Review: 'Mortal Kombat 2' Is a Successful Adaptation and a Terrible Movie

There are two common criticisms when it comes to video game adaptations - they aren’t faithful to the source material, and they aren’t very good. There are few exceptions to this - the most successful is easily HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, which succeeds in being a (mostly) quality product as well as being faithful to Rockstar’s video game series. But otherwise, the movie and television world is littered with mistakes and misgivings, and that includes the cheese-tastic Mortal Kombat adaptations of the 1990s.

2021 brought a new entry, a reboot of the same title directed by Simon McQuoid that was much grittier, less goofy, and … fine. Its story was mostly nonsensical, more chosen one silliness that featured a non-canonical lead that fans didn’t love. 2026 brings us Mortal Kombat 2, again directed by McQuoid. This time around, McQuoid and screenwriter Jeremy Slater lean hard into the Mortal Kombat mythos, bringing several of the original heroes and villains in for another tournament that threatens to unbalance the universe and throw the multiverse into chaos. This time, we have Johnny Cage (played to near-perfection by the reliable Karl Urban) as a down-on-his-luck former action star who gets drafted by the god Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) to fight alongside Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin). They square off against e evil Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) and his posse of baddies that include Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), Jade (Tati Gabrielle), and assorted other menaces. Is there more to the story?

Yes. Does it really matter? No, not particularly. There’s lots of fighting and flashy, effects-laden combat (err … Kombat). There are lots of one-liners. Karl Urban is terrific. In fact, everyone plays their roles to a T, truly capturing the essence of the game franchise in all its cheesy glory. In that sense, it’s a great adaptation. It’s pure fan service, created by admitted fans and designed for fans, and if you’ve been a part of Mortal Kombat’s nearly 35-year lifespan, there will be parts that you recognize and perhaps get a kick out of. In that sense, it’s a complete success.

The problem is that Mortal Kombat 2 is a terrible movie, and I say this as someone who a) has had some good times with the game and b) will defend a mediocre game adaptation more than I probably should. But not this one. The effects are lackluster, the fighting is sluggish (except for the moments where the actors, such as Lewis Tan’s Cole Young and Max Huang’s Kung Lao, are actually trained fighters), and the story is predictable and frankly boring. Every moment that isn’t a fight is a slog, a dreadful stretch of tired dialogue that just serves as gamey connective tissue that barely holds together the meat of the film. And when those fights ultimately disappoint, it feels like the whole experience is less for it.

There’s certainly plenty of the franchise’s trademark gore, cartoonishly on display amid a flurry of profanity to let you know it’s for the big kids. And everyone gets to use a trademark line or move. But fan service is not a substitute for quality, and fidelity to the source material without giving it more than a cursory dramatic touch-up doesn’t make for a good final product. Mortal Kombat is sometimes funny, sometimes gory, and on rare occasions, clever. But it’s not consistently entertaining. It’s not silly enough to be enjoyed like its 90’s counterpart, and not good enough to stand on its own. Instead, it’s just an overcooked mess.