08/05/2026
The first mortal kombat in 1995 was so much cheesy fun .. that soundtrack intro was glorious. Then in 1997 they decided to make a complete s**t show.
In 2021 the franchise was rebooted again but fans were divided on the lack of tournament fights. Seemingly learning from more subtle mistakes of the first film, which placed fights in locations like a double-wide trailer, a suburban neighborhood, and an MMA cage, Mortal Kombat II places its tournament fights in well-known locations from the first few games. I won't spoil which stages appear, but seeing these fights play out similarly to the games is a treat for someone like me, who has been playing since the very first entry in the franchise. I'll be honest I doubted Karl Urban as Johnny Cage at first. It didn't feel like the obvious choice. But after watching the film I can say he absolutely owns the role. He brings the swagger, the humor and the attitude perfectly and never feels overdone.
He’s hamming it up gloriously all the way.
Easily one of the best parts of the movie.
The action is on another level compared to the first film. It's more brutal, more creative and feels much closer to the games. At the same time the movie gives its characters room to breathe so the fights actually mean something. One negative possibly the over use of cgi near the end of the film, it’s in too many films now and is sometimes glaringly obvious. I watched this in IMAX ! And it was a very fun nostalgic time 8/10 !
