No, the removal of some poor unfortunate\u2019s heart or spine through sheer physical force is cause for celebration, even a full-throated bellow of \u2013 scream it with me \u2013 MORTALLLL KOMBATTTT!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What it shouldn\u2019t inspire is appreciation at best, ambivalence at worst. And sadly, that\u2019s about all the 2021 reboot had going for it. It had excellent intentions, if very 21st<\/sup>-century entertainment-industry intentions, in constructing lore and backstories and folding those things into a narrative that could become more than the driver of a franchise but a veritable saga. In doing so, however, Mortal Kombat<\/em> \u201921 played it way too safe. It landed strategic blows rather than swinging big or bold, and while a plan might win you the fight, it usually won\u2019t win you the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now in a perfect world in which the film industry still churns out Saturday-afternoon programmers, Mortal Kombat<\/em> fans would have had a sequel \u2013 slightly lower budget, slightly lower star wattage \u2013 in the multiplex within 18 months. As we all know by now, \u2018Move fast and break things\u2019 is a terrible philosophy when it comes to business, but when it comes to lurid chop-socky franchises sequels, it just might be the smart play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, it\u2019s been four years\u2026but based on the response to the recently released red-band trailer to Mortal Kombat II<\/em>, hitting cinemas this October, the time correcting course was most likely well-spent. Data gathered by entertainment analytics company WaveMetrix indicates that the Mortal Kombat II<\/em> trailer was watched 106.8 million times within 24 hours of its July 17 release, making it the most-viewed red-band trailer of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So is it just, as the trailer promises, \u2018Strong bloody violence and gore, and language\u2019<\/a> that got the fans all fired up? Or is it the return of an everyman protagonist, albeit with one with a little (OK, a lot) more charisma than his predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One doesn\u2019t want to go too hard on Mortal Kombat<\/em> 21\u2019s entry-point character Cole Young, or on Lewis Tan, the actor who portrayed him, but it\u2019s fair to say neither lit up the screen. I\u2019m hard-pressed to recall his motivation, his arc or indeed any of his defining traits. He\u2019s back for the sequel, apparently \u2013 he may well have been in the trailer, who knows \u2013 but the gateway character this time around is MK fan favorite Johnny Cage, big-screen butt-kicker turned legitimate warrior, played by fanboy favorite Karl Urban of Lord of the Rings<\/em>, Dredd<\/em> and The Boys<\/em> fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s not only the inclusion of Cage \u2013 whose hinted reintroduction at the end of the last movie was probably the movie\u2019s highlight \u2013 that has sparked such interest in Mortal Kombat II<\/em>. It\u2019s that the sequel looks to have recaptured the affectionate but self-aware tone of the first Mortal Kombat<\/em> movie. The very<\/em> first Mortal Kombat<\/em> movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI knew what Mortal Kombat<\/em> could be,\u201d said Paul W.S. Anderson, director of the 1995 screen adaptation when asked<\/a> what motivated to take on his first Hollywood production. And while such a phrase may inspire a scoff or a sneer \u2013 what could Mortal Kombat<\/em> be other than men and monsters slugging it out? \u2013 it speaks to why the \u201995 movie retains its rock-solid fan base while the \u201921 version quickly faded from memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t claim to know what\u2019s in the minds of the makers of the new movies but it felt as if they had a strategy, a plan. Anderson had a vision<\/em>. A loud, lurid, lizard-brain vision, sure, but isn\u2019t that what one wants from Mortal Kombat<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n To the credit of Anderson and screenwriter Kevin Droney, the movie does its due diligence. It gives its three hero characters sturdy, recognizable motivations to take part in the tournament \u2013 revenge for noble Liu Kang (Robin Shou) and fiery Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson, replacing an injured Cameron Diaz!), a chance for slick movie star Johnny Cage (Linden Ashby) to prove his bona fides \u2013 before they embrace their higher humanity-saving calling, and pits them against adversaries nefarious (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), monstrous (the four-armed final boss Goro, a stop-motion creature straight outta Harryhausen) and just plain gross (the late Trevor Goddard memorably plays one-eyed enforcer Kano as a sleazy barroom brawler).<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the scaffolding in place, all that\u2019s left to do is pit them in a series of scrapes that showcase each character\u2019s brutal skillset and distinctive finishing move against a techno-heavy soundtrack that turned your local theatre into a rave for 90 minutes and change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does this make Mortal Kombat<\/em> \u201995 a good movie? Depends on your definition, of course, but it\u2019s certainly an effective one, and even better an enthusiastic<\/em> one. One senses Anderson\u2019s glee at working in a bigger, brighter sandbox with shinier toys at his disposal. Even if it soft-pedals the gore that made the arcade game so notorious, everything works in concert \u2013 the fight choreography, the commitment of the actors and stunt players, that slammin\u2019 soundtrack \u2013 to make the viewer of Mortal Kombat<\/em> \u201995 closer to player than observer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, this could well be the nostalgia talking, and I\u2019m sure that\u2019s a sentiment echoed by many a Mortal Kombat<\/em> fan. After all, I\u2019m a card-carrying member of Generation X who pumped coin after coin into the arcade game during coffee-and-cigarette breaks from my McJob \u2013 one of my mainstay memories of the \u201890s is finally taking down Goro after months of ascending through the MK<\/em> ranks \u2013 and who happily laid down a few more of those coins to catch the game\u2019s carnage on the big screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe more than a yearning for yesteryear, that\u2019s the key to Mortal Kombat<\/em> \u201895\u2019s enduring appeal. The 2021 MK<\/em> was designed like a console game \u2013 a total-concentration immersion into the world and its inhabitants. Anderson\u2019s was designed like an arcade game \u2013 an adrenaline-rush diversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Mortal Kombat (1995)” is streaming on HBO Max<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mortal-kombat2-1024x612.jpg\")
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