Mortal Kombat II is a 2026 movie based on the video-game series and a sequel to the Mortal Kombat movie released in 2021. It is also the fourth installment in the Mortal Kombat film series. The movie is directed by Simon McQuoid and written by Jeremy Slater.
It stars returning cast members Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada. Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, and Tati Gabrielle join the cast.
Following the release of the 2021 film, producer Todd Garner, writer Greg Russo, and director McQuoid began conversations about the future of the franchise, including standalone films based on Johnny Cage and Bi-Han/Sub-Zero as well as a sequel to the 2021 film.
Overview
When the surprising announcement that a sequel was greenlit, I immediately got excited as I loved the 2021 film. I thought it was incredible. The action, story, characters, and world development. It truly was incredible.
You know, we waited years for this sequel, and it was honestly worth the wait. Yes, it was due to COVID and lockdowns worldwide, but it was honestly worth it. The movie was great, and slowly over the years we got little bits of announcements such as story leaks, character reveals, and castings.
Over the years, there was a push for WWE Superstar, The Miz, to be cast as Johnny Cage, and I’m pretty sure The Miz himself wanted to push for this role before the role ultimately went to Karl Urban. By 2022, New Line Cinema green-lit the sequel, with Slater penning the screenplay, and McQuoid returning to direct.
Filming began in June 2024 in Australia, but was paused due to the SAG-AFTRA strike in mid-July, and resumed in mid-November and concluded in late January 2024. It has grossed $63 million worldwide. A third film is in development.
Story
The story was actually really good. It followed what the director had mentioned, that being the first film was set before the tournament, the second film within the tournament, and the third film after the tournament.
At the start of a movie, we get to see a flashback of Shao Kahn killing King Jerrod and taking over Edenia in the name of Outworld, as well as taking Queen Sindel and Kitana as his consort and daughter. Within the story, we also get to see the return of Kung Lao and Kano by Quan Chi on the orders of Shao Kahn.
Throughout the story, we get to see the tournament get underway with fighters being chosen at random to go fight and defeat the other in combat, so that either Outworld or Earthrealm will survive. The story actually gave us great matchups. Johnny Cage was added to the story as the fifth champion.
Throughout the story, we see that Kitana is actually a spy for Lord Raiden. After a few more matchups, we see Kano and Johnny Cage work together to get an amulet to get rid of Shao Kahn’s immortality. After some major characters die, we get to see the final matchup, Kitana vs Shao Kahn.
After Earthrealm is saved, the team decides to go and revive the other fallen champions by using a captured Quan Chi. Honestly, the story was actually pretty decent, and the tournament was brutal. It truly felt like a story ripped from the games.
Characters
The returning characters were all great; you could feel that what the actors brought to the role felt like the characters had trained and become more powerful and better fighters than in the last movie. It felt like they had developed massively.
That being said, no one was off limits. Characters from the first movie were killed, and new characters shone bright like diamonds. Honestly, it truly felt like Mortal Kombat from the video games. I feel as though Jessica McNamee, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, and Tadanobu Asano all did great returning to their roles.
Newcomers Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Tati Gabrielle, and Martyn Ford all portrayed their characters incredibly well. I want to give a shout-out to Martyn Ford as he absolutely killed the role of Shao Kahn.
For the full cast list, you can visit IMDB by clicking here.
Hype
I think the help of the movie could have been a little bit better. I feel like not a lot of people were talking about this movie other than when a trailer would be released or a bit of marketing would happen. I feel like the die-hard Mortal Kombat fans were talking about this, and people who were generally excited for this sequel, but other than that, I feel like it was a bit quiet on the hype front.
Favorite Moments
1. My first favorite moment was seeing a washed-up actor, Johnny Cage, at a “Comic-Con” type event where no one was coming to see him. Seeing this in the movie and it being what is truly a joy to people in the real world was actually great.
2. I did really like the fight scenes within this movie. It continued to portray the brutal and bloody fights from the video games. I do like how many of the fights ended with a kill, and it wasn’t just side characters that were killed. You had Cole having his head smashed in, Jax being impaled through the neck, and Liu Kang being impaled as well.
3. The team-up between Kano and Johnny Cage. Surprisingly, for a duo that didn’t really get along, they managed to get the amulet away from Bi-Han and keep it away from Noob Saibot. Honestly, this scene was actually really good.
4. I did really like how Liu Kang realized he was not the chosen one, and after being fatally wounded by Shao Kahn, he evaporates into fire as he declares that he will rescue the fallen. This leads Sonya to wake up and free Kitana, giving Earthrealm one more fighter.
5. You could sense that Kitana was fighting for revenge, as she did nothing but go for Shao Kahn’s neck when she went to fight him. She even hit a fatality on him as we see her literally cut his head into pieces, and we got to see everything inside his head.
Dislikes
1. The situation with Cole Young within this movie was a major dislike for me personally. Cole Young, a character who was created for the first movie and was a major character within that movie, had less than 5 minutes of screen time and was killed off, and not in a good way either.
2. I honestly would have loved to see more of Bi-Han and Hanzo Hasashi within this movie. For being two of the most popular and beloved characters, I feel like these two characters have been forgotten about within the movies. Although Sub-Zero was the main villain within the first movie, I feel as though Scorpion has been forgotten about.
Recommend?
100% Yes. The movie comes out swinging again. In a similar fashion to the previous movie, this continues the lore of Mortal Kombat and goes even further down the video game route.
Verdict
Overall, a fantastic sequel that was thoroughly deserved. I truly hope this franchise continues, as this is one of the few video game adaptations that actually works in live-action. The story was excellent, and the characters were perfectly executed. The action was insane, brutal, and bloody.
Rating: 8.9/10
Mortal Kombat II is available in cinemas worldwide. You can visit here for more information on Mortal Kombat II.
The Review
Story - 8.5
Structure - 6
Quality - 9.5
Action - 10
Characters - 9.5
Entertainment - 10
Antagonist - 10
Hype - 8
8.9
Great
Overall, a fantastic sequel that was thoroughly deserved. I truly hope this franchise continues, as this is one of the few video game adaptations that actually works in live-action. The story was excellent, and the characters were perfectly executed. The action was insane, brutal, and bloody.
