Mortal Kombat II
Despite the last film releasing in the middle of a pandemic, the Mortal Kombat reboot did well enough to receive a sequel. So what if the critics gave it a 55%? These films have never tried to be anything other than a goofy time. You don’t go to Mortal Kombat to see Schindler’s List, you go to see stereotypical Americans getting chains and hooks thrown at them by stereotypical Asians with laser bolts shooting out their fingers.
Director Simon McQuoid returns to helm the latest film with the screenplay by Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy, The Exorcist). This time he’s been given way more budget to make the movie he always dreamed of.
“When we made the [first] movie, Warner Bros. didn’t know how people were going to react. They didn’t know. We didn’t have a huge budget to do whatever we wanted to do,” Producer Todd Garner told IGN. “We certainly couldn’t compete with the huge superhero movies by any stretch of the imagination, so we were limited by the scale and scope of that movie because they didn’t really know what they had.”
Fan favourite champions return this time joined by Johnny Cage played by Carl Urban who acts as our everyman character, or at least a character who absolutely believes he is the protagonist of every situation he finds himself in. It’s a great premise and absolutely fits who he is as a character.
He’s pitted alongside fan favourites in the ultimate, no-holds-barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.
McQuoid also hints that he added a couple little extras into the IMAX version of the film. “There’s some things in the IMAX version, some little story moments and little gems for the super fans that, if you see the IMAX version, you’ll see something in that version that you won’t see in the regular theatrical version. I just wanted to try and innovate and use the format in a way that really makes it a rewarding experience for the audience.”
The original films in the 90s started strong and flopped with the second film Annihilation, nixing the chances of a third movie, and sending the series into development hell for almost 20 years. The question is, will this be a repeat, or will Mortal Kombat finally break the curse and get over the second movie hump. Mortal Kombat III has already been greenlit, but things can get cancelled in a hurry if the box office doesn’t take kindly to it. Tekken, Dead or Alive, and even Street Fighter have all failed at being up to snuff enough to warrant three sequels.
Urban himself seems to be positive about the experience, “I think Mortal Kombat II is to Mortal Kombat what The Road Warrior is to Mad Max. I think that everybody across the board has leveled up in a significant way right across the entire production.”