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: Mortal Kombat (2021)

I may have said this before, but I have always been a Mortal Kombat guy. I like Tekken, I was always frustrated when playing against people who knew more than me on any incarnation of Street Fighter, but Mortal Kombat was MY fighting videogame. It had the special moves, had plenty of blood and gore, and had great characters. And, against all odds, it was turned into one of the better movie adaptations.

A lot of people were excited when they heard that it was being rebooted in film form (or whatever phrase fits best for this incarnation), but I wasn’t too bothered. I already had a fun Mortal Kombat movie. The second one wasn’t great, but I also had some animated adventures, and the game series has endured throughout the past few decades in a way that I think may have surprised many.

A feature debut from director Simon McQuoid, as well as a debut for writer Greg Russo (although his co-writer, Dave Callaham, has plenty of credits under his belt), Mortal Kombat is a slice of action that feels very much like a film placed in the hands of a very capable stunt team, and that’s no bad thing. In fact, I wish there had been time made for even more fight sequences. Why let plot get in the way of a good Mortal Kombat movie?

Speaking of the plot. It’s time for the big battle that will decide the fate of Earth, of course. Some people who have been chosen to fight are unaware of the full situation, despite being marked with the symbol that tags them as a participant in the tournament, and Cole Young (Lewis Tan) only starts to become aware of his fate when he and his family are threatened by Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim). Coke encounters Jax (Mehcad Brooks), who sends him to connect with Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee). Sonya might be able to help, but she also has her hands full with Kano (Josh Lawson), a man she is keeping on a short leash while using him to get to the tournament. Other familiar faces who appear here are Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang), Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), and Shang Tsung (Chin Han). You also get screentime for Goro, Reptile, Nitara, Mileena, Kabal, and quite a few other moral fighters, and Hiroyuki Sanada gets to portray the legend we all loved to play . . . Scorpion.

This is a perfectly enjoyable film, with some decent fights that occasionally include a decent bit of blood and nastiness. I just don’t know why so many people raved about it though. It’s slightly overlong (clocking in at 110 minutes), some of the editing could have been improved to give the fights more fluidity, and to showcase the talented physical performers, and, as so many others have mentioned, it is a Mortal Kombat movie without the actual Mortal Kombat tournament at the heart of it. That is the aim, yes, but Shang Tsung wants to break the rules, which means being able to fight in a variety of locations that aren’t within the standard tournament environments. On the one hand, I can understand why this choice was made. On the other hand, Mortal Kombat should feel like Mortal Kombat. This doesn’t. It feels like what it is - a way to use the characters and fight moves in a rather standard action movie storyline.

Technically competent throughout, and the score does well enough, overall, to make you forget just how much you are missing the bombastic theme song from the first movie, there’s nothing particularly wrong here. The cast fit their roles well, and I believe every one of them could beat me up in a matter of seconds, and the special effects enhancing their capabilities are spot on. It just doesn’t have quite the right tone and narrative thrust to feel like the definitive Mortal Kombat movie. Maybe they will do even better with the next outing.

I will revisit this, it’s got enough good action and is entertaining throughout, but I will undoubtedly revisit the 1995 movie more. It is less polished, but just a bit more fun. And, despite inputting a code to get the maximum amount of blood ‘n’ guts, playing Mortal Kombat was always fun. 

7/10

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Skyscraper (2018)

Part disaster movie, part action movie, Skyscraper is probably best described as simply a Dwayne Johnson movie. It's dumb fun. Yet it's another mis-step for Johnson, with a bit too much of the dumb and not enough of the fun parts, hopefully serving as a reminder to the hulking star that he shouldn't rely on these vehicles to keep him ranked as high as he currently is (in terms of box office and all-round likability).

Johnson plays a security expert named Will Sawyer. He has a family that he loves, a new job that places him in the biggest skyscraper in the world, and an injury that has left him with one leg (the other being a prosthetic). He's also about to have a major headache when the skyscraper is taken over by some rent-a-villains, the top section is set ablaze, and he can only look on from afar as he realises learns that his family are trapped inside and he has no easy way to get back to them. But this is Dwayne Johnson, dammit, so you know he's going to find a way.

Written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who has a background steeped in comedy and used Johnson so well in Central Intelligence, Skyscraper is riffing on a few very famous action thrillers that take place in very tall buildings. I'm not going to namecheck them, simply because I feel petty enough to refuse to place their names in any context alongside this film. It's the epitome of a hollow blockbuster, with very few things to care about in between the explosions and fights.

Neve Campbell plays Sarah Sawyer, and she gets a couple of decent moments, but she's the only other adult character worth a damn. Oh sure, nobody wants to see the kids in too much peril, but you could say that about most kids. The two here are perfectly fine in roles that could have been played by any one of thousands of eligibile contenders. At least I remember them more than ANY of the other people who are going about onscreen not being Johnson. Chin Han, Roland Moller, Noah Taylor (okay, I always like seeing him in movies), Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, Hannah Quinlivan (so close to being good if she was given some better material), Adrian Holmes, and Elfina Luk are the main people that you're unlikely to remember when you see them in other movie roles.

It's not really the fault of the cast. I lay the blame squarely at the feet of Thurber. His script is weak, even for something that aims to be simple and bombastic. You hear some of the dialogue in the first few scenes and know who is going to turn out to be a villain, you are shown some tech in the building and know it's just going to come into play later on in the movie, you get something cold and stale at every step of the way, which is majorly disappointing. There are better ways to play with this kind of material, dumb fun doesn't have to be so lazy and obvious, but Thurber somehow thinks that he's done a good enough job for the intended audience. He hasn't.

And here's my almost inevitable grace note on which I end things. There's still just enough to make this an average time-waster, as opposed to a painfully bad experience. The charisma of Johnson alone adds a point or two, and there are a few excellent moments that have him trying to stay alive without succumbing to the constant pull of gravity. But who would have thought that this would be the weakest action film starring Johnson in a year that also saw him headline Rampage? Anybody? Yeah, me neither.

5/10

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