Mortal Kombat Annihilation: Should be rebooted

Domestic: $35,927,40

Foreign:

$15,44955

Mortal Kombat is one of the most blood thirsty, controversial, and addicting video games to be created. In 1995, New Line Cinema released the successful movie adaptation titled Mortal Kombat. The movie was a hit, allowing for fans to see their favorite characters come to life and perform some popular and signature "Fatalities". In 1997, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, the sequel to Mortal Kombat was hit the screen. Released two years after it's predecessor, Annihilation had a huge reputation to live up to. Instead of a concrete story and a solid direction, the film gave the impression of being rushed and there were choices that were made for the movie that fans are still questioning to this day. This requires some explaining so grab a sandwich and pack your hunting knife, we are going into the sadistic world of Mortal Kombat.

The first Mortal Kombat movie followed the storyline of the first Mortal Kombat game, which debuted in 1992. Fighters from around the world were gathered to compete in a Tournament called Mortal Kombat. The tournament was held once a generation. The host of the tournament was an aged shape shifting sorcerer named Shang Tsung, who has survived centuries by absorbing the souls of those he has killed. The tournament takes place on his island, which can only be summoned during the tournament. The Mortal Kombat world is based on the premise that multiple realms exist and that Earth is the primary realm. Also that there and many gods which control certain elements and walk the Earth at times to intervene in important matters. The realm of Outword, which is a savage wasteland, has won the past 9 tournaments. If they were to win the 10th, they would seize control of Earth for the emperor of Outworld: Shao Kahn. Raiden, who is the god of thunder and lightning and protector of Earth realm, hand selected random fighters to take part in the tournament to win. Raiden's choice champion, a shaolin monk named Liu Kang, was able to overcome the tournament and beat the current Kombat champion, which was a 4 armed beast named Goro. Liu Kang also beat Shang Tsung, solidifying his win of the tournament. The first movie adaptation covered every last part of that story, with a few minor changes to how some characters died and a few surprising location changes, but it all fit and gave a teaser at the end to the next Mortal Kombat movie.


Mortal Kombat 2, 3 and 4 (games) were released between 1993 and 1997. The second game dealt with Shao Kahn bending the rules and hosting a tournament of his own in the realm of Outworld shortly after Liu Kang's victory. This tournament held the same parameters of the last tournament where if Earth Realm loses, Shao Kahn would take control in his sadistic ploy to merge all of the realms into one where he would rule supreme. The fighters of MK1 were in MK2 with some minor upgrades to powers and new characters were introduced. In the end, however, Liu Kang beat Kahn and preserved his championship of Earth realm. In MK3, a very pissed off Shao Kahn decided to flip off the rules of Mortal Kombat and invade the Earth by force. He started a merger of the realms, killing everyone of earth with Shao Kahn taking each and every soul for himself. Raiden was able to protect the souls of all the chosen warriors but could not intervene in stopping Kahn because his immortality becomes null and void in Outworld. Raiden sacrificed his godhood and helped the Earth realm warriors silence Shao Kahn for good. The forth deals with a whole new threat but the focus for this discussion is that at the end of the game, Raiden becomes an Elder god, who are beings that the normal gods answer and pray to.

Now here is where things get tricky with the film. Annihilation was a culmination of Mortal Kombats 2-4 story wise. There were some elements that were cut out, some that were kept and some that were altered. The fault in making such a movie based off of a very broad storyline is that there are bound to be events and characters that will be axed and everything will be rushed and crammed into a tight package. The movie's main focus was the invasion storyline of Mortal Kombat 3, completely dissing the events of Mortal Kombat 2. Such characters as Baraka, Sheeva and Jade that have pivotal roles in the game were given shortened roles in the movie and then killed off. Such characters as Sektor, Ermac, Stryker and Kabal that had important roles in the game at one point or the other, were not in the movie at all. Raiden does sacrifice his powers and is killed by Shao Kahn, but then becomes an Elder god at the end, which doesn't happen until after the events of MK4. The overall graphics were not that bad, but there were a few points where the effects looked cheesy and didn't live up to the graphics of the first movie. There was definitely a point toward the end where there is a flashing light after the final blow to Shao Kahn. Through the use of pause and play on the DVD, it is shown that that light was the flashlight on a piece of equipment that was shaken and kinda distorted, but you can totally see the equipment.

This movie scored significantly less in domestic gross than the first film, but it's not really the director or the scriptwriters fault, sort of. The Mortal Kombat story kept changing in many ways. There was a new game every year or two with new additions and progressions to the story. I wouldn't expect writers to keep up with everything and get it all right, so they can have an A for effort. But, such things a graphics and some vital parts of the story could have been a whole lot better. There is a reason this movie scored less money than the first.

In order to make things right, they would have to completely redo the entire franchise, which would suck because the first film was so good! But I am not worried, especially since director Kevin Tancharoen has created and is releasing ten weekly webisodes retelling the story of Mortal Kombat after he released a 7 minute viral video last year called Mortal Kombat reborn, which offered a new take on the franchise.


After the failure of Annihilation and thirteen years of no MK films, the fans were ready for a new beginning. Hopefully this new look on an old favorite will open the door to a new film franchise that will tell the story correctly and give the fans just what they have been dying for.