Mortal Kombat II review: This outdated franchise deserves a mercy killing

The opening scene of Mortal Kombat II doesn’t spare you. The ruthless Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) vanquishes his opponent, King Jerrod (Desmond Chiam), pushing a broken sword into his hand and slicing all his fingers off, before destroying him. All in front of Jerrod’s young daughter, Kitana. In case you’re arriving fresh to the franchise, as the inimitable blonde-haired fighter, Sonya Blade, later puts it: "It’s called 'Mortal Kombat' for a reason."

Adapted from the best-selling combat video game series, Mortal Kombat II follows the 2021 reboot, which brought the story back to screens after two ropey movies in the '90s. Once again, Kahn is the enemy. The Messianic ruler of the so-called Outworld is gunning for Earthrealm, a region now on the verge of being conquered.

With just one fighting tournament left before Kahn wins, a rag-tag team must band together to stop him. Under the guidance of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Blade (Jessica McNamee) is joined by Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Jax (Mehcad Brooks), a super-soldier fitted with metallic arms – all returning from the 2021 movie for a story that is largely more of the same.

The most welcome addition in this follow-up is fan-favourite Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban. The New Zealand-born actor, famed for his Dr McCoy in the recent Star Trek movies and his superhero-hunting Billy Butcher from The Boys, is perfectly tailored to playing this one-time action star. Armed with his catchphrase "It’s showtime!", he also comes with a signature move, using his extended middle digit to go from insult to pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose.

His introduction is also neatly done, as we see a clip from one of his movies 'Uncaged Fury', produced by "New Line Cinema" (the actual company behind the Mortal Kombat movies). Cut to screeching heavy metal music on screen, Cage jumps over a rocket fired from a rocket launcher by one assailant. What an entrance, you might say, in a parody that borrows heavily from '90s straight-to-video action stars (he even wears a belt buckle with ‘Cage’ emblazoned on it).

If Cage is the sequel’s main selling point, he is rivalled for one-liners by Kano (Josh Lawson), the Aussie-sounding space scoundrel. With an eye that fires a deadly red laser beam, he certainly livens up proceedings, spitting out insults like "Voldermort’s nutsack" – aimed at the grey-skinned necromancer character Quan Chi (Damon Herriman). Certainly, it’s a welcome change from the solemn script’s tedious lines like "strength is not a closed fist" and "discover the man you were meant to be".

Needless to say, the grown-up Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) also has a part to play, after being enslaved by Kahn and forced to fight for the Outworld. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’ll be out for vengeance, and that blue sash she took from her father may prove useful. Then again, there’s little by way of surprises in Mortal Kombat II – a film, lest we forget, based on a game where characters pummel each other with kicks, punches and special powers.

There is the occasional visual flourish – the astral backdrops behind the fighters as they scrap are mesmerising – and a pumped-up score by Benjamin Wallfisch (the closing credits especially, with a high-energy take on the game’s original music). But for the most part returning director Simon McQuoid does little to turn this into anything but a serviceable follow-up to a film that feels outdated and outdone by much better recent video game adaptations. A third film is in the works, but on this evidence, it deserves a mercy killing. To misquote the game itself: "Finish it!"

Mortal Kombat II is released in cinemas on 8 May.

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