Mortal Kombat II Review: More Fatal Stakes

The sequel to the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot is finally here. Mortal Kombat II raises the stakes higher as the tournament finally begins.

The Mortal Kombat tournament is a series of martial arts fights that will determine the fate of a universe. Earthrealm, the world that we live in, has lost nine times in a row against the Outworld realm led by the tyrant Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford). The tenth tournament will finally determine the fate of Earthrealm. If they lose again, Shao Kahn will finally rule the Earthrealm.

The god of thunder Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) has gathered Earthrealm’s best champions to fight against the Outworld. After discovering their innate arcana powers, Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) are ready to step up.

One problem still remains: they’re short on people. The fifth Earthrealm champion is then revealed: the washed-out actor and martial artist Johnny Cage (Karl Urban).

Despite his protests, Johnny Cage and the others are thrust into the Mortal Kombat tournament against Shao Kahn himself and his champions: Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen), Jade (Tati Gabrielle), and the revived Kung Lao (Max Huang).

Also apparently, Shao Kahn’s necromancer Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) has gone and revived other people, including Kano (Josh Lawson) and Bi-Han (Joe Taslim). Assisted by Shang Tsung (Chin Han), they conspire to ensure Shao Kahn’s tenth victory is certain.

The second Mortal Kombat reboot movie continued the director Simon McQuoid’s effort to showcase his vision of a Mortal Kombat movie that is not only gory but also has an emotional impact. With the tournament finally starting, I think we can finally see his effort on the first movie to set things up paid off.

Johnny Cage takes the position of viewpoint character from Cole Young. It still took the same formula of his character development, where Johnny Cage continuously refused to take part in this tournament before finally realizing his calling.

I think his character works because fans are already familiar with Johnny Cage. We clearly knew his struggles; we could root for him, and he was also an interesting character that kept the movie planted to the video game roots.

This also highlighted the problem behind Cole Young’s character. In the second movie, his role is relegated as a side character that didn’t contribute much to the plot. The way they blandly build Cole’s character from the first movie resulted in the reduced role in his second rodeo. When you watch Mortal Kombat II, you’ll know what I mean.

Characters aside, I think the way the movie structured felt very faithful to the video game. Granted, as we finally get to the point of the games, we can finally see many iconic scenes, lines, plot points, and importantly, the fatalities.

Overall, Mortal Kombat II is yet another well-made movie that is faithful to the source material while also adding more depth to the storytelling. It still continues to carry rough baggage from the last movie and further proves its point.

Despite that, Mortal Kombat II is a must-watch for the fighting game fans who wanted bragging rights for their favorite title. It’s full of action and gory spectacle, befitting the iconic characteristic of Mortal Kombat.

Mortal Kombat II is now playing throughout various theaters in Indonesia.