High Quality Trash

Mortal Kombat II is all at once a spectacularily stupid and extremely fun and entertaining flick; delivering high flying ultra violence, laughs and a surprisingly cogent plot. Tournament of fighters, save the universe, blah blah blah. I went in expecting for it to be a solid two hours of, hopefully, skillfull action choreography with some semblance to the video game's design and tone and it entirely exceeded my expectations.

The action is textured, colourful and full of depth. Nearly every fighting eviroment mirrors one of the battleground from the game, and its in this that the movie elevates itself from classic New Line Cinema trash, ala the original movie, into a beautifully rendered world from dungeons, to medieval cityscape and even into a lush garden concealed in hell itself. 

I didn't see the first movie in this iteration as from what I heard “They don't even get to the fighting tournament in that one”, but the sequel picks up where the supposed promise of the first movie ended. The entire cast of the first film returns here, many of them journeymen actors who were likely happy to come back to their existing roles, although they're bolstered by the two leads of this film with first off the impossibly charismatic and foul mouthed form of Karl Urban, playing iconic douchebag actor Johnny Cage and proving once again that he can do just about anything. Is he  the king of modern franchise appearances? With Lord of the Rings, Dredd, Star Trek, Doom, The Boys, The Bourne Series, and his appearance as Skurge in Thor Ragnarok - he just might be. Cage is introduced through grainy VHS footage of him from a New Line Film from 1996 and it sets the perfect tone. Urban shines as a former action movie star thrust into a world of ridiculous magic and mayehm, entirely out of his depth and struggling to stay alive. Secondly is the beautiful Adeline Rudolph as the surrogate daughter of interdimensional warlord Shao Kahn, her true father murdered by the skull helmet scourge and her mother turned into a puppet zombie with voice powers. That Rudolph is somehow able to bring some humanity and weight to her role, eventually seeking revenge, amidst all the cosmic silliness is a feat. There's also some intriguiing queer coded subtext with her and her longtime bodyguard and “sister” Jade, played by the charmingly unique and iconic Tati Gabrielle .

It shouldn't be as good as it is. I left the theater simply pleased as punch. In the first fight sequence of the movie I was worried that it would backslide into PG-13 territory, but soon the beautifully brutal violence emerged and while shockingp; managed to avoid a perverse cynicism while still staying faithful to the extreme violence of the game's finishing moves.

It was also surprisingly funny with consistent punctuations of fuck holding more power than they normally do in something like this. The self referential silliness and aggressive language pairs so well with the over the top violence that there were many scenes that had the whole audience laughing. 

 Its clear that this movie was made with a passion and love for the source material. The guys I went with were much more versed in Mortal Kombat lore than I am and they noticed easter eggs and fan service all over it. It wasn't stuff that hung plot elements on it, but rather that textured crunchiness I mentioned before. 

Of course we all enjoy movies where we can just turn our brain off and enjoy the silly mayhem and destruction on display, but I'd argue that Mortal Kombat II is more worthwhile of your $20 bucks than 90% of the tentpole action we've seen come out of major studios for the past few years. My inner 14 year old thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and although this is obviously millenial nostalgia bait, I felt like you could do a lot worse than to drag your 14 year old to see this bloodbath, and not just boys. The Kitana arc delivers a tough cool lady lead that doesn't feel pandering or too woke to be enjoyed by those with less refined tastes. In fact this whole thing is such a wonderful expression of something that is, in its very essence, bad taste. The edgelordy essence of Mortal Kombat is why it has endured and yet this movie manages to retain that while still delivering a movie that is much more interesting and satisfying than it has any business being. 

This is a great example of how you can make something with broad appeal, cool effects and still not need to lean into excess. With a budget of $80 Million I hope it makes it all back and then some.

I find myself weirdly looking forward to Mortal Kombat III. 

Go check it out.