MORTAL KOMBAT II Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Simon McQuaid
Stars: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Lewis Tan, Martyn Ford, Max Huang, Tadanobu Asana, Hiroyuki Sanada, Damon Herriman, Josh Lawson, Tati Gabrielle, Desmond Chiam, Joe Taslim, Chin Han.
Originally created in 1992 by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the popular Mortal Kombat has become one of the best-selling video games worldwide. Mortal Kombat was set in a fictional universe consisting of several different realms that fought for supremacy via a series of martial arts tournaments. In this fantasy world a realm could only conquer another realm by defeating the other in ten such tournaments.
The game has spawned a number of follow up games, comic books, a tv series and several movie adaptations. The first Mortal Kombat film adaptation hit screens in 1995 and starred Christopher Lambert, but it featured some dodgy special effects and cliched dialogue. Since then martial arts movies and video game adaptations have generally lost their appeal, albeit with a few notable exceptions. In 2021 filmmakers tried to revive interest in the Mortal Kombat franchise with some success.
Mortal Kombat II is a sequel to that 2021 film and once again we find ourselves back in a battle between the realms, with Earth realm under threat. This sequel sees many of the characters from that 2021 film return, including Mehcad Brooks (from the revamped Law & Order tv series, etc) as Jax, the fighter with bionic arms; Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade; Cole Young (Lewis Tan, also seen in the tv series Cobra Kai, etc); Ludi Lin (also from the live action 2017 Power Rangers movie) as Liu Kang, who can shoot fire from his hands; Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion; and Josh Lawson as Kano, who has a bionic eye.
When the film opens the seemingly invincible Shoa Kahn (Martyn Ford, from the 2025 remake of Red Sonja, etc) is in control. He uses his sledgehammer to batter opponents into submission. Having lost many of their warriors, the Earth realm seems likely to fall under his control. However, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asana, reprising his role from the 2021 film), the thundergod, and Sonya Blade choose faded 90s Hollywood action star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) to be their champion.
Lacking any special powers Cage is understandably reluctant to become involved. But he ultimately becomes the catalyst for uniting a disparate group of warriors into a cohesive fighting unit to take on Shao Kahn and save Earth realm. Among the many warriors this time are Princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), and Kung Lee (Max Huang), whose wide brimmed metal hat also doubles as a lethal edged weapon. Australian actor Damon Herriman, who provided the voice of Kabal in the 2021 film) here plays the duplicitous necromancer Wuan Chi.
There is also a mysterious and powerful amulet which grants Shao Kahn immortality. In order to defeat him Johnny Cage and Kano must find it and destroy it.
Urban is perfectly cast as Cage and brings plenty of charisma and humour and physicality to his performance. Lawson again provides plenty of snarky humour, and his character almost demands to have his own movie.
The script from returning director Simon McQuaid and Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four, etc) immerses audiences in this video game world, and they attempt to address some of the failings of previous instalments. Mortal Kombat II includes some political intrigue, betrayals and bloody deaths which remain reasonably faithful to the source material. There is plenty of mindless gory violence and fights to please the fan boys. However, some of the dialogue tends to be a bit cheesy.
Mortal Kombat II is an improvement on its predecessor, which should excite fans of the series and the game itself. There is the usual roster of warriors from the game and several vicious, bloody and well-choreographed martial arts fights. However, the fight scenes become a bit repetitive and exhausting to watch.
Technically the CGI has captured the fantasy world of the game and has created the superb backdrops and colour palette for the fight sequences. There are plenty of pyrotechnics and prosthetic make-up effects, while Yohei Tanada’s gothic production design superbly brings this fantasy world to life. The film was largely shot on soundstages in Queensland. The fight scenes have been nicely shot by Stephen F Windom, whose resume includes plenty of big budget action franchises including Fast & Furious, etc.
Mortal Kombat II is aimed squarely at fans of the game and is easily the best film adaptation in the franchise to date.
★★☆
