Mortal_Kombat

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a 1997 film that was the sequel to Mortal Kombat. It was produced by Threshold Entertainment and directed by John R. Leonetti, who had served as the director of photography for the previous film. The storyline was largely an adaptation of Mortal Kombat 3.

Plot summary

The evil emperor Shao Kahn illegally opens a portal from Outworld to the Earthrealm and has reclaimed his queen, Sindel, who is Kitana's long-dead mother. With the portal open, Earthrealm is in danger of being absorbed into Outworld within six days, a fate which Liu Kang and the others must fight to prevent. Johnny Cage is killed by Shao Kahn during the confrontation, and the remaining Earthrealm warriors must regroup. Raiden goes to ask the Elder Gods why Shao Kahn was allowed to break the rules of Mortal Kombat.

Sonya enlists the help of her old partner, Jax. They are ambushed by a group of Shao Kahn's warriors, led by the cyborg Cyrax, all of whom are eventually defeated. Meanwhile, Kitana and Liu Kang search for a Native American shaman named Nightwolf, who they have been told knows the key to defeating Shao Kahn. On the way, they run afoul of the cyborg Smoke. Kitana and Liu Kang dispatch of him with the aid of Sub-Zero, the younger brother of the Sub-Zero Liu Kang had defeated in the previous tournament. Sub-Zero agrees to help Kitana and Liu Kang, but Scorpion suddenly appears, attacks Sub-Zero, and kidnaps Kitana. Knowing that Liu Kang is not yet strong enough to face Shao Kahn, Sub-Zero exhorts him to continue on to Nightwolf before pursuing Scorpion and Kitana, then disappears.

Raiden meets with the Elder Gods and asks them why Shao Kahn was allowed to break tournament rules and force his way into Earthrealm, and how he can be stopped. The answers he receives are sparse and ambiguous; One Elder God says that reuniting Kitana with her mother, Sindel, is the key to breaking Shao Kahn's hold on Earthrealm, but another Elder God insists that the defeat of Shao Kahn himself is the solution. Raiden is then asked by the Elder Gods about his feelings and obligations towards the mortals, and what he would be willing to do to ensure their survival.

Liu Kang finds Nightwolf, who teaches him about the power of the Animality, a form of shapeshifting which utilizes the caster's strengths and abilities; essential if Liu Kang is to defeat Shao Kahn. To achieve the mindset needed to acquire this power, Liu Kang must pass three tests. The first is a trial of his self-esteem and focus. The second comes in the form of temptation, which manifests itself in the form of Jade, who attempts to seduce Liu Kang and make him forget about Kitana. Liu Kang resists Jade's advances, which impresses her. She offers her assistance in fighting Shao Kahn. Liu Kang accepts Jade's offer and takes her with him to the Elder Gods' temple, where he and his friends are to meet Raiden.

Sonya and Jax also head to the temple, only to be confronted by Mileena, who Sonya initially mistakes for Kitana, and an unearthly creature. Jax and Sonya defeat their adversaries and continue towards the temple. At the temple, the Earthrealm warriors reunite with a newly-shorn Raiden, who explains that he has sacrificed his immortality to freely fight alongside them. Together, they head for Outworld to rescue Kitana and reunite her with Sindel.

With Jade's help, Liu Kang sneaks into Shao Kahn's castle and rescues Kitana, while Raiden, Jax, and Sonya find Sindel. Unfortunately, Sindel remains under Shao Kahn's control, and she escapes while a trio of Raptor warriors ambush the heroes. Jade also steals away, having revealed herself to be a mole sent by Shao Kahn to disrupt the heroes' plans. The Raptors are defeated, but not before Raiden is injured. Raiden then reveals that Shao Kahn is his brother, and that Elder God Shinnok is their father. He realizes that Shinnok had lied to him and is supporting Shao Kahn. With renewed purpose, Raiden and the Earthrealm warriors make their way to the final showdown with Shao Kahn and his generals.

Liu Kang and his friends openly challenge Shao Kahn and his allies, only to be interrupted by Shinnok, who demands that Raiden submit to him and restore their broken family, at the expense of his mortal friends. Raiden flatly refuses, and is killed by an energy blast from Shao Kahn. Shinnok prepares to wipe out the Earthrealm warriors, but the other two Elder Gods appear, having uncovered Shinnok's treachery. They declare that the fate of Earth shall be decided lawfully, through Mortal Kombat.

Though the early going is rough, Jax, Sonya, and Kitana emerge victorious against their opponents. Liu Kang has a much more difficult time, however, battling against Shao Kahn; he manages to tap into his Animality but he is barely able to hold his own against Shao Kahn's own Animality. Shao Kahn taunts Liu Kang, angering him enough to give him a second wind. Liu Kang defeats the Outworld Emperor once and for all, and Shinnok is banished to the Netherealm by the other Elder Gods.

Earthrealm reverts to its former state, and Shao Kahn's hold over Sindel is finally broken, allowing her to reunite with Kitana. Raiden is revived by the other Elder Gods, who bestow upon him his father's former position. With everything right in the universe once again, the Earthrealm heroes return home triumphant.

Cast

Robin Shou - Liu Kang
Talisa Soto - Kitana
Sandra Hess - Sonya Blade
Lynn "Red" Williams - Jax
James Remar - Raiden
Musetta Vander - Sindel
Keith Cooke - Sub-Zero
J.J. Perry -- Scorpion, Cyrax, Noob Saibot
Brian Thompson -- Shao Kahn
Chris Conrad - Johnny Cage
Deron McBee - Motaro
Dana Hee - Mileena
Reiner Schöne - Shinnok
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

Additional information

Two of the film's actors were regulars on American Gladiators: Lynn "Red" Williams (Jax), and Deron McBee (Motaro), who were Sabre and Malibu. Both characters fight each other in the final battle of the movie.

Part of the movie was filmed on location at Parys Mountain on the island of Anglesey. The scenes involving the Temple of The Elder Gods were filmed on location at Petra, a large temple and basin located in Jordan.

The French release of the movie was known as Mortal Kombat: Destruction Finale, while the Italian release was titled Mortal Kombat 2 - Distruzione Totale (Total Destruction).

Critical reception and performance

Annihilation was not as well-received as its predecessor, with 4% out of 25 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and a 11/100 rating on Metacritic. The opening weekend take was $16 million and resulted in a number-one debut at the box office, but it was nonetheless a 30% drop from the first movie's opener of $23 million. The budget was $30 million, but the movie grossed only $35 million in the U.S. This represented a drop of 50% of the original's total domestic gross of $70 million. Annihilation made $51 million worldwide, whereas the original took in $122 million.

Though attempting to continue in the style of the first movie, Annihilation is said to have lacked the level of authenticity in both special effects and fight choreography. Additionally, while the original successfully attracted casual moviegoers, the sequel catered exclusively to gamers and MK fans, and consequently it suffered from an overly large and homogenous cast that was employed to depict as many Mortal Kombat characters as possible, with a subsequent drop in characterization. Several characters, such as Mileena, Baraka, Rain, and Ermac, were never identified by name or only made cameo appearances, while serving little to no overall purpose to the plot.

The cast was almost completely overhauled, with only Robin Shou (Liu Kang) and Talisa Soto (Kitana) reprising their roles from the original. The only other actor to return was Keith Cooke (Reptile in the first film), as Sub-Zero.

''Mortal Kombat: Devastation

Production on Mortal Kombat: Devastation was initially scheduled to commence shortly after the release of Annihilation, but it was shelved due to Annihilation's poor box-office performance. It has remained stagnant in preproduction for over a decade, after being mired in development hell for a number of years with numerous script rewrites and story changes, along with the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, which greatly affected one of the shooting locations. No information about the production exists on the official MK website produced by Threshold Entertainment, which has not been updated since 2004. The only confirmed detail about Devastation is that it will be a reboot of the MK film saga. 2010, thirteen years after Annihilation, has been listed as a tentative release date.

Legacy

Apart from being generally regarded as a classic example of bad filmmaking, Annihilation was partially responsible for causing the Mortal Kombat franchise to lose strength during the late 1990s. Despite the success of Mortal Kombat 4 in both arcades and home console systems, interest in the series began declining due to inevitable overexposure, including projects such as Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (a side-scrolling prequel in which the original Sub-Zero was 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 of the Realm lasted only four months and thirteen episodes, while Conquest was canceled after only one season despite respectable ratings.

In 1999, John Tobias, co-creator of the series, resigned from Midway and took a large number of Midway's staff with him. This occurred while Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was still in production. Ironically, when asked by video game magazine 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.