Mortal Kombat II Review

The world of Mortal Kombat has returned to the big screen after a five-year break. The sequel finally shows the titular tournament.

The tenth Mortal Kombat tournament is about to begin. Emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) is one tournament victory away from conquering Earth. The fate of Earth lies in the hands of five fighters, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Cole Young (Lewis Tan), and the new recruit, Johnny Cage (Karl Urban).

The previous Mortal Kombat film was released during the aftermath of the pandemic, resulting in a depressed box office return because of the post-COVID hangover and the simultaneous release in cinemas and on HBO Max. Mortal Kombat (2021) earned a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and by video game movie standards, that made it a masterpiece. Since the release of Mortal Kombat (2021), video game adaptations have upped their game: Fallout and The Last of Us have been critical hits on TV, and film adaptations have been better received by critics and audiences. The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the Minecraft movie were massive hits.

Mortal Kombat has more potential than other fighting games to be adapted into expanded media. The franchise has a lot of lore and backstory, and the new film used it. The opening prologue showed Shao Kahn taking over Edenia and forcing the king’s daughter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) to be his adopted child. This action led to a lot of character dynamics since Kitana hated Shao Kahn and was acting as a spy for Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and his fighters, but she was loyal to her bodyguard, Jade (Tati Gabrielle). Kitana was the heart of the film since she had a tragic backstory and an intense personal motivation. Shao Kahn was Thanos to Kitana’s Gamora.

The story was basic: the good guys needed to win, or else Earth would be in the shit. Yet, there was a lot going on because of the character dynamics and actions. Fighting games give their characters lots of backstory and give them allies and rivals, and Mortal Kombat II focused on that. As already mentioned, Kitana was pointed in many different directions. Liu Kang was forced to fight someone he was close to. Sonya and Jax were long-time friends who were loyal to each other. Johnny Cage was written to be the main character, so he was a washed-up actor who was thrust into an interdimensional conflict and given a purpose.

The plot does have a lot of elements. Shao Kahn planned to win by cheating, leading him to retrieve an amulet, steal Raiden’s powers, and resurrect the dead. This deliberately complicated a simple film. Introducing resurrection raised an issue, since it meant that death was a minor inconvenience.

The main selling point of a Mortal Kombat film is the action. The fight scenes played like an ultra-violent version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, because of the mix of martial arts, fantasy powers, and gore. The fights served their purpose. Kitana was the most interesting because of her spiked fans. The most engaging was between Liu Kang and Kung Lao (Max Huang) since they were brothers forced to fight each other, and Kung Lao had his deadly buzzing helmet hat. The fight between Sonya Blade and Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) reminded me of the final fight in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings because Sonya’s power involved shooting energy rings. Another comic book movie comparison can be made with Baraka (CJ Bloomfield). The character had bone blades that he could fire as projectiles, which made him into a cross between Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Spike in X-Men: The Last Stand.

The sequel was mostly set in Outworld, which made the film look depressing. Shao Kahn had conquered this world, which resulted in a permanent shroud of darkness. This was made more oppressive because of all the grey brickwork. One scene where a character was tied up, and another had leather straps on their face, made the film look like someone’s BDSM fantasy. Yet, there was a lot of humour in the film, especially from Johnny Cage and Kano (Josh Lawson), since they were the comic relief characters. Kano was a force because of his brash Australian delivery, although some of his dialogue felt like it was written by the Warner Bros. marketing team because of the references to other WB properties. The most humorous sequence was when Johnny Cage fought Baraka due to Baraka really wanting to hurt the cocky actor.

Mortal Kombat II’s premise was stretched thin, but as a martial arts fantasy, it was fine entertainment. It’s a shame that the film was forgettable.