Mortal Kombat II - Review: ROUND TWO! FIGHT!

 

Fans of the exceptionally popular fighting game series “Mortal Kombat” have been treated to quite a few film adaptations of the belovedly brutal franchise over the years. From animated fare to live-action works, we now have the second sequel to a live-action “MK” film simply titled “Mortal Kombat II.” With director Simon McQuoid and writer Jeremey Slater (“The Umbrella Academy,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”) returning from the 2021 reboot film, its round two of Warner Bros’ second attempt at making this bloody thing work beyond the realm of gamers.

In this sequel, the brutal emperor of Outworld Shao Kahn, played by Martyn Ford (“Those About to Die,” “Red Sonja (2025)”), kills the ruler of Edenia in Mortal Kombat, succeeding in taking the kingdom under his control. Years later, the now-grown princess of Edenia Kitana, played by Adeline Rudolph (“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “Hellboy: The Crooked Man”), is chosen to fight in his name in the next round of Mortal Kombat, this time for the fate of Earthrealm. However, Kitana secretly allies herself with the heroes of Earthrelm, led by Lord Raidon, played by Tadanobu Asano (“Shōgun,” “Midway (2019)”), including Sonya Blade, played by Jessica McNamee (“Sirens,” “CHiPS”), Jax, played by Mehcad Brooks (“Supergirl (2015),” “And Just Like That...”), Cole Young, played by Lewis Tan (“Wu Assassins,” “Shadow and Bone”), and Liu Kang, played by Ludi Lin (“Power Rangers (2017),” “Kung Fu (2021)”). In addition, Raidon and his fighters seek out a new unwilling champion to fight for Earthrelm, a forgotten 80s action movie star named Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban (“The Boys,” “Dredd”). 

Without a doubt, this sequel to the 2021 reboot is immediately an improvement due to two major changes: a tighter focus on the actual gladiatorial fights that the franchise takes its name from and the presence of Johnny Cage. While the first film certainly had its fair share of fights, the bombastic nature of the way they’re embraced in this film immediately makes them better. They’re smaller, tighter, and with a bigger emphasis on hand-to-hand practicality. There are still plenty of CGI leaps, bounds, and colorful effects, but it feels more established than before. It’s nothing approaching the delicate ballet of violence seen in works like “John Wick,” but it's far more than a jumble of visual effects mush. Those bits of CGI effects and sets do mean McQuoid can have as much fun as he wants with the locations, and they’re all awash in deep bloody reds, neon pinks, purples, and blues.

Cage is the film’s saving grace, and his presence seems to usher in a welcome sense of fun to the picture. Kitana’s story is compelling on a base level, thanks to Rudolph’s performance, her chemistry with Kitana’s best friend Jade, played by Tati Gabrielle (“Uncharted (2022),” “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”), and Ford’ menacing presence, but Cage feels like the lifeblood of the film. He cracks wise and injects things with an everyman spirit that’s a sense of sanity in this tale of men with metal arms and fire powers beating each other to a pulp. The rest of the crew are fine enough, establishing some good banter back and forth to keep things chugging along. The sleazy Australian merc Kano, played by Josh Lawson (“Superstore,” “St. Dennis Medical”), returns from the first film, and he follows Cage’s manner of banter almost to a fault. Essentially, anytime things are getting too self-serious the film injects one of its many straight men to look at the camera and roll their eyes to great effect.

That everyman spirit and wise cracking helps given that the overall plot and script is almost completely nonsensical. That seems almost to be by design, as the film appears to be interested in little else other than providing continuing excuses to have these characters fight. There is just enough human drama and pathos to keeps things moving along without becoming a complete slog, and the cast are clearly having fun hammy it up with the material. This is the sort of film that introduces world ending MacGuffins so casually it's almost as if the filmmakers are telling you not to worry about how they work or even their names, just to be afraid of the glowing objects.

You’ll likely already know if “Mortal Kombat II” is a film for you, but it does manage to at least be an improvement over the first film be doubling down on what it does best. While there are pages of lore and drama one could become invested in, things work most smoothly when all of that is treated like exactly what it is: window dressings to allow for elaborately violent fights and witty banter. How does a mortal man with some karate training hold his own against a super-strong mutant man with the mouth of a piranha and bone spurs shooting out of his arms? Well, he just does, and that’s all you need to know. 3/5