Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

"Destroy all expectations."

1997 1h 35m EN

💀

4.6

SKIP

★4.6TMDB · 1,413

ActionFantasyScience Fiction

Synopsis

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A group of heroic warriors has only six days to save the planet in "Mortal Kombat Annihilation." To succeed they must survive the most spectacular series of challenges any human, or god, has ever encountered as they battle an evil warlord bent on taking control of Earth.

“Destroy all expectations.”

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Cast

Robin Shou
Liu Kang
Talisa Soto
Kitana
James Remar
Raiden
Brian Thompson
Shao Kahn
Sandra Hess
Sonya Blade
Lynn 'Red' Williams
Jax
Irina Pantaeva
Jade
Reiner Schöne
Shinnok

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John R. Leonetti
Writers: Joshua Wexler, Bryce Zabel, Lawrence Kasanoff
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mortal Kombat Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John R. Leonetti, shot by Matthew F. Leonetti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by George S. Clinton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peck Prior shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robin Shou and Talisa Soto and James Remar carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Destroy all expectations.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0119707 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John R. Leonetti directs. Matthew F. Leonetti behind the camera. George S. Clinton scores. Peck Prior cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

129 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Part of the "Mortal Kombat Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
3Directed by John R. Leonetti, shot by Matthew F. Leonetti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by George S. Clinton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Peck Prior shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Robin Shou and Talisa Soto and James Remar carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Destroy all expectations.".
8IMDB entry: tt0119707 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 20 themes, including "martial arts", "saving the world", "magic", "authority".

The technical file

Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Original score: George S. Clinton
Editing: Peck Prior
Production design: Charles Wood
Costume design: Jennifer L. Parsons
Makeup / hair: Matt Jordon
VFX supervisor: Chuck Comisky
Sound: Ken Teaney
Stunt coordinator: Eddie Stacey
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,000,000
Box office: $51,376,861
Return: 171% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

Part of

Mortal Kombat Collection

A martial arts fantasy film series based on the iconic fighting game franchise, where warriors from various realms battle in a deadly tournament to determine the fate of Earthrealm.

Also by

John R. Leonetti

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Community reviews

What people are saying

JPV8522026-07-06
★ 4/10
This was bad and worse, rather boring in spots. The martial arts wasn't too bad at least but the acting was of course over-the-top and the story didn't make much sense. Still, this wasn't terrible and not close to the worst of 1997, that belongs to a tie between Batman & Robin and Steel. 1.75/5
Vinicius Monteiro2026-08-13
★ 1/10
The disappointment hits hard when a sequel ruins something you genuinely liked. While the original 1995 movie did a surprisingly good job bringing the arcade game to the big screen with dignity, this rushed follow-up completely dismantles that promising mythology. The first major hurdle is the abrupt recasting of almost the entire main cast. It immediately feels like watching a cheap TV pilot that couldn't afford its real stars, destroying the great group dynamic the first film built. Christopher Lambert’s magnetic, authoritative Raiden is replaced by James Remar, who is reduced to a passive exposition machine burdened with cheap family drama. Bridgette Wilson’s tough-as-nails Sonya Blade is swapped for Sandra Hess, whose character loses all her independence and spends most of her time just reacting in fear to bad CGI. But the ultimate insult is how they handled Johnny Cage. Because Linden Ashby didn't return, they brought in a stand-in just to kill off the franchise's best comic relief in the first five minutes. It’s a cheap, anticlimactic shock that completely kills the emotional stakes and sours the rest of the movie. Only Robin Shou (Liu Kang) and Talisa Soto (Kitana) stick around to offer some familiarity, but Shou's genuine dedication to the martial arts gets buried under a terrible supporting cast. The villains only make things worse. Brian Thompson turns the famously imposing emperor Shao Kahn into a screaming, theatrical caricature, stripping away any sense of real danger. Behind the camera, losing director Paul W.S. Anderson was a fatal blow. John R. Leonetti takes over and delivers a technically awful movie that completely fails to capture the apocalyptic scale of an Earth invasion. The dark, mystical vibe of the first film is replaced by a cheap, daytime-TV aesthetic. Epic arenas are swapped out for empty warehouses, mud pits, and generic deserts, exposing the studio's desperate rush to cash in on the brand. The script is just a flimsy excuse to stitch together fights, cramming in a bloated, disposable cast of characters from the third game—like Mileena, Ermac, and Rain—just to check off a marketing box. It ends up feeling like an empty parade of expensive cosplays where legendary fighters are reduced to generic henchmen. Even worse, the action itself is a mess. The grounded, visceral fights from the first movie are replaced by horrible wire-work. The actors float around in slow, gravity-defying stunts that completely lack the brutal impact you'd expect from Mortal Kombat. Add to that the laughably bad CGI, which looked outdated even for the 90s. The embarrassing final battle, where the characters turn into poorly rendered digital monsters, completely shatters whatever immersion is left. Ultimately, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation proves that a rushed production can completely destroy a solid foundation by abandoning its visual identity, ruining the choreography, and delivering a chaotic script. Still, I recommend watching it just to form your own opinion. Some people genuinely find it entertaining in a "so bad it's good" kind of way, laughing at the technical flaws and enjoying the nostalgic energy of the nonstop techno soundtrack. If you manage your expectations, it’s actually a pretty fascinating exercise in seeing exactly how a big Hollywood action movie can miss the mark so spectacularly.