Monster of the Day #1339

Updated on April 19, 2016 By Ken Begg 15 Comments

The only bad thing about the first Mortal Kombat is the appalling bad, primitive CGI occasionally used for the odd monster and stuff. So of course, since the sequel changed everything for the worse, Annihilation goes CGI nearly 24/7. Here’s one of several just incredibly fake looking beasties (the figure on the left) that the novice actors had to mime fighting. Believe me, they look even worse in action.

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  • Gamera977

    I’m not that familiar with the game but weren’t all the monsters humanoid, with maybe a centaur like critter or two? Did they just add monsters like this for the movie?

  • bgbear_rnh

    Why doesn’t suspension of belief work with bad CGI? Or does it work if the story is good enough? Dogs dressed up like shrews works. This doesn’t. Maybe it is the fact that the guy doing the shrew puppets isn’t trying to fool himself. I don’t know.

  • KeithB

    Probably because at least the dog-shrews are *in* the movie. Bad CGI is clearly no more in the movie than the reel-change marks.

  • Gamera977

    And esp. when as Ken pointed out giant critters jump and lunge around like gravity has no effect on them.
    As opposed of course to the game where everything is computer generated pixel critters and people.

  • bgbear_rnh

    I think that is it. Like bad photoshopping.

  • Flangepart

    Sure takes the nerds out of the story, as any Sheldon knows.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I was wondering this myself. I do remember the game, and it didn’t have any non-humanoid monsters.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I’ve never seen this, but I’ve seen stills and I think Brian Thompson is in it. If that’s the case, that’s worth at least a letter-grade up.

  • Acethepug

    Agreed. Practical effects have weight and mass. They are there for the actors to react to (unless they are offscreen items like *snerk* ‘The Giant Claw*).

    Ditto for sets. Easier and better for actors when there are real set trappings, and not just green screens as far as the eye can see.

  • Eric Hinkle

    In the hopes this isn’t me being a jerk, how did the site go from MoTD 1336-1337 to 1378-1379 the way it has? Or is it just something with my computer?

  • Ericb

    Typos? It’s back to 1340 now.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Ah, thanks for the explanation. I was wondering if it was my computer, it’s been one of those weeks.

  • The Rev.

    Yeah, things like Goro, Kintaro, Sheeva, Motaro, Moloch…all humanoid. This was just some random thing they threw in so they could spend less time on, oh, I don’t know, the ACTUAL CHARACTERS FROM THE GAMES and more time on crappy CGI and scenes that literally serve no purpose to the story, apparently.

    Did the Rifftrax guys do this movie? Much like the ’98 “Godzilla” movie, that might be the only way I could watch this in its entirety again. I should check.

  • The Rev.

    Interestingly, I’ve found that if they go full retard with what they’re doing in a movie, I’ll gladly accept the bad CGI as part of the package. The Asylum has made an art of this; I’m too busy laughing at mega piranhas going kamikaze on buildings or sharknados doing their thing to much care that the effects are not very good. I’m a lot more unwilling to do that otherwise.

  • Marsden

    He is, he’s the big bad guy, Shao Khan, and for some reason they don’t give him a mask when he has his helmet off. Shao Khan wasn’t “human” in the game but he is in this movie. A two movie series that goes A to F.