There’s a moment in Simon McQouid’s Mortal Kombat II where a downtrodden and over the hill Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) laments to a fan that the people want dark and gritty. The action landscape, such as it is now, only caters to those who want “Keanu killing a thousand guys with a pencil” and the grandiosity and brashness of the 90’s martial arts era that many a cinephile grew up on is either long dead or considered “cringe”. On the surface, it’s a fairly innocuous moment, but as a fan of the franchise, it feels like a throwing down of the gauntlet. That what audiences need now is to embrace the cheese and enjoy the cringe. The time for dark and gritty is over. It’s time for Mortal f*cking Kombat.
Following on from the events of the 2021 entry, we find ourselves thrust back into the battle of the realms, as Earthrealm’s chosen warriors, lead by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) as they prepare to defend the world in the titular tournament. The rules of Mortal Kombat are simple: each realm that challenges the other must win 10 out of 10 tournaments to take control. Earthrealm is on its last legs, having lost the last 9, with imminent defeat around the corner at the hands of the colossal Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford). Enter washed up martial arts star, Johnny Cage, a gifted fighter whose glory days are long behind him. Or so he thought. Tapped by the gods to defend the realm, he’s reluctantly thrown into the world of bone crunching battles and brutal fatalities.
To the average cinema goer, Mortal Kombat II won’t exactly get the tongues wagging. A throwback to the high concept pulpy goodness of the 90’s, it is laden with obscenely cheesy dialogue, wooden acting and questionable VFX. But to the average Mortal Kombat fan (like myself), it’s cat nip. In fact, there’s a parallel between the first and second OG games and their film counterparts. While groundbreaking in its own right, the 1992 game had its limitations. It wasn’t until the second game that the franchise really cemented its place in gaming history. Having learned from the mistakes of the previous film, Mortal Kombat II is a marked improvement over its predecessor. The world is more colourful, fight sequences beautifully choreographed, with an expanded roster of fan favourites and an actual Mortal Kombat tournament, rather than the appetiser of the first.
While Urban wouldn’t have been my first choice as Cage (Scott Adkins is right there, after all), he does relish the wobbly arrogance you’d expect from a has been head kicker. Cage is a different beast to Mortal Kombat’s Cole Young (Lewis Tan) – both humbled by life but in very different ways. Urban’s casting is a nice meta touch – an actor who’s crossed many a nerd stream, from Lord of the Rings to The Boys and Star Trek, he’s out here collecting franchises like Infinity Stones. Josh Lawson’s Kano continues to be the bogan MVP, demonstrating the comedic elasticity of the Aussie accent while effortlessly oozing that Down Under charm we love to hate him for.
The heart and soul of the film, however, is Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), reluctant daughter to Shao Kahn, following the death of her real father at the warrior’s hands in a previous tournament. Her involvement not only expands the story, but represents a leaning into the franchise’s high fantasy proclivities, something that passed iterations haven’t quite grappled with. Mortal Kombat begins to make a whole lot more sense when you realise it’s Game of Thrones with a lot more kicking and punching. Palace intrigue, gory endings and pale, Merlin-like necromancers (yeah, I see you Damon Herriman), McQuoid and writer, Jeremy Slater finally get at what makes the series work as well as it does – completely and wholly immersing the story in the absurd and outlandish. But while gory and vicious with its violence, it does miss the mark on going truly gonzo with the trademarked fatalities. If we’re going to do a third go around, can we at least up in the ante in inventive finishers?
As far as video game adaptations go, and with a truly bonkers Street Fighter around the corner, it does feel like we’ve turned a corner. Mortal Kombat II is an instalment the fans can be proud of, with the filmmakers fully embracing the source material, cheese and all. It’s a Friday night crowd pleaser, replete with your rowdiest mates and your biggest bucket of popcorn with The Immortals’ Techno Syndrome blasting from the car on the drive home.
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