If you’re like us, then you’ll have a deep appreciation for 1995’s iconic Mortal Kombat movie.
The 2021 reboot, directed by Simon McQuoid, couldn’t really capture the same campy energy – but its sequel, starring Karl Urban as washed-up movie action star Johnny Cage, looks like it’s off to a much stronger start.
As we write this, the film – due out in theatres on 7th May in the US – has attracted a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; Slash Film writes it’s “easily one of the biggest surprises of the year”.
While critics seem a little mixed on Urban’s aforementioned Johnny Cage, the excellent Adeline Rudolph is getting a lot of acclaim for her Kitana, the fan-wielding Edenian princess from the games.
And most reviews agree: this may not be vintage cinema by any stretch, but the bone crunching combat delivers – and that’s really all anyone wants to see from a Mortal Kombat movie, isn’t it?
Here are some highlights from around the web:
It might not be Oscar-caliber cinema, and hardcore fans of the game with encyclopedic knowledge of the game may have a bone to pick, but it’s big and loud and gruesome and not afraid to have fun. The bar for video game movie sequels isn’t very high, but this one not only clears the bar, it twirls it around like a bo staff.
It’s easily one of the biggest surprises of this year. While it doesn’t yet settle the debate about where video game movies will go from here, it proves the subgenre is evolving. Video game movies, especially “Mortal Kombat” movies, don’t have to be radical reinventions, nor do they need to be relegated to fan service slop. They can be more.
As a film, Mortal Kombat II does still have some issues with some awkward pacing and perhaps one too many characters to juggle, particularly in the first half. But once the second half gets going, it becomes a bloody good time and a bone-crunching spectacle from start to finish.
A bloody fun second round, Mortal Kombat 2 creatively resets the series for the better. Karl Urban adds irreverent energy as a post-Deadpool Johnny Cage, while the all-important fights mostly deliver the goods. A step up from 2021’s bizarrely tournament-less Mortal Kombat that lands some killer blows, but it’s far from a flawless victory.
The creatively gory fighting and amusing — if shallow — characters just about compensate for the paper-thin story. But at its best, it’s a lot of dumb fun.
Will you be heading to the theatre to see Mortal Kombat 2, or waiting patiently for it to come to streaming? Are you a fan of the MK movies, or is this a flick you’ll happily skip? Drop a nut punch in the comments section below.
