Chalk it up to Covid brain or a severe lack of expectations, but this particular writer had enough splattery fun with the 2021 reboot of Mortal Kombat. A big-screen spectacle of brutal carnage and fan-favorite characters, the modern reboot of the iconic video game series had just enough strong elements working for it that it managed to scratch a certain junk-food movie itch. Upon a recent rewatch however, the film’s sense of fun is sustained in mere spurts, drowned out by a dull-as-hell lead character and nonsensical exposition that overly complicates a fairly simplistic story. Yet, the pieces that work are more than enough to provide a jumping-off point for its inevitable sequel. With the sequel finally here five years later, it is with a sigh of relief that Mortal Kombat 2 actually builds on what worked in the first film and negates many of the critical errors that prevented it from being a genuine success.
Courtesy New Line Cinema
As the next round of Mortal Kombat approaches, the heroes of Earthrealm, including Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks) and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), realize they need help in order to secure their victory against the villainous foes of Outworld, ruled by evil emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford). After losing the previous nine tournaments in a row, one more loss means that Shao Kahn will have free reign to rule over the universe. In their desperation, they enlist in the help of washed-up action hero of the 90’s, Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). Despite his reluctance, Cage has no choice but to aid in the fight against the Outworld. However, Shao Kahn has just acquired the key to winning the tournament, a mysterious amulet that has the power to resurrect the dead. With the aid of Kahn’s adopted daughter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), the heroes must recover the amulet if they hope to win Mortal Kombat and prevent the evil ruler from taking control over the entire world.
Helmed by returning director Simon McQuoid, Mortal Kombat 2 signifies a vast improvement over its predecessor. Gone are the extended passages of tired exposition that halt the action that audiences have come to see and — for the most part — the blank slate that is Lewis Tan’s Cole Young. This film’s lead character is (wisely) Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, who serves as a more fitting audience surrogate. Cage, who comes into the film confused as a deer in headlights, gives this sequel a welcoming presence and a genuine sense of humor that compliments the dorky, sincere tone. Johnny Cage is a washed-up, has-been action star of the 90’s whose input feels similar to the many titles of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Johnny is alone in the world, working convention after convention with little love and affection apart from the usual “are you Johnny Cage? My dad used to love your films”. He drowns his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle and cynically mopes through his days. It’s only when he’s confronted with the reality that the world needs him to fight alongside the defenders of Earthrealm that his attitude changes, even if it is begrudgingly. Karl Urban, one of recent Hollywood’s great unsung heroes of screen presence, makes the transition from the character’s cynical self-centeredness to a worthy hero willing to make the ultimate sacrifice seem credible and surprisingly compelling. It might also be the funniest Urban has ever been in a feature film, nailing his zinger one-liners and cool, macho bravado without playing things too seriously. Urban finds a specific line between sincerity and cynicism that allows the audience to laugh at him without ever treating the character as a joke.
Courtesy New Line Cinema
The action sequences are also heavily improved this time around, with McQuoid finding cleaner ways to stage action. Forfeiting the disorienting editing that plagued the first film, McQuoid gives his set pieces a sense of place and spatial awareness that makes them more genuinely rousing. McQuoid retains the same sense of gnarly thrills in his action, but with the added bonus of more creative in-camera trickery and grandiose practical sets. The casual gruesomeness to the violence fits perfectly alongside the attitude of the games, which notoriously were a magnet for conservative groups in the 90’s to claim these games were connected to the desensitization of the youth and warping their fragile little minds. Fatalities here are nice and bloody, vicious and completely thrilling. For a film that claims it is “for the fans”, the filmmakers know exactly the right ingredients to infuse in this adaptation.
Adeline Rudolph’s Kitana makes for a nice new addition to the film, even if she’s paired with a stock revenge plot. Josh Lawson’s Kano continues to provide solid enough comic relief with about a dozen less pop culture references this time around. Hiroyuki Sanada’s Scorpion and Joe Talim’s Subzero are largely afterthoughts here, but their brief appearances do add a certain “pop” to the film. Martyn Ford’s Shao Kahn is a formidable villain whose appearance is much more in line with the menace of the game and far from the Spirit Halloween look of the infamous 1997 disaster Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
It’s quite clear the filmmakers took notes after the first film, essentially hitting the soft-reboot button and discarding many of the more overt criticisms from the previous film. This sequel thankfully tosses aside extended sequences of characters standing around in drab locations and waxing poetic about total nonsense. While Mortal Kombat 2 is a major step up from its predecessor, there’s no denying that this is still a film of simple pleasures, which does not include a fully-developed plot or smooth narrative. This sequel moves at a brisk pace to ensure audiences won’t pick up on the choppiness of the story beats and overall lack of cohesion. Characters react and are motivated by plot points they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to know happened, leaving a sense that the film was (wisely) streamlined.
Courtesy New Line Cinema
Mortal Kombat 2 is a considerable amount of big, dumb fun. Director Simon McQuoid ups his game from the previous installment with a sequel that delivers precisely the lug-headed thrills audiences come to these movies for. This is a video game adaptation “for the fans” that actually serves both fans and casuals well with exciting, gruesome action, better treatment over its fan-favorite characters and propulsive pacing. It’s still no flawless victory, but a victory indeed.
Mortal Kombat 2 is now playing in theaters.
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