Mortal Kombat Annihilation

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
File:Mortal kombat annihilation.PNG
Directed by	John R. Leonetti
Written by	Brent V. Friedman Bryce Zabel
Produced by	Lawrence Kasanoff
Starring	Robin Shou James Remar Talisa Soto Sandra Hess Brian Thompson Lynn "Red" Williams
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	November 21, 1997
Running time	91 mins.
Language	English

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a 1997 movie that was the sequel to Mortal Kombat, and was based on the popular Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The film was directed by John R. Leonetti (director of photography on the first film) after the departure of Paul W. S. Anderson. The movie also features an entirely different cast apart from the lead male and female actors.

Whereas the first film had been an outstanding success the sequel was far less well received. The film attracted a lot of criticism from fans and critics alike (details below).

Taglines:

• Destroy All Expectations!
• Nothing Will Ever Be The Same
• The world was created in six days, so too shall it be destroyed and on the seventh day mankind will rest... in peace
• Last time they were fighting for their lives. This time they're fighting for ours.
• This time there is no tournament. This time there are no rules. This time there is only Annihilation.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The evil emperor Shao Kahn illegally opens a portal from Outworld to the Earthrealm and has reclaimed his Queen, Sindel. Liu Kang, Raiden, and their fellow Earth Realm warriors have only six days to defeat Shao Khan and his fellow fighters in order to close the portal. If they fail, then all of mankind will be destroyed on the seventh day.

The movie begins with Shao Kahn debuting and revealing his plan. He grabs Sonya Blade, prompting Johnny Cage to attack with a Shadow Kick. Kahn grabs Cage and breaks his neck, killing him instantly. The Outworld warriors depart.

Sonya Blade begins her portion of the journey by recruiting co-worker Jax Briggs. They fight off Cyrax and several ninjas before going to regroup with their allies. Meanwhile, Liu Kang and Kitana proceed to seek out the Native American Nightwolf in order to help him discover how to defeat Shao Kahn. It is during this time that they encounter Smoke, who attempts to destroy them, but they are rescued by Sub-Zero. However, Scorpion appears and fights off Sub-Zero to capture Kitana. Raiden goes to visit the Elder Gods for advice on how to handle the situation, but receives little.

Kitana is being held captive by Shao Kahn's forces, as Jade appears and helps Liu Kang. The group meets up in Outworld and are met by a now-human Raiden, who has sacrificed his godly essence to aid his friends in battle.

The final battle is a sequence of fights, in which Sonya Blade fends off Ermac, Jax faces off with Motaro, Kitana fights Sindel, and Liu Kang fights Shao Kahn. Ermac splits off into Noob Saibot, double teaming Sonya. Jax manages to defeat Motaro after disposing of his metal arms, then takes out Noob, allowing Sonya to defeat Ermac. Kitana puts down Sindel, and then all of them watch Liu Kang as he faces off with Shao Kahn. After both convert into their Animality modes, Liu Kang emerges victorious, and Earthrealm is spared. Template:Endspoiler

Cast

File:Mileena movie2 2.jpg

Dana Hee as Mileena in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

• Robin Shou - Liu Kang
• Talisa Soto - Kitana
• Sandra Hess - Sonya Blade
• Lynn "Red" Williams - Jax
• James Remar - Raiden
• Keith Cooke - Sub-Zero
• J.J. Perry -- Scorpion,Cyrax
• Brian Thompson -- Shao Kahn
• Chris Conrad - Johnny Cage
• Deron McBee - Motaro
• Dana Hee - Mileena
• Reiner Schone - Shinnok
• Musetta Vander - Sindel
• Marjean Holden - Sheeva
• Irina Pantaeva - Jade
• Litefoot - Nightwolf
• John Medlen - Ermac
• Tyrone Wiggins - Rain
• Dennis Keiffer - Baraka
• Ridley Tsui - Smoke
• Lance LeGault - Elder God of Fire
• Carolyn Seymour - Elder God of Water
• Mark Caso - Reptile (uncredited)
• Sultan Uddin - Reptile (uncredited)
• Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa - Shang Tsung (uncredited flashback cameo)

Critical reaction and performance

The movie was less well-received than its predecessor. While continuing in the visual spirit of the first movie, it greatly lacked the level of authenticity in both special effects and fight choreography. Additionally, Annihilation suffered from an overtly large and homogenous cast, employed to depict as many Mortal Kombat characters as possible, with a subsequent drop in characterization. Several characters make only unidentified cameo appearances.

Possibly due to a far inferior budget or rushed production, footage was re-used in places. For instance, Baraka's fall into a fiery pit was the same shot used for Rain's death. Fans of the series also complained of a large number of inconsistencies with the storyline of the games.

The cast was almost entirely revamped with only Robin Shou (Liu Kang) and Talisa Soto (Kitana) returning. The only other actor to return was Keith Cooke, the actor who portrayed Reptile in the first film, who was recast as the new Sub-Zero. Mileena was performed by Soto's stunt-double, Dana Hee. Paul W. S. Anderson, the director of the first movie, refused to take part in this movie when the screenwriters did not make any true changes to the script. Almost all of the original cast refused to take part in it for similar reasons.

The budget for Annihilation was $40 million, but it would gross only $36 million in the U.S., with an opening weekend of $16 million.[1] This represented a drop of 50% of the original movie's total domestic gross ($70 million). Worldwide, the film only grossed $51 million, versus the first film's worldwide take of $122 million.

Following the film's release, preproduction for a second sequel was to commence, but it was shelved due to Annihilation's poor box office performance.

Mortal Kombat III?

In spite of the film's lack of success, nearly a decade later Mortal Kombat: Devastation, is currently in preproduction. The film is apparently expected to replace Annihilation as the official sequel to the 1995 motion picture. However, MK:D has been mired in the development stages for a number of years, no roles have been confirmed cast, and no information regarding this second sequel exists on the official MK website.

Legacy

Apart from being generally regarded as a classic example of bad filmmaking, this movie caused the Mortal Kombat franchise to lose strength during the late 90s. Despite the success of Mortal Kombat 4 (in both arcades and home consoles), interest began declining due to inevitable series overexposure and a steady crop of ill-fated projects such as Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (a side-scrolling prequel in which the original Sub-Zero is the lead character) and two short-lived TV shows: the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996) and Mortal Kombat: Conquest (1998). "Defenders" lasted only four months and eleven episodes. "Conquest", with its oversaturation of lengthy martial arts sequences and women in skimpy costumes in lieu of solid storytelling, was canceled after only one season despite garnering respectable ratings.

The franchise reached its nadir during the time of the mediocre Mortal Kombat Gold (an update of MK4), and the critically-panned Mortal Kombat Advance (for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance), which was regarded by critics and gamers alike as one of the worst titles released for the handheld console. The disastrous Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (2000) was the final straw for Midway, and the company finally decided to take some time off to get some really fresh ideas.

During that same year, John Tobias, the co-creator of the series and the main storyteller, resigned due to the recent downturn Mortal Kombat was going through, taking a large number of Midway's staff with him. This occurred while Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was still in production. (Special Forces was to feature both Jax and Sonya as playable characters, but the latter was cut from the finished game following Tobias' departure.) Ironically, when asked by gaming publication Electronic Gaming Monthly in a 1994 interview whether a Mortal Kombat game would be made without him or Ed Boon, Tobias replied, "It would be over our dead bodies."

By the start of the new millennium, Mortal Kombat seemed to be a relic of the 1990s until the release of the direct-to-console Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002) re-ignited interest in the series.

Trivia

• Despite the fact that fans loved her performance in the first film, Bridgette Wilson refused a reported $750,000 to reprise her role as Sonya for Annihilation. Defunct pop culture magazine Axcess revealed the monetary figure in a 1995 interview with Wilson that was conducted prior to the first film's release.
• Quan Chi was to have also been included in the film's climax, but his scenes were cut from the final print and the actor who portrayed him was not acknowledged in the closing credits.
• Cameraman Matthew Leonetti is the brother of the director.
• Two of the film's actors were regulars on American Gladiators: Lynn "Red" Williams (Jax) and Deron McBee (Motaro). Ironically, both men fought each other in the final scene of the film.
• Brent V. Friedman, who co-wrote the script for Annihilation, penned an unproduced script for Tomb Raider in 1998.
• Shao Kahn's quote "You will never win!" is taken directly from one of Kahn's in-game taunts.
• John Medlen (Ermac) and Tyrone Wiggins (Rain) also worked as stunt coordinators.
• Despite the fact that Robin Shou and Talisa Soto reprised their roles of Liu Kang and Kitana from the first movie, the roles of the other characters were taken over by different actors.
• The French release of the movie was known as Mortal Kombat: Destruction.

See also

• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (soundtrack)

External links

• Official MK Site (Threshold Entertainment)
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation at IMDb
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation at Rotten Tomatoes