Mortal Kombat II is a love letter to fans of the games, who were so irritated by the lack of the tournament in the first one. Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph and non-stop fan service join forces to give the people what they want, for better or worse.
★★★
There is a moment early in Mortal Kombat II when Johnny Cage, battered and barely upright, wobbles on his feet in the exact rubbery, teetering way a nearly-defeated fighter does on a 1990s arcade cabinet. The crowd in my screening laughed, then gasped as he was struck down. That five-second sequence is the whole film in miniature: a love letter so precisely addressed to its recipients that everyone else is just along for the ride.
Karl Urban commits fully to Johnny Cage, the meta-comedy, the JCVD physicality, the one-liners, and he is clearly having the time of his life. Adeline Rudolph’s Kitana provides what emotional ballast the film has, and Martyn Ford’s sheer physical enormity makes Shao Kahn genuinely imposing rather than merely costumed. Joe Taslim, meanwhile, is doing interesting work in a role the film doesn’t quite give enough room to breathe. Josh Lawson’s Kano continues to steal scenes with the cheerful mercenary energy he brought to the first film.
The CGI and wire-work laden fights are a fun smorgasbord of physics-defying nonsense. The special moves, the shouts of “Get over here” and “Finish him” all hit the appreciative audience right in the ‘memberberries. The fatalities are nastier than anything the 2021 film managed. Someone who loves these games made this movie, and it shows in every frame. Then again the film is unapologetically juvenile, yet filled with crushed heads, slices bodies and at least one c-bomb. It’s like Masters of the Universe (80s version) for people who want to see Skeletor called a fucking dick while having his lungs ripped out.
The real problem is that non-fans, without the nostalgia rush are left with cutscene dialogue, a plot that exists to navigate between set pieces, and line deliveries that feel like a first rehearsal. The first film had an origin story which is partially tossed out here. This one retools the narrative to deliver an actual tournament, just as the fans wanted – and the result turns out to be just a series of fun fights joined by ludicrous exposition.
Leaving the screening I overheard two men in the queue for the urinals. “Bro, now I’ve got to see the first one.” “Bro, I ain’t gonna lie to you, it ain’t this good.” That’s about right. Mortal Kombat II is the film the fans deserved. For everyone else it’s this year’s equivalent of GI Joe Joe: The Rise of Cobra – an intermittently watchable piece of franchise-humping that won’t linger past the journey home. But you better believe they blast the theme song over the end credits. Mor-tal Kom-baaat!
Mortal Kombat II is out in UK and US cinemas on Friday 8 May
Whitlock&Pope 