Is unlikely to knock out any newcomers to the series
By Glenn Kay
For the Sun
Rating: ++
out of ++++
Running Time: 116 minutes
This feature from Warner Bros. opens exclusively in theaters on Friday, May 8.
As arcade games go, the hugely popular Mortal Kombat doesn’t exactly sound like a title suited to film adaptations. It is essentially little more than a fighting game in which you beat your opponent down, and can kill them violently by using buttons and movements in a specific manner. After the Midway Games company went bankrupt in 2009, Warner Bros. acquired the rights and began attempting to develop a new franchise.
The early 2021 reboot of Mortal Kombat was released at the height of the Covid pandemic. This reviewer found the production design and fight choreography impressive, but the writing clunky and performances uneven. Like the video game, it was also violent, including a few gruesome deaths (that were made tolerable due to obvious CGI effects). The film ended up doing acceptable business at the box office, but was a hit on streaming platforms. Clearly, it’s difficult to judge how popular the original truly was based on the unique situation during its initial release, but the studio has produced Mortal Kombat II to see if it’s still a viable property.
In the first picture, a group of fighters were recruited to represent humanity and the “Earthrealm” in a deadly tournament against the sinister “Outworld.” The villains have won nine competitions in a row, and if they win one more they will rule our world. In order to secure victory, they set out to murder potential threats before the competition even begins.
This follow-up begins with the introduction of Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), a youngster whose kingdom has fallen to the brutal Shao Kan (Martyn Ford). He’s a masked warlord who fights for the “Outworld” when he isn’t busy oppressing villages. Kitana seethes while Shao Kan searches for an ancient medallion that will grant him immortality (and a major advantage in the upcoming tournament).
On the good, “Earthrealm” side, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and surviving warriors Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) are readying for battle, but are short a fighter. They attempt to recruit Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), a 90s action movie star with a background in martial arts whose star has fallen. He naturally thinks the heroes are insane when they initially approach him, but it becomes clear that they’re telling the truth about the danger, and that he will be in over his head at the contest.
The same cast and crew are behind this picture and, truth be told, it can really be described as, well, more of the same. This is a slick and polished action film that looks impressive and contains some excellent fight choreography. But it also features a lot of thinly drawn characters, awkward exposition, and clunky dialogue as the various fighters repeatedly state what is occurring in the story and what might be at stake.
If, for some reason, you came in invested in the leads from the first movie, you may be disappointed to see them relegated out of the picture or placed in the background. This story really focuses primarily on Kitana and Johnny Cage. Thankfully, Urban’s character is interesting, and Cage adds a bit of levity to the grim proceedings by reacting in amusing ways to this bizarre alternate world and its strange, inconsistent logic. There are a couple of welcome returnees, including Hiroyuki Sanada, who adds a bit of gravitas to the dramatic bits, and Josh Lawson as the resurrected Kano, a warrior of divided loyalties ready to insult anyone who crosses his path.
Like the video game and the previous instalment, the movie enjoys graphically dispatching its characters. Again, these bits look very CGI-generated, which is a good thing because they’re nasty and it doesn’t always play well within the story. As an audience member, you witness something brutal, and then see the characters upset for a moment or two, before they begin joking with each other. This is repeated over and over. But at least one does get the impression that death isn’t permanent in this series, as many characters reappear in other forms, and there are references to magic that may bring back the dead (box office receipts permitting). Whatever might be going on, the approach still takes one out of the proceedings and fails to invest audiences in its underdeveloped characters.
Mortal Kombat II is a dopey movie adapted from an extreme arcade game lacking in any kind of narrative. The cast do add some humanity to the proceedings, but the tone is all over the place.
Personally, I appreciated the visuals, the action, and a few comical observations from the more verbose characters. Yet, even this sequel can’t overcome all the problems inherent in the source material, as well as trying to appease fans of the game with brutal violence. If you enjoyed the previous installment and don’t mind seeing another picture focused mostly on new characters, you’ll be fine with the film. Yet this effort is unlikely to knock out any newcomers or those expecting more from this sequel.
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