Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 56 minutes, Director – Simon McQuoid
When in need of a new member to fight in a tournament that will determine the fate of the Earthrealm, its defenders bring in washed-up action movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) to take part in Mortal Kombat.
What I appreciate about the violence of these recent Mortal Kombat films is that they’re not gory just for the sake of being gory, neither for edginess or just to show off an R rating. Instead, it’s there with a grin from behind the camera as it’s simply the way those making the film have seen it fit to be. Because they believe that there should be some effects to the violence of a film adaptation of a game all about not just fighting but Mortal Kombat.
And there’s plenty of amusing CG splatter on display, more than some recent slasher movies, as the narrative links fight to fight over the course of a tournament that will determine the fate of the Earthrealm. Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) seeks to destroy just this, with the help of an amulet that will grant him immortality, and so challenges the Earthrealm defenders to face him and his team in various stages. However, in need of a fifth team member they recruit, having been chosen by the gods, washed-up 90s action movie star Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), think Steven Seagal but with self-awareness.
The fights are jumped straight into with little build-up and that’s just the way the film wants it to be. Why waste time with exposition when you can have people throwing fire at each other or getting close to caving heads in? The exposition, and indeed narrative linking the stages of the Mortal Kombat tournament, are undeniably thin, but the entertainment factor helps to get away from this. Both in regards to fight sequences – even with some occasionally distracting heavy green screen – and humour scattered throughout, particularly coming from Urban’s Cage, who the film fluctuates as to whether he’s the main character or part of a core team, and Josh Lawson’s returning Kano, complete with Deadpool style quips and insults.
You could easily poke at this film and some of its structure, throwing characters around and sending them wherever via portal for whichever fight for the easiest reason but it’s made as a pure entertainment flick and does a pretty good job at being that. There’s fun, and some audible winces, to be had when it comes to the powers and weapons on display, and the eventual effects that they have. A nod to the video games and just what they can allow without feeling like you’re watching over someone’s shoulder while they play. Splattery, funny and certainly not taking itself too seriously, whilst being made with both seriousness and a grin it may, like the first instalment, be forgotten quickly after viewing, but for just under two hours it’s perfectly good action entertainment.
Another entertaining action flick, Mortal Kombat II may be thin on plot and exposition, but its enough to link together the heavy-CG violence which makes the most of both splatter and the powers that cause it.
Just A Little Bit Random 