Mortal Kombat II

GET OVER HERE!!!!

When you hear that immortal gong and the fights begin, MORTAL KOMBAT II soars into a hilarious, thrilling battle mode that screams with nostalgia for all of us who played the video game.

Unfortunately, you have to sit through some pretty goofy dreck to get to those fights!

There's actually a lot to like here and some absolute stand out members in the cast.

We all know the plot, with a universal battle where intergalactic bad guys take over worlds if they manage to win ten battles in a row.

Don't spend a minute thinking about the overarching plot, it's all about the crazy battles to the death with an absolute orgy of batshit crazy characters we've all come to love.

And here's where the film gets things both absolutely right AND horribly wrong. Let's start with the great.

Karl Urban (Star Trek, Lord of the Rings) serves up a FLAWLESS VICTORY as Johnny Cage, a has-been 80's action movie star who's fallen all the way to sitting in his 10 x 10 booth at an autograph show, showing clips of his grainy 80's VHS highlights of his cheesy blockbusters of the era. Urban is hilarious, delivering one liners with the same accuracy of his death punches and karate poses.

Josh Lawson returns from 2021's Mortal Kombat as Kano, the lethal, foul-mouthed, wise-ass fighter whose verbal assaults leave everyone on the floor. I laughed so hard at Lawson in the role, knowing that I knew him well from another role but driving myself crazy the entire film trying to remember where I knew him from. Being a respectful AMC A-Lister, I didn't turn my phone on during the movie (I hate when people do that!) to check out IMDB. As I walked out, I laughed out loud realizing that Lawson plays Bruce, the hilariously insecure lead surgeon on NBC's 'St. Denis Medical". He's great on that show but he's other level here and steals the entire film.

Hiroyuki Sanada (Wolverine, Westworld, Bullet Train) brings his usual gravitas and superb acting to his returning role as Hanzo Hasashi. Anytime he's on screen, this thing goes to another stratosphere.

Urban, Lawson and Sanada give this sequel its hilarious, action packed core and when they are on screen doing their thing, it approaches 'Deadpool" style, violent hilarity.

But they are surrounded by some seriously bad acting in their company.

The lead female role of Kitana is played by Adeline Rudolph in a performance so wooden, I think she deserves the Kurt Thomas "Gymkata" award. IYKYK. Kitana is key to the story line, so she's in the entire movie, and that is not good. She gives off all the emotion of wood paneling to the other actors, its really painful to watch.

Jessica McNamee (The Meg) is dull as Sonya Blade. She's terrific in the fight scenes, but just blank when she's not beating the hell out of an intergalactic foe.

Meh, well bottom line, we didn't come here for the acting, we came here for the action and the filmmakers have recreated everything we loved about the videogame flawlessly.

In Dolby Cinema, that gong rocks you in your seat and every time it did, I would smile, knowing a great sequence would follow.

All your favorites are here, along with the otherworldly setting that the fighters are transported to for their battles.

My favorite world was definitely The Blue Portal, the smoky blue universe that felt just like the game, but punched up into 2026 visual thrills.

Just like the first film, this is a gory, adults only romp that dumps buckets of blood and gore. The language is also Deadpool level raunch from start to finish, I was shocked to see a Dad bring two kids under 10 to the movie. Behold our Father-of-the-Year nominee. We all found ourselves looking at those kids through the movie in the second row and shaking our heads. Great parenting....(but I digress...)

I came to the sequel wanting a lot of fun that honored the legacy of the gaming experience, spectacular visuals, action and laughs. MORTAL KOMBAT II over delivered for me on all those quadrants, but it is dragged down by some seriously bad acting in the troupe.

I still had a blast and would give it a very solid B, just like it's predecessor.

LAWSON & URBAN get an A+. Just make a third film with those two doing a Butch and Sundance style violent romp across the universe and I'll be there opening night!

Loved the closing credits with the full blast Techno redo of the original theme highlighting each of the characters. It pops you out of theater in style.

R Rated trailer below tees up the fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ydU8oLE8k