Mortal Kombat II
Director: Simon McQuaid
Starring: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, Martin Ford and Hiroyuki Sanada
Rating: ★★.5
Where is the fine line dividing camp and cringe? This was the question in my mind during the entire 1 hour 56 minutes duration Mortal Kombat II, the first of this year’s two big fighting game adaptations. The movie doesn’t follow any logic (even in-universe), it’s extremely cheesy, and some of its scenes look straight out of the 1990s. Yet, despite all this, it never lets down the entertainment quotient. Sure, you can judge yourself for having so much fun while watching a bad movie. But hey, isn’t entertainment the whole point of it?
World of Mortal Kombat II
Shao Kahn, the evil emperor from another world, is threatening to take over our world, Earth, thanks to the ignorance of all mankind. The fate of the world will be decided by a tournament of champions – five each from Otherworld and Earthrealm. This is what happens, bad action Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) has been chosen by the Elder Gods as one of Earth’s champions. So while other fighters breathe fire and wield talismanic weapons, Johnny must rely only on his wits, charm, and a lot of luck if he is to survive – and save the world in the process.
fun, fearless, flawed
Mortal Kombat II never threatens to take itself too seriously, nor does it want the audience to either. The stakes are high, the world is about to end, and demons have an amulet that grants immortality, but in between there’s always time for jokes about pop culture. So, you’ll hear wise words about Pennywise, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Voldemort, and any number of iconic characters from the last half century. The narrative follows a clear pattern: building tension for big moments, only to diffuse it at the end with a quip or one-liner from the heroes, followed by the bad guys’ lame return.
Somehow, it doesn’t get old that quickly. Limit it to some smart dialogue or Karl Urban charm. In The Boys, he created a despicable character you can admire. Here, he does the same for a two-dimensional movie star, mistaking midlife crisis for a coming-of-age cycle. To say that the bulk of the film rests on his shoulders would be no exaggeration. And Carl takes to it beautifully, flipping the bird from time to time.
The highlight of Mortal Kombat II is the fight scenes, especially the deaths. Before Final Destination made gore its USP, Mortal Kombat games had been doing it for years. The film brings the same ingenuity to depicting violence and bloodshed, finding new ways to kill, dismember, decapitate and crush people, all while drawing cheers from the crowd. When Shao Kahn yells, ‘Finish him!’ So any fan of sports is bound to scream. Or the scorpion yells, ‘Get here!’ Because he is about to eliminate an opponent. Some of the battles are very well choreographed, with the one between Kung Lao and Liu Kang taking the cake. The only complaint with the action is that the best moments are few and far between.
cracks appear
But the film, while entertaining, falls far short of being completely enjoyable. For one, the big evil isn’t dangerous at all. Martin Ford’s voice acting as Shao Kahn is top-notch, but for want of a better word, the writers have watered down the character. Establishing a villain as the all-powerful ruler of evil, only to have him abused by every character, takes away the luster. Vader would never be disrespected by anyone like this.
The film also commits the cardinal sin of keeping everything so light and simple that it never impacts you. The crescendo never builds, and that’s why, when our heroes encounter the forces of darkness in Hell, of all places, it doesn’t strike the way it ideally should. The high, emotional moments are the biggest misses, and no amount of flashy CGI and quirky one-liners can fix them. Mortal Kombat II disrespects its audience somewhat by failing to even follow the logic of the universe. I’m not expecting a movie based on other worlds and featuring elder gods to follow the laws of physics. But it is not too much to ask that the guards of the evil emperor are capable to some extent, or that the fights do not always stop for communication. The demand for suspension of disbelief is very high here.
Mortal Kombat II is a fun movie, depending on how much you want to ignore while watching it. There’s no doubt that fans of the game will find it thrilling, but for general audiences, it’s more of a misstep than a hit.