Mortal Kombat II (2026)
Rebel without a Cage.
New movie on the movie night tonight! Heck yeah! Ever have one of those moments where it just pops into your head that you should check for something and realize that yes, it just so happens it’s available? Yeah, that is pretty much how it’s gone down on this occasion. Straight up, it is a sequel - so be advised in that front, recognize that there may be some spoilers for the first one even though I usually try not to spoil stuff in these, and that it’s most certainly going to be better if you watch the first as the majority of setup is there. Sure, you could skip it and still be roughly fine, but you loose some of that fine attachment you know? Throw on your sunglasses and then throw your hat, tonight is Mortal Kombat 2.
The story picks up where the first left off - mostly. Before we get to that, we actually hop back in time a bit to set up our big bad by showing him take over another realm way back when and setting up one of our character focuses in a young Kitana. From there, we slap back to the “present” where our heroes are looking for a new hero to replace the one that got murdered before the tournament even began. The fates see fit to make this new member one Johnny Cage - a movie star and somewhat ex-martial arts prodigy whose now relatively washed up and not doing as good. As any reasonable person would do when confronted with being entered into a tournament against people that are literally throwing fireballs and the likes, he very well nopes right on out of there - except the tournament doesn’t care and he’s pulled in to fight anyways. With five bouts to go through, and the entire realm of Earth on the line, will the heroes be able to win and save the day?
Actors do a wonderful job here. This is really on all fronts - normal and stunt actors. When you also take into account some of the absolutely wild stuff going on within the movie, some might find the fact things can be delivered with a straight face already speaks of how well the actors are going to be. Now, one could argue that plenty of the background actors might as well be non-existent and they really wouldn’t be wrong, but the main ensemble does wonderful at whatever the scene wants. You can fully expect some good laughs and character points for the emotional spots - although I suppose the effectiveness will really depend on how tuned into the movie and what’s on offer resonates with you.
Characters will be a mixed bag. Our two leads, at least as I will call them, get to have some good stuff to them. Or lead dude gets most the character development, but our lady gets to have all sorts of backstory to set up all of her actions and motivations. As characters go through the movie, various things will be set up and - like good writing usually will do - those things will pay off at some point or another. You will cheer for and worry for the characters you like, and it’s rather easy to root against the main villain and his plans of essentially cheating on top of just being a conquering bully. The fact that there are so many of them does mean that not everyone really gets some form of progress as they go through it - but considering most of them already did those beats in the first movie and this is a sequel I feel you hardly can hold it against the movie.
Dramatic entrance.
Sound is good. It has a fun mix of songs in here, pulling out a few versions of the classic theme that most gamers will know and love. The balancing is also quite well done, so you’ll hear every line that you should and can. Effects works are pretty good as well, checking all the boxes that you would want really. I will say, outside of the main theme, a good deal of the music is fitting background that leaves my mind quite easily. Part of that statement also extends out to say that the same can be said of the games soundtrack - Whereas in something like Street Fighter I could easily pick out certain characters themes on scale, for Mortal Kombat it’s pretty much always been two things that I’ve remembered - the main theme, and thanks to the old 95 movie Goro’s dramatic “dun dun” entrance music. What’s here is good, it’s just my curse to not have music stick around with me. Line deliveries, which I probably failed to mention with that tangent, are really well done - if not in award winning seriousness, for sure in pure entertainment value.
Let’s be realistic though, the main reason most people (who weren’t fans already) would be watching this movie is because the fights. I am glad to tell you, this thing has no problems in unleashing fatalities and fight choreography this time around. The benefit of being a sequel to something that did well is people are more prone to feeling like you know what you are doing and let you have a bit more money and the likes to get it done on better scale. They use the budget well, and the effects work and fights are both quite well done. Yes, I would be not doing my role if I didn’t mention that sometimes things will be pretty obviously green-screened or the likes, but the vast majority of stuff looks wonderful here. The action is good and doesn’t feel too cut-heavy (in the edit front), and the hits are sold quite well. The settings are also pretty varied - not too many, but enough to give you plenty of places to look at.
What I will say is that I’m not here for thinking - especially in the second one of these. It has stuff there - believing in yourself comes up again, with some pretty on the nose deliveries about perception. I guess you could bring in some stuff about good versus evil in a way, but even that gets a bit of a blurring with a certain character. More so than all the thinking that I wasn’t doing, I like how much this one still finds the time to make nods to the games. Maybe it’s just a fight scene’s location - like the pit - or maybe it’s with the fighter’s attacks or finishers. At one point though, it even gets the camera in on it, creating a very game-inspired pan out to the fighters, and keeping the fight very two dimensional thanks to the environment. It’s the little stuff that fans can appreciate, even if they’ll most likely find other little inaccuracies to complain about (because the hardest of fans always do, not matter what the material is).
Movie-ception.
It should be rather obvious this movie isn’t for kids, but for the adult that likes to roll back to his days as a kid being shocked and awed by the blood in a video game, this thing is a pretty easy win. It doubles down on the fun characters (providing both for serious and also for entertaining snarkiness), amps up the violence, and really throws in the game references that still makes this thing feel like it’s made by people that actually enjoy what it’s based on instead of just coming for your money. If you liked the first but thought it could be better, this is the answer really. I laughed, I ooh’d, and I laughed even harder when I made a “my cheats” reference that only my friends group would get to it’s fullest. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend a Thursday night.