Johnny Cage, Kitana and more champions fight each other for the fate of Outworld and Earthrealm in the Mortal Kombat tournament.
The film adaptations of the ’90s fighting video games got the reboot treatment back in 2021, and thanks to its success at the box office, a follow-up is now here.
In case you’ve forgotten: Outworld has defeated Earthrealm in nine out of ten fighting tournaments known as Mortal Kombat. One more victory and then evil Outworld leader Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) will rule Earth.
Earthrealm has a raft of champions ready to fight to the death for its cause – Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin). They need one more champion and recruit Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), a ’90s action movie star who doesn’t have much in the way of real fighting skills.
The 2021 reboot was set during the lead-up to the tournament and this one focuses on the main event. In addition to introducing famed video game character Johnny Cage, the story also focuses on reluctant Outworld fighter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), who does not want to be Shao Kahn’s champion, and her surrogate sister Jade (Tati Gabrielle).
The main characters from the first film have been reduced to supporting characters with very little to do, especially Young, who had the lead role before and now barely registers as a character; the same goes for the last film’s primary villain, evil sorcerer Shang Tsung (Chin Han), who is cast aside for Shao Kahn.
While it seems bizarre and jarring continuity-wise, director Simon McQuoid actually made the right call by focusing on these new characters, who are more exciting, well-written and well-defined than their predecessors.
For example, Kitana brings some depth and has a solid backstory, while Johnny is the comic relief, busting out cheesy ’90s punchlines and rusty martial arts skills.
But nobody is coming to Mortal Kombat for character depth and a good script. Viewers are coming for the fights and they are there in abundance, in all their brutal, super gory and fantastical glory.
While the stunts and fight choreography look very cool, there are only so many battles you can watch before they stop being entertaining, no matter how different the settings or the dynamics.
Mortal Kombat II is certainly an improvement on its predecessor, with stronger characters and even more violent action sequences. However, it is aimed squarely at fans of the video game and may be quite hard to follow and unengaging for everybody else.
In cinemas from Friday 8th May
By Hannah Wales
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