MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION (MOVIE)

Mortal Kombat!! Who doesn’t love hearing that theme song pump through the speakers and give your whole room a jolt?! The first movie came onto the scenes at the height of the original console trilogy when MK3 came out…and is still regarded to this day as one of the best video game adaptations. It was only inevitable another cash-in was tried and a sequel was produced in the form of MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION. As a huge fan of the franchise, I gotta say after viewing this one…WTF was this?? Johnny Cage recasted? Sonya recasted? Ajax from The Warriors is now Rayden? In fact, most everyone was recast except for Liu Kang and Kitana. Shao Kahn? We got a teaser of him at the end of the first one and he looked like he was going to be the most badass villain to be seen onscreen yet. In this movie? He comes off like a bumbling fool. Not to mention, he only wears his iconic mask during the first few moments we see him. That should be blasphemous in itself. The story, if you call it one, shows Shao Kahn and his dominions wreaking havoc on earth and our fighters having to stop him by closing some portal, or talking to the Elder Gods, or escaping from his minions, or something. Not much is explained, and we get too many characters thrown at the screen to take it all in. While it’s actually pretty cool to see Cyrax and Mileena in action (never called by their name though), the movie is really just fight after fight with a weak overarching narrative. I’m wondering the rationale to have Motaro (from MK3) instead of Kintaro (from MK2). We also get animalities which are pretty cringe…and the same bloodless fights from the first. It’s a shame the failure of this one nixed plans for a third theatrical outing…though we do get a reboot out this spring. Check this out if you’re a fan of the franchise but it’s just not up to…Kode. Should've spent more time on the script and they should’ve driven a dump truck full of Kash and a Super Nintendo up to Christopher Lambert’s place and begged him to come back.

SLASH SCENE: Baraka fight

SLASH SCORE: 2.5/5