Quick Synopsis: The fighters of Earth-Realm take part in a tournament to stop Shao Khan from taking over.

I know I’ve seen the first movie. I know this because I remember one or two moments from it, plus I reviewed it here. That being said, I can’t remember much from it. I can’t remember the story, the characters (I remember Scorpion and Sub Zero were in it, but not their characterisation). Reading through, that’s probably for the best, as there are some weird changes. The first movie established that champions can be identified by a dragon-shaped birthmark. That doesn’t matter here. Johnny Cage is a reluctant champion, but the mark never comes up. Not even a scene of him complaining about how long it took makeup artists to try to cover it. Also, the first film ended with Cole going to LA to talk to Johnny Cage. Do you know who talks to Cage in this movie? Sonya and Raiden. Spoilers: Cole dies in this movie. The characters don’t mourn him for that long; I don’t even recall them mentioning him after he dies. If Cole were the one to “recruit” Cage, it would have given some semblance of emotion, as it would have meant Cage lost his introduction to this world. It could have motivated him, given him what he needed to do what must be done (Punch people in the balls).

MKII is miles better than the first one. For one, there’s more focus on the fights. There are a lot more references to the games, so fans will find a lot of things to enjoy about it. It’s great to see some of the characters and stages come to life onscreen. It’s fantastic to see the acid stage finally recreated in a way that brings to life how terrifying it is. I appreciate how MKII managed to do all those references without alienating people not familiar with the games. Unlike the Uncharted movie, which featured such a distractingly obvious game reference, MKII still works if you’re not that familiar with the game. The source material isn’t essential, but it does make it a better experience. The fights themselves look great, with some fairly decent choreography and use of locations. Hits look like they hurt, and when there’s ultraviolence, it looks pretty damn glorious.

Now onto the bad. There’s one major issue I had with it. Shao Kahn doesn’t come off as a big threat. He comes off as fearful, but beatable. We see him in a few fights throughout the film, and in almost all of them, the person he’s against gets a lot of offence in, and at times nearly beats him. That’s not how you build that character up. The audience needs to see him go against someone we know is talented, and yet utterly annihilate them. That’s what the fight with Cole should have been. Cole should have hit him with everything he had, and it should have had no effect. Essentially, I’m looking for Brock Lesnar Vs. John Cena from Summerslam 2014 (just without that annoying kid in the crowd). The other thing this movie could have learned from pro wrestling: jobbers. A jobber is someone whose entire job is to lose and make the winner look good. That’s what this film needed. The franchise is full of recognisable characters who the audience would like to see but won’t be too disappointed if they were to die: Stryker, Nightwolf, Smoke. All of them could have been introduced and then killed quickly to demonstrate Shao Khan’s power.

I’d have liked to have seen more of Scorpion and Sub-Zero, but I understand why the film does what it does with them. Karl Urban is an odd choice for Cage. This iteration of the character isn’t a cocky, arrogant person; he’s riddled with self-doubt and uncertainty. In a way, it makes sense. But I can’t help but feel how much more FUN this movie would have been with someone a bit less dour. That’s not an issue with the casting; it’s the writing. The way that this iteration of the character is written, Urban plays it perfectly, bringing to mind Jean-Claude Van Damme in Jean-Claude Van Johnson. Hiroyuki Sanada is the perfect Scorpion when we do see him. Adeline Rudolph and Tati Gabrielle as Kitana and Jade are fine; they do what they need to, but don’t excel. Was Jessica McNamee this good in the first one? Because she’s fucking great in this. Circling back to Cage, I didn’t buy the movie of his they showed us. It didn’t feel like a dated action movie; it felt too modern. The action scenes themselves felt silly, lots of obvious missed punches, but visually, it looks very 2020’s. All they needed to do was change the colours, make it a bit less HD, add different music, etc., and it would have helped sell it. As it is? It feels like it was only there to get moments they could put in the trailer.

MKII is not a fantastic movie, but it is a lot of fun. And whilst I do have a lot of issues with it, you can bet I’m going to be in the seats for the third one.