It takes quite a bit to get me to go to the theater these days. Mortal Kombat II (2026)! SPOILERS I guess!
I dug the first one of these, the plot doesn't really exist but the standard for acting in these movies has been pushed down a long long time ago. It had a charming cast, cool effects, was well shot, and had some gnarly kills. What else could you possibly want?
Watching this one I had forgotten that the Tournament hadn't actually started yet and the first one was really just all about how the bad guys were cheating, trying to kill all Earthrealm's champions before it even began. I dig Mortal Kombat, it's probably my favorite fighting game, but I also do not know or care at all about the convoluted lore. So this made it an easy watch.
It was amazing how they introduced that new character in the last film as our protagonist and killed him off immediately here. I got vibes that he was disliked, I didn't feel strongly one way or another but it was surprising and depending on your disposition, cathartic to see his head smashed.
So let's go on to the main new dude, Johnny Cage. I love Karl Urban, but he is miscast here. Not only is his American accent a bit rough but he doesn:t have the natural joke flow reauired. Jean Claude Van Damme was really rhe best pick years ago. The best would really have been a fenuinely washed up action star like Hason Starham, or maybe a Josh Hartnett who is having a resurgence.
MKII plays fast and loose where it should, delivers the kombat where it should, and brings back or kills characters on whims with decent success. It's got a macguffiny plot that doesn't quite hold up but it's all just to get these guys to fight. It largely conpletely abandons the sub-zero / scorpion plot from the first movie to focus on
Kitana and Cage, but I think this is a good thing.
There looks like a lot of money thrown up on the screen. I don't think it did all that well and who knows why anyone pumped a lot into this but I'm grateful. I would enjoy as many more of these as they want to make, always another big bad out there and operating a bit outside the confines of strict character growth or plot somehow only helps this franchise be who it really is.
