Mortal Kombat 2 (2026) Review

For many years now I have been a big fan of the Mortal Kombat franchise playing all the most recent games and having watched all of the previous films. So I was very excited to see the sequel to 2021's Mortal Kombat and I did that today so here is my review for the film. The premise of the film sees the forces of Earthrealm compete in Mortal Kombat against their enemies Outworld in hopes of saving the world. 

Main Character

Adeline Rudloph plays Kitana and she is the character with the most depth in the film. We really follow her journey as she struggles with what side she is on and how she wants revenge against her father. Its a good character and one that is performed well. 

Karl Urban takes on the most anticipated role of Johnny Cage and I thought he fit into the role really well. He just fit this older action star who is past his prime but called into action and Urban really delivers. 

Supporting Characters

Martyn Ford plays Shao Khan and this is the quintessential interpretation of the character. He is an intimidating and evil villain that just oozes charisma. I just love what they did with him and it felt like the character came straight from the game. 

Tati Gabrielle plays Jade and she has one of the more interesting stories throughout the film. She is really conflicted between Shao Kahn and Kitana and I thought it was done pretty well for a film that mainly just focuses on fighting. 

However, I still feel like the characters from the first film don't really stand out. Except for Kano who even though its a smaller role, really stands out. Like Sonya, Jax and even Liu Kang have moments but I just felt with so many characters being in the film, the newer characters were handled better. 

Story

The story of this film isn't the greatest. However, it isn't all bad. First of all I am glad that there is actually a tournament this time and it is handled pretty well. Also the character development for a few of the characters is pretty good and something I wasn't expecting. But as a whole there just isn't much to rave about here. It's a very basic story and just feels like an excuse to get these characters fighting, a couple of characters are brought in for the third act and it just feels like they are rammed into the film for fan service sake. 

Script

I mean the script had me laughing quite a bit. The one liners are pretty cheesy but they are just in line with Mortal Kombat, Kano and Johnny Cage really carried this aspect. There is some drama and it is somewhat done well, but lets face it, this isn't the priority and it just doesn't have enough care to full give it credit. 

Style

Easily the best part of the film is the action sequences and the fights. They are vastly improved from the previous film and I just loved each one for how much like the games they felt and big credit has to go to everyone for this. Okay, there is some dodgy CGI but I love how the locations are ripped straight from the games and it just feels like it is made more by people who truly love the franchise. 

Overall

Overall, Mortal Kombat 2 is a good film that is much better then the previous one. I am glad they made the improvements needed, I mean it isn't perfect but for a fan of this franchise this was a step in the right direction and for me this is the best Mortal Kombat film ever put on the big screen. 

Rating - 7/10