Mortal Kombat II Enters the Tournament, Loses the Plot

Mortal Kombat II

★ ★ ½

Mortal Kombat II is the direct sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat and aims to correct some of the biggest complaints about that film. Mortal Kombat is a video game tournament where several planetary realms compete in fantastical one-on-one combat. If a realm loses 10 tournaments in a row, it falls under control of the evil Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford). In these films, Earthrealm has already lost nine straight tournaments.

The complaint about the first film? There was no tournament. It ended on a cliffhanger and felt like an incomplete story. It was fun, had great action and the characters were cartoonishly interesting. It also lacked a final act.

At least Mortal Kombat II has a tournament…sort of.

Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion and Josh Lawson as Kano
© 2026 Warner Bros. Pictures

In that sense, it’s a much more complete film, albeit one that seems to throw the kitchen sink of Mortal Kombat video games into a single storyline. It becomes so convoluted we’re not quite sure which stakes matter or which thread to follow.

The film starts with Earth’s warriors recruiting Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). Johnny is an obvious homage to Jean-Claude Van Damme, the almost-blockbuster ’90s action star who always seemed one roundhouse kick away from conquering the genre.

The first film didn’t do enough with the story, never quite getting its plot off the ground. Halfway through, we begrudgingly realized there wouldn’t be a tournament before the credits rolled. This film overcorrects, doing so much that it never really finds its footing. The tournament exists, but the movie gets lost in its own side quests until the dramatic stakes are massively diminished.

Lewis Tan as Cole
© 2026 Warner Bros. Pictures

This is a film where the bad guys cheat so much that the good guys don’t win by strategy. They win because the screenplay lets them. See: plot armor.

All the makings of a really good movie are here.

Urban’s portrayal of Johnny Cage is tongue-in-cheek, channeling the dormant ’90s action star beneath the punchlines. It would be easy to say his talents are wasted here, but he plays the character so well, it’s almost enough to recommend the film on that alone. It feels like only Urban can slap on a pair of Ray-Ban shades, look at the bad guy, drop into a fighting stance and say, “It’s showtime!” while making us nod in enthusiastic agreement.

Karl Urban as Johnny Cage
© 2026 Warner Bros. Pictures

Likewise, Josh Lawson brings more than expected to Kano, the greedy bastard who will work for the highest bidder. Here, he’s more of a complex character. In both films, he’s motivated by greed, but there’s just enough reluctant humanity there for us to root for him. Lawson’s comedic timing is impeccable. Like Urban, he can say dumb lines and make them fun where we’d otherwise roll our eyes.

Adeline Rudolph as Kitana
© 2026 Warner Bros. Pictures

Other characters have potential for depth. Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) is a princess of a realm that has already fallen to Shao Kahn. Jax (Mehcad Brooks) has two robot arms because his real ones were ripped off in the last film. He should be carrying around some PTSD, but seems to really enjoy his cybernetic conversion. The Mortal Kombat universe is ripe with tragic stories with massive potential for character exploration. With as many characters as we’re supposed to follow here, any depth is damned near impossible.

This series is intended to be a trilogy, and the third film is already in development. Perhaps the third film will tie everything together, revealing the brilliance of the full story. I have a sinking feeling it’ll be more akin to the arcade game eating my quarter.