I’ve mentioned in a previous review, probably The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), that I grew up on video game culture, and I continue to play them whenever I have free time. As of May 2026, I currently own a PlayStation 5 and a Nintendo Switch. Hopefully, I can get a Nintendo Switch 2 in the near future. Fortunately enough, I never played ultra-violent video games as most of the “violent” games I played were of the cartoon/fantasy variety. They ranged from rated E for Everyone to T for Teen. I didn’t even get my first rated M for Mature game until I was eighteen, but not because my parents didn’t allow it. I just wasn’t really interested in playing those kinds of games though my parents probably would’ve restrained me if I was curious. With that bit of backstory, you can assume that I did not participate in the long lasting fighting franchise Mortal Kombat, and you’d be correct.

Now, I wouldn’t say I’ve never played any installment of Mortal Kombat, but I definitely never owned a single copy of any of them on the consoles I’ve owned throughout the years. Neither did I have any interest in playing them. For me, the over-the-top goriness felt gratuitous and made for bloodiness’ sake. In fact, unless it’s at an arcade and I’m just playing them with friends or out of boredom, I’ve never been interested in 2-D fighting games, with the exception of the Super Smash Brothers series. That one I will play at any given moment. Now, you’re probably wondering “wait, I thought I was reading a film review, not about video games. What gives?!” Well the reason I bring up video games and Mortal Kombat is because my latest review for The Legionnaire is Mortal Kombat II, the sequel to the 2021 movie Mortal Kombat. 

Full disclosure: I haven’t been looking forward to Mortal Kombat II for several reasons. The first one is that I did not care for too much for Mortal Kombat when I first saw it back in 2021, and I saw that at home when HBO Max released in their films simultaneously in theaters and their streaming website due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I can only imagine how much I would’ve disliked it if I had seen it in theaters. Also, as mentioned I’m just not into gory violence just for the sake of it, including on the big screen. I’m not saying I can’t stomach violence in general, but when you make it realistic, I quickly lose interest. With that being said, was Mortal Kombat II not only a better film than its predecessor, but have me interested in playing the games? As usual, let’s find out.

Mortal Kombat II starts with a flashback where Emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) challenges King Jerrod (Desmond Chiam) to “mortal combat” in which the victor has control over Edenia. Despite putting up a good fight, King Jerrod is defeated and killed by Shao Kahn, who takes control over the former king’s land and wife, Queen Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) and a young Kitana (Sophia Xu). Years later, another Mortal Kombat tournament is approaching and Earthhelm (basically Earth) has been chosen to compete. While it already has four champions, including Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and Cole Young (Lewis Tan), it needs a fifth champion. Enter Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). Unlike the rest of the champions, Johnny Cage has no knowledge of the tournament. We first see him about to leave a convention where the once famous action star from the 1990s is now spends his days hoping for a quick buck. As he is about to pack up his stuff in his car, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Satō) and Sonya appear and tell him that he’s been chosen by the “gods” to compete in Mortal Kombat, where he will be the fifth champion of Earthrelm. Johnny is then transported to a temple located on Earth where the other champions and Lord Raiden give a heavy dose of exposition about the tournament and their opponents including Shao Kahn. Johnny refuses because, despite being a martial arts expert, he doesn’t have special powers and thinks the “gods” have made a mistake. Honoring Johnny’s wishes, Lord Raiden brings him back to where he was but fate has different plans. As the first round begins, both Sonya and Johnny are being summoned to fight where Sonya faces off against Queen Sindel and Johnny trades blows with Kitana (Adeline Rudolph). While Sonya defeats Queen Sindel, which ends in a fatality, Johnny isn’t so lucky and is defeated by Kitana. Unlike the ending of Sonya’s match however, Johnny is spared from death, and he and Sonya reunite with the others at the temple. Moments later, Kitana appears to the Earthhelm warriors and while this confuses Johnny, it’s revealed that she has been acting as a double agent for Lord Raiden at her father’s instructions. She then informs them that Shao Kahn has been working on a way to become immortal, which would be impossible if the champions triumph in the contest. From there, the champions of Earthhelm must not only survive Mortal Kombat, but stop Shao Kahn from achieving his goals.

Now, if you’re expecting me to rip Mortal Kombat II a new one and give it a scathing review as I prepared for, then I’m sorry to disappoint you because unlike Mortal Kombat (2021), I did find some enjoyment with this latest entry. 

If you read the synopsis and said to yourself, “wow, Mortal Kombat II sounds like one violent cartoon,” then you’d be correct. It is basically one violent cartoon and I just went for the ride. If that sounds like a cop out answer, then you’re mostly right, but hear me out. When I was mentally preparing for this sequel, I was expecting all gore and no plot, and that I would forget it in a week. In fact, I was glad they did a lot of exposition throughout the movie because I can’t for the life of me remember the plot. This film, however, feels a bit more focused, and though the tournament honestly works more like a subplot, I honestly didn’t mind it too much in retrospect. What helps is the addition of Johnny Cage, who feels like the avatar for the audience who doesn’t understand too much of the world of Mortal Kombat, including myself. Because he doesn’t have powers or special abilities, he relies on his martial arts to fight his way through the movie. As someone who has a slight interests in martial arts, I enjoyed those specific sequences. 

Before I sat in the theater, prepping for Mortal Kombat II, I said to myself, “how the heck am I going to find any Catholic message in a Mortal Kombat film?”. Surprisingly, I was able to find some. As mentioned earlier, Johnny Cage was chosen by the “gods” to complete for the fate of Earthhelm. Throughout the first half, he keeps questioning why he is chosen. I reflected on this because God often chooses us to do different tasks or things we don’t initially want, but we end up doing anyway. I began to wonder why is Johnny Cage in this tournament despite the fact he’s been part of the franchise since the beginning. I won’t go into details on how his character makes an impact towards the end, but he does fulfill a purpose, much like how God gives us a purpose daily. It’s how we put it into perspective which is a key word that Lord Raiden bestows on Johnny Cage when he discovers Mortal Kombat. 


In the end, I, reluctantly, did find some amusement in Mortal Kombat II with the caveat that I took it as a dumb, Saturday morning cartoon that wasn’t as violent as I anticipated. Now, is this something I would recommend to the readers of The Legionnaire? Take a wild guess. Granted, if you loved playing the games and/or you get bored and you happen to find this on HBO Max in the future, it’s not the worst thing in the world to watch. I should also note that there was another film that I could’ve reviewed, which was The Sheep Detectives, which supposedly got some good reviews from what I heard. Unfortunately, the only showtime available was around 10 PM, which was too late for me due me to running a 5K the next morning. Hopefully, I’ll be able to watch it (and potentially review it) sometime in the future, though I’m afraid that I’ll just end up kicking myself with regret for not seeing it. I’m sure I could’ve done my 5K well with little sleep, right?