Mortal Kombat II Review

In Mortal Kombat II, Johnny Cage joins Sonya, Jax, Liu Kang, Cole Young, and other characters from the first movie in the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament against Shao Kahn and his fighters. The winner of the tournament will determine Earthrealm’s future. 

As I said in my review of the first Mortal Kombat movie, I haven’t played too much of the games. So, I can’t say how accurate an adaptation this movie is or how well they portray the characters. However, I have played the game a bit and know at least how Mortal Kombat should feel. 

I really enjoyed this movie. And while I did like watching the first one, I liked this second movie even better. There are a lot more elements to it that feel like the game, or even just a fighting game in general. 

Mortal Kombat II portrays the tournament aspect much better than the first one. There were a lot more one-on-one fights, where the gods selected characters to fight each other in different areas. It reminded me a lot of a player picking who they wanted to fight and then choosing what location they wanted to fight at.  

Since this was a sequel, the writers were able to leave out most of the exposition they had to add to the first one. This allows the movie to jump into the action a lot quicker and is much more action-packed. It’s well-paced, never feeling slow or rushed. But I definitely believe you would need to see the first one or know the games to understand what’s going on. 

The fights were well choregraphed and looked great. Of course, the scenes were tastefully brutal. That might sound odd to say, but I never necessarily felt like they were overdoing it. Trust me though, there is definitely still a lot of gory brutality that’s a staple of Mortal Kombat. Some fatalities were even surprisingly creative. 

I’m also impressed with how well they balanced the outlandishness of video game fighting without feeling too ridiculous, especially given the different fighting styles and abilities each character has.  

I think following Johnny Cage as a main character was a better choice compared to the first movie. While I had no problem with Cole, he felt more like a stand in for the player to me than a fleshed-out character with a unique personality. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with him, just a little boring for a main character. 

But Johnny is much more fun. He has his own distinct personality, and he was funny. It makes you more invested in him and the story. But that doesn’t mean any of the other characters aren’t worthy of attention. Kitana also plays a big role on this movie and her story is also especially compelling. Both of them add some heart to the movie.

They are all interesting characters in their own way. And you genuinely feel the impact of fatalities when they happen. No one is safe in this movie. You don’t really know how a fight is going to turn out, and that makes you more invested. 

This movie is definitely full of bloody fighting and action, but it’s also pretty funny. There are some characters that stand out in particular, but I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I’ll keep it vague. I found myself laughing at loud quite a number of times and heard others in the theater laughing as well. 

I think the dialogue and acting improved compared to the first movie. There are a few lines that felt a little odd mostly because they were part of exposition, but overall, I never felt like anything felt too weird or overdone.

I don’t really have many complaints about this movie. I can’t say if it’s accurately adapted or not, but most fans seemed to be pretty happy with it. From my perspective, it has a lot of elements that fans will enjoy. Though, I can see a few aspects bothering them.  

For instance, I really don’t understand why they didn’t even give Jade hair. She doesn’t look much like her character from the games, and that’s especially strange since they pair her often with Kitana, who looks a lot more like the video game character. 

I do still think there are plenty of Easter eggs players of the game would know better than I would, especially considering how many people I heard saying “get over here” while at the theater. It’s pretty clear to me that they made this movie with actual fans of the game in mind.  

Mortal Kombat II is an action-packed fun movie. It’s not made to be some sort of profound statement or complex story. It’s an enjoyable nod to the fans of a beloved video game. The movie is bloody and brutal but also genuinely funny. It portrays a lot of the video game elements better than the first movie. It’s full of fighting and I had a really good time watching it. I highly recommend it, especially if you like playing the games. 

Let’s put it this way; I walked out of the movie and immediately wanted to play one of the games.

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