• Release year: 2026
• Director: Simon McQuoid.
• Producers: Toby Emmerich, Todd Garner, Simon McQuoid, E. Bennett Walsh, and James Wan.
• Screenplay by: Jeremy Slater.
• Cinematography by: Stephen F. Windon.
• Music by: Benjamin Wallfisch.

Shotgun Commentary: thrilling combats and stupidly hilarious dialogues.

Review

Mortal Kombat II is the sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat. Now, before you ask, yes, apparently they did make enough money with that one to want to invest in a sequel. And no, they still do not have enough money to pay for the rights of the OG Mortal Kombat song fans know and love.

New beginnings-ish

Mortal Kombat picks up where the previous feature left off: a bunch of misfits who barely stand each other are about to enter the championship of Mortal Kombat with one fewer fighter on their team. In order to solve this, they try to convince has-been action movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), arguably the most charismatic of players. Their attempt goes exactly as you might expect, but fear not, you will get to see Johnny fight regardless.

Urban is a strange choice given the history of the character, but honestly, well-played, casting department, well-played. Urban allows a slightly different approach to the character. Sure, Johnny still has that ache to prove he is a worthy fighter, but to this you can now add the fact that he is old AF. Maybe not by regular standards, but definitely in the world of action movies. And since he has clearly not been called for an Expendables movie, he will find his redemption/validation in Mortal Kombat. You know, the healthy choice for a movie star.

The character of Johnny, sorely missed during the previous film, helps to add a great deal more humour to a trilogy that had been pretty drab thus far. Not to mention it is forbidden to die in these movies, which is ironic considering the name of the game. Anyone died in the first one? Fear not, for a bald weirdo will have them up and kicking in no time to provide you with the best gory entertainment. After all, the characters don’t disappear from the videogame just because you happen to be inept at playing, do they?

Highs and lows

Speaking of which, what a gorgeous display of CGI. If you—like yours truly—were one of those who complained about not having enough fights in the previous movie or them not being thrilling enough, you are about to be so, so happy. With the tournament finally on, the duels are levelled up with more fantastic backdrops and all the moves you could possibly ask for. Petty one-liners upon victory? Nowhere to be found. So you see, you gotta take the good with the bad and just insert the appropriate “Fatality”, “Flawless Victory”, etc. in your head as you go along.

Normally, this would not be an issue big enough to repeat, but at this point it deserves a second mention: what’s up with the original Mortal Kombat song? Why is there a budget for yet another Mortal Kombat movie dripping with CGI but no budget for the song? Has nobody realised how deeply unsatisfying it is, or is it on purpose and the crew are a bunch of sadists? You will hear the gong, and you will hear three notes from time to time, but forget about getting any kind of closure in that department. Best you can do is delight yourself with the sad remix of the remix. Which wouldn’t be so bad if there were no other options, but that is not the case.

All in all, Mortal Kombat II is way better than the previous instalment but fails to solve its pet peeves. You will laugh, probably a lot, thanks to Cage and Kano (Josh Lawson), and you will thoroughly enjoy the fight choreos. Overall, that’s all you should be asking of a Mortal Kombat film.

Advice to take from this movie:

• If a competition has the word “mortal” in its title… you might actually die competing. Just saying…
• Never underestimate a frisbee.
• Never let your age determine what you can or cannot do.

What’s your take? Have you watched Mortal Kombat II? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message on my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀