Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

User Rating:

3.1/10   

Director:

John R. Leonetti

Writers (WGA):

Ed Boon (video games)
Lawrence Kasanoff (story) ...

Release Date:

21 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Nothing Will Ever Be The Same

Plot:

A group of martial arts warriors have only six days to save the Earth from an extra-dimensional invasion.

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Mortal Kombat | Centaur | Returning Character Killed Off | Weather Manipulation

Cast

Robin Shou	...	Liu Kang
James Remar	...	Lord Rayden
Talisa Soto	...	Princess Kitana
Sandra Hess	...	Sonya Blade
Brian Thompson	...	Shao Kahn
Lynn 'Red' Williams	...	Jax Briggs
Reiner Schöne	...	Shinnok
Deron McBee	...	Motaro
Musetta Vander	...	Queen Sindel
Marjean Holden	...	Sheeva
Irina Pantaeva	...	Jade
Chris Conrad	...	Johnny Cage
Litefoot	...	Nightwolf
J.J. Perry	...	Cyrax / Scorpion / Noob Saibot
John Medlen	...	Ermac

Also Known As:

Mortal Kombat 2

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for non-stop martial arts violence.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | UK:15 (cut) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:18 | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 | Hong Kong:IIB | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Ayuthaya, Thailand

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Due to scheduling and $$$ various of the actors and stuntmen had to do several roles. Examples are Ray Park who did two roles (Raptor, Tarkatan) and stunt work, J.J. Perry who did two roles (Scorpion, Cyrax) and stunt work and Dennis Keiffer, John Medlen, Dana Hee, Tyrone Wiggins, Keith Cooke an Ridley Tsui who all had a credited acting part and a stunt credit.

Goofs:

Continuity: On the Golden Gate, three green ninjas are creeping on the wall. After Sindel destroyed by Rayden and he is falling into the wall. However, two green ninjas land. Why has the third ninja disappeared?

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rayden: [narrating] Mortal Kombat is not about death, but rather the preservation of life. Liu Kang and a few chosen fighters from the Earth realm defeated Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung. According to the rules of Mortal Kombat, their victory preserved the safety of the Earth for one more generation. Our chosen ones were returned to Liu Kang's home on Earth, only to enjoy a brief period of peace... for someone from Outworld has a different point of view.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Repli-Kate (2002)

Soundtrack:

I Won't Lie Down (Kombat Mix)

Raiden gets a haircut!

I saw this film at the cinema the same day as I saw Lost in Space (the new one, with Gary Oldman). By comparison, Lost in Space was high art full of deep metaphysical dilemmas. MK:A is terrible.

I loved the Mortal Kombat games, and was pleased to see that MK The Movie was better than Street Fighter II The Movie. Sure, it was a light-on film, but it had some moments and I spent most of my time laughing at the unintentionally bad bits. MK:A makes MK The Movie look sophisticated.

The first five minutes basically drops a piano on the head of the first movie - new bad guy, Johnny Cage dies, new heroes appear, minimal explanation. From then on you have a sub-standard martial arts film packed full of cheap costumes on cheap actors following a cliched script. I know there's not a lot of narrative you can squeeze out of a fighting computer game, but surely the writers could have tried a little harder to make something work. Having gone to the movie with a guy who didn't play the games, I had to explain what the hell was going on for the first half (like why is that guy fighting him?) and gave up after that.

That said, this movie contains the most unintentionally hilarious moment I have ever seen on film. Towards the end of the movie, Raiden moves from having flowing straight white hair to a peroxided flat-top. There's a brief mention of Raiden getting a haircut, and that's it. It makes absolutely no sense, and thinking about it still makes me laugh.