Mortal Kombat II (2026)

You know the cry. You know the other famous phrases. You know the characters. If you watched the previous Mortal Kombat film, the latest in a number of attempts to satisfy fans of the franchise, then you'll also know that the casting and action choreography seem to have greatly improved since the 1990s movies.

Simon McQuoid returns to the director's chair for this sequel, and the marketing would have you believe that this is essentially a Johnny Cage movie. While Cage (played here by Karl Urban) certainly features in a number of the highlights, this is actually a sneaky way to present a film that focuses on the likes of Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee). Writer Jeremy Slater has fun using the tournament as a framework for changing loyalties, but never forgets to leave room for some fights and dollops of gore.

I think I owe Mortal Kombat II another viewing, but it's hard for me to see my opinion changing much, even if I start to look around for other little pleasures within each scene. It's a fun time . . . WHEN it's aiming to be a fun time, but there are too many scenes that either show characters having to once again be convinced of the very existence of Mortal Kombat or having them wrestling with their own insecurities. It's just my personal preference, but Mortal Kombat should always have characters absolutely convinced of their own abilities and morality, whether right or wrong. I know, I know, you cannot just literally translate everything from a videogame directly to a movie, but I just don't need to spend too much time watching deadly warriors hum and ha about whether or not they're on the right side of history.

The fights are good though, and that's really what it's all about. I just wish there had been one or two more of them in the 116-minute runtime. I also wish that those involved had been a bit more inventive. There are so many characters available from this property, many with enjoyably quirky fighting moves, but McQuoid and Slater decide to ignore so many of them. Admittedly, they will have been thinking of ways in which to offer variety and energy in any more sequels, if they're greenlit, but I just kept wanting to see more favourites that would pop into my mind as I reached into my memory banks to consider the many hours I spent playing the first game on my SEGA Master System.

Urban, despite being a bit too old to totally convince in his role, brings his usual humour and charisma to Johnny Cage. He's a smartass, but also has enough skills to stand him in good stead for one or two fights. Both Rudolph and McNamee do better though, with both feeling like a more natural fit for their characters. Lawson also makes a welcome return, playing Kano, but it's a shame that he's onscreen for such a relatively short amount of time. Martyn Ford is believably deadly as Shao Kahn, Tati Gabrielle makes a strong impression in the role of Jade, and you get the welcome return of Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada, as well as Mehcad Brooks, and the less welcome return of Ludi Lin (no fault of his, just the fault of his character, Liu Kang, not being very exciting). Fans may not like the way Baraka is used, but actor CJ Bloomfield does a great job under that makeup job.

There's a chance that my expectations were too high here, especially when I thought we were getting a Johnny Cage movie, and that's why I need to give it another go. But being prepared for a bit less of a Cage-centric experience won't stop me from being slightly disappointed by the other potential treats missing from this. There's enough here to put it on a par with the film that preceded it, but I had hoped that this would be a lot more adventurous and fun after all of the groundwork laid last time around.

7/10

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Prime Time: Hellboy: The Crooked Man (2024)

A new Hellboy movie that has both a new actor portraying Big Red (Jack Kesy takes on the role this time) and a new director at the helm (Brian Taylor, he of the fun Neveldine/Taylor film-making duo), I was prepared to seriously dislike this. I have enjoyed previous Hellboy movies, but they had directors and stars I was more interested in. This seemed to be destined to disappoint me, considering the lack of major names and what looked to be, from the trailer anyway, a restrictively low budget.

I ended up not being disappointed.

To boil the story down to the core of the premise, Hellboy and Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph) end up in a remote area where they discover someone in need of their help. Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White) has been put in a very difficult position, which makes him a target for a witch (Leah McNamara), and also has him apparently owing a debt to the titular crooked man (Martin Bassindale). 

With Mike Mignola helping to adapt his own comic book, joined by Taylor and Christopher Golden, this is a decent little slice of supernatural action that, as I have been assured by fans of the Hellboy comics, actually feels more in line with the source material than previous live-action films. I still have a soft spot for Perlman in the role, and the fact that his Hellboy was surrounded by the gorgeousness of Guillermo del Toro world-building, but there's actually nothing here to be overly critical of.

Yes, this cast and crew seem to be working with more limited resources, but that doesn't stop them from presenting a nicely-constructed number of set-pieces that allow Hellboy to face off against supernatural beings with his usual mix of brute strength and an inability to be too fazed by anything. The opening sequence, involving a speeding train and a troublingly large spider, may not inspire the most confidence, but things improve once we then move to the start of the main storyline.

Kesy is alright in the main role, and perhaps his performance only seems slightly lacking due to my own bias. He certainly does well with what he's given, and the character has the right weight and attitude for almost every minute of his screentime. Rudolph often feels like she's just around to be placed in danger, but the same could be said of others who have shared the screen with Big Red in past adventures. White is enjoyably shaky, even as he tries to stop showing how worried and tortured he is, and both McNamara and Bassindale are a lot of fun as two of the main entities causing trouble for our leads. Hannah Margetson and Joseph Marcell also do well, playing two people caught up in the unfolding events in different ways that could lead to them sharing a very similar fate.

I started to happily recommend this to like-minded friends as soon as I'd seen it. That doesn't mean that I think it's great, but I definitely think it is better than many (including myself) would expect it to be. I keep describing it as being akin to a one-shot comic, which makes sense when you consider the source material, and I suspect that fans of the main character will end up as pleasantly surprised as I was.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Resident Evil (2022)

I have liked almost every incarnation of Resident Evil. If something has been released with the Umbrella logo on it then I am always optimistic. And just writing that sentence has reminded me that I have somehow not yet got around to watching Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, an animated show released last year. Regardless of my own tardiness, whether it is the games themselves, the film series starring Milla Jovovich in the lead role, the animated movies, Welcome To Raccoon City, or some episodic TV, I am always happy to consume the wide variety of branded media made available. The animated movies, despite how well they can recreate the game characters and drop them into a variety of scenarios, have arguably been my least favourite RE releases, but even they have moments and details to enjoy.

Take a general peek at reactions from fans, however, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that every attempt to make a live-action Resident Evil film or show has been a planned assault on the delicate sensibilities on every zombie-blasting videogamer. Nobody is happy, often because they think that any live-action story set in the world of Resident Evil tends to diverge too far away from what they love about the games.

The same thing has happened here, judging by the overwhelmingly negative reaction I have seen to this show. And a lot of people quantify their views by ensuring that you know they have been playing the Resident Evil games for over two decades. I've also been playing the Resident Evil games for over two decades . . . and I liked this latest instalment in the ever-expanding franchise.

The main storyline is split between two time periods. There's the current year (yes, 2022), in which two sisters, Billie (Siena Agudong) and Jade (Tamara Smart) struggle to acclimatise to their new life in New Raccoon City. They're helped by the fact that their father is Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick), an indispensable part of the Umbrella Corporation, meaning he usually has the clout to make any big problem disappear. He cannot magically fix two daughters who have spent too long left to their own devices though, which bites him on the ass when the siblings decide to break into an Umbrella facility after realising that they use animals in some of their test procedures. The other year depicted onscreen is 2036. The world has gone a bit dangerous, to put it mildly, and the adult Jade (Ella Balinska) is trying to avoid being eaten by zombies, known as "Zeroes", while also evading capture by Umbrella.

Look, I'm not going to sit here and try to tell people that this is the best thing to ever have the Resident Evil name attached to it. I can understand why parts of it could annoy people who wanted much more zombie action. Many scenes play out like a standard teen drama when we're being show the sisters experiencing the calm before the storm in 2022, the cast aren't all at the top of the talent tree (special mention to Turlough Convery for almost being so awful that I considered giving up on the whole thing), and the zombies are much livelier than their videogame counterparts.

BUT, and it IS a big but, you get Lance Reddick killing it in the role of Wesker, you get a memorably vicious dog, the zombie action is pretty well-presented, there's a massive killer with a chainsaw at one point, and it has at least three genuinely brilliant moments dotted throughout the entire series. There's a good variety of diversity behind and in front of the camera, I'm not going to namecheck every director and writer though (sorry), and the structure of the storyline allows the creators to deliver something that isn't a complete rehash of the games, but also allows them to tuck in some appreciated callback. Oh, and there are some great soundtrack choices made.

Other highlights include Paola Núńez in the role of Evelyn Marcus, someone who appears to be one of the highest bosses in the Umbrella Corporation, and a couple of impressively-rendered gigantic beasties that serve as a reminder that the viruses created by Umbrella don't really care what species you are, they will mess with anything.

I would happily watch this again, if I had the time in my busy viewing schedule. I will happily watch a second season (I hope there IS going to be a second season). And I will happily keep being bemused by the overly negative reaction from fans of the brand.  It's definitely not perfect, and I have already mentioned that I can see why viewers are more annoyed by some parts of the storyline, but it's another very enjoyable addition to the Umbrella family.

7/10

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