Thursday, November 20, 1997
Mortal Mortality
FILM: The makers of "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" explain why
violent
action sequences can send a positive message about teamwork and
trust
By Lonnie Harris
Daily Bruin Contributor
"Mortal Kombat: Annihilation," a film obviously aimed at
adolescent males, could easily have been produced and created by
this same audience. The film, a non-stop collaboration of
special-effects and fighting, appeals to the same mentality that
purchases G.I. Joe’s and endlessly analyzes comic books.
Rather than taking this as criticism, the majority of "Mortal
Kombat’s" creators embrace this perspective. They see the film as
nothing more than an exciting, albeit mindless, fantasy.
The film is a faithful sequel to 1995’s smash hit "Mortal
Kombat," despite having an almost entirely new cast and crew. Once
again, characters from the hugely popular video game series are
embroiled in a series of violent, apocalyptic battles to preserve
the Earth and maintain its separation from the chaotic
Outworld.
Of central importance to the Earthling effort are the noble Liu
Kang (Robin Shou), the 1,000-year old Princess Kitana (Talisa Soto)
and the powerful Wind God Rayden (James Remar). Only if the
warriors manage to conquer their personal demons can they hope to
destroy the powerful Shao-Khan, Lord of Outworld.
If this sounds outlandish and ridiculously complex, that’s
probably because it is. "Mortal Kombat" does not satisfy itself
with conventional film boundaries, as its enthusiastic producer,
Lawrence Kasanoff himself states.
"Everything we wanted to do in the first movie and couldn’t, we
did in this one," Kasanoff says. "This is not a sequel – it’s the
next bigger and better chapter in the adventures of a group of
phenomenally popular characters in a universe called ‘Mortal
Kombat.’"
This mantra of "bigger and better" extends throughout the whole
production, everyone focusing on surpassing every aspect of the
original film.
"The audience is always expects something bigger and better,"
actor Shou says. "We’ve all seen martial arts movies. People get
kicked. People get thrown out of the window. We try to install a
lot of style into ‘Mortal Kombat.’ We want people to leave the
theater thinking, ‘This is a cool movie.’"
Continually coming up with more and more intense images is no
easy task, especially with all the complex special effects required
to make action scenes look realistic.
"We never do a movie where we know how we’re going to achieve
more than 80 percent of the effects," Kasanoff says about the
film.
The film also incorporates the most accomplished team of martial
artists ever to work on a film. The film uses 20 different forms of
martial arts, including Wing Chun, Tae Kwon Do, Ninjitsu, Capeira
and Wu Shu.
All of this fighting has led to concern over the excessive
violence propagated in a film that appeals to a young audience.
Kasanoff, however, denies any negative effect of martial arts
fighting on young people.
"I would see this movie with my rabbi, priest and 2-year-old,"
Kasanoff says. "’Mortal Kombat’ is constructive violence. The
characters don’t win just by punching and kicking, but by coming
together and becoming a family."
While everyone involved in "Mortal Kombat" avoids evaluating the
film in any intellectual way, there is a definite emphasis on the
film’s very basic morality.
"The message of the film is that you need to believe in yourself
and you need the support of friends and family," Shou says.
But Kasanoff prefers to see the "Mortal Kombat" phenomenon on
its most basic terms: an engaging, childish fantasy.
"When you see kids walk out of the theater, they’re smiling and
laughing and acting out all of the fighting moves," Kasanoff says.
"That’s what all of this work is for."
FILM: "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" opens this Friday.