Review of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) by Edgar C — 26 Aug 2009

I decided I was going to back once a week and go over movies that I may have overlooked in the past as being... so-so, or a film that was critically panned, and give it my final verdict. The first movie on the chopping block is actually being judged on the first in the series as well.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, is the second of the MK movies to be released. The first one was no accomplishment, and the second one apparently only got worse. It was panned for bad direction, bad dialogue, and cheese.

My verdict? The movie came out 12 years ago, when cgi movies didn't so much as exist. Not in this style anyway. I mean 12 years later, and "Dragonball: Evolution" is using the same effects! Was it an amazing movie? No, but it is much better than people are giving Paul Anderson and John R. Leonetti credit for.

The sequel follows the first film as much as possible, while attempting to be Mortal Kombat 3 as well. In terms of direction? I would actually say that John did what he could with what he had.

In terms of look? The Animalities were a little much, with Liu Kang's looking a lot like a Ray Harryhausen creation (not a bad thing). The characters, still looked identical to the characters from the Arcade, and the attacks were sweet.

What the movie did lack was good acting. By lacking in good acting I mean, it went from the first film having Trevor Goodard, Robin Shou, and Christopher Lambert, to solely Robin Shou.

The acting of the villains were simply disasterous, but the story was still okay. Though it really didn't need a story. They should have filmed a Bloodsport style Mortal Kombat movie, well maybe that is what Director "Mink" will do with the reboot when it comes out in 2011.