was in it and so was Baraka! (and Shiva too, ewwww)The animal transformation CGI at the end was awful, looked like a Playstation 2 game.Worth then entertainment!

Ed Boon, one of the creators of the Mortal Kombat video game, calls this the "worst moment" in the history of the franchise. Coming from someone who loved the original film and has played every one of the games, I agree.Christopher Lambert was seen as one of the highlights of the last film. He's gone, replaced by James Remar (The Warriors). I always dislike whitewashing in movies, but Lambert was so game in his scenes and such an integral part of getting the last film made (Lambert's great attitude calmed director Paul W. S. Anderson as he worked on his first big movie. While the highest salary in the film, he paid his own way to go to Thailand and do all of his own scenes for basically free there, just to ensure the movie looked better. Plus, he paid for the wrap party.).In fact, only Liu Kang (Robin Shou) and Kitana (Talisa Soto) are played by the same actors from the previous film. Robin Cooke, who played Reptile, plays Sub Zero here, with that fighter gaining a much larger role.Did you like Johnny Cage last time? Lots of people did. Bad news - he's killed seconds into this new film to get over new bad guy Shao Khan. He's opened a portal from Outrealm to Earth (hey wait - didn't we just fight a tournament to stop that from happening?) and has brought back his queen (and Kitana's mother) Sindel back from the dead.Sonya Blade (now played by Sandra Hess, who played the cave girl in Encino Man) brings in her partner Jax and they immediately battle Cyrax and Mileena. Then there's Nightwolf (played by Litefoot, the Native American who also portrayed Little Bear in The Indian in the Cupboard), a shaman who will guide Liu Kang and Kitana toward defeating Shao Khan. Another fight against Smoke and Scorpion, with the help of Sub Zero, happens and Kitana gets kidnapped.Raiden meets with the Edger Gods, who don't really give any answers. I have several questions for them. Like, why are we fighting Shao Khan when we won a tournament to stop things like this from happening? And why is there a fight every ten seconds instead of character development like the first film? Or why didn't you bring back the actors we liked in these roles? And why doesn't the "Toasty!" guy show up?Nightwolf makes Liu Kang pass several trials to gain the power of Animality, which allows him to shapeshift into a new form. He must pass the self-esteem and focus trial. The trial of temptation, where Jade tries to get in his karate pants. And there's a third test, but we never get to it! One assumes that he passes it, as we'll see in the finale.Raiden gives up his immortality to fight for Earth, which means that he needs to cut off his hair. Jade is a double agent and while the good guys rescue Kitana, they still face tough odds. Raiden reveals that Shao Khan is his brother and their father, Shinook, is favoring his evil sibling. After a big battle, Raiden is killed at the hands of that very same brother.Another lengthy fight sequence happens, with Motaro, Ermac, Sindel and even Noob Saibot all showing up.Liu Kang then shows what an Animality is by turning into a poorly rendered dragon in a scene that makes this movie seem more dated than the 1995 original. Luckily, the Elder Gods discover the shenanigans afoot and declare another round of Mortal Kombat.Aren't you glad we have Liu Kang on our side? He defeats Shao Kahn and allows Raiden to return as the Earth realm wins again.Director John R. Leonetti would go on to be the cinematographer for The Scorpion King, I Know Who Killed Me, The Conjuring and The Insidious series before directing Annabelle and Wish Upon. He's done great work in those films, but this film feels so much cheaper than the original. It's weird, because that film succeeded because it transcended it's junk food origins while the sequel just piles way too much on.Original directed Paul W.S. Anderson decided to do Event Horizon instead of this film. He hated the results and that's why he's stayed close to the Resident Evil franchise throughout its sequels.It's hard to hate a movie where alien monsters battle ninjas, so if you accept this one as goofy chop socky fun, it's fine. But when compared to the original - and with the rich mythology of the Mortal Kombat video games at its fingertips - this one really suffers. There have been rumors of a franchise reboot for years, including two online series. Here's hoping the next one recaptures the first film's magic.

Wow. where to start with this...This movie is pretty much a complete bomb in every aspect. With an exception of Lui Kang and Kitana, EVERY character is replaced. and not for the better.. Personally, I think Sonya Blade is hotter in this one than the first but she's a worse actor so that pretty much cancels out.The story is garbage! It doesn't even follow the game! It's clearly noticeable that the ONLY goal as far as the story, was for it to include as many characters and their 'in-game moves' as they could regardless of their back stories. For example, Jax is a character that lost his arms in the game and replaces them with robotic ones. In the movie, he has his arms but they are 'muscle enhancers'... doesn't even make much sense to me.I honestly can't tell if the script is god-awful or the acting. Was it a great script that was poorly performed or great performances that had to be executed the way they were due to how it was written? I take that back. I can tell. It's both a terrible script with god awful performances. Sets, costumes, and stunts were all pretty bad as well. The costumes make you feel like you're in a college Halloween party while the sets look like they were cheaply made at my mom's house. The stunts/fight scenes are all executed in a way that made them seem like they were trying to be the deleted fight scene of a power rangers episode. The soundtrack from the first movie went platinum! In 10 days!! This time? It sounded like a 10 year old kid's Zumba class... Overall, this movie ONLY to be watched as a joke. It is the epitome of the thought that a video game should STAY a video game! I gave it 3 stars because I'm a huge fan of the game so seeing some of my favorite characters was cool (even if I had to be some form of intoxicated to enjoy it) and also, this movie helped guide me to know what NOT to have made my scorpion Halloween costume look like.

The people claiming that this movie is the worst film ever made are simply people who are not fans of martial arts or martial arts films, and who wouldn't be able to distinguish between a Hollywood film with actors who know no martial arts with fight scenes comprised of closeups, and a martial arts film comprised of real martial artists showcasing real talent. The film is not amazing, the acting isn't amazing, the plot isn't amazing, the directing isn't amazing etc. However to anyone who enjoys martial arts there are real talented people in this film and a few nice martial arts moves to see. Sandra Hess European karate champion as Sonya Blade, Robin Shou Wu Shu gold medal winner in various competitions in China, JJ Perry 5th degree taekwando and 2nd degree hapkido blackbelt etc.. There are not as many good martial arts moments as a good deal of other martial arts films, the film could have gotten a lot more out of all of this talent that's for sure, however there are still talented martial artists in this film and there are one or two nice moves to sit and watch for any true martial arts fan.