By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Born in the early ’80s, I quickly became a video game addict. That made me the perfect age to fall in love with it Mortal Kombatthe bloodier, edgelord alternative fighting games like Street Fighter II. For an embarrassingly long time, I continued the lore of the early games, which were turned into a shockingly good PG-13 movie in the ’90s. When I heard that we would be getting a new one, R’s Mortal Kombat movie, my hopes were high. Filled with boring fight scenes and flat characters, the first of these new movies couldn’t escape its digital roots, and the whole thing looked and felt like a video game cutscene.
However, a preview of the Mortal Kombat II made it seem that the producers have learned from the failure of the 2021 film. The trailers promise better characters, better fights, and a more exciting story. Oh, and a secret weapon in shape Boys Karl Urban stars as the audience takes in the role of Jonny Cage. Unfortunately, the end result is not what the filmmakers were hoping for. Mortal Kombat II it’s better than the previous film in the sense that a polished turd is better than an unpolished one. But that’s still bad news for a discerning audience hoping to get something without complete sh*t for their money.
All Styles, No Stuff
The foundation of Mortal Kombat II that a tournament titled Mortal Kombat is imminent, and if Earth loses, it will be attacked and defeated by the evil person who rules Outworld, Shao Kahn. Our heroes put together a team to protect the planet, which includes the washed-up movie star, Johnny Cage. But they face much bigger obstacles. Not only is Kahn able to raise the dead and turn old friends into enemies, but he has an amulet that incapacitates him. Unless they can defeat the god-like Shao Kahn and win the tournament, all of humanity will be destroyed by the forces of death and darkness.
That sounds very appealing, right? Unfortunately, for a movie about death, Mortal Kombat II it’s really bad when it comes to fulfilling its ambitious plot. It doesn’t help that Shao Kahn has no real personality other than a “scary masked man.” Seriously, he looks and acts like the typical characters you’d find in the worst horror movies of the ’80s. Such a one-dimensional character works in video games because no one cares about the guy’s backstory when he’s mashing buttons. But if you sit in the theater for almost two hours, you expect (in vain, as it turns out) something important from this new guy to care about.
get over here
When we talk about young guys to care about, Karl Urban has to be the one who plays a big role Mortal Kombat II. After all, he is a charismatic actor who plays a role that is apt to take the audience in this new film. Unfortunately, this doesn’t even work half as well as the filmmakers wanted because the script is so it’s bad. Urban does his best with the material, but spends almost all of the performance time either watching the weirdness of Outworld or belting out tired lines. Around the world, Cage gained fame by starring in a number of action schlock films. In an ironic and unintentional way, his dialogue never rises above that level of forgotten B-movie crapitude.
For longtime Mortal Kombat fans, there are a few things to enjoy about this movie. Adeline Rudolph is deadly cute as Kitana, the perfect embodiment of sex and violence. Kano is resurrected, which gives Josh Lawson more opportunities to steal every scene he’s in. There are some fun callbacks to the original games, including hearing Ed Boon (who also makes a small cameo as a bartender) do a wonderful Scorpion “come in here!” line. Also, the deaths are very intense, including the final execution which is one of the most ironic moments ever captured on screen. These things, along with the unshakable power of nostalgia, would be enough to please the most die-hard Mortal Kombat players out there.
Shock and Awful
Unfortunately, the film is a disappointment for everyone else. Aside from the bad writing and the slipshod plot, the main reason for this is that the battles are just perfect. badly. Every punch and kick lacks the visceral weight of even the simplest martial arts movies (seriously, The Karate Kid it has bigger fights than this!), and the special moves are dreamy CGI. Bad wars are basically the ultimate failure of Mortal Kombat II. As a fighting game adaptation, the fighting is terrible. As a character-driven genre story, the characters are one-dimensional. As a car starring Karl Urban, this is the worst thing he’s been in since Shortland Street.
Mortal Kombat II it’s not the worst thing in theaters right now, but it’s a disappointment on every level. There isn’t enough fan service to really please the franchise base, and there isn’t enough to please anyone else. It’s flat, boring, and everything is covered in gray that makes the film look like a scene from an original PS3 video game. Mortal Kombat II it spends its last few minutes clearly setting up the sequel, which is ironic because this terrible movie just killed a lot of people. It didn’t do the same for me, unfortunately; after all, I’d rather die than endure this lowly crapfest again.
