Mortal Kombat 2 Movie Is Dividing EVERYONE (Review)

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Mortal Kombat 2 is finally out in cinemas, but has it been worth the wait?

[00:00:05]Well, as a lukewarm fan of the original movie, I loved the fight choreography. I loved the emotional intensity between Subzero and Scorpion, and I loved what it set up for the sequel by finally getting us to the Mortal Kombat tournament. It was undeniably an imbalanced film with a lot of issues, most namely the original character created for the movie and its protagonist, Cole Young. This combined with a weak middle act, some strange changes from the original Mortal Kombat law, and the fact that we never actually got the Mortal Kombat tournament in the movie itself did lead many to assume that the sequel would write the wrongs of the original and give us the fully formed version of this liveaction vision. And while Mortal Kombat 2 undoubtedly fixes so many of the problems that the first film was hounded by, it also replaces them with some issues of its own. All right, let me quickly lay out the premise of this flick. After the end of the last movie, Earth Realms fighters are now getting ready to partake in Mortal Kombat. This is a fighting tournament that decides the fate of the different realms. If one realm can win 10 in a row, they then get to take dominion over another. This time around, the leader of Outworld, Shiaoan, has already taken over some of the other realms and has his eyes set on Earth Realm. He's already won nine out of 10, and this is our heroes's last chance to stop him from taking over the world. For our heroes, we have returning characters Liu Kang, Jackson Briggs, Sonia Blade, a newcomer in Johnny Cage, and of course, Cole Young himself alongside Raiden, who was the god of thunder and lightning, but isn't allowed to partake himself in the actual tournament. The idea is these characters are going to go toe-to-toe individually, one- on-one with the best combatants from Outworld until there's only one team with any remaining fighters. It's a pretty standard plot, but it's what fans have been spending years looking forward to. After the Mortal Kombat tournament itself was teased in the first film, there were many left disappointed that they had to wait to see it in the sequel. And sadly, I don't know if it was worth the wait.

[00:02:23]Truth be told, the film spends a good chunk of time serving us up exposition for the different dimensions and the different characters who are going to be fighting each other. But it's not all that compelling. We get a prologue which sees finish the 10th Mortal Kombat and take over another realm, killing the former king of it in the process in front of his daughter, who then grows up to be a character called Katana, who we follow throughout the movie and defects to Earth realm. The issue is after this pretty solid opening, things grind to a little bit of a halt without much momentum. The team then go to recruit Johnny Cage, a washedup bem movie actor from the '90s as their one fighter shot.

[00:03:06]Naturally, Johnny Cage being an actor and not being involved in fighting off beasties with with knives for arms isn't quite sure why he's being picked by the gods and doesn't get on board with the idea of partaking in the tournament initially. And this is admittedly a pretty good scene. If you have been following the marketing, you will have seen the knockoff trailers and scenes that the production company has made for fake Johnny Cage films. We see one of them play out in total in this flick.

[00:03:37]And it's glorious. It looks a little bit like Black Dynamite if you've seen that movie. All fake kicks and explosions that don't make any sense. It's a hoot.

[00:03:46]It's great. I wish the film had more scenes like this. After this though, we then get to a lull in the story. In my opinion, essentially what we're left with are a bunch of characters hanging out at home base being spiritually called upon to warp into levels to fight one v one with a member of Outworld. And this is the most video gamey part of the entire film. The characters are literally spawning in to direct recreations from stages from a myriad of different games and are fighting one- on-one. To me, the issue isn't that.

[00:04:20]That's cool. And it is excellent to see stages from the games beautifully displayed authentically in this film.

[00:04:28]It's just the framing of it. Characters are literally just sat around in essentially a green room like you would be for a gig before disappearing into a colored light and then reappearing in a stage. The stakes aren't fully conveyed.

[00:04:43]The urgency isn't there and it feels a little bit arbitrary. It feels like the writers don't quite know how to integrate the actual tournament in to the overall story of the film. And while some of the fights themselves in these sequences are pretty good, I will get to one in particular, which is probably the best in the entire film, there isn't enough characterization, I don't think, to make them all that impactful. The Scorpion v Subzero opener of the first film was so so good. Not just because the people involved were great actors and great actual martial artists, but because you believed in the drama. there was intensity there over who would win because this time around you have a lot of characters who you're pretty sure won't actually kill each other. It lowers the stakes even more as well. The film telegraphs very early on that some characters, especially Katana, whose entire motivation is to ultimately get revenge on Khan. The film makes it clear that a lot of these fighters won't be by Kahan's side. He doesn't have any real lieutenants in the actual Mortal Kombat tournament itself, meaning that when two characters warp into a fight, there's a lack of real weight. Thankfully, by the halfway mark, though, that all changes, the story kicks into gear, and we're actually back to having a good time with emotional investment and character stakes. This all begins with one particularly gnarly death that instantly ups the consequences of everything involved, but it does come at the cost of the tournament itself essentially being pushed by the wayside until the very final scene. It doesn't really matter after that. Instead, we dive into this plot about Khan trying to steal the gods's power being aided by characters Shang Tsung andWani.

[00:06:34]And the characters themselves, while they all look incredible, are also a bit of a mixed bag. I think that has more to do with the actors than the actual material, though. Some actors who don't have particularly groundbreaking material, like Tatty Gabrielle, are by far the most magnetic presences in the entire flick. She plays Jade, essentially Katana's bodyguard and loyal shield of Khan. And while her character story isn't really anything to write home about, there is a magnetism and charisma and emotional depth that the actor is able to bring to the forefront that some of the other actors just can't quite muster. So, we have this real imbalance of talent. Some are firing on all cylinders. Some are trying their best to elevate this material and make you the audience care, while others are a little bit too wooden. And that is an issue that the first film had as well.

[00:07:28]So, it's a bit of a shame that things aren't ironed out here. One amazing character, though, thankfully, is Shiao Khan. He is a brilliant villain. While not exactly the most original character, he is ultimately just a menacing brute who wants to enslave the entire world.

[00:07:47]His physicality and his absolute threat is definitely conveyed right from scene one and all the way throughout the film.

[00:07:56]He's presented a little bit like Thanos, a little bit like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. He is someone where whenever he appears on screen, you genuinely do get scared for any characters involved. You know, he has the ability to rip someone's head off, though we sadly don't see that in graphic detail in the film, but you know that he's able to tear these characters apart if they're left alone vulnerable with him. that does bring a sense of imposing presence to the film when the writing of him doesn't necessarily. Carl Urban as Johnny Cage is another highlight in my opinion. I know a lot of people weren't sure when he was announced to be this character, but I think he really nails that washed up older version of Johnny Cage. Again, his writing isn't the best. Some of his gags definitely work and had me laughing in the cinema. Others are the kind of crap that you've heard a million times before in another million cringe-worthy comedy films. There's an imbalance there with Kano as well, who is a character I historically haven't enjoyed all of that much and didn't love in the first flick, but he's brought back in the sequel. And he is genuinely one of the best things about it. Again, not necessarily because of the writing. He has some absolutely abysmal jokes. some jokes where you just think, I cannot believe that got past the first draft. But it's the quality of the delivery. It's the magnetism again and charisma of the performer who's able to make even seemingly unfunny things on paper crack at least a rise smile. They bring just a level of energy to the film that it sorely needs and stops it being completely flat. If you're sensing a pattern here, then you've probably understood my thoughts about this film.

[00:09:43]It's a very imbalanced movie. There are so many swings between it being genuinely good and you wondering what the hell you're watching. The gulfing quality is on display all the way through. And sadly, that also goes for the fight scenes themselves. Though none are ever outright bad, there's only one in my opinion that matches the heights of some of the best fights from the first flick. The very best comes down to a fight involving Lu Kang that I'll try not to spoil here, but it's amazing.

[00:10:13]It's got everything. It has the actual martial arts artistry. It has the blocking where you can see everything going down and feel every impact. It's even getting me doing fake moves in this video. And you've also got the special effects extravagance of the big power moves from Mortal Kombat games. It's all set against a beautiful backdrop as well with real emotional stakes. And it all works. It's the film at its best. It's the film's fight choreography at its best. alongside the cinematography. Like the first flick though, you can tell when the actors involved are genuine martial artists or stunt performers and when they are actors trying to recreate that. When the actors don't have that ability, again, they're still pretty good and the film uses a lot of techniques to cover for them, including stunt doubles, but you don't get those majestic long takes and long shots where you can see everything just flowing together brilliantly. When those fights do hit though, they are sensational. And even the other fights that don't have those real martial arts authentic moments usually make up for it with quite a bit of good gore. Generally, story-wise, there isn't too much that will surprise you here, other than the reentering of the franchise away from the original protagonist, Cole Young. As you've probably guessed from the trailers, he's no longer the main protagonist of this film and instead takes a side character role and goes to the periphery alongside Sonia Blade and Jackson Briggs, which is probably for the best. His chosen one storyline from the original movie felt a little at odds with the prioritizing of the characters from the games that people and audience members actually wanted to see. They wcon some of the more controversial elements from the original scripts as well, leaving this a way more authentic story that is more comparable to the games. And it is just generally clear that this movie is more inspired from the actual games than the first one was.

[00:12:12]We have so many different stages that are just onetoone recreations or interpretations of the fighting stages from the entire series. Essentially, if someone is fighting in the actual Mortal Kombat tournament in this film, chances are it's going to be in a stage directly from the games. Alongside this, we have so many of the actual move sets translated over to the characters and brought together with the same visual stylistic flourishes that you also see from the games. You even have an excellent cameo in there in a bar scene that is that brought a smile to my face, put it that way. In that way, if you're someone who was a fan of the series and are looking out for these Easter eggs and these recreations of iconic characters and iconic locations, the movie gives you that from minute one and literally never stops as you proceed through the film. I personally would have liked to see more of the Deadly Alliance, Shang Tsung, and Quani in the flick. They get sidelined in the second half, which isn't for the worst because you do then get to focus on a story, like I said, that feels that bit more impactful, but I wish they could have been weaved in in a more satisfying way.

[00:13:22]Overall, Mortal Kombat 2 is kind of two steps forward and two steps back. The writing is still an issue, but not in the same way as it was in the first film. The storyline here is much more cohesive, but the actual writing of the characters is still a little flat and underwhelming. You should care more about a lot of the people that we're following. Otherwise, what's the point in having them in this story at all. The same can be said for the fight choreography as well. There are definitely highlights that you'll want to see on the big screen. some genuine crowd-pleasers, but a lot that just feel lacking in narrative weight and overall physical impact. It is an issue that the best parts of the film are references and call backs to the best moments in the first flick. And it leaves me thinking that while this is an improvement, maybe overall one that admittedly doesn't quite reach the high heights of the first flick, there's still a better third film in here. It's definitely a franchise I want to see continue. It's definitely a movie that I think is good overall, but I think there's still more potential in these characters, in this cast, in this story that we can get out of this franchise.

[00:14:36]There has to be a third film that takes the good qualities of the second and the good qualities of the first and smashes them together and finally leaves behind the dead weight that's dragged these first two flicks down. But let me know what you guys think. It's not going to win any Oscars, but it is also a pretty good and entertaining flick. If you've seen it, let me know if you like that Liu Kang fight as much as I did. You'll know the one when you see it. And also, if you agree that some of these characters could have been written better. Also, look out for a video where I dive deep into one of the biggest mistakes from the first film that this sequel actually does rectify in a big way. It's a it's it's it's it's a wild thing that they do. And I'm not going to spoil it here. Try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. But you got to watch that video. It's it's crazy. It's crazy. They do some crazy things.