And suddenly, everyone was kung-fu fighting… and dying.

But if there’s one lesson to be learned from Mortal Kombat II (MK II) — the second film in the reboot of one of the greatest fighting game franchises in history — it is that death and fatalities are temporary impediments. What remains permanent (I hope) is the sheer amount of fun this film delivers.

Returning writer Jeremy Slater and director Simon McQuoid successfully deliver a highly enjoyable sequel that trumps its barely okay-ish predecessor — a film that started with an absolutely jaw-dropping opening sequence featuring Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) and Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), only to end up making a hero out of a non-game, original character named Cole (Lewis Tan).

To boot, that first instalment didn’t even feature the actual tournament upon which hangs the balance between Earthrealm (our plane of reality), Edenia (a peaceful, heaven-like world), Outworld (a parallel war-realm straight out of a fantasy kung-fu movie) and NetherRealm (a version of hell).

Bigger, bloodier and far more entertaining than its predecessor, Mortal Kombat II finally delivers the outrageous fun the gaming franchise deserves

The opening of MK II is perhaps even more effective. Shao Khan (Martyn Ford), the ruler of Outworld, challenges King Jarrod of Edenia (Desmond Chiam) to “Mortal Kombat” — a fight to the death. To the victor goes that realm — and it does. Shao Khan kills the king, takes Edenia, makes its queen, Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen), his undead consort (yes, he can do that), and adopts and raises her daughter, Kitana (Adeline Rudolph).

Despite the insistence of her best-friend-cum-guardian Jade (Tati Gabrielle) to remain loyal to Shao Khan, Kitana becomes a secret ally to the thunder god Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), who has already assembled Earth’s best fighters. The roster has special-ops soldiers Sonya Blade and Jax (Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks), the world’s greatest martial artist Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Cole. Now, they just need to recruit Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) to settle their quota of heroes.

However, Cage is a washed-up film actor who used to be a world-renowned martial artist. His unwillingness matters little to the godly powers that run the tournament, and the film immediately begins moving from one character-versus-character fight to the next. It’s all incredibly fun because of the sheer ridiculousness of it all — people shooting fireballs out of their hands — which actually looks and feels legit.

Slater and McQuoid fully commit to the campiness and nostalgia of the Mortal Kombat II video game from 1993 (has it really been 33 years?). Most fights take place in the exact locations from the game, while — and this caught me off-guard — maintaining the high-stakes, forward momentum of the story.

Jumping from fight to fight (nearly all of them good), the story remains engaging, thanks in large part to Urban’s easy-going, comedic, semi-smug turn as the reluctant film hero who never wanted to put his life on the line in the first place.

Maintaining this level of interest is a huge accomplishment for a video game adaptation. Then again, we seem to be living in an era where video game adaptations have finally gotten the hang of cinema. Just look at the Mario and Sonic movies.

I don’t know how long this creative streak will last, so making MK III should be a priority; there is still a large chunk of the story left to be told.

Released by Warner Bros and HKC, Mortal Kombat II is rated R for adults. It features — you guessed it — sharp objects, blood and decapitations

The writer is Icon’s primary film reviewer

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 17th, 2026