In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

a movie like mortal kombat : annihilation works ( and must be reviewed on ) multiple levels .
first , there 's the rampant usage of randian subtext that pervades the entire movie .
but occasionaly , almost as if making an ironic , self - depreciating remark , the movie tosses in clearly marxist imagery .
no no . . .
just kidding .
had you going there for a moment , did n't i ?
in all seriousness however , and to be fair to the movie , it * is * necessary to provide two viewpoints : that of a movie watcher unfamiliar ( or only marginally familiar ) with the whole mortal kombat phenomenon , and that of a fan of the first movie and/or a fan of the games .
the first movie ( mortal kombat ( 1995 ) ) concerned itself with a martial arts tournament that would decide the fate of earth ( and it 's 5 billion inhabitants ) .
the mortals won , and in theory this should have prevented the emperor shao khan from taking over the earth .
unfortunately , shao khan was a poor loser , and the very final scene in mortal kombat showed him arriving anyway , ready to take over the planet , as our heroes assumed a fighting stance .
the first movie was extraordinarily entertaining for those ( like myself ) who are fans of the game .
i 'd even go so far as to say that many folks who did n't know about the game probably enjoyed the movie .
the writers and directors knew the limitations of both their cast and of the basic story itself , and they did n't try to overachieve .
there were a lot of really cool fight scenes ( with really cool accompanying music ) , intersperesed with some distracting ( but ultimately non - intrusive ) bits of fluff passing itself off as a plot .
and , as we know , the movie was a smashing success at the box office .
mortal kombat :
annihilation picks up precisely where that movie left off , with some introductory exposition to clue in those who may not have seen the first movie .
shao khan has decided that he 's going to take over the earth
* anyways * , and to hell with some silly rule about mortals winning the tournament .
thereafter follows approximately 85 minutes of film that alternates between being confused , being trite , being silly , and being just plain stupid .
one gets the general impression that the producers of the movie thought " hey , that last movie was such a success that we can get more money and make a * real * movie now . " too bad they did n't simply stick with the formula from the first movie .
i could write volumes about the things that are wrong with this picture , but here are the high points :
* the acting is truly bad .
sandra hess ( playing the sonya blade character ) is particularly execrable , especially in scenes where she tries to convince us that she loved johnny cage ( a character from the first movie who gets greased at the beginning of this movie ) .
* in one of the worst pieces of mis - casting
i think i 've * ever * seen , james remar plays raiden , the god of thunder .
in the first movie , christopher lambert played raiden and played his character as though he was in on the joke :
a french actor playing a japanese thunder god being revered by chinese mystics .
i generally like it when actors are cast against type ( tim " tiny " lister , jr . being cast as the president of the u . s .
in the fifth element , for example ) , and remar has always been one of my favorite " utility " actors but he 's so totally wrong for this part that he does n't even have the luxury of amused self - awareness .
*
there are too many characters that are introduced as being potentially important , but then never seen again .
* there are a number of completely meaningless story sidetracks , including a muddled scene where liu kang ( robin shou ) seeks out nightwolf ( litefoot ) , has a mystical hallucination , and then wanders off with jade ( irina pantaeva ) .
for these reasons ( and many others ) , i can only give the movie a 2 . . . . . . unless you 're a huge fan of the games and/or the first movie .
in that case , the following critiques also apply : * sandra hess , while being an even worse actress than bridgette wilson ( who played sonya blade in the first movie ) , is much more convincing as a fighter .
wilson looked like she was simply mimicing some movements taught to her by the fight choreographer .
hess looks like she actually knows some martial arts , and puts together a much more believable fight scene .
* in the fights , each of the characters does at least * one * thing they do in the game ( and often more ) .
sonya does her " kiss of death , " jax does his " earthquake , " liu kang does his " animality , " and so on .
a big bonus for those of us who were looking for similar moves in the first movie and found them only rarely .
*
there are n't as many fight scenes in this movie as there were in the first , because the folks making the movie mistakenly try to hang a more robust plot in between .
silly , silly folks .
and the lamest fight involved two of the women in what turns into a mud - wrestling match .
lame and so obviously sexist
even i ( politically incorrect , for the most part ) noticed and remarked upon it .
* the special effects are generally better , except for the final fight scene between the emporer and liu kang in which both perform their " animalities .
" motaro and sheeva are both more convincing and lifelike than goro was in the first movie .
for folks like myself who loved the first movie and enjoy the games , i give this a 5 .
you 'll probably like it , but not nearly as much as you liked the first one .
N

if he does n't watch out , mel gibson is in danger of being known as someone other than mad max .
of course there are still a few big guns in this film , but there 's some accomplished acting too .
although gibson continues to shed his rough and gritty anti - hero skin as his career progresses , here he explores a new genre : the businessman as action hero .
in ron howard 's latest film , gibson plays tom mullen , a gazillionaire airline owner whose son is snatched from the junior science fair by kidnappers .
mullen at first agrees to pay the ransom , but when things fall apart he rethinks the situation .
a veteran of numerous hard - nosed business negotiations , the tycoon realizes that in order to get his son back alive , he has to play his hand differently .
the casting is what puts this film over the top .
the trio of gibson , the kidnappers ' mastermind ( gary sinise ) and fbi team leader ( delroy lindo ) play off of each other wonderfully .
sinise is perfect as the driven scheming sleezebag is right on the mark .
his speech to mullen over a walkie talkie about h .
g .
wells ' morlocks and eloi reveal his vision of society .
mullen and the other glitteratti frolic up on high while sinise and the other lowlifes
dwell below , feeding off the unsuspecting .
gibson 's character is an all - american hero with a few flaws .
his cowboy tactics tend to work , but they are also what got him into this situation to begin with .
in a round about way , if he were n't known as a man who is willing to buy his way out of trouble , his son would n't have been kidnapped .
as sinise says " you 're a payer .
you did it once
and now you 're going to do it again .
" one of the nicest elements of this film is that most of the characters actually have personalities .
lindo calls home to talk to his kids , obviously shaken at working this case .
even the kidnappers are real people , arguing about the ultimate fate of sean mullen and feeding him candy bars .
gibson 's break - down on the balcony of their penthouse apartment is especially effective .
it 's one of the best filmed representations of a man 's world falling apart that i 've seen
.
it 's not all perfect .
the shoot 'em upending , while emotionally satisfying seems tacked on to be just that rather than to provide a powerful resolution .
as well crafted as the scene is , we 've seen it before .
mullen 's wife ( rene russo ) has several good moments , but occasionally just seems to be there .
while adequate , brawley nolte ( sean ) does n't provide much to the film other than occupying space to build the story around .
but you 'll ignore these problems as each minute of the movie builds on the previous one .
forget about the large coke , you wo n't want to leave for that five minute break an hour later .
P

can a horror movie truly be called a horror movie if it has no scares , suspense , or even eerie elements ?
i think not , but that 's what children of the corn 666 : issac 's return wants us to believe .
the sixth installment in the horrible , worn out series is by far the worst to date
.
unlike the other five chapters , children of the corn 666 is a confusing , brainless thriller that takes the psychological horror route rather than slasher horror , but either way , none of these movies are the least bit scary .
the film follows hannah ( natalie ramsey ) a teen looking for her mother in gatlin , nebraska , on the eve of her 21st birthday .
what starts out as a daughter in desperate search of her long lost mother turns into the story of hannah being the first daughter of the children of the corn , who roam the cornfields looking for adults to murder .
that 's about all that 's understandable in the film , as after we learn this much , issac ( john franklin ) who led the children of the corn in a previous chapter , now an older , strange man , is looking for hannah to fulfill his prophecy .
and this is supposed to make sense .
really .
from the start the film is unclear of where its going , not developing any characters or throwing any concrete plot details across the table , constantly introducing new characters without personalities or the slightest hint of an individuality , and sub plots that have nothing to do with what seems to the main focus of the film .
the film runs at a short 78 minutes , but it seems to be more in the vicinity of two hours , as the bleak , slow pacing makes children of the corn 666 : issac 's return excruciatingly boring
. plot holes are everywhere in tim sulka and john franklin 's unbelievably horrible script , as nothing is accomplished or clear when the film reaches its conclusion .
everyone and everything involved with children of the corn 666 : issac 's return , namely writers john franklin and tim sulka , along with director kari skogland , should crawl under a rock , and hope no one sees their horrible work of trash .
the bottom line : horrible , horrible , horrible .
another attempt to revive this worn out genre falls flat .
and what 's with that title ?
the devil has nothing to do whatsoever with this film .
let 's pray that this is the finale in one of the worst current film series .
one of the worst horror films in years .

N