Reel Talk: Mortal Kombat II a rare game adaptation that actually levels up

3 stars

Starring: Martyn Ford, Karl Urban, Tadanobu Asano

Rated: MA15+

In Cinemas: Now

In every way, Mortal Kombat II is an improvement on the first movie in 2021, which successfully rebooted a franchise that had lain dormant since 1997.

Of course, the gaming universe the films are adapted from was anything but dormant during that period, spawning over a dozen iterations that were all renowned for graphically gory finishing moves known as “Fatalities”.

Let’s be real — as long as any Mortal Kombat movie delivers Fatalities worthy of the source material, gamers are probably going to be satisfied.

So, the bar for success isn’t all that high.

But Perth director Simon McQuoid was not content to only clear that bar and has now given us two entries in the franchise that offer at least something for audience members not steeped in game lore.

The sequel, in particular, has more broad appeal, thanks to the introduction of Kiwi superstar Karl Urban as beloved OG game character, Johnny Cage.

Fresh from wrapping up the final season of the hit Amazon series, The Boys, Urban is hilarious as Cage, depicted here as an American action movie hero, who is well past his prime.

With frosted tips and dark shades — Cage’s trademark move is pushing the sunnies back up the bridge of his nose with a middle-finger salute — we find the actor at a crossroads.

Any credibility he once had as a martial arts master has long since been eroded by a series of cheesy action movies (think Steven Seagal crossed with Van Damme), and he seems doomed to finish his career as an afterthought on the fan convention circuit.

At least, until the appearance of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), who recruits the actor to fight on behalf of Earthrealm in a tournament where every bout is to the death.

Lose too many of these bouts and Earthrealm will become the property of boss-level bad guy, Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford).

McQuoid wisely invests in making the fight scenes as impressively choreographed as possible, something made easier by the return of Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Noob Saibot, a real-life judo champion.

For those who want more than fight scenes, this sequel ramps up the comedy, both with Urban’s character arc, which includes a brilliant Johnny Cage movie-in-a-movie, and the resurrection of Aussie comic Josh Lawson’s Kano.

Kano was pretty definitively killed off in the first movie, and bringing the character back from the dead does lower the stakes, but Lawson is so damn funny it’s a victimless crime.

And any film starring Japanese superstar Hiroyuki Sanada of Shogun fame is worth the price of admission.