Mortal Kombat II

Today, I went to see “Mortal Kombat II,” which came out yesterday, with some friends and I will let you know what I thought of the sequel to this video game adaptation.

“Mortal Kombat II” does exactly what a film based on a popular video game franchise should do – focus on pleasing the diehard fans.

Jeffrey Lyles said in his review, “Thanks to that approach, Mortal Kombat II is an anomaly for live action video games.” It delivers exactly what those who would be excited about a Mortal Kombat game would expect. It may not be flawless, but it’s an incredibly satisfying experience making for one of the more crowd-pleasing action films of the year.

Lyles noted, “Director Simon McQuoid returns for Mortal Kombat II seemingly emboldened with getting another crack at staging dramatically brutal action scenes and focusing more on franchise fan-favorite characters making for an improvement over the surprisingly solid first film.”

Lord Raiden (Asano Tadanobu) brings together Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Jax (Mechad Brooks), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), and Cole (Lewis Tan) for the latest tournament, which once again puts Earthrealm in danger of being controlled by the evil warlord Shao Khan (Martyn Ford, who looks every bit the role). With the death of Kung Lao, reprised by Max Huang, Raiden needs another fighter.

“Mortal Kombat II” does the post credit tease from the first game with the arrival of fan favorite Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban. Lyles noted, “The wait was worth it as screenwriter Jeremy Slater (Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire) gets exactly how to best utilize the character right from his intro scene in a cheesy 90s movie before showing his present fading glory as a regular on the pop culture con circuit.”

Cage doesn’t want anything to do with Raiden’s reason to recruit him and has no interest in fighting in a tournament to the death. Lyles said, “Urban’s line delivery and overall bravado is superb as he brings a Jack Burton swagger to the role.” Slater takes advantage of the handful of characters in the Warner Bros. movie with references to “Harry Potter” and meta-references to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which Urban also joined in the second film.

Lyles said, “Slater benefits from not having to explain the entire concept of the fight to the death tournament making use of the video game lore to tell this story.” This allows him to introduce another new addition to “Mortal Kombat II” – Kitana, played by Adeline Rudolph. Kitana’s father (Desmond Chiam) was killed by Shao Khan, who decided to take her and her mother, Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) as his own family. While training with Khan’s appointed bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle), Kitana wants to end his rule once and for all.

For now, she’s got to go along as a loyal daughter while secretly passing information to Raiden. If Raiden’s five champions die in the tournament, Earth will fall under Shao Khan’s rule. To save Earth, they have to defeat Shao Khan and his minions. Barely in favor of a fair fight, Shao Khan plots to roll the odds in his favor with the help of his sorcerers Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and Quan Chi (Damon Herriman).

Series veterans Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), Hanzo Hasashi aka Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), and Kano (Josh Lawson) return as well. Lyles said, “Kano fits in more naturally to the story as he can bring crass humor without coming off as a Cage stand-in this time.” One of the film’s best scenes is with Cage meeting Baraka, played by CJ Bloomfield, with its perfect combination of action and humor.

Slater does a great job of adding in some story in between the fights. Lyles is right when he said, “Mortal Kombat II isn’t the kind of film that needs extended dialogue-heavy scenes, but it’s nice that the film can still be engaging when the blood isn’t sprayed all over. When it’s time for the blood spraying, dismemberments and any other creative ways to kill characters, the film definitely provides some appropriately over the top carnage.”

McQuoid takes the fight scenes to another level depending on more to the game approach with wider angles and physics. Weapon shots don’t immediately end a fight, and the large blood-spilling moments don’t lead to characters bleeding out. The battleground settings also seem targeted towards the game aesthetics.

Lyles pointed out, “Costumer Cappi Ireland does a sensational job translating the Mortal Kombat II game designs to live action, but the lighting particularly during the Sub-Zero and Scorpion clash would benefit from brighter hues.”

Lyles continued, “The film is peppered with fun nods to the source material that feel less like Easter Eggs and more like staples of the game brought to live action in a mostly organic manner.”

“Mortal Kombat II” proves this sequel of the live-action series has real franchise potential. With the hint of a third film, it’s hardly time to think about finishing it anytime soon.

This is the best live-action Mortal Kombat film we got. I enjoyed the action scenes, a lot of the times it looked like the actual game, the moves were all there, the characters were great, and I spazzed out at a couple of the references to the game. There are no end credit scenes, but stay till the end credits to hear that amazing theme song. You must go to the theaters to see this, especially if you’re a fan of the game, because you will love this one, I promise. I call this a “Flawless Victory” since I think this is better than the two 90s adaptations and the first movie from five years ago.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned next Friday for the next review in “Terry Gilliam Month.”