First Mortal Kombat 2 Reactions Have Critics United

Now, eventually, you do plan to have a Mortal Kombat tournament in your movie about the Mortal Kombat tournament, right? It's the question that was on everybody's mind watching 2021's "Mortal Kombat," a live-action film adaptation of the touchstone fantasy fighting video game property that makes the bold choice of not actually including the franchise's namesake martial arts competition. Rest assured, though, this year's "Mortal Kombat II" doesn't repeat that mistake. In fact, judging by the first wave of reactions from critics, the sequel makes it a point of doing just about everything differently from its predecessor.

Directed by "Mortal Kombat" (2021) helmer Simon McQuoid, albeit this time drawing from a script credited to Jeremy Slater (who developed the "Umbrella Academy" TV series and created Marvel's "Moon Knight" TV show), "Mortal Kombat II" shifts its focus away from the previous movie's lead — no-name mixed martial arts fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) — to Hollywood superstar and longtime fan-favorite character Johnny Cage, as played by real-life fan-favorite actor Karl Urban. And if the prospect of swapping out the milquetoast Young (with no disrespect to Tan, a talented martial arts aficionado who deserves better) for a much more colorful protagonist like Cage reads as an immediate upgrade, that's pretty much exactly how it plays out, apparently.

Indeed, /Film's Bill Bria sums up the initial consensus for "Mortal Kombat II" nicely with his post on Twitter/X, calling it "the movie to best capture the full spirit of the games so far" and writing that Urban's Cage is "a savvy ode to '90s action stars." He also described Adeline Rudolph's Kitana as "the coolest heroine in the franchise," which is a somewhat surprising but certainly welcome common refrain among the first wave of social media reactions to the film.

Besides lacking the titular event, 2021's "Mortal Kombat" makes the confounding decision to cast several skilled martial artists, only to saddle them with choppy action scenes that render the film's would-be mesmerizing fight choreography almost incomprehensible. Thankfully, it appears that's another faux pas that "Mortal Kombat II" corrects. As journalist Brandon Davis put it on Twitter/X, the sequel "feels more confident and comfortable embracing its video game roots to huge benefit." He added that it's a "fun, fast-paced, ridiculous bloodbath with great action" and once again cited Kitana as "the heart" of the film.

ComicBook.com's Chris Killian echoed that sentiment, writing that the movie has "better fights, cooler costumes, and nastier fatalities." Elsewhere, digital creator "Blu Ray Angel" wrote that the sequel is "an immense upgrade from the first movie" and agreed that "Kitana was a smart choice to have as [the] heart" of the film. By comparison, seasoned reporter Germain Lussier was a bit more measured in his praise, writing that "Mortal Kombat II" has "a bare bones story but it works," while podcaster "Shahbaz" felt that the movie "pulls its punches when it matters most" but still gets by thanks to its "pure arcade energy."

Between the improved action, the unexpectedly satisfying story for Kitana (which critic Hunter Bolding was similarly "struck by"), and, again, the actual Mortal Kombat tournament being part of the plot this time around, it's clearer now why Warner Bros. decided that "Mortal Kombat II" was good enough to warrant a prime summer movie season release date. We'll see if the film delivers a (you knew this was coming...) fatality as desired when it hits theaters on May 8, 2026.