I'll begin this review my admitting that I have never seen the original movie, nor have I ever played the video game from which this is based (although I have seen bits of it in action). That said, this film seems certain to please fans of the series — which in this case is primarily adolescent males if our audience was any indication. As the movie's signature musical theme cranked up, the guys' silhouetted heads began bobbing to the beat and throughout the film their cheers to the on screen mayhem proved they were enjoying what they were seeing.
With the original film generating an unexpected and somewhat mind-boggling $20+ million gross during its opening weekend that then continued until topping out at more than $70 million domestically, it seems certain that New Line Cinema and Midway Games executives will again be pleasantly surprised. Pretending to be nothing more than what it is on the surface, this film should hit the mark again and bring in droves of action-hungry teenagers to the theaters.
There's not a great deal to say about the film itself. You're either a fan and will love it, or you'll wonder what's happened to today's film making. Essentially a big screen version of the extremely popular video game, the plot is purely skeletal in design. Its structure is there simply upon which to hang one fight scene after another. Much like a video game (what a surprise!), our "players" are usually outnumbered and outclassed, yet they manage to find a way to persevere, even when more "bad guys" pop up out of nowhere.
With more than enough martial arts action to make the likes of Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme green with envy, and enough spinning, flipping, and cartwheeling to fill a gymnastics competition, the film is certainly never boring to watch. The combat scenes and stunt work are often quite spectacular with all of the fists, feet and bodies flying this, that, and every other way, all of which should feed the typical adolescent male's need for some good on screen butt kicking.
Personally, I prefer Jackie Chan movies for that type of adrenaline release, mainly because all of his stunts are one hundred percent real, and they're so much more fun. While there are a few sparse moments of humor in this film, it's mostly serious game playing type material. All of the hitting, punching and kicking gets a bit numbing after a while, however, and a bit more humor would not only have made the film a lot more fun, but probably also more accessible for wider audiences.
Of course I'm trying to "fix" what's essentially a violent, no-nonsense video game on celluloid -- the word "Mortal" in the title should be a dead give away. This film is designed simply to thrill a certain — albeit somewhat large — segment of the audience who want to see nothing more than what it is, and has been in the past. Fans of the series probably wouldn't like anyone tampering with the formula, and who can blame them. After all, where else can you watch people continuously being hit so hard by punches and kicks that would otherwise dent a steel door — and then have the recipients of such action keep coming back for more? Okay, most Hollywood action films are guilty of that.
However, you won't always see people flipping, flying and cartwheeling their way across the screen (the characters' favorite ways of moving about). For pure comic book style action/violence, you probably won't go wrong with this film -- if you're a fan of the series, you'll most likely love it. If not, at least be happy that once the end credits roll you won't feel the need to dump a pocketful of quarters into the machines in the arcade. "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" is not a great movie by any means -- or even a good movie -- but judged in the context of what it's trying to achieve, it works, and thus we give it a 4 out of 10.