Mortal Kombat II review – Flawed but fun victory

Finally! One of the biggest gripes about 2021’s Mortal Kombat – a reboot of the movie series based on the fighting game franchise – is that it didn’t actually get to its titular tournament. Cheekily, the film stopped short of the competition that pits the human champions of Earthrealm against the typically villainous fighters of Outworld to decide control of the realms through gory, to-the-death bouts of hand-to-hand combat.

It’s taken five years to get back to the story of this fantasy actioner, not helped by pandemic uncertainty around movie production and the SAG-AFTRA strike, which halted production barely one month in. But here we are. With returning director Simon McQuoid, and a new writer, The Umbrella Academy’s Jeremy Slater, Mortal Kombat II wastes no time in getting back to bloody business.

MKII jettisons the story of original character Cole Young (Lewis Tan), which drove the first film, pushing him to the back of a packed supporting cast for the sequel. Filling Cole’s newcomer status in the universe is Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, a martial arts prodigy turned washed-up action movie star, who is also, importantly, a foundational character from the games. Though the film has less depth than a puddle of spilled entrails, Johnny provides most of the relatability, as his cynical smartmouth finds a genuine purpose in life after he is recruited by Earthrealm’s protector Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), and joins fellow defenders Cole, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks) and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin).

Over in Edenia, one of Outworld’s captured territories, princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) offers a stronger emotional hook for audiences, as she finds herself growing up under, and then fighting for, cruel emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), the being who killed her father and enslaved both her mother Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) and her kingdom. Kitana is watched over and trained by Jade (Tati Gabrielle), a fighting pit veteran loyal to Kahn.

Now don’t for one second think that Mortal Kombat II is a quality piece of cinema. Narratively, it’s paper thin, with almost zero character development, or reintroductions; a presumption that viewers are intimately familiar with the first film (it’s advisable to read a plot summary before watching MKII); and a disjointedness that suggests substantial reworking at some point.

Paired with that, Mortal Kombat II features the worst, most noticeable redubbing of dialogue since Sony’s Morbius and Kraven. On several occasions, characters’ lips don’t match what they’re saying, often about the MacGuffin amulet stringing together the film’s set pieces. Then there’s the rickety CGI, which starts out respectably enough, but deteriorates the closer the two-hour production gets to its end credits, with the worst offender being a rubbery, tumbling Cage.

Shot for IMAX, Mortal Kombat II doesn’t look cheap – the costuming and character design are marvellously detailed – but it’s certainly trashy; a mindless popcorn flick. MKII is the cinematic equivalent of junk food, complete with toys, in the form of fan-favourite franchise characters, thrown in the box. That said, given how the film includes scenes from Cage’s cheesy 90s action movies, with a clever aspect ratio change to boot, there’s enough to suggest the lowbrow nature is a conscious creative choice.

So why watch Mortal Kombat II then? Well, it’s pure, dumb R-rated fun. While they don’t have much to work with on the writing front, the cast are giving it their all. Urban, and a returning Josh Lawson as slippery Australian mercenary Kano, provide most of the laughs thanks to their uncensored banter. As for the fights, while they are too CGI heavy and staged to impress as clean combat choreography, they’re certainly epic, and go all out to capture the stages and finishing moves from the games. Highlights include a claustrophobic clash between Sonya and Sindel, Johnny trying to best the monstrous Baraka (CJ Bloomfield), and, of course, the face-off between former best friends Liu Kang and a corrupted Kung Lao (Max Huang). If you ever wanted to see Mortal Kombat brought to life, MKII delivers, and then some.

Those hoping that Mortal Kombat II would deliver a blockbuster finishing move that includes heartstrings and brain – like, say, Project Hail Mary – should probably stay away. MKII is even a step back from its predecessor in that regard. As a mindless, visceral action movie, though, it pulls the junk food trick and hits the spot in the moment, thoroughly satisfying a craving.

Mortal Kombat II is in cinemas from 8 May.