FILM: Mortal Kombat II Delivers a Franchise Fatality! (Spoiler Review) - **.5/4

Five years after the first re-entry into the Mortal Kombat cinematic universe, NEW LINE CINEMA and WARNER BROS. bring us back to the world of tournament fighting for the fate of the planet in MORTAL KOMBAT II.

This sequel continues where the previous film left off, with our heroes: Liu Kang (Ludy Lin), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Cole Young (Lewis Tan), and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) joining the storm god, Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) in his temple, dealing with the loss of one of their own, Kung Lao (Max Haung), and the need to find the next chosen champion for Earth, Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), just as the tournament is finally beginning. Meanwhile, Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and the antagonists of Outworld are back with some new and powerful fighters: the ferocious emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) and the fearless princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph).

Director Simon McQuoid returns for this second installment, keeping continuity for this fledgling cinematic franchise by building off the good and bad parts of the first film to create a refined vision relying more on aspects of the game and its more popular characters.

Unlike the first film that centered around an original character created for the film, Cole Young, and despite all the action was the calm before the storm of the tournament, this story focuses on two of the newcomers, longstanding characters from the Mortal Kombat game series, Urban’s Johnny Cage and Rudolph’s Kitana and gives audiences not only the tournament for Earthrealm but the movie starts in the past with a bonus look at one of Outworld’s previous tournaments against the world of Edenia, the homeworld of Kitana.

Karl Urban as Johnny Cage gives the movie a known star that everything can be centered around, as is evident in the film’s marketing, and Adeline Rudolph as Princess Kitana fills that young, up-and-coming parallel role that doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting but gets moments to shine throughout and arguably steals the show.

Both characters have their development arcs; we are introduced to Johnny as a Hollywood action star with his best days behind him, struggling to find who he is anymore. The journey to get to him acknowledging his worth as one of Earthrealm’s chosen champions could have used a bit more time; maybe a flashback would have been nice, but the beats are there.

For Kitana, the film starts with her origin and how she came to be under Shao Kahn. Her character struggles come with her relationship with Jade (Tati Gabrielle), one of Kahn’s chosen swords, and how their opposing views regarding Kahn threaten that relationship, and the decisions they make for and against each other are crucial to the outcome of the tournament.

One thing everyone can agree on is that the look and feel of this cinematic world mirrors what has been produced by the game series for years. The tournament matches take place in locations long seen in the games and are masterfully reproduced, like the portal stage where Kung Lao and Liu Kang battle. Also the fighter’s moves and reactions from the games have also been given special focus in the film. Seeing Johnny Cage eventually unleash his shadow kick or Katana use her fierce fan fatality among other moves were a visual delight on the big screen.

If the violence and gore of an R rated fighting film, or its video game origins turn you off, this might not be the movie for you. However, if you were intrigued by the previous film and wanted a bit more, this film turns it up to eleven. It’s a fun time that is over before you know it.