Film Review: Mortal Kombat II (2026)
Title: Mortal Kombat II
Director(s): Simon McQuoid
Screenwriter(s): Jeremy Slater
Studio: New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Broken Road Productions & Fireside Films
Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 56m
Starring: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Joe Taslim, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, Mehcad Brooks, Asano Tadanobu, Sanada Hiroyuki, Lewis Tan, Chin Han
The film opens with a flashback in the realm of Edenia, a nice place ruled by King Jerrod and Queen Sindel. They have one daughter, Princess Kitana. Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) challenges Jerrod to a duel and wins, thus claiming Edenia as part of Outworld with Sindel and Kitana formally under his authority. Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) grows up with Jade (Tati Gabrielle) as her bodyguard and trainer.
About twenty years later, the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament takes place because that’s just the rule this universe has: if Shao Kahn wins this, then he takes everything. Raiden (Asano Tadanobu), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and whoever is not dead from Shang Tsung’s attempt to kill everyone before the tournament even begins during the first film still represent Earthrealm.
Enter Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), an older action star who is no longer popular. There is some degree of “fish out of the water” trope as he is dragged into the tournament. Thankfully, his character is not taken seriously and the narrative parodies 90s action stars and films. In this respect, the character is written fairly well and Urban, as expected, manages to pull off the comedic role.
The plot follows the tournament with Cage and Kitana being the main viewpoint characters. Although assigned by Shao Kahn, Jade genuinely likes Kitana and the two women have some mutual respect and trust. There is room for complexity in this relationship—after all, Kitana knows there’s only so much Jade can turn a blind eye to—but the narrative doesn’t go too far with it.
Unfortunately, Cole Young (Lewis Tan) is disposed of rather quickly. It’s not quite like Hicks and Newt in Alien 3 (1992) or John Connor in Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)—it doesn’t even happen within the first 20 minutes—but it’s still pretty bad.
As mentioned in the review for the first film, Young may not be particularly interesting but he is a likable guy. One has sat through the first film investing in the character and Lewis Tan is more than cool enough. Just because he is not the main viewpoint character in this film doesn’t mean he can’t be there at all. The franchise has multiple versions of Scorpion (and other characters), so he could just be an iteration that is unique to this film series.
Since this film is the tournament, it mostly is just a series of fights. Since bad guys almost always try to cheat, there is a side quest but it is not particularly intriguing. It is just something to break up the tournament scenes.
Either way, it is just as cheese as the first film despite the parody. Liu Kang plays a more prominent role and the character thankfully comes across as less cringe in this sequel.
It is a shame that Shang Tsung does not have more screen time and his hair and makeup have still not improved. It is a waste of the actor Chin Han.
Some of the choreography is cheese, but some of it is good enough. The fight between Liu Kang and Kung Lao is decent which is expected given the performers involved. Either way, it is appreciated that the camera tries to steadily stay with some of the action and show it clearly by using longer shots. There is a generous amount of dolly and tracking shots to avoid being too static. In short, there is nothing special about the cinematography and editing but it does avoid overstylization and it works.
The score clumsily alternates between orchestral and electronic bursts. In some cases, it doesn’t alternate but is just bashed together because that is apparently more dramatic and cool—it’s not necessarily jarring but it is cringe.
At almost two hours long, it can be tightened by at least ten minutes but it surprisingly doesn’t outright drag either. The problem is that it essentially is just a tournament with a side quest. That is arguably all it is supposed to be but it would help if it is more complex. Apart from getting rid of Young (when it didn’t need to), the main characters do come across as fuller and more real in this film.
Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list so you get each new Opinyun that comes out!
Comments