Mortal Kombat II Star Karl Urban Explains Johnny Cage's Silliest Fighting Move (And Its Hilarious Origin) [Exclusive]

This article contains light spoilers for "Mortal Kombat II."

The inclusion of Johnny Cage in "Mortal Kombat II" means that fans of the video games could expect a certain couple of things inherent to the character to appear. Namely, his catchphrase "It's showtime!" and his special move known as the "Nut Cracker aka Ball Buster," in which Johnny punches someone right in the crotch. Indeed, the film's Johnny, as played by Karl Urban, does utter Cage's signature line and performs that singular special move. In addition, Urban, director Simon McQuoid, and the film's stunt team also developed a surprising new move for Johnny. In keeping with the film's take on the character, the special move isn't particularly badass or violent, but it is showy and, ultimately, super effective.

Early in "Mortal Kombat II," we see a clip from one of Johnny's '90s hits, "Uncaged Fury." The fight sequence in it is deliriously over-the-top, with McQuoid shooting the action just left of center enough to show the difference between reel fighting and "real" fighting. One of Johnny's moves in this sequence is a very silly bit where he moves his arms like a windmill, the better to magically avoid all sorts of projectiles fired at him. Later, when Cage is in a very real fight against the deadly Takartan, Baraka (CJ Bloomfield), he makes use of the move as part of his strategy to fake out his much stronger opponent. I had the opportunity to speak to Urban about the origin of the windmill arm technique and the actor revealed how the special move is tied to Johnny's character arc.

As Karl Urban explained, while the actual move of Johnny Cage's "windmill arms" came from working on the fight sequences, the intention of it spoke directly to the core of the character:

"It was my stunt guys [who devised the move], because the whole idea behind that is that Johnny Cage is a character who doesn't believe in himself...When he's finally forced to step up, he falls back on this old choreography that he learned for a fight in a '90s movie. Then it works!"

As Urban implies, one of the delightful aspects of the move is that it operates like a good joke — or, more accurately, a classic Hollywood set up and pay off. It also has the the unlikely hero winning through ingenuity more than sheer might, something which adds a bit of charm to Johnny and "Mortal Kombat II" in general. Urban reminisced about how enjoyable it was to shoot the Baraka fight because of this:

"We had so much fun shooting that. It was so preposterous, but then it was almost like the amazement on Baraka's face of these moves, these crazy moves that he was seeing that enabled Johnny to get the opening to do what he does."

"Mortal Kombat II" works for a variety of reasons, but I'd argue none are as important as the way it treats its characters with love. The film's version of Johnny Cage doubles as an ode to the action cinema stars of yesteryear — the ones who maybe weren't the greatest thespians, but had the moves, the ambition, and the heart to more than make up for it. Johnny Cage may be literally flailing around, but it only makes him more endearing.

"Mortal Kombat II" is in theaters everywhere.