Mortal Kombat II (Film)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Mortal Kombat (2021).

Back in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Warner Bros. released their first film in a rebooted Mortal Kombat film series, simply titled Mortal Kombat (MK). As this release occurred as part of a day-and-date theatrical and streaming film slate for that year, I watched it through HBO Max and liked it enough (with a much more positive view on a rewatch), though I was unsure if it would ever materialize. Sure enough, this year saw the release of Mortal Kombat II (MKII), which received a better critical response (64% on Rotten Tomatoes vs 55% for the original), though with a shaky box office return that may put the prospect of a third film in jeopardy. Nevertheless, I actually watched this one in a theater, albeit a few weeks late, and walked away wishing for the potential third film.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Video games movies haven’t had the best track record for the longest time, but the efforts of films like Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu have helped change that perception. In the past, however, there was the occasional film that broke the stigma, at least among fans, including the PG-13 Mortal Kombat film from 1995. While I haven’t seen that film as of this writing, and have only played Mortal Kombat (2011) and Mortal Kombat X, I like the series enough that I looked forward to Mortal Kombat (2021) and watched it opening day through HBO Max. It doesn’t achieve a flawless victory, but it does show that film adaptations of video games can still be good in the right hands.