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Mortal Kombat: Annihilation 2.5 out of 10
Running time: 1:30 MPAA rating: PG-13 (Non-stop martial arts violence.) Peruvian rating: Mayores de 14
Cast:
Robin Shou,
Talisa Soto, James Remar, Brian Thompson, Sandra Hess, Lynn Red
Williams, Irina Panteva.
Script:
Brent V.
Friedman and Bryce Zabel |
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I’m not against movies based on video-games. Actually, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a couple of them, including Silent Hill, Tomb Raider and, of course, the first Mortal Kombat film. The first installment was by no means a masterpiece, or even a good movie, but it was full of well-choreographed action, competent performances and an acceptable direction. On the other hand, the sequel is a disaster. The film has virtually no plot, a large quantity of soulless characters, an idiotic script, and horrible performances. While the first movie had entertaining action and well-choreographed fights, this one is a mess.
The movie’s “plot” is overly-simplistic and dumb: Bad Guy Shao-Kahn (Brian Thompson) has opened portal between his dimension and Earth. In six days, he’ll be able to merge both worlds and destroy out Earth. Our heroes, though, consisting of Liu Kang (Robin Shou), Kitana (Talisa Soto), Jax (Lynn Red Williams), Sonya Blade (Sandra Hess), and Raiden (James Remar) decided to follow him to his fortress and engaging him and his generals in Mortal Kombat. This is the “plot” that serves as an excuse for 12 boring fights and virtually no story development.
The fights in Mortal Kombat were by no means original, but were at least fun, entertaining in a visceral level. The ones in the sequel though, are dull and boring. Once you’ve seen the first engagement, you’ve seen all of them, which makes the movie incredibly monotonous. All the fights are presented in the same way; they’re badly shot, generate absolutely no tension and, worse of all, it is ridiculously obvious when stunt doubles are used.
In terms of special effects, the film’s laughable. The scenes that use bluescreen technology are amazingly fake, and the movie’s climax, which features some bizarre transformations (using the “concept” of Animality) is absurd. The digital effects seem lifted from a low-budget videogame, and make the viewer lose any interested he or she might have had in the film.
The performances are also terrible. The only ones reprising their roles from the previous movie are Robin Shou and Talisa Soto, and they’re the only ones trying to invest some energy into the film. James Remar as the new Raiden is unenthusiastic, and Brian Thompson as the new bad guy – which appeared as a large monster in the previous film’s ending – is laughable. He’s incredibly over-the-top, and not believable at all.
It’s amazing how an “action” movie such as this can be so boring. There are over 10 fights in the film, but since they’re so incompetently shot, they become boring and dull. Each of the characters is lifeless and there are too many of them; the special effects are laughable, the direction and screenplay are terrible, and the movie as a whole is a disaster. They should have left the first – decent – movie alone.
©2007 Sebastián Zavala - GG site