Mortal
Kombat II (2026)
6/10
Starring
Karl
Urban
Adeline
Rudolph
Jessica
McNamee
Josh
Lawson
Ludi
Lin
Directed
by: Simon McQuoid
Mortal Kombat II is
actually fun to watch, but the issue I had with it, and I think many will, is
that it seems the show wanted to focus on big-time actor Karl Urban, with the
hope of drawing more people to come see it.
I liked the effects, and
right from the start the show is packed with a lot of fights, which keeps going
fight after fight, making it easy to enjoy the film because, if not for the
action, the bad dialogue and cheesy lines would have made this a disaster.
Now special effects wise
and acting wise, I actually was impressed by the cocky Johnny Cage, played by
Karl Urban. It was not too flimsy or too serious, it was played with the right
touch of both to make you like the character, even if the events around him
were not pleasing.
Mortal Kombat 2 follows
from part 1, but the good thing is I went to watch it with someone who has not
seen part 1 and knows nothing about the whole thing, yet was still able to keep
up because part 2 is very good in that aspect of the writing. It fills you in
on things, except the Scorpion and Sub-Zero biff, so Earthrealm’s fighters are
ready to defend their realm.
This time the real Mortal
Kombat is taking place, not just the path to it, which I also liked.
So Earthrealm fighters go
one on one with their Outworld counterparts, and there are five fights, with
the group that has more fighters standing winning.
But Earthrealm is short one
fighter, so Johnny Cage, a washed-up actor, is brought into the team while Liu
Kang, Sonya, Jax, and Cole train for a brutal conflict that could decide the
fate of Earth.
Now the many directions
this show could have taken that would have made this a masterpiece were
ignored, instead the show created and forced many situations just to make
Johnny Cage, Karl Urban, the star. They wanted to make him the focus, and when
in the end they needed to destroy the amulet that held Raiden’s power, it had
to be his shadow kick that did it, not the blast from Jade, the laser from
Kano, or the fire from Scorpion.
I felt that was bad writing
on display, and the way the show handled Kung Lao cutting Raiden, then trapping
his powers, was just filled with holes.
How come Raiden did not
heal instantly, but Shao Kahn does when he had the amulet? How come Raiden then
healed instantly when he was about to be attacked by Shang Tsung?
Look, this is a fine film,
which I enjoyed watching in the cinema, but I will advise you to go see this
with your brain switched off, or else you are going to hate this movie and wish
the writers made a better effort.
