Cool deaths, messy plot and a wasted Karl Urban in Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat II (M18)

116 minutes, opens on May 7
★★☆☆☆

The story: After the events of 2021’s first film, strong new fighters must be drafted into the Earthrealm team to cover the losses. At stake: the Earth’s population, which comes under the rule of the cruel Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), emperor of the Outworld realm, should the squad lose. Earthrealm fighters Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) try to recruit Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), a washed-up actor selected by the gods for an unknown reason. Meanwhile, Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), Shao Kahn’s adopted daughter, uses her position in the emperor’s court to save Earthrealm from defeat.

The good news is that this sequel features the tournaments that are at the centre of the video game on which it is based. The bad news? The plot is just as messy, if not more so, than the first movie.

This reviewer is unfamiliar with game lore, so part of the reason for the story’s incoherence can be blamed on not understanding references to characters and their catchphrases. But it is apparent about a third of the way into Mortal Kombat II that the character-building is inept, either by accident or by choice.

The creative team led by returning director Simon McQuoid has clearly decided that the film’s creative energies be directed towards two words: cool kills. There are plenty of these here, in all their grisly M18-rated glory, designed to shock and elicit reactions of “wow, they really went there”.

The tactic mostly works, in the manner of horror movie jump scares. Jump scares are called cheap for a reason; a sibling hiding behind a corner of the kitchen can deliver the same emotional rush as a movie with a $200 million budget.

Fans of the game, however, will probably see more in the gore than the average moviegoer.

The fight choreography is good, but only when the characters are not encrusted with prosthetics and costumes. One highlight is the showdown between Ludi Lin’s Liu Kang and another fighter, who will be unnamed because he is a surprise entry. Their speed and agility make the other battles look tame.

The main villain Shao Kahn, played by the 2.03m-tall Ford, is the Death Star equivalent of a warrior – intimidating but slow, with no interesting moves.

Much more could have been made of Johnny Cage, put front and centre in Mortal Kombat II’s marketing. He is a former action movie star who is now broke and forgotten, reduced to peddling merch at fan conventions and recruited into the warrior team reluctantly.

There ought to be plenty of comedy and redemption arc potential there, but it is wasted through bizarre character decisions and plot contrivances – dead characters can resurrect and warriors’ allegiances to the warring dimensions of Outworld and Earthrealm can flip-flop like pancakes on a griddle.

The most egregious example of that sin is Kitana, who is meant to be the film’s emotional core, but never given a chance to develop an inner life. The story rushes through her arc because there are more than a dozen characters and battles to get through before the credits roll.

There are good pop-culture jokes here and there. Cage mourns the death of the 1990s stylised martial arts action that made him a star, saying: “These days, people want grounded and gritty, they wanna see Keanu Reeves kill a thousand guys with a pencil.”

Hot take: This sequel delivers exactly what it promises – cool fatalities – and almost nothing else.