Prelude to Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

We open the episode with Sportcenter's coverage of the Mortal Kombat association vs. the Mortal Kombat Players Association legal battle over injuries in the sport.

We get ready to experience the "watchable crap" called Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the sequel to the massively successful Mortal Kombat (1995). Is there a chance that it could possibly be not a giant turd and as much fun as the first one? Odds are not good with it's 11 Metacritic score.

In lieu of Streaming Do's and Don'ts this week, our friend @MartiniShark has gifted us the entirety of Seven (1979). We are now able to finish our total review from the debacle that was our episode that got cut short thanks to bad Internetting.

Good Neighbor, Bad Neighbor

• Jar Jar Binks
• The Love Guru
• Ace Ventura (again)

About Mortal Kombat: Annihilation - Movie Information

Sam's Boring Bullshit

Director John Robert Leonetti is more known as a cinematographer. He shot Hot Shots! Part Duex, Joe Dirt, The Scorpion King and Detroit Rock City, among numerous others. Stinker Madness will of course remember that he shot I Know Who Killed Me. He may be most recognized for his frequent collaborations with James Wan, for whom he has shot 5 films including the Insidious series. However Wan must have thought he was number 2; when it came time to shoot Furious 7, Stephen F. Windon got the nod. Windon has shot the majority of the Fast movies. Leonetti has also directed two other screen gems in The Butterfly Effect 2 and Annabelle, a prequel to the Conjuring series.

Liu Kang is now credited as being played by Robin Shou and Tony Jaa. At the time Jaa was a stunt man, but now that he is a thing someone thinks tacking his name on might fool people into watching this shit. Only Robin Shou and Talisa Soto reprise their roles from the original. James Remar takes over duties for Christopher Lambert. It should be the other way around. Lambert should have to take over for shit Remar doesn’t want to do. Actually Lambert should be cleaning James Remar’s garage for $8. The role of Raiden is also double credited to Ray Park, as he became a thing too. This is Park’s first film credit, stunt or otherwise.Brian Thompson makes his triumphant return to the Stinker Madness screen, by no fault of his own. Sandra Hess takes over for Bridgette Wilson. What the hell did Bridgette Wilson have going on that she was too good for this? Well she was in 5 other movies in ’97 including I Know What You Did Last Summer and the Tom DiCillo film The Real Blond. It wasn’t until 2000 that things slowed down for that sweet piece of ace that we know as Veronica Vaughn. Boy howdy did they slow down though. 

Many of the other players in this club are known for being in the film, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Litefoot plays Nightwolf. Gary Paul Davis has adopted the screen moniker Litefoot. It is fun to say Litefoot plays Nightwolf out loud. Keith Cooke plays Sub Zero, he also played Clayton in Picasso Trigger. Two former American gladiators make the scene. Deron “Malibu” McBee plays Motaro and Lynn “Sabre” Williams plays Jax.

They made a novelization of this movie. It makes me think if there is a literary version of us and if the novelization of this film is their Holy Grail.

Michael Jai White ditched the role of Jax to play Spawn, which is one of my most hated films. 

Linden Ashby who played Jonny Cage jumped ship after he read the script. That may be telling as he didn’t jump ship after reading the script to the first one. Most people would have jumped ship on the first one.

Schlocktuer Paul W.S. Anderson did not return to the franchise so he could instead direct Event Horizon.

Despite poor reception the film made $51 million against a $30 million budget.

3% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is infinity percent higher than our last film Ed.