“I’m warning you. I got a Saturn Award for Best Fight in a Feature Film, so don’t mess with me.”
So, it goes without saying the success or failure of this movie rested solely on Karl Urban’s portrayal of Johnny Cage. Johnny Cage is among the most popular characters in the Mortal Kombat video game franchise. Not to mention, he was my favorite character back in my Sega days. For me, while I still enjoyed the first film, his absence was felt. I was thrilled when I heard that he was going to be featured in the second film. I will admit that when I heard Urban would be playing the role, I was mildly skeptical. While I know Urban to be a fantastic actor and hilarious, I initially thought the physicality of the role would be too much for him. Luckily, he proved me wrong. It’s been five years since the reboot, and yet for the most part the sequel feels like no time has passed at all, especially given that everyone member of the cast from the reboot returned for the sequel, including a few that I wasn’t expecting. This of course includes some new additions as well as a bit of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina reunion.
Tati Gabrielle and Adeline Rudolph are the film’s new additions, playing Jade and Kitana respectively. Their characters share a very close bond, which shows through their comfort with one another on screen. This comfort comes as no surprise given that the two sisters once played on a Netflix series following the life of Sabrina Spellman. In addition to their chemistry, the two provide decent individual performances, Rudolph more so as her character was more central to the film’s overall plot. I would have liked to have seen more of Gabrielle and the inner turmoil that her character faces about where her allegiances lie, but timing didn’t permit that. Regardless, Gabrielle makes the best of the time she has.
Now to the new addition that we all care most about: Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage. As I said, his portrayal would ultimately make or break the film. For the sequel, Johnny Cage has become the film’s central character, taking that position away from Cole Young, the original character introduced in the reboot, played by Lewis Tan. This effectively downgraded Tan’s role a bit, which was unfortunate but was also necessary. The film adjusted Cage’s backstory a bit; in the games, Cage is a martial artist and actor who is tricked by the sorcerer Shang Tsung into entering the latter’s Mortal Kombat tournament to prove that he does not rely on special effects in his films and improve his marketability. However, for this film, the story leans into the idea that Cage is a former action star whose glory days are behind him when he is chosen as one of Earth Realm’s champions. Being conscripted rather than volunteering for Mortal Kombat added tension for the character, as it forced him to live up to his destiny. It is a well known and usually overutilized trope; however, thanks to Urban, it works, especially as the other champions make their big pitch for him to band with them to save the word, and Urban delivers a hilarious deadpan answer.
As it was in the video games, the sequel relied heavily on Cage serving as a comic foil. Fortunately, this was a task that Urban was up to and excelled at. These comedic moments, particularly when his mouth writes a check his behind almost couldn’t cash with a certain spike-shooting character, add a much-needed levity to the otherwise serious circumstance of the film. Speaking of levity, there is one returning character that I wasn’t expecting, but that I was so glad to see again because his role in the reboot was a big part of that film’s success in my opinion. Josh Lawson’s return as Kano, the corrupt and self-serving mercenary, kept me in stitches, just as he did with the reboot. While I give credit to everyone slipping back into their characters with relative ease, there was no better example of that than with Lawson’s portrayal of Kano. He fit like a glove. Every time his character came on screen, you were guaranteed a laugh.
As I mentioned previously, I was somewhat disappointed with the downgrading of some of the characters, such as Tan’s character. I recognized it couldn’t be helped, but it still would have been nice to see more from the group as an ensemble. It was great as it was, but when it comes down to it, the film has more individual storylines that are woven together than an ensemble collective. Additionally, the tournament somewhat plays second fiddle to these individual storylines. I’m not complaining, but given that this was intended to be Earth’s final chance to prevent world domination, it probably should have had more priority. Again, not complaining, but I have to admit that this was a film of side quests rather than the main storyline.
Video
Mortal Kombat II is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with an average bitrate of 75-80 with peaks well above 105 mbps. This is a rare native 4K movie, so it really benefits from the UHD treatment. The film actually leans into the Dolby Vision strengths, not so much in color but in various degrees of contrast and lighting. There’s a rather nice other-worldly tone happening here that is just an extra level of expansion from a Blu-ray high-definition release. Textures come through, mostly in costumes, but also in some of the environments. Some of the bolder and more vivid color presentation comes from sources like lightning f/x and some embers both in environments and powers. The fire stuff is often quite a bit obvious when it’s CG, and much more captivating when it’s practical. Black levels are pretty deep, but there are a lot of moments when stylistic choices allow detail to get lost in the shadows. The vivid colors of powers and lava stand in stark contrast in some of these dark environments. The movie-within-a-movie parts dealing with the Johnny Cage film does a wonderful downgrade to really make it look like a 90’s film.
Audio
The Atmos track defaults to a really solid 7.1 mix. The surrounds can certainly get pretty busy, and there is absolutely some sweet ear candy to enjoy here. The environments provide a ton of spacial material, and it can often be quite immersive. The subs have their moments and rock the world when appropriate. The dialog cuts far better than it did on the first film, and the energetic score also interferes less than previously. That makes the audio presentation a huge step up for this film.
Special Features
There is only the *UHD disc, and it contains the brief extras.
Mortal Kombat II – Evolving The Saga: (6:34) The feature provides a little look at how the franchise has evolved into this new film. We get game shots as well as how it has grown from the 2021 film. Of course the biggest new character is Urban’s Johnny Cage.
Building The Realms Of Mortal Kombat: (5:50) A look at how set construction was blended with the VFX to provide a seamless world in which these characters get to play.
Mortal Kombat II – Choose Your Fighter: (5:53) Meet the cast and get some behind-the-scenes insights. There’s also good material here on costumes and weapons.
Klose Quarters Kombat: (6:35) Here we go behind the scenes of the wall-to-wall action stuff. Stunts, training, and choreography get the treatment here.
A Boon To Gamers Everywhere: (3:11) Ed Boon, who co-created the games, marvels at how much he loved watching it all come to life on the set.
Final Thoughts:
There is still much story left to be explored, and the film’s ending suggests that it is exactly what we will get. Hopefully it won’t take another five years for another sequel. Elements that are still left to explore in my opinion are the relationship between central characters Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade; their connection is touched on in this film but has yet to be explored and Sonya actress Jessica McNamee has already expressed an interest in exploring their relationship. Greg Russo, who co-wrote the reboot, has stated that he intended these films to be a trilogy, with the third film exploring post-tournament, so the opportunity is there. It also doesn’t hurt that Joe Taslim, who plays Bi-Han, is signed on for four sequels.
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
