Mortal Kombat II is Neither Redundant nor Disappointing

Mortal Kombat II is Neither Redundant nor Disappointing

I Was Not a Fan of the 2021 Mortal Kombat Film...

And I had very few, if any, expectations for this one.

DISCLAIMER: Before I begin, just know I'm gonna shit on Capcom and Zach Cregger throughout, so just prepare yourself, I feel like Mortal Kombat II gave me permission, because it actually understands the importance of characters and source material. Thanks.

Look, the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie wasn’t offensively bad in the way some adaptations are. It had a couple of cool moments and didn’t completely shit the bed. But holy hell, making a non-game, completely original character the lead in a movie based on a video game series that already has over a hundred playable fighters across nearly thirty years of games? That was straight-up insulting. It never felt like it belonged. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just insulting...

It was retarded.

Yes, I used the R-word. This is a blog about Mortal Kombat, the franchise so goddamn abrasive and over-the-top violent that it literally forced the creation of the ESRB rating system. If a word offends you, GET OUTTA HERE!

But Cole Young wasn’t the only problem with 2021’s Mortal Kombat. The movie was loaded with the same complaints you heard from pretty much every fan who grew up mashing buttons in arcades and living rooms.

It barely felt like Mortal Kombat. The games are built around this massive, interdimensional tournament where Earthrealm’s fate hangs in the balance every generation—brutal one-on-one kombat, ridiculous fatalities, over-the-top lore, and a cast of colorful, larger-than-life warriors. The movie? It sidelined all that for a generic “chosen one” origin story about some random MMA fighter discovering his magic bloodline powers. There was no real tournament. No sense of stakes or realm-threatening consequences. Just a lot of setup, some half-assed training montages, and a climax that felt like it was saving the actual Mortal Kombat for the sequel.

The gore was another huge miss. Mortal Kombat’s entire identity is built on that sick, creative, cartoonishly brutal violence—spines ripped out, heads exploded, bodies turned into bloody paste. The 2021 film was R-rated and had a few decent kills (Goro’s death was awesome despite the questionable CGI), but it still felt watered down and tame compared to the games. The fatalities weren’t frequent enough, they weren’t creative enough, and they sure as hell weren’t fun enough. It was like the director was scared to lean all the way into the absurdity that makes MK so addictive.

Then there were the characters and writing. Most of the cast felt like they were just... there. Liu Kang and Kung Lao were reduced to exposition machines with zero personality. Jax and Sonya were fine but forgettable. Scorpion and Sub-Zero had a cool rivalry setup, but it never went anywhere satisfying. The dialogue was bland, the character arcs were paint-by-numbers, and nothing really happened outside of a couple of standout scenes. The whole thing played like a generic superhero origin flick that just happened to have “Mortal Kombat” slapped on the title. It didn’t capture the campy, ridiculous, balls-to-the-wall spirit of the games at all.

And yeah, the audience widely agreed. Everywhere you looked—Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, review aggregators—people were saying the exact same things: Cole Young was out of place and completely unnecessary, Kano (shoutout to the legend Josh Lawson) was the only one who actually stole the damn movie and felt like he belonged, the plot was thin and forgettable, and overall it just didn’t feel like Mortal Kombat. Fans wanted the tournament. They wanted the full roster energy. They wanted the gore and the attitude. Instead they got a safe, watered-down setup movie that treated the source material like it was embarrassed by it.

But Mortal Kombat II?

Mortal Kombat II is what happens when a director actually LISTENS to the audience and makes a FUCKING VIDEO GAME ADAPTATION.

No hyperbole.

This is quite possibly the most fun video game movie ever made. Period.

I Didn't Even Wanna See This Movie

After the first trailer released I did think it looked better, but... 

With my opinion of that first one being the equivalent of a stale beer fart blasted through the glory hole of a gay bar bathroom stall—don’t ask me how I know—it was damn near impossible to feel even cautiously optimistic about this sequel.

My favorite video game franchise of all time, Resident Evil, has been continuously and mercilessly gang-raped by every single person who’s ever gotten their hands on it. So yeah, I know the pain of watching something you love get slowly whittled down, sanded off, and turned into corporate slop that only shares the name with the original.

After Netflix took the rich, dark Witcher universe and castrated it, skinned it alive, and left it bleeding out on the floor… after Resident Evil got reduced to generic dimestore horror with none of the personality, lore, or balls of the games, and at one point was even turned into a father and daughter drama… I was just fucking numb.

I had realized that the owners and copyright holders of the things that I love were NO LONGER the people who CARED ABOUT THEM.

The 2021 Mortal Kombat already felt like the same hollow trick: a martial arts movie wearing the skin of a legendary fighting game series. Just because it has the name slapped on the poster doesn’t mean it actually is the thing.

I’d been burned too many times.

Trailers can lie. Marketing can lie. Hollywood can lie. So when the Mortal Kombat II trailers dropped and actually looked promising—way better than the first—I still told myself, “Nah. I’m not falling for this shit again.” I was fully prepared to skip it. I even said out loud, “I’m not even going to see this one. I don’t have the energy to care anymore.”

But… I did care. Goddammit, something in the back of my head wouldn’t shut up.

Something kept whispering, “Yeah, Karl Urban doesn’t scream Johnny Cage on paper, but you do like Karl Urban.” Another voice said, “This isn’t Zach Cregger feeding you another Resident Evil movie with random characters who have nothing to do with the games—this one is actually giving you the characters.” The poster had fucking Baraka and Shao Kahn front and center. The spoilers had showed actual fatalities that felt nasty. And deep down I knew the first movie, for all its many, many sins, at least had Kano carrying it on his back like a goddamn champ.

So I said fuck it.

My wife and I love going to the movies anyway, and that stupid limited-edition popcorn bucket looked cool as hell. If nothing else, I'd go home with a badass Popcorn bucket and something to nerd rage about, and at best, I'd get what I got tonight...

And, no lie, his is easily one of the top ten times in my entire life I’ve been ecstatic to be proven wrong. And trust me—I’m not wrong often. But this time? I was dead fucking wrong.

Mortal Kombat II didn’t just meet my (extremely) low expectations… it smashed right through them and reminded me why I fell in love with this ridiculous, violent, over-the-top series in the first place.

I didn't leave the theatre feeling like I had just watched a martial arts movie with the Mortal Kombat title slapped on, I left the theatre feeling like 8 year old me, having just seen one of his favorite video games brought to life.

And I Mean, Brought to Life

If You're a Mortal Kombat Fan, Look at this Screenshot...

If you’re a Mortal Kombat fan, you don’t even need me to explain this screenshot. You already know. If you’re like me, you probably shouted at the screen the second it showed up.

Liu Kang. Kung Lao. That background. It’s ripped straight from the games. Undeniable. Show this to any real MK fan and they’d instantly know exactly what they’re looking at—no explanation required. This could’ve been taken directly from a Mortal Kombat game, and you damn well know it.

This is what an adaptation looks like when it actually respects the source material. It didn’t try to give us a bunch of unrelated original characters or stories. It didn’t invent its own realm or tell us the real Mortal Kombat tournament would be “redundant” or “disappointing.” It just adapted what we already loved and brought it to life without a shred of creative arrogance.

Does this look disappointing to you? Hell no.

And during this movie I had a realization that perfectly explains why the Resident Evil films (and so many others) keep failing.

After a certain character dies — no spoilers — the truth hits you and you realize in that moment: nobody is safe. This is actually Mortal Kombat. From that moment on, every fight carries real weight because any one of these characters could get brutally fatalitied at any second.

Holy shit.

But that’s the key. I care about these characters. I care about Liu Kang, Sonya, Jax, Johnny Cage, Kitana. I’ve cared about them since I was a kid who had no business playing these games. Same with Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy, Goku, Vegeta — they’re part of my damn life. If Any one of these characters were brutally murdered in a movie, I would lose my shit.

Why would I give a fuck about some random beanie-wearing original character who doesn’t exist in thirty years of games and a hundred playable characters? Why should I care if he gets ripped apart? Why should I care if he and his modern-day Iphone survive, a wintery, 1998, September day in a zombie-light Raccoon City?

Look... There was a point in this movie where one of the characters I literally grew up with was in a huge fight after the scene that made me realize no one was safe.

I shouted in the theater, “No, you can’t kill [SPOILER]!”

And then they fucking did it.

THEY FUCKING DID IT.

And I cared. I cared because these are my characters. These are the characters I spent my time with lying in a hospital bed when my leg was almost amputated as a kid. These are the same characters from that 1994 Robin Shou flick that I watched over, and over, and over again. These aren't characters made for the ego of the filmmaker. These were characters made for me all the way back when I was way too young to be ready for them.

The people who made this film understood that. They didn’t avoid the legacy or get arrogant and create their own — they leaned all the way into it and used it perfectly.

Good on them. Seriously. I wish to GOD more people adapting video games and books would learn from them that SOURCE MATERIAL MATTERS. And some things shouldn't change.

But, Sometimes They Can...

You Want to Talk About the Biggest Surprise in the Entire Film?

Other than [SPOILER], [SPOILER], [SPOILER], and [SPOILER] all eating it (hey, it’s Mortal Kombat — what the hell did you expect?), this screenshot right here was my single biggest shock.

I’ll be honest… if we go by what the all-knowing people on the internet who’ve never met me say, I’m a bigot. Their words, not mine. And I have to admit, this version of Jade was the single most off-putting thing in the entire trailer — even more than my hatred for the first movie.

She was the biggest departure from the game version I was worried about. By the time the movie ended, though? I thought she was fucking dope as hell.

So what flipped me? Look, I think she’s hot. I have zero issue with Jade — I’ve loved her since MK9 and MK11. I don’t even think the bald head looks that bad on her. I really wish she’d kept her long black hair from the games, but the bald look isn’t nearly as bad as the trailer made it seem.

The real problem was the vibe. It was the same “strong women have to be toxic men” trope Hollywood shoves down our throats with half their female characters.

You know exactly what I’m talking about — giving women toxically masculine traits, having them emasculate every guy around them, and then calling it “strong female writing.” The trailer was screaming that energy: the over-confident smug expressions, the emotionless delivery, the whole “intergalactic heretic prophet” Naughty Dog trailer vibe that made her look like a boring, masculine husk.

But in the actual movie? She is nigh perfect.

No, seriously.

Her movements in the fights, the internal struggle between honor and doing what’s right, the way she sticks to her oath until she realizes it’s an oath to pure evil — all of it felt like classic Jade. Yeah, her third-act turn came a little out of nowhere (probably my biggest complaint in the whole film), but overall she felt like the Jade we know from the games.

I would genuinely love to see more of this actress’s version in the future. Hell, I’d even be down for her romance with Kotal Kahn if they go there.

Another character I was ready to hate… and another way this movie proved me wrong.

But How Can it Hold all of this Shit?

If I had One Complaint About the Super Mario Galaxy Movie...

It’s that it tries to cram way too much into one film — too many characters, too many story strings, and way too many forced references. I still thought it was a great movie, but it definitely felt overstuffed.

So why doesn’t Mortal Kombat II feel the same way? This movie is actively juggling 5 or 6 different storylines across 14-15 characters, and yet it never feels bloated or overwhelming.

The difference is simple: MKII understands how all these characters actually connect to one another.

The Super Mario Galaxy movie throws a bunch of mostly unconnected stuff into one big story. Mortal Kombat II brings a ton of interconnected threads together under one roof. Everything feeds into everything else like a well-oiled conveyor belt. You get the full picture from multiple perspectives without it ever feeling messy or convoluted.

You’ve got Johnny Cage trying to prove himself among the Earthrealmers who already know the stakes. Liu Kang desperately trying to save Kung Lao’s soul. Kitana and Jade clashing over honor versus doing what’s right. Shao Kahn scheming to conquer Earthrealm. And every single one of those threads orbits the same central idea: the Mortal Kombat tournament — save the world or lose it forever.

All of it is held together by some seriously badass fight scenes (one of which might be my favorite fight scene in any video game adaptation, pictured above) and enough brutal gore to make every fatality actually mean something.

Add in a story that tells you exactly what it is from the jump, a couple of “holy shit they actually killed [SPOILER]!” moments, and a surprisingly wholesome, silly ending, and you’ve got a perfectly balanced package of fanservice, violence, and fun that never feels overbooked or under-delivered.

In my opinion, this is the perfect sequel to the 1994 original Mortal Kombat film. Yeah, there are a few discrepancies (like who the fuck is Cole Young and why is Kung Lao suddenly important?), but if you throw on the ’94 movie and follow it with this one? You’re in for one hell of a good time.

I know I was.

So What's the Takeaway?

Adapting a Video Game and its Characters is NOT Redundant or Disappointing

I’ve said that line multiple times in this review, and just in case you're not privy here’s exactly why.

Zach Cregger, director of the new “Resident Evil” movie, proudly announced he was using his own original characters and story instead of the games’ because — and I quote — “There’s kind of no winning there if I were to tell Leon’s story, because the games do such a great job. It would just be kind of redundant and disappointing.”

Let me tell you something, Zach. If you’re the kind of filmmaker who can take something as batshit awesome as Resident Evil and turn it into something “redundant and disappointing,” then you’re not the right person to adapt it in the first place. And since the movie you made isn’t actually Resident Evil, I guess we’re all safe.

The sheer fucking nerve. The narcissistic gall. The giant swinging gonads it takes to stand there and say your brand-new original characters and story are somehow better for film than the beloved characters and lore fans have loved since the early ‘90s… that’s peak Hollywood hubris.

Mortal Kombat II just proved how foolish, ignorant, and arrogant that mindset really is.

MKII shows exactly how a video game adaptation should treat its source: with respect, with love, and with zero shame in giving the fans what they actually want. All the fanservice, all the lore, all the iconic characters — it’s there. The people behind Mortal Kombat II understood something the Resident Evil filmmakers never have:

Fights alone don’t make Mortal Kombat what it is. Gore alone doesn’t make it what it is. If that’s all it was, it’d be no different from Street Fighter or Doom.

Resident Evil is more than just “scary horror.” It’s the characters. It’s the organizations. It’s the cheese, the one-liners, the boulder-punching, the mutations, the Hunters, the Lickers, the parasites. It’s Jill, Chris, Leon, Claire, Ada, and Barry. It’s super cops and elite soldiers firing four-barrel rocket launchers at ten-foot-tall zombies while the self-destruct timer counts down. That’s Resident Evil. Reducing it to “scary movie with Umbrella and green herbs” is an insult to everything the series has ever been.

Mortal Kombat II gets it. Mortal Kombat is the characters. It’s the realms, the Elder Gods, the tournament, the lore. It’s Liu Kang, Sonya, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Kano, Kitana, Shao Kahn, Scorpion, Kung Lao, Baraka, and all the rest. It’s the bloody fatalities, the iconic stages, the ‘90s cheese, the over-the-top one-liners, the splits to the balls, the dragons, the necromancers, the interdimensional chaos. And this movie understood every single piece of that.

That’s why Mortal Kombat II is one of my favorite video game adaptations of all time. It came right when I needed it most. While the Resident Evil movies keep fumbling the ball, Mortal Kombat just walked into Hollywood and broke every bone in the industry’s body.

Flawless Victory.