Mortal Kombat

[Lucky Planet]

My review is the *complete* opposite of this. I personally thought the fights were better, and the lead character was *much* better (Cole Young was a square and the worst part about MK1 to me). I thought it improved on the 1st one in basically every way and my only real complaint (if I had to pick one) is how death continues to mean absolutely nothing LOL

I gotta go into spoilers on why I had problems
and why it's messy for me.

Spoiler

not only does death mean nothing, but there are 3 fights in a mortal Kombat movie without any death, that was ridiculous to me lol.
might as well just be street fighter.

sindel was wasted on a very short fight. raiden was wasted, scorpion was shoehorn in just for the fight shown in the trailer, shang tsung kinda wasted, just really bad writing.

shao kahn having an invincible cheat code was such a horrible cope out. just awful. why do that why? it diminishes any suspense because you know he can't die. that was so dumb.

the whole amulet plot was kind of nonsense

 

[mccgavin]

I thought it was a very significant improvement over the first film. It felt a lot more accurate to the world and story of the games. The fights were a lot better, and there were many more of them. Death not mattering kind of comes with the territory of this series, there's no way of really getting around it.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I thought it was a very significant improvement over the first film. It felt a lot more accurate to the world and story of the games. The fights were a lot better, and there were many more of them. Death not mattering kind of comes with the territory of this series, there's no way of really getting around it.

I guess I wish the fights were a little longer and had more gore and more fatalities.

 

[CoryLevy91]

I legitimately think MKII (2026) is a contender for one of the best video game adaptations of all time. It's fun, faithful to the tone and spirit of the games, features a veritable boatload of nods and homages to the IP, juggles a massive amount of character with relative ease while not shorting any of them yet it tells a relatively original story set within the huge lore of the series.

The characters are great, the fights are pitch perfect, I was shocked that they managed to include Johnny Cage yet they also made Kitana massively important in a have their cake and eat it too style, the score got me JACKED, the gore was outrageous, the effects were glorious (Baraka's mouth is an insanely great practical effect in 2026) and I absolutely marked the hell out that QUAN F'N CHI is here and being a scheming little weirdo. I was supremely surprised with how well they played the 'stakes' throughout the film in way that really resonated.

It's clear that this series of MK films are handled by people who really do care, love and respect the games. They're not 1 to 1 adaptations and they don't need to be because the diligence the creatives, crew and cast all took with bringing the film to life shines through. Again it's not an award winning melodrama with a powerful message but it shouldn't be; it's a Mortal Kombat film and **** me if it isn't fun as ****!

Sidenote: seeing this only makes my stance on the Cregger Resident Evil film even stronger. I don't want to hear a video game can't be adapted faithfully because of its tone or content when MKII is over here being a certified banger of a time.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I need to rewatch the first MK film

Because I didn't hate it, the opening scene of the first movie to me was more interesting then this film

I think this film is better on the whole, but I just need to see the first one because I felt like this was better but...like nothing insane. It was a fun fighting film but not perfect or anything, lots of things just happen with not much reason and yeah turn your brains and go enjoy the ride

Anyway, fun film and kind of glad they didn't just kill Cole Young right off the bat, I like the actor now because he was in Cobra Kai.

 

[CoryLevy91]

The first film is a fun introduction to the world but suffers from sidelining the vastly more interesting stories of Hanzo/Bi-Han, Liu Kang/Kung Lao, & Lord Raiden/Shang Tsung for propping up the original character new to the lore (no fault of Lewis Tan, he does great in the role in both films!).

MKII is just balls to the walls Kombat goodness, I'm shocked at how faithful and well it captures the tone, spirit and feeling of the series. It does such a good job twirling the spotlight on its grand cast of characters and letting them play with and off each other well. It's up there with the likes of Twisted Metal and The Last of Us for best video game adaptations for me.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I need to rewatch the first MK film

Because I didn't hate it, the opening scene of the first movie to me was more interesting then this film

I think this film is better on the whole, but I just need to see the first one because I felt like this was better but...like nothing insane. It was a fun fighting film but not perfect or anything, lots of things just happen with not much reason and yeah turn your brains and go enjoy the ride

Anyway, fun film and kind of glad they didn't just kill Cole Young right off the bat, I like the actor now because he was in Cobra Kai.

the first one has a better story and better suspense, better villains. better threats.
I know ALL Of the fandom of mortal Kombat hates the lack of tournament and hate Cole,
but the fights felt more risky. they felt more dangerous. the villains felt more dangerous.
the plot flows better in the last one.

the last movie has a better narrative.

The first film is a fun introduction to the world but suffers from sidelining the vastly more interesting stories of Hanzo/Bi-Han, Liu Kang/Kung Lao, & Lord Raiden/Shang Tsung for propping up the original character new to the lore (no fault of Lewis Tan, he does great in the role in both films!).

MKII is just balls to the walls Kombat goodness, I'm shocked at how faithful and well it captures the tone, spirit and feeling of the series. It does such a good job twirling the spotlight on its grand cast of characters and letting them play with and off each other well. It's up there with the likes of Twisted Metal and The Last of Us for best video game adaptations for me.

I feel the exact opposite. I kind of hate this movie,
badly written.

since anyone can come back and Will come back, there's no sense of real danger, there's no threat like the last movie.
that also makes the fights boring
(and a couple fights don't even end in any deaths, making it feel less dangerous,
literally no danger at all in the Jonny cage fight and the Jax fight. )
zero tension.

making the bad guy shao kahn invincible by cheating with some amulet completely removed any suspense or tension the movie had. his fight with Cole feels like a waste of time.
the baraka fight was funny but completely pointless. just a joke fight.

this movie might "look pretty" but it has an awful messy story with disappointing villains and short mediocre fights ( again, Jonny and Jax fights are extremely underwhelming)

the amulet becomes more important than the tournament itself. very disappointing.

 

[Brian G.]

the first one has a better story and better suspense, better villains. better threats.
I know ALL Of the fandom of mortal Kombat hates the lack of tournament and hate Cole,
but the fights felt more risky. they felt more dangerous. the villains felt more dangerous.
the plot flows better in the last one.

the last movie has a better narrative.



I feel the exact opposite. I kind of hate this movie,
badly written.

since anyone can come back and Will come back, there's no sense of real danger, there's no threat like the last movie.
that also makes the fights boring
(and a couple fights don't even end in any deaths, making it feel less dangerous,
literally no danger at all in the Jonny cage fight and the Jax fight. )
zero tension.

making the bad guy shao kahn invincible by cheating with some amulet completely removed any suspense or tension the movie had. his fight with Cole feels like a waste of time.
the baraka fight was funny but completely pointless. just a joke fight.

this movie might "look pretty" but it has an awful messy story with disappointing villains and short mediocre fights ( again, Jonny and Jax fights are extremely underwhelming)

the amulet becomes more important than the tournament itself. very disappointing.

Gonna be honest, I’m completely flummoxed by this review. lol

 

[Jerroddragon]

the first one has a better story and better suspense, better villains. better threats.
I know ALL Of the fandom of mortal Kombat hates the lack of tournament and hate Cole,
but the fights felt more risky. they felt more dangerous. the villains felt more dangerous.
the plot flows better in the last one.

the last movie has a better narrative.



I feel the exact opposite. I kind of hate this movie,
badly written.

since anyone can come back and Will come back, there's no sense of real danger, there's no threat like the last movie.
that also makes the fights boring
(and a couple fights don't even end in any deaths, making it feel less dangerous,
literally no danger at all in the Jonny cage fight and the Jax fight. )
zero tension.

making the bad guy shao kahn invincible by cheating with some amulet completely removed any suspense or tension the movie had. his fight with Cole feels like a waste of time.
the baraka fight was funny but completely pointless. just a joke fight.

this movie might "look pretty" but it has an awful messy story with disappointing villains and short mediocre fights ( again, Jonny and Jax fights are extremely underwhelming)

the amulet becomes more important than the tournament itself. very disappointing.

I think we are in the minority but I just have moments from the first film, I think about and I just thought the opening of the first film was acted and written and directed better

The new opening is not bad but feels rushed compared to the first opening.




Also no spoilers but some characters in MK just changes sides because, like what ever but when you have one character who gives someone up to the bad guys just in the next scene to join the good guys would have been nice to see more of why the character changed but anyway I'm not telling people to not like the sequel. It was dumb fun, and hopefully on a second watch some scenes will stick in my head more and if not cool would still see a third film and glad most MK fans seemed to like this film