REVIEW: 'Mortal Kombat II' is a bloody knockout
I’ll be upfront and admit that I did not enjoy the previous Mortal Kombat (2021) movie.
Based on the infamous video game series that began in 1992 (contributing to the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board that still assigns content ratings to video games), that film failed by sidelining classic characters for an unknown fighter named Cole Young (Deadpool 2’s Lewis Tan), while simultaneously omitting the titular tournament altogether. Even an (all-too-brief) appearance by Hiroyuki Sanada (The Ring, Bullet Train) as undead ninja Scorpion couldn’t save it from its incompetence, which made it downright unbelievable when the sequel (from the same director, no less!) was announced.
Mortal Kombat II picks up where its predecessor left off, with the interdimensional fighting contest to decide Earth’s fate (FINALLY) about to begin. Down one member, following Kung Lao’s (Max Huang, of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team) death, Raiden (Tadanobu Asano, Thor, Shogun) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee, The Meg) recruit washed-up action star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban, The Boys, Lord of the Rings) to fight in his place. As the villainous Shang Tsung (Chin Han, The Dark Knight) schemes with necromancer Quan Chi (Damon Harriman) to ensure their master Shao Khan’s (Martyn Ford, F9) victory, Earth’s protectors will turn to unexpected allies to secure their victory.
Incredibly, McQuoid and his collaborators have managed to fix pretty much everything they previously screwed up—Mortal Kombat II is an enjoyable, action-packed popcorn flick that fulfills its franchise promises in all the ways that the 2021 edition didn’t. Sure, the plot’s still nonsense, there are plot contrivances (having a necromancer on the payroll should probably be against the rules) galore, and a couple of fights end way too soon, but Mortal Kombat II legitimately addresses (nearly) everything that people hated the last time around. To wit, all inane talk of birthmarks or (ugh) “arcana” are gone, replaced by bone-crunching fights between iconic characters, signature locations, and an ACTUAL. FREAKIN’. TOURNAMENT. The commitment to showcasing excessively gory and over-the-top fatalities are the (bloody) icing on the cake.
Of the returning actors, Ludi Lin (Aquaman, Power Rangers) remains reliably stoic as Liu Kang, while fellow holdover Kombatants Asano, Tan, McNamee, and Mehcad Brooks (as Jax) do what they can with their material. While a lot of the overall acting is still too self-serious for its own good, this is a series where the fates of worlds are literally decided over fist fights, so audiences probably won’t mind any shortcomings in the cast’s thespian chops too much. Also, the film moves fast enough that they’ll hopefully be having too much fun to notice.
In any case, the new characters provide a breath of fresh air, with Karl Urban being a particularly welcome addition. Serving much the same POV character function as Tan’s last time around, Urban as Cage walks the line between self-awareness and parody to remind us of the sheer ridiculousness of what we’re watching. Other standouts include Adeline Rudolph (Riverdale) as Princess Kitana, who gets introduced via a standard-issue revenge plot, and Ford as Shao Khan, who is so physically imposing as to be unreal.
To be clear, none of this means that Mortal Kombat II is a good film, but it’s an undeniably entertaining one, perfectly distilling the giddy excitement that comes with finally mastering a beloved video game’s controls and move sets. This is a film that knows exactly what its fans wanted -down to the original theme music- and it delivers.
Finally, Mortal Kombat has begun in earnest. And it’s bloody marvelous.
Mortal Kombat II is now showing.