Do moviegoers really need a plot or sympathetic characters for an R-rated, live-action adaptation of the formerly notorious “Mortal Kombat” fighting video games? Or maybe a better way to put this leading question is: why did the makers of “Mortal Kombat II,” a bloody sequel to the equally tame 2021 movie reboot, bother to even ostensibly appeal to a general audience?
Sure, “Mortal Kombat II” has enough fight scenes and gore to deliver exactly what fans of the games expect from these movies. Then again, the makers of this new franchise-booster don’t seem to know how to fill the rest of their movie’s 116-minute runtime. They tie up loose ends from the last movie whenever they’re not nudging their new protagonists through the motions of another patchwork action-fantasy that’s too hip to be sincere and too hacky to be moving.
Washed-up action star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), for example, is more amusing when he’s dispensing allusive quips—“Squid Game”! “Big Trouble in Little China”!—than when he’s trying to react like a human being. Johnny’s one of several fighters at the latest inter-realm death tournament to pit Earth’s (sorry, Earthrealm’s) noble but vicious champions against Outworld’s plain ol’ mean antagonists.
Johnny’s reluctantly conscripted by the self-serious lightning god Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), who, along with painfully sincere allies like Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), tries to convince Johnny that Earthrealm needs Johnny to stop the murderous Outworld tyrant Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) and his full Rolodex of OP minions. “I’m just an actor,” he balks. But “you coulda been one of the best,” Sonya responds, helping to set up Johnny’s by-the-numbers character arc.
Urban and his stunt performer stand-ins all look good enough during their fight scenes, especially when Johnny does a split and then punches another guy in the testicles. Moments like that will likely soon circulate on social media as an auto-playing video with a vague, canned engagement-bait title like, “He thought he couldn’t fight, but he proved other him wrong.”
Unfortunately, while “Pivot to Video” Cinema has its charms when reduced to sizzle-reel-sized highlights, “Mortal Kombat II” has a busy plot that’s eventually bogged down by unnecessary clichés and contrivances. We’re asked to cheer on Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), the subjugated princess of the “Game of Thrones”-Lite fantasy realm of Edenia, since we see her father brutally murdered by Shao Kahn in an opening fight.
Other threadbare backstories string us along until the movie’s climactic showdown with Kahn, which is actually three well-choreographed but kinda staid action scenes happening at the same time. Unfortunately, Kitana’s thirst for revenge often feels like an afterthought, as does the bond she shares with her bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle), who says that she thinks of Kitana as a sister, but then gets lost in the shuffle later on.
Mind you, “Mortal Kombat II” is still very much the kind of pandering entertainment where one guy yells “Get over here,” since that’s his catch phrase in the video games, right before he splits another colorfully dressed guy in two. Unfortunately, while some computer-animated set pieces look like they cost money, most are woefully nondescript and underdeveloped. I miss when stoner-friendly video game backgrounds, with acid moats and ominous-looking thunderstorms, were just window dressing and not the primary inspiration for a million-dollar movie.
Much of the movie’s dialogue also seems generic, regardless of whether the characters are cynical and quippy or earnest and corny. Fan favorite villain Kano (Josh Lawson) returns after dying in the last movie to deliver more chuckle-worthy pop culture references (Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots!). Lawson’s also saddled with the worst line in the movie, from a later scene where Kano, escorting a passed-out villain, announces his presence by boasting: “Somebody order a necromancer?”
That irredeemably dorky line reminds you that there used to be a “Mortal Kombat” cartoon show for younger children, with cheap-looking action figures and no gore during the fight scenes. Now there are better “Mortal Kombat” action figures, with more points of articulation and better accessories, as well as a variety of splatter-heavy spin-offs to the original games. Thankfully, “Mortal Kombat II” makes good on its grisly promise whenever its meat-puppet protagonists stop talking and start pummeling each other. This kind of schematic programmer is not often about character growth or emotional depth, so it’s not surprising that Urban and his co-stars are mainly convincing when their characters only hint at what motivates them through action and, specifically, gross-out splatter.
Everything else about this new sequel will likely remind you of other pop culture artifacts that preceded it, including “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,” the equally inane but relatively bold sequel to the 1995 Paul W.S. Anderson movie. “Mortal Kombat II” has more crowd-pleasing highlights, more technically accomplished filmmakers, and a bigger budget, too. But there’s nothing here that approaches the delirious heights of “Annihilation”’s dragon vs. Hydra “Animality” climax. At least the creators of that earlier movie dared to look silly. This new “Mortal Kombat” movie only delivers better fan service.
