The creative minds behind Mortal Kombat II knows precisely how to make a gruesome ’90s-style action movie. We get a glimpse of that with the footage of “Uncaged Fury,” a cinematic display of Hollywood playboy Johnny Cage replete with one-liners, glacially slow choreography and ridiculous stunts, all of which would have been at home in an unforgettable Van Damme film. With a nod to schlocky action cinema – which definitely gets it Mortal Combat (1995) – director Simon McQuoid and screenwriter Jeremy Slater also make a statement: they know what not to do. This self-awareness ultimately makes this the best Mortal Kombat film to date.
This sequel is practically a point-for-point refutation of everything in “Uncaged Fury.” McQuoid, Slater and crew made the action far more complex than we’ve seen before in the franchise. The moves hit harder, the characters make more inventive use of their surroundings, and everything is shot to emphasize the deep level of skill involved in constructing a modern fight scene. There are jokes, of course (including a nod to Big problem in Little Chinawhich directly influenced the Mortal Kombat games), but they are more than just throwaway lines.
Perhaps more importantly, it balances these (slightly) higher cinematic aspirations with the campier aspects of Mortal Kombat. It is still a tournament that determines the fate of the world. People have superpowers. There is a necromancer. But there is still room to find the humanity in these ridiculous characters.
The best example of this is Johnny Cage himself, who is usually presented as an annoying movie star in games. In this film, he’s a washed-up action star who attends a geek convention where no one recognizes him. Portrayed by Karl Urban, a genre actor who appeared in Xena: Warrior Princess, Lord of the Rings and currently plays in The boys — Cage is the ultimate sad sack. He hates himself so much that he can’t even accept the slightest praise from a former fan. Urban captures a man who is both past his prime and whose peak was abandoning a legitimate martial arts career to make schlock films.
When he chose to fight in Mortal Kombat, it was impossible for Cage to consider himself a true hero – after all, he was only pretending to be one. Urban gets to show off his physical acting skills in his first fight, showing us the campy side of the character. But he’s convincing enough as an actor to make us believe in Cage’s gradual heroic transformation.
Warner Bros.
While Johnny Cage steals the show, Mortal Kombat II begins by introducing us to Kitana as a child princess forced to watch her father be brutally murdered by the tyrant Shao Kahn. This loss places his kingdom and all its inhabitants under Kahn’s rule. Inexplicably, he chooses to adopt her and take her mother as his wife. Kitana’s goal is revenge, while posing as a warrior loyal to Kahn. Given the weight of her storyline, Kitana has less room to lean into camp like Johnny Cage, but at least she has a sick fighting array made of knives.
All the others of Mortal Combat the reboot returns, including Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, and Lewis Tan’s Cole Young, a new character invented for this film. They all get their time to shine with more elaborate fight scenes, which also appear more frequently, since the tournament serves as the backbone of the film. In an interview for my film podcast, The Filmcast, McQuoid mentioned that his stunt team spent more time visualizing the choreography and sets, which led to much more dynamic action sequences than the first film. I think this is something that even general audiences, who aren’t as attentive to fight choreography, will notice.
Now I’m not going to pretend that Mortal Kombat II is a perfect film. This builds so heavily on the previous entry that it makes no sense to anyone jumping straight into it. And people who are less enamored with the world of martial arts films may not appreciate that the characters spend more time punching and kicking than talking. But if you can appreciate the wordless ballet of a well-choreographed fight scene, where the depth of the characters is revealed by the action itself, you’ll probably have a good time with Mortal Kombat II.