Mortal Kombat 2 Movie Nails It, First Reactions Say

"The movie we should've gotten the first time." That's the line doing the rounds after early screenings of Mortal Kombat 2, and based on the wave of reactions hitting social media, it might not be hyperbole. The sequel, which opens in US cinemas on 8th May, appears to have cleared the low bar set by its 2021 predecessor and then some.

Film critic Michael Lee praised the sequel's improved dynamics and singled out Karl Urban's take on Johnny Cage for its "meta comedy and JCVD energy," while calling Adeline Rudolph's Kitana the emotional anchor of the film. Multiverse of Color echoed that, writing that "Johnny Cage and Kitana provide the beating heart of the story" and that the action sequences and fatalities will impress fans of the games. Chris Killian of Comicbook.com went further, calling it "a stark improvement over the first one in just about every way possible" with "better fights, cooler costumes, and nastier fatalities." Journalist Hunter Bolding summed it up simply: "Hits the video game styling, crowd-pleasing moments aplenty, satisfying story, it's all here."

The 2021 film wasn't bad enough to kill the franchise but it wasn't good enough to justify one either. It scraped by on an 85 percent audience score and decent box office returns, despite critics largely bouncing off it. I remember being baffled that a movie about interdimensional martial arts tournaments somehow felt boring. So the fact that early reactions to the sequel are this enthusiastic, specifically about the fights and the faithfulness to the source material, is a relief. If the full reviews hold up, this could be one of the better video game adaptations in recent memory.

Screenwriter Jeremy Slater, who replaced the first film's writer, has talked about reworking Johnny Cage into a more layered character. Rather than starting him as the biggest movie star on the planet, Slater positioned Cage as someone who "maybe had it all at one point and then lost it." Karl Urban reportedly took the role seriously too, noting that his sons warned him about the fanbase: "Don't f*** it up."

Mortal Kombat 2 hits US cinemas on 8th May, with UK audiences waiting until 15th May. The full review embargo hasn't lifted yet, so these are early impressions rather than final verdicts.