Bloody Mortal Kombat II Gamely Fights a Losing Battle
One thing that Mortal Kombat II has going for it is that, unlike its 2021 predecessor, it actually involves a fight-to-the-death tournament. The other item in its corner is the inclusion of new faces like Karl Urban (playing 1990s action hero actor Johnny Cage, his stardom on the downswing), Adeline Rudolph (as Kitana, high princess of Edenia, a lethal fighter who watched her father die at the hands of a powerful adversary), and Martyn Ford (portraying Shao Kahn, the unstoppable ruler of Outworld, who has his eyes set on adding Earthrealm to his expansive dominion). They all bring a noticeable — and necessary — jolt of energy to the sequel.
After that? Returning director Simon McQuoid’s follow-up to his previous attempt to reboot the iconic video game franchise for the big screen has even less of a plot than his first Mortal Kombat possessed (and is even more obsessed with reveling in fan-service and nostalgia). With rare exception, it features the same editing issues that also marred that previous endeavor, all of which frustratingly make many of the bloody, superpowered martial arts face-offs visually nonsensical. The film, despite its end-of-the-world stakes, lacks urgency. I found it to be a waste of time.
The sequel begins with the latest Mortal Kombat tournament days away from its start. Warriors from Outworld and Earthrealm will meet for the tenth consecutive time, the former kingdom winning the previous nine encounters. This means that if Shao Kahn and his fighters are victorious, he will control the Earth, subjugating all of humanity to his murderous whims. But Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), an Elder God who has sworn to protect Earthrealm but is barred from fighting himself, requires a fifth and final member for his squad, and he’s running out of time to prepare them for the epic battle to come.
This is how Urban’s Johnny Cage arrives as he’s tasked with standing alongside Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), and Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks) against Shao Kahn and his cadre of Outworld champions. One of those fighting for the bad guys is Kitana, but because of what happened to her father when she was a child, it’s not exactly a spoiler to state her allegiance to the bloodthirsty emperor may not be as strong as he thinks it is. Confrontations between various sets of combatants ensue, some of whom survive, some of whom do not, with everything building to a showdown between good and evil that will have massive repercussions for the tournament going forward.
There are minor subplots galore, including the resurrection of former Earthrealm warrior Kung Lao (Max Huang) as a mind-warped revenant who has joined the Outworld lineup card, as well as the return of the previously deceased mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), who knows the location of a powerful amulet that could help make Shao Kahn all but unkillable. The sequel also boasts fresh appearances from Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Sub-Zero and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion, although their eventual confrontation does not have anywhere near the same euphoric impact that it had in the prior adventure; they both deserve better.
I say this because not only are their combined talents as both superlative actors and as spectacular action performers underutilized, but the story surrounding them is also a boring waste of time. Sure, Lawson is still a hoot as the wisecracking Kano, and, every once in a while, a fight sequence ends up being something moderately special (particularly the showdown between Liu Kang and Kung Lao). But those elements are sadly few and even further between, and this is most noteworthy whenever Bi-Han and Hanzo draw their swords. It’s aggravating.
For every entertaining moment, there are a good half-dozen others that leave plenty to be desired. This drains all the potential fun out of the proceedings. The sequel is nothing more than a half-dead carcass uneasily resting several steps beyond salvation. The visual effects are weak, the practical makeup designs are a mixed bag of impressive and underwhelming (frequently at the same time), and computer-generated environments uneasily coexist with the practical sets to the point that everything appears fake and nothing has a tactile sense of reality.
A part of me wants to say that maybe this series just isn’t for me. But the problem there is, as dumb and as absurd as it might be, I do get a huge kick out of director Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 Mortal Kombat. It’s beyond goofy, yet it also strikes an agreeable balance between its comedy, fantasy, horror, and action elements. Three decades after its original release, the darn thing still makes me laugh (and in a good way), and that’s not something I’m going to dismiss.
And so it pains me to say that McQuoid, with a richer budget, an R rating that allows for the gore to flow freely, and fight choreographers and stunt performers who make the martial arts elements crackle with pugnacious electricity, has now twice failed to do anything memorable with this material. While Mortal Kombat II is a slight step above its precursor, that’s not saying a lot. If this iteration of the franchise ends up continuing into a third installment, consider me unwilling to drop more quarters into the slot. I’m close to being finished hoping for the best, but only getting bitter disappointment in return.
Film Rating: 1½ (out of 4)
