The sequel to Mortal Kombat called Mortal Kombat: Annihilation takes place right where the first movie left off. A group of brand new villains, from the later Mortal Kombat video games, arrive to conquer the realm of Earth, lead by the Emperor Shao-Khan (Brian Thompson). Although all of the heroes return, Robin Shou (Liu Kang) and Talisa Soto (Princess Kitana) are the only original cast members to return. Other actors replaced the other characters. I don’t understand why.

The fight scenes are so much smoother, along with some of the characters’ jumping skills. Like when Liu Kang jumps while fighting Smoke, or over that gap after the fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero (Keith Cooke). He’s practically flying, making it all look so easy. It’s amazing.

Here are some parts I didn’t understand. As Johnny Cage (Chris Conrad) attacks Shao-Khan, his $500 sunglasses are knocked from his hand. I thought Goro broke them. Also, Scorpion is back, even though Johnny Cage blew him up. It makes no sense.

Like the first movie, the musical score during the fight scenes are terrific. In fact, some of the music in this film is even better. Like when Sonja Blade (Sandra Hess) fights Millena (Dana Hee)… in the mud.

Among the new characters, Jade (Irina Pantaeva) is a sexy fighter who tries to put the moves on Liu Kang. But Liu is devoted to Kitana, even if she is 10,000 years old. I guess he prefers older women?

There was an animated series called Mortal Kombat: The Defenders of the Realm. It takes place after the events of this movie, but the series premiered before the movie. So, that made things a little confusing at the time. This film fills in the gaps, particularly about why Johnny Cage wasn’t in the series.

This was a great sequel filled with more colorful characters and video game related action. It really helped show me that the Mortal Kombat franchise isn’t just a gorier version of Street Fighter 2.