Very tough but excellent question to ask.

Both films have cheesy B-rated acting throughout the majority of both films. I'll say 2021's version had more actors that did better when compared to Annihilation. Josh Lawson, Hiroyuki Sanada and Joe Talsim were the best actors of the new film. I cannot really pick out a decent actor that gave it their all in Annihilation.

Martial arts however and sadly go to Annihilation. Even though the fight scenes were sub-par in choreography there were more fights and they were more hyped up and felt more action packed when compared to the 2021 release. Only 1 fight in the 2021 release got my attention and it was unfortunately the Reptile encouter. In Annihilation there were more than 2 I liked. The Sub-Zero vs Scorpion fight in Annihilation was better paced and I enjoyed the actual last fight better.

Neither movie had a decent story but over the two at least Annihilation tried to stick closer to the source material than the reboot did. They didn't add characters or fighters to try to make the audience feel connected or need to like the character. Annihlation gave us fighters from the physical universe more and didn't really kill off key fighters that may actually return if a sequel were to be made. For me Annihlation is better than 2021 a little more because the story at least stayed closer to true MK lore.

The one thing that kept me scratching my head is why the director or producer had to keep making these videos trying to explain why certain things in the movie are happening. Why? No one needs that. To me that tells me neither of them have faith in what they made "for the fans" actually is what they said it would be. We shouldn't need to be explained why something happens in the film or why a certain fighter does something or why Scorpion can breath fire. To me this tells me they too had no belief in this film.

In conclusion neither film is good yet each film does have its certain moments where both films do shine a little. For the reboot and Annihilation I find myself constantly watching them at home, and not because I enjoy them, it is because I'm trying to figure out what in the world is going on in the films. I understand that Annihilation tried to bring MK3 to the screen and they skipped over MK2 to do so, but I think that is how they truly lost the story. With the reboot they try to tell us a pre-MK1 story yet they killed off 2 key fighters that are in MK1 and have major roles in both. Both films are confusing to watch the first time you watch them and they tend to get confusing more and more each time so in retrospect they are both bad films in my opinion. Annihilation would win the reboot in story and continuity to the physical games. The reboot would win over Annihilation because it included the blood and gore.

Which one would you prefer?

2021...

I'm not going to let met my disappointment with 2021 cloud my common sense.

1995 still reigns supreme above all.

I'm starting to wonder if they even bothered to consult Ed Boon and John Tobais before writing their story for 2021... there's a difference between creative freedom and taking a shit on a game's lore.

I think that fights scenes where better made in the recent movie, but lore wise MK Anihilation was closer to the games, except of course with the terrible decision of too many characters on screen.

I actually might prefer 2021 over 1995, or at least I appreciate both of them in different ways.

Annihilation is probably the worst thing to happen to MK movies though. I cant say it's as good as mk 2021 or even anywhere near close.

Good opinions on the topic. For me, I break it down like this.

Acting >Draw

The acting was just as terrible in the 2021 version compared to annihilation. I watched it twice and I'm sorry, but some of the actor were stale. Some of them looked like they wanted to get their money real quick and just dip. In annihilation some of them were just cheesy as hell. Cheesy vs stale.

VFX/CGI >2021

By a big margin. Big L. Subzero sliding to kitana and liu kang and the dragon fight. Absolute trash visuals compared to the new one. This is the same year bad boys came out, so there's no excuse.

Action > Annihilation

This was close because the subzero vs scorpion fight in 2021 was on point at the start and a little bit at the end. Everything else was trash and the choreography was bland. Annihilation was cheese and some of the takes were suspect, but there was some good scenes and moments to reminisce on. They used good martial art techniques in some of the shots.

Character connection>Annihilation

Kano, Kabal and subzero were the only characters that stood out in the 2021 movie. Jax & Sonya.....is Jax & sonya. You can feel the energy between each other, throughout the movie. They give you that lethal weapon, rush hour type vibe. In the MK2021, Jax was just a brother that lost his arms, got put in the washing machine and left to dry. Sonya was just chillin. Sonya didn't check up on him. "Im just gonna board this plane with kano, not call my partner and know that coles with me....yep, lets fly to the other side of the world"

Writing>Annihilation:

They had too many dumb corny ideas. In annihilation like Jax punching the monster to save sonya and liu kang dodging a missile etc, Then they had some smart ideas at the same time. Like sonya's kiss of death fatality and nightwolfs animality to prepare him(They didn't need to make liu kang turn into an actual dragon, just let him have fire chi glowing around him to prepare the fight for shao kahn, but they couldn't help themselves.) MK2021, I'm struggling to find what ideas were clever. Only thing I can think of is kung Lao's entrance.

Gore>MK2021

Pretty clear we've seen authentic fatalities in 2021 compared to Annihilation with Sonya's kiss of death, and Shao kahn stage fatalities Raiden. The Rest were just cheesy KO's

Plot >Annihilation:

Its a no brainer. They went with the "1 week to find tournament warriors" route, with their own twist and played it safe with the MK series. 2021 tried to set up a sequel and throw gimmicks in so hard to try grab some of that marvel studios type paper. This was the worse thing about the movie and its the most important thing and nothing made sense. It pissed me off the most. It should've been a TV show broken down into 5 episodes with better explanations.

My ratings:

MK Annihilation 4/10 = Its so trash that it was so good.

MK 2021: 3/10 = It looked sorry.

Sonya didn't know Jax lost his arms until she saw him on the Shaolin temple. Another thing is that in this story Kano and Sonya don't know each other from before. But yeah, its very obvious that he's gonna betray them.

I know. Shes with Cole as planned but stayed behind. Your mind will be thinking, my boy is missing and I'm about to go raidens temple. Didn't dial an 11 digit number, drive over or nothing lmao

Would rather watch annihilation. It's stupid and funny and nobody pretends it matters.