Get over here... again! Going into this movie, I half-expected someone to be screaming that at me as soon as the movie started.
After all, this is the third movie based on Mortal Kombat, a fighting videogame where the catchphrases are as iconic and relevant as the gory fatalities, bloody brutalities, and flawless victories.
The first Mortal Kombat, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson in 1995, remains a cult favourite among fans, while a pseudo-sequel/reboot in 2021 was equally well-received (well enough to warrant this sequel, at least.)
What sets Mortal Kombat II apart from the first (second?) movie is that instead of revolving around non-game character Cole Young (Lewis Tan), we get a bigger roster of popular game characters, led by Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), who is a 'fan favourite' in more ways than one.
MKII starts out with Kitana losing her father to Outworld emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), which results in her homeworld Edenia coming under the evil lord's rule, and her mother Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) becoming his evil zombie consort.
Shao Kahn has his eyes on Earthrealm next, and its protector, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), must now gather a group of fighters to save the world, by fighting in a tournament called, you guessed it, 'Mortal Kombat'.
Earthrealm's champions consists of survivors from the previous movie – Cole (yes, he's still here), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), and Jax (Mehcad Brooks) – and one new guy: Karl Urban's Johnny Cage.
Cage is a washed up 1980s action star who, handily enough, used to be a world karate champion, but is now reduced to sitting morosely at fan conventions hoping for someone to recognise him. Not the sort of guy you'd want saving the world, but hey, as Lord Raiden says, the Gods chose him for a reason.
Honestly, having come off the hugely successful The Boys, Urban can do no wrong right now, and having him as Cage made this so much more watchable than it deserves to be. Only he could look this cool while recreating cheesy 80s action flicks and spouting catchphrases like "It's showtime!" and "My power is I'm incredibly handsome".
There are a bunch of other characters returning from the first movie as well, including Josh Lawson’s foul-mouthed, laser-eyed Kano (just absolutely steals the show in this one as well); the guy with the killer hat, Kung Lao (Max Huang); icy ninja Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), and of course, Mr 'Get Over Here' himself, Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada).
(Wait, didn’t some of them die in the previous movie? Er, best not to think too hard about it.)
Newer characters include Jade (Tati Gabrielle) and Baraka (CJ Bloomfield), also from the game.
With such a big roster of familiar characters, McQuoid clearly knows what fans want from this movie (hint: It's not more Cole Young). He also stuffs it to the brim with Easter eggs, cameos, and fan service moments, and gives us fight after fight to enjoy, and bloody, gory fatalities galore.
Sure, the story is fairly simple, and exists mostly as an excuse for these fan favourite characters to fight one another, but you’re not going to a Mortal Kombat movie for the plot, are you?
No, all we really want from a Mortal Kombat movie is a decent action flick with lots of bloody battles between your favourite videogame characters; and to watch them kill each other in imaginatively gory ways.
In that sense, Mortal Kombat II may not be a flawless victory, but hey, it's everything you expect a Mortal Kombat movie to be.
Summary:
You get what you expect: Bloody brutalities, fun fatalities, and lots of violent fun
