We’re all gamers here, right?
We make up a group of people that existed just outside of what they were trying to achieve with 2021’s Mortal Kombat. Wider audience marketability. We know our Sub-Zero’s from our Scorpion’s (while underutilized, I always appreciate the casting of Hiroyuki Sanada in a film). Our Sonya Blade’s and our Kano’s. So why the heck does Cole Young exist?
I have a feeling my friends got sick of me prattling on about the titular ‘hero’ of the 2021 reboot. A convenient avatar for the audience, even more conveniently related to long-time fan favourite Scorpion. For some reason, he gets a weird skin suit as his power instead of all the metal powers Scorpion gets from Hell. Or its more diluted and safe place name, the Netherrealm. And he also survives that film! Thanks again to Scorpion. So I braced myself for another film under their lead.
But the trailers said otherwise. Hell, all the marketing material said otherwise. Aotearoa’s very own Karl Urban appears to be the new series anchor. And it’s in the form of everyone’s favourite Unc and washed-up action hero, Johnny Cage. We all love B-movies. Especially when they became full-blown triple A productions that snuck into cinema. Your Jean Claude’s and your Arnie’s. Your Bruce’s and your Stallone’s. And Cage encapsulates all of them, with a sprinkle of modern day downfall for good measure.
Summoned to the tournament by returning heroes Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and…Cole Young (Lewis Tan), he finds himself set up for his own reboot. Sharing a coversation with franchise creator, Ed Boon (who gets to keep his own name in the film), Johnny ends up landing in Edenia to face his first opponent: Kitana (Adeline Rudo).
That’s right, the home realm of everyone’s favorite princess makes its big screen debut to actually explain where she comes from and how the heck she does that stuff with her fans! She finds consort with Jade (Tati Gabrielle), parental grief in Queen Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) and feverish hate in Shao Khan (Martyn Ford). We’re filled to the brim with even more Mortal Kombat lore now!
A slow first act is outpaced by a wonderful second and third act reconcile any exposition it delivers with what the series does best: Bloody and gruesome battles. Ones where the ground and walls aren’t the only things making crunching noises. Ford’s presence as Khan fills the screen, as his beloved Shoulder Charge is on full display. And the rest of the cast are fit for their roles, with standouts in both Urban and Josh Lawson’s Kano. If you thought Kano was Australian in the first film, then you aren’t ready for how much further he takes this.
Mortal Kombat II says “Papa. Can I be weird?” and just goes for it. From reproducing beloved stages and environments, the Tarkatans, the Revenants and “Johnny F*cking Cage”, it then screams out “PAPA, I AM MORTAL KOMBAT!” at the top of its lungs. If you want a fun, easy watch that shows that it loves Mortal Kombat, then its hard not to appreciate just how well they’ve done that with Mortal Kombat II.
You might just end up believing in Johnny F*cking Cage too.
It's just fun. Sheer, unadulterated fun. And it realizes it doesn't need an MMA ring to explain why an inter-dimensional tournament is happening!
It just needed Johnny Cage, an even more Australian Kano and a potential setup for Shaolin Monks.
