Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) review

I detailed in my previous review how much I loved 1995's Mortal Kombat movie. Naturally I was extremely excited when I heard the follow-up, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was being made. Back in the days when my crappy dial-up internet was running around 20kbps and would disconnect and lose and files mid-download if anyone anywhere picked up a phone, I probably spent weeks just trying to download a single fuzzy 3MB trailer the size of a postage stamp, just so I could get my first glimpse. It still ranks as one of my most anticipated movies ever. It's also one of my biggest movie disappointments ever.

Funnily enough, despite how crushed I was when I first saw it, I actually still ended up watching it a number of times. Because while it had some huge issues, it was actually still a lot of fun. I ultimately ended up not hating it; rather I am slightly fond of it. You know, despite it's very significant faults.

The plot continued to try to more-or-less follow the games, with Outworld launching an all-out invasion on Earthrealm. The results this time were unfortunately a lot messier than before. Characters are sidelined to make room for new ones to be introduced, as the film tried to represent the games' expanded roster. The protagonists split up to try to achieve different objectives, but none of it really amounts to much more than busy-work and excuses for fights and character cameos, to fill up the movie before the final showdown. This is most egregious when it comes to Liu Kang, who's goal through most of the movie is to "learn to control his animality". Which is just a bunch of nonsense that does little more than justify a short out-of-place stop-motion Kaiju battle at one point, before everyone just goes back to hitting each other with their human fists and feet. There's a ticking clock that tries to create a sense of urgency, but this means characters spend more time just running around reacting; their personalities don't really come through as much. Again, Liu Kang suffers the most, as Robin Shou is really not given the chance to shine here the way he did previously.

Outside of the weaker plot and character work, and the darker, less light-hearted tone, the movie actually manages to get a lot of things right. It still revels in the fantastical, with interesting locations and opponents. Environments, costumes and creatures are still entertaining. The characters are mostly still likeable. The fights are still good and benefit from great music - in fact I remember some of the fights in this movie at least as fondly as I do the best fights in the previous installment, and if anything the soundtrack might even be better than the last one.

What's more, while I hate to put down any element of the original, I think most of the replacement actors were actually better cast. Both James Remar and Sandra Hess played their characters - Raiden and Sonya Blade - in less over-the-top but arguably more natural fashions than their predecessors. And while it's a matter of taste which approach you prefer, I personally fall on the side of Remar and Hess, especially since I thought they both handled the physical elements of their roles far more convincingly. While Jax was also recast, it's not fair to judge Gregory McKinney for his turn in the original as he's barely in that movie. Nevertheless I will say I really enjoyed Lynn Williams as the new Jax; his fights were fun and he was entertaining, earning a lot of the movie's laughs with his one-liners. Of course I also can't really judge Chris Conrad, Linden Ashby's replacement for the role of Johnny Cage, as he gets so little screen time in this one.

Returning actors Robin Shou and Talisa Soto were fine, but the script didn't really give them very much to work with. I enjoyed Keith Cooke's brief portrayal of the younger Sub-Zero. I didn't really like the way Nightwolf was portrayed, but I suppose Gary Davis played the role in a novel way and made the character more memorable than he might have been considering how little screen time he had. Brian Thompson was a great physical fit for Shao Kahn, and his larger-than-life "professional wrestler" portrayal might have worked if the script didn't undermine the character and just gave him more of a chance to be intimidating. The rest of villains were similarly hamming it up whenever they had the chance to taunt the heroes, and I think it just worked a little better for them as I found them fun to hate.


For me this movie was a 6/10. It still has fun characters and good action, but it can be hard to get past the film's flaws.

Mortal Kombat (1995) movie review

I loved the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie. Like, really loved it. I don't know how many times I watched it. I even managed to get a teacher to let the whole class watch it in school once - and everybody enjoyed it. My fondness for the film is partly because I was a fan of the games, but I think it was largely because the movie was just fun.

The movie was light-hearted, it had a sense of humor. It didn't take itself too seriously; it understood that it was based on a videogame about colourful ninjas fighting ancient sorcerers and monks that threw their hats at people. That doesn't mean it looked down on the source material; to me it seemed to revel in it. The film quickly left the mundane modern world behind and had our heroes battle in exotic and fantastical environments, against exotic and fantastical foes. It was just, you know, fun.

The characters were entertaining and likeable. It's quite unusual for the primary protagonist of a hollywood movie to not be an American, but Robin Shou absolutely justified the decision to write Liu Kang as the lead. I would say he was perfect in the role, bringing the physicality that the role demanded but also a charisma that made him feel natural in the role of the hero. Linden Ashby was extremely entertaining as Johnny Cage, managing to play an arrogant self-absorbed character who you still liked - even before he realised there was more at stake than his reputation, growing into a more balanced and releatable character. Christopher Lambert was a very odd choice for Raiden - a character from traditional Japanese mythology - but he was very funny and arguably fit the tone of the movie. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa was great as Shang Tsung; he practically oozed villany with that confident sneer. Bridgette Wilson-Sampras brought an intensity to Sonya Blade that really made you believe she was a tough-as-nails warrior, and she was a great foil for Ashby's Cage, though I will relucantly admit it was clear she couldn't carry the fight scenes as well as the rest of the cast.

Speaking of fight scenes, you would hope that a movie based on a fighting game would get that aspect right, and fortunately I feel Mortal Kombat did. The actors and stuntment were skilled, the choreography was good, and the camera work showed it off to good effect. It might not have been at the level of some Hong Kong flicks, but I don't think there was much in American cinema at the time that was at the same level. But what really pushed some of the fights over the edge was the pulse-pounding music; it was exciting and energetic and really drew you in to the fights. Honestly, the soundtrack was so well suited to the film. What's more the environments, costumes, and special effects were all pretty decent for the time, and did a good job of setting the film apart from other martial arts movies we'd seen. The practical creature work for Goro was especially impressive; honestly we thought it was actually pretty amazing back then.

The plot was true to the mythos of the early Mortal Kombat games, with warriors fighting in a tournament. But that doesn't mean that's all there was to the story. The film took the time to set up all three protagonists with some degree of character arc. They might not have been the deepest or most well developed arcs, but they still gave the characters somewhere to go, you know? Actually, I quite like Liu Kang's story. Fueled by a sense of guilt, he starts off by chasing his own personal revenge. But by the end he accepts that there's more at stake and abandons his quest for revenge to shoulder the responsibility of fighting for everyone's sake. It might not have been the best execution, but I think the idea itself is actually much deeper than what you get in most action movies. And when you consider this is a 90's martial arts flick based on a video game that we're talking about, it's actually kind of amazing!


Objectively I consider this movie a 7/10: it's a fun action flick that is head and shoulders above so many of it's video-game-adaptation peers. Subjectively I'm actually tempted to rate it higher; after all this is a movie that I still remember very fondly well over twenty years after I first saw it. That's kind of impressive for an early videogame adaptation, right?

Underwater review

While I don't consider myself a fan of horror movies, sometimes they just seem to hit a sweet spot for me. I'm not really sure what makes me like or dislike a horror, but Underwater got me thinking about the question, because I quite liked it.

Thinking back over some horror films I remember fondly, I noticed that one sub-genre I often enjoy is science fiction. I feel that kind of film tends to make a little more sense, or at least the parts that don't make sense are easier for me to suspend disbelief for, and the visual aesthetic is more appealing to me than some other genres'. Perhaps the kind of threats in these films - machines, AI, radiation, mutation, the mysteries of space - fascinate me more than ghosts and demons and that sort of thing? I don't really know. Regardless, Underwater feels like a sci-fi to me - even if it's near-future at best and doesn't really try to do anything scientific - so I was pretty much on-board right from the start.

Funnily enough, even though I've been talking about horror movies this whole time, to me Underwater felt more like a disaster movie than anything else. For a large part of the runtime the real threat is simply the hostile environment, as the protagonists struggle to find a way back to the surface. And it works. What's more I feel it helps enhance the more traditional horror elements, as they work synergystically to create a tense and terrifying situation.

The plot was minimilastic, throwing us almost immediately into the thick of things and allowing us to learn of the characters through their actions and interactions instead of trying to spend a lot of time setting up backstory. That might not always be the best approach, but I thought it worked here. We care about the characters because we actually see them struggle, face their fear, and look out for each other, not because the film threw in a quick "family" montage at the start or something.

I'm not much of a judge of visual design and cinematography and that sort of thing, so all I can say is that I had no complaints, and I quite liked some of the visual elements. The suits especially caught me eye: they look much more advanced and just all-around cooler than your typical diving or space suit, but still looked very believable, very fit-for-purpose.

Kristen Stewart was fine, I really liked Vincent Cassel as the level-headed leader, and even T.J. Miller was significantly less annoying than I had expected him to be. But the real stand-out to me was Jessica Henwick. I thought she was great in Iron Fist, but I was still surprised by her performance here, which - enabled of course by the script - was the most memorable part of the film for me.


I'm a little torn on what to rate Underwater. I'm going to settle on a 7/10. I enjoyed it a lot, but I fear real horror movie enthusiasts won't find it scary enough.




#####SPOILER WARNING#####

Apparently a common criticism of Underwater is that it's derivative of Alien. But I don't really see it. I mean, sure, it has a lot of elements in common with Alien, but only that it use a lot of elements that are common to a great many sci-fi horror movies, and that I'm pretty sure actually predate Alien. Actually, some of those elements are probably common to a lot of generic sci-fi, and others to generic horror. I dunno, I just don't think that this film deserves to be called an Alien knock-off. I'm kind of reluctant to even mention it because I feel like I'm just perpetuating the idea, but I also feel the need to address it, so here we are. Honestly, Underwater reminds me more of Deep Rising than any other individual movie. Which is not a bad thing as Deep Rising was a fun little creature flick.