Mortal Kombat II was up against a few challenges before it began filming . It’s a video game adaptation (difficult to adapt), a sequel (challenging), and a rabid fan base – it’s good to have passionate fans, but that can also be challenging. Director Simon McQuoid leans into the comedy that mad the first film fun and delivers more fights, fan service, and fatalities.  

Mortal Kombat II picks up after the events of 2021’s Mortal Kombat– Shang Tsung (Chin Han) is banished by Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and the current champions are off to recruit new champions for the next tournament. As the battle for Earthrealm continues, Lord Raiden and Sonya (Jessica McNamee) attempt to recruit 90’s action star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) who is reluctant to join.  

The film’s story revolves around a few things – Kitana’s story, Cage’s skepticism, and the tournament. Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) and her relation Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), the man who killed her father and turned her beautiful kingdom of Edenia into another dark realm of Outworld. She’s also best friends with her bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle), another champion for Outworld.  

Karl Urban as Johnny Cage is perfect. He’s playing a washed-up actor who has a decorated martial arts career but is known best for his 90’s action movies. Urban’s natural demeanor helps the audience feel Cage’s frustrations and skepticism. The screenplay by Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy, Moon Knight) allows Urban to give audiences some much needed comedy, which is when the film is at its best and allows his characters to lean into how silly and ridiculous the story is.  

Like 2021’s Mortal Kombat, the best part of this film is Josh Lawson as Kano. Lawson’s performance is the best in the movie.  His foul mouth profanity laced insults provide some of the funniest moments. Kano is the only character, outside of Cage, that brings some much-needed comedy and levity to the film. 

This time around, the film spends less time on its script and character development and more time fighting. The bone crushing fight sequences are edited quickly and hard to track at times. The fight scenes are great for Tik Tok clips and Instagram reels but not for long fight sequences.  When the scenes do settle in, the film is committed to showing characters tearing each other apart and literally fighting to the death. Because it’s Mortal Kombat, characters “finished” in the most brutal ways.  

Because of how fast paced the fight scenes are, the scenes are unable to build any tension or anticipation that helps the audience feel the impact of the fights. The best, and the one with real tension and stakes, is the fight between Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Kung Lao (Max Huang). It looked like a live action version of the video game. It’s one of the most stunning visuals in the film and the best fight choreography.  

Despite the challenges Mortal Kombat II faced, the film does it’s best to feed fans what they want – lots of bloody action, some laughs, a few easter eggs, and classic Mortal Kombat one-liners. It’s also surprisingly enjoyable and funny. For all the things moviegoers want the film to be, it embraces what it is…a popcorn summer movie. It’s action all the time with some comedy and story sprinkled in. It’s too early to tell if they’ll be a third installment to the franchise, but there’s a good chance this isn’t the last we’ve seen of these characters.  

Grade: B-