| Mortal Kombat:Annihilation (1997) Cast:Robin Shou,Lynn Red Williams,Sandra Hess,James Remar,Brian Thompson,Talisa Soto As it turns out, winning the tournament didn't do jack because Shao Kahn (Thompson) is back and he plans on ruling the world, to show how mean he is, he kills Johnny Cage and then sends ninjas to kill the rest, of course Rayden (James Remar, in an embarrassing performance.) trains the warriors while spouting off fortune cookie riddles and convinces Sonya to retreive Jax to help out in battle. Lots of hilariously bad movie magic happens. This sequel is so ineptly made that the CGI effects of the "animalities" look as if the dragon and whatever the hell the other thing is looks like it was smuggled from a Chinese new year parade. It looks that terrible. Of course what makes this awful entry so humorous is the painful acting from the cast. Actually Sandra Hess and Lynn Red Williams are okay but let's face it, when one of the best performances in the movie is given by Sabre from American Gladiators, well this describes how undescripably poor the acting is. Take James Remar who gives what is without a doubt the worst performance of his career. He's not helped out by the fact that Rayden is a serious wimp in the movie but watching Remar turn into a ass-kicker in the vein of Jean-Claude Van Damme is something too funny to not praise. Christopher Lambert is perferable as Rayden, only because I can picture him kicking ass, James Remar, while a typically good actor has made a career in action thrillers playing sleazy killers or scumbags. Remar is just not believable and therefore seeing him turn into a warrior is enough to get one giddy. Everything else is just as laughable, with Motaro, Sheeva and Baraka looking woefully bad. I must admit I loved the videogame as a kid because the violence and fatalities were all what makes life worth living, but while the first one was very enjoyable this sequel makes a great companion-piece given you need comic relief after watching some straight up ass-kicking. D.John Leonetti |
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