Somehow, surprisingly, more dumb than expected.

The Mortal Kombat tournament is here, and Earthrealm needs one more defender to stop evil Shao Kahn’s rule. The gods have chosen dead-beat action star Johnny Cage… who quickly refuses the call. Can the world be saved by these unlikely heroes?

2021’s Mortal Kombat was released to streaming during the Covid pandemic, and proved to be a solid remake. Writer/Director Simon McQuoid returns in this bombastic sequel, alongside stars Jessica NcNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Lewis Tan, and a host of others. If the poster is enough of a giveaway, this movie is chockablock with characters.

McQuoid has stated that this new trilogy of Mortal Kombat is intentionally staged as “before the tournament, during the tournament, and after the tournament”. So does this sequel successfully fight the errs of middle-child syndrome, or does it leave newcomers in the dust?

While advertised as Johnny Cage’s movie (much as Cole Young and Scorpion had the first movie) audiences might be surprised. The film opens with Kitana, the princess of Edenia, watching her father lose a duel against villain Shao Kahn. Kitana, now under the servitude of Outworld, must fight for Kahn in the tournament.
Meanwhile, in Earthrealm, thunder god Raiden finds a new recruit in Johnny Cage. While he is to join Sonya Blade, Jax, and Cole Young, Cage realizes “mortal” is literal, and declines. But unfortunately for him, the gods aren’t letting him off the hook.

That was quite a lot of explanation for a video game adaptation. Especially for one that really doesn’t need or deserve explanation. The video game in which it is based is a “tournament fighter”, and has “plot” in that characters punch each other in single combat.

Mortal Kombat 2 is tonally peculiar. Partly in result of its 2021 predecessor, which did its best to have narrative. It was revenge movie, which also depicted Outworld bleeding into our world. There was a grounding in reality that helped its more emotional beats stay resonant. This movie flies along like a bat out of hell, while also shoehorning in earnest character beats. It doesn’t work.

One minute we have Kitana’s steely-eyed determination to avenge her father and save her kingdom, the next we have people fighting briefly in a gory, CGI dungeon we never see again. Characters teleport all over the place, all the time, making everything disorientating. Characters come back from the dead. There’s even a magic maguffin that solves and/or destroys everything. Making the movie a frenetic, weightless, experience.

But I can’t say I was bored. In 1995, Paul W.S. Anderson (yes, that one) made the first Mortal Kombat movie adaptation. It is still regarded very highly as the best adaptation, despite its silliness. McQuoid’s movie has parallels to the 1995 movie, and is ultimately, similar stupid fun.
Karl Urban is clearly having fun as a washed-out 1990s action movie star. While the other characters are all defined by their experience now (including Namee’s Sonya, and Brooks’ Jax) Cage becomes the audience surrogate here. Which is definitely needed amongst the chaos. He’s a good character, and brings levity and propulsion to the movie. Everyone else plays their parts well with the material given, and I’d like to see the third chapter of this story play out.

The fighting is good, but maybe not as brutal as in the 2021 movie. See abovementioned “grounding”. Although the pacing does throw characters (especially Cage) into incredibly dangerous fights, considering the differences in abilities. Which provides moments of tension. It certainly is mortal combat. There aren’t any half-measures or main character energy here. This is an adaptation of a violent video game.

If you missed the 2021 movie, and don’t know the video game, you will be completely lost at sea. The film has no brakes and won’t elaborate further. The film is an excellent remake of the 1995 movie, decent across the board with performances, fighting, and production. I feel like fans who want to see their characters have “their moment” will enjoy this a lot, with or without knowledge of the 2021 movie. Personally, I preferred 2021’s uniqueness and barbs of realism.