Karl Urban Shines Brightly in Imperfect Sequel

Drawing inspiration from the 2023 game “Mortal Kombat 1,” this portrayal of Johnny Cage reimagines him as a faded action star, introduced while reminiscing over past glories at an empty fan convention. Once a five-time black belt and world champion martial artist, Cage’s Hollywood career led him to over-rely on stunt doubles. Originally inspired by Jean-Claude Van Damme during his peak, this iteration of Cage embraces his fall from grace, in a world where audiences prefer the likes of Keanu Reeves dispatching foes with a pencil over his flamboyant, campy style.

“Mortal Kombat II” is a significant improvement on its predecessor without tweaking the formula too much. The narrative and the world-building are more expansive, feeling less like a cobbled together excuse to throw as many different characters into fights as possible and more like a sincere attempt at developing a fantasy universe beyond the flimsy lore of the source material. But this is still a “Mortal Kombat” movie, and any story has been reverse-engineered to throw as many different character combinations as possible into violent fights to the death. The big difference compared to the first movie is that it never feels quite as shameless in this regard — and it doesn’t hurt that the fights all feature more inventive choreography this time around.

Opening in a flashback (watch our recap video to catch up before you see “Mortal Kombat II”), we are introduced to a young Kitana (played as an adult by Adeline Rudolph) just before she witnesses the death of her father King Jerrod (Desmond Chiam) at the hands of Shao Khan (Martyn Ford). With her family now losing dominion over their kingdom, Kitana is taken under the wing of Shao Khan who treats her as a “daughter,” a powerful weapon in his plan to conquer Earthrealm and transform it into part of the Hellish Outworld. Also aiding his plans is an amulet that grants immortality to whoever possesses it, although that’s currently held by the otherwise dead loudmouth Kano (Josh Lawson). In this time of need, the human realm needs a new warrior to defend it in a fight skewed against its favor, which is where Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) comes in.

Taking inspiration from his characterization in the 2023 reboot game “Mortal Kombat 1,” this take on the fan favorite figure positions him as a washed-up action star, introduced to us as he watches footage of his former glories at an empty fan convention meet-and-greet. In his younger days, he was a five-time black belt and world champion martial artist but relied too heavily on stunt men when Hollywood came calling. The video game character was inspired by Jean-Claude Van Damme, introduced in the heyday of the Muscle from Brussels, when he was still one of the leading ass-kickers in the movies — it makes perfect sense to reintroduce him as a shadow of former glories in an era where he’s self-aware enough to know “people want Keanu Reeves killing 100 dudes with a pencil” over his sillier, high-camp antics.

Urban’s performance relies on him straddling the line between in-over-his-head audience surrogate and bumbling comic relief; less tough than the supernaturally gifted fighters he’s often up against, but still handy enough in a fight if forced into one. The past several years playing the similarly washed-up Billy Butcher on “The Boys” has made it easier for the actor to play this kind of macho archetype in his sleep, and helps elevate a character who — like everybody else onscreen — is one-note by the very nature of his design. A mid-movie fight scene with Baraka (CJ Bloomfield) is the best utilization of the actor’s strengths as an action star, his approach in this fight to the death falling somewhere between clumsy and cocky, the set piece standing out because it sits next to far more tightly choreographed sequences.

Aside from any depth of character across the board — is it damning to say this is fine, as no fan is coming to a “Mortal Kombat” movie for that? — the one recurring flaw with the fight scenes is that they never utilize the supernatural powers of their fighters to the extent that they should. A fighter like Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), for example, has the power to summon fireballs in the shape of dragons to take down opponents, but this feels less spectacular when the fight itself never reverts from hand-to-hand combat. Incredibly well choreographed combat that’s more inventive than anything from the first, of course, but still not living up to the fantastical potential that comes with harnessing these powers in a battle. Only a brief appearance from Queen Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen), whose ultrasonic scream can force her opponent into submission, offers something less expected. Hopefully the planned third film can lean more into the weirder attributes of these characters and rejuvenate a formula that could easily grow stale if it continues to rely solely on fist fights.

“Mortal Kombat II” is a big step up from the previous film, largely thanks to an increased focus on the fantasy world-building; new screenwriter Jeremy Slater (formerly the showrunner and head writer of Marvel’s “Moon Knight”) is sincerely interested in building upon the mythos, not just viewing it as the necessary connective tissue between fights. One of the more welcome improvements is his approach to writing comic relief, gifting previously insufferable characters like Kano ample genuinely funny one-liners and parodying classic action movies without leaning on lazy meta self-awareness. Both he and returning director Simon McQuoid have their tongues firmly in their cheeks (it’s hard not to with this material) but still treat the world they’ve been tasked with bringing to the screen sincerely; there are no lazy fourth-wall breaking gags about how “Kombat” is spelled wrong this time around.

The question remains whether a “Mortal Kombat” movie could ever be expected to be better than this, considering the limitations of the source material. That this sequel translates the simple beat-em-up thrills of the video game into something narratively functional is about as triumphant as it could possibly get for this franchise.

“Mortal Kombat II” premieres on May 8.