Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
USA. 1997. Director - John R. Leonetti, Screenplay - Brent V. Friedman & Bryce Zabel, Story - Lawrence Kasanoff, John Tobias & Joshua Wexler, Based on the Game Created by Tobias & Ed Boon, Producer - Kasanoff, Photography - Matthew F. Leonetti, Music - George S. Clinton, Visual Effects Supervisors - Chuck Comisky & Alison Savitch, Visual Effects - The Digital Magic Co, Flat Earth Productions (Supervisor - Kevin Kutchaver), Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co, Murod Digital Images (Supervisor - Evan Richs), Optical Illusions & Vision Crew Ltd (Supervisor - Evan Jacob), Costume Effects Supervisor - Philip Goldsworthy, Special Effects Supervisors - Ron Troti & Joss Williams, Prosthetic Makeup Design - Gary Pollard, Makeup Consultant - Nick Dudman, Production Design - Charles Wood. Production Company - Threshold Entertainment/New Line Cinema. Robin Shou (Liu Kang), Sandra Hess (Lieutenant Sonya Blade), Talisa Soto (Princess Kitana), James Remar (Lord Rayden), Lynn Red Williams (Lieutenant Jackson `Jax' Briggs), Brian Thompson (Shao Khan), Irina Pantaevna (Jade), Musetta Vander (Queen Sindel), Raynor Scheine (Shinnok), Deron McBee (Motaro), Marjean Holden (Sheeva), Litefoot (Nightwolf), Keith Cooke (Sub Zero)
Plot: The Mortal Kombat has been won, meaning that Earth is safe for this generation, but the rules are suddenly broken by the warlord Shao Khan who invades the Earth with an army from Outworld, intending to destroy the world in six days time and merge the two realms into one. The Earth's fate lies in the hands of Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Kitana and Rayden who must discover new fighting skills and new allies if they are to defeat Shao Khan.
Before 1995's `Mortal Kombat', the selection of films based on video and computer games had been an extremely deplorable one, with only the woeful likes of `Super Mario Bros.' (1993), `Street Fighter' (1994) and `Double Dragon' (1994) on offer. But `Mortal Kombat' succeeded in contradicting the trend to become an unabashedly, unpretentiously enjoyable all-out action vehicle. And it did so by dint of the single blindingly obvious thing that these other videogame adaptions somehow neglected - it approximated the very style of the videogame itself by offering up wall-to-wall action, all run over by a pounding techno soundtrack. Now comes this slightly lesser but no less enjoyable sequel. Anything that remotely resembles plot has been stripped to a bare minimum to provide the film with a series of fantastic martial arts set-pieces that are slung together in the most directly linear connection possible. The downside of this is that the film tends to all blur into one single shapeless action sequence. Nevertheless it is the sheer fantastique bravado of the fight sequences where the kombatants battle centaurs, four-armed opponents, use razor-tipped hair-braids, unleash ice and sonic voice blasts and launch missiles built into their chests that gives it a uniquely watchable edge.
Reviewed by Richard Scheib
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