MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION (1997)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

This movie's lack of both director Paul W.S. Anderson and writer Kevin Droney shows just how indispensable their services were in making the first MORTAL KOMBAT a hit. There were a couple of behind-the-scenes carryovers from the first film, but they may have done more harm than good. John R. Leonetti had been a cinematographer on the first KOMBAT, but the overall trajectory of his career showed that directing was not his strongest suit. But if anyone is to blame for ANNIHILATION, it's probably producer Larry Kasanoff, who collaborated with four other writers to produce an incoherent mishmash of motifs channeled from various incarnations of the RPG. One contemporaneous quote has Kasanoff exulting over the FX that he thought would grab the 1997 viewing public.

Oddly, the only actors who reprised their 1995 roles-- Robin Shou as Liu Kang and Talisa Soto as Kitana-- got very short shrift in the Kasanoff script. The 1995 film made Liu Kang the strongest character in the ensemble as well as the direct savior of Earth for his winning of the tournament. In ANNHILATION, there's a vague agenda about how Liu must train really hard to stave off the forces of another Outworld invasion, but his supposed training exercises are poorly conceived, thus undermining the character's entire arc. Kitana, who saw very little action in the first film, has a fine scene fighting reptile-ninjas with twin Malay daggers that can morph into bladed fans. But this character spends a lot of time in captivity, and her arc, which involves some sort of reconciliation with her mother (more on which later), is utterly botched. To be sure, though, Liu and Kitana get off better than the character Johnny Cage, played for a few minutes by a new actor before the heinous new villain kills him off.

The only other ensemble-character from 1995, Sonya Blade, is however hugely improved by her recasting, as actress Sandra Hess proves far more authoritative as a martial artist than Bridget Wilson. She's given a new partner for most of her scenes, the character of Jax, who made a very brief appearance in 1995, and who this time is essayed by one Lynn "Red" Williams. These two performers have the best fighting-scenes and character-scenes in the film, and they're the only reasons to watch ANNIHILATION.

I commented in my review of the first film that it was unwise for the sequel to pick up from KOMBAT's rule-bending conclusion. It's true that no matter course the filmmakers took, they could not have strictly abided by the franchise's internal rules, since that would sidelined all of the main characters for the next generation. But the scripters could have chosen to ignore KOMBAT's concluding cliffhanger and found some less hasty-pudding way to come up with a contemporary threat to bring all the heroes back together again. 

Whereas KOMBAT emphasized that the heroes' only way to save Earth for Liu Kang to win the tournament, Kasanoff and company muddy the waters. The character of the Emperor from the first name, now given the name Shao Kan (and played by Brian Thompson), somehow breaks the rules that should have kept his forces away from Earth-- though, in order that the producers don't have pay to the effects of vast armies, the "invasion" is a synthesis of the two dimensions that makes select portions of Earth look sterile. While the good guys run around trying to figure out how the villain pulled off his caper, their advisor Rauden (now played by James Remar) somehow knows that Liu Kang must master a martial skill called "Animality," while Kitana must reconcile with her mother Sindel (Musetta Vander). The latter was supposedly killed by Shao Kan along with Kitana's father when Shao Kan conquered Outworld, but the evil one somehow resurrected Sindel and made her one of his commanders (along with more reptile-ninjas, a four-armed female warrior and a swarthy centaur).

Does Shao Kan want Sindel around to validate his rule? But if so, why doesn't he just kill Kitana when he captures her? The one scene between Shao and Kitana suggests that he wants her to become his bride, so then why does he need Sindel? One or two lines suggest that Sindell's presence helped Shao break the cosmic rules, but this goes out the window when it's revealed that one of the Elder Gods conspired with Shao to make the invasion possible. Oh yeah, and the conspiratorial Elder God Shinnok is the father to both Shao Khan and Rayden, a fact not foreshadowed at all before its blunt revelation halfway through the film.

While Kasanoff bragged on ANNIHILATION's FX-scenes, the only good fights are those which combined FX with the performers doing inventive stuntwork. Thus a scene in which Shao and Liu fight in monster-form is a big waste of time, while another in which Sonja and Jax contend with a robotic opponent works much better, partly because Hess and Williams have good chemistry. There's not much FX when Kitana battles Sindel, but it's still a blah battle, particularly when contrasted with the hard-fought conflict between Sonja and female ninja Mileena (Dana Hee). Even George S. Clinton's score improves whenever Sonja and Jax are in action!

ANNIHILATION is far from the worst film of its subgenre. Still, it's a cardinal example of filmmakers thinking that an initial success meant that they could "coast" on the sequel. They found out differently, for ANNIHILATION killed the franchise for live-action feature films for the next twenty years, until the 2021 success of a franchise reboot.