Mortal Kombat II Film SPOILER FILLED Film Review

When a film is a hit you usually want to strike while the iron is hot as then your going to get alot more people interested in seeing the second film. Well that is something that is not the case with this film as they took so long to make the film that alot of people just straight up forgot that noy only did the first film exist but that there was also a sequel coming out yet here we are and while this film does improve on some things in the first film it has alot more issue that the first film didn't have and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the film that sees earths defenders recruit a new member with the film in question being called simply just "Mortal Kombat II" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when Raiden's amulet is stolen and taken into another dimension it's up to the defenders of EarthRealm to find it and defeat Shao Kahn once and for all. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. This films plot is one of the many things that this film does worse then the first film did as while it does indeed improve upon certain aspects of the first films plot it doesn't feel like the makers of this film are trying to make a good plot as alot of the tike it does come across as them playing it safe by doing the bare minimum. Yet when you compare this films plot to the plot of the first film that films plot at least tried to be different and tried to be something new and while it didn't take any kind of risk there was still thought and effort put into yet where as here it's the exact opposite that's true however to be fair to this film one of the things that it does improve upon plot wise is the fact that the films plot is alot more stronger and it does feel like the plot to a part 2 of a two part film only this time instead of the second part being the part that alot of people remember fondly this films plot is one that is forgettable as it feels like that the makers of this film just wrote themselves into a corner in the first film and couldn't be bothered to find a creative way out of it with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Karl Urban as Johnny Cage , Adeline Rudolph as Kitana and Sophia Xu as Young Kitana. Also starring in this film is Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade , Josh Lawson as Kano , Ludi Lin as Liu Kang , Mehcad Brooks as Jax , Tati Gabrielle as Jade , Lewis Tan as Cole Young , Damon Herriman as Quan Chi , Chin Han as Shang Tsung , Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden , Joe Taslim as Bi-Han / Noob Saibot , Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion , Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn , Desmond Chiam as King Jerrod , Ana Thu Nguyen as Queen Sindel , Max Huang as Kung Lao and CJ Bloomfield as Baraka.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. With the actors that re returning from the first film giving us the exact same performances that they gave us in that first film and alot of the films more newer actors giving us the exact same performances that we've seen them give us in other and better movies with even this film biggest star Karl Urban despite him being fine in this film he oddly feels miscast as Johnny Cage as Johnny Cage is meant to be this aging eighties type action star and Karl you don't really get that impression where as if they got someone like Gerard Butler to play the part it would work all the more better this s despite the fact that Karl Urban is actually pretty good in this film. Heck he is the films best actor as alot of the time it does feel like that he's the only one that knows full well that he's in a bad movie and is just going to have fun with it and no only does that come through in the final performance but it is something that does work for his character as Johnny knows full well when he's in a bad movie and is willing to be over the top because of it and that's exactly what kind of performance that Karl Urban gives us in this film. With the acting that's in this film not really being helped by he fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Double Negative , Framestore , Future Associate , Igene Xforia , Myriad Studios and Rising Sun Pictures. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. While you can tell right away that a large portion of this films $80 million American dollar budget went to the films VFX which is as it should be as these films are very clearly VFX heavy films there still needed to be some sort of quality control as alot of this films CGI effects just look cheap at best which is something that would have been fine if this was a cheap film to make which in one sense it is when compared to say the least MCU movie for example. However there are still millions of dollars put int this film and while the films CGI isn't bad looking at all it's also not as good as it could have been with the films CGI creatures perhaps looking the best as that's where we get to see some really cool and creative designs but this film does get into the habit of using digital doubles alot of the time and it is something that does take you out of the film as these are characters that are meant to be able to do all of these flips and kicks and yet your replacing he main actor when you could have hired a stuntman who can do that stuff for real as that would make the effect look better and it would safe you some money in the long run. The films backgrounds do for the most part look really good as while there are some backgrounds in the later have of the film that look fake alot of the time they do look really good with the one really annoying thing about this film being the fact that they have obvious CGI sparks in this film and they don't look good.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where as Cole Young was firmly the main character of the first film and in this film it's Kitana that is the films main character with Johnny being more of secondary main character. As it's her character does go threw the biggest change in the film with her starting out supporting Shao Kahn yet after she sees how hard the fighters of earth are willing to fight for there home it reminds her of the time that he killed her own father at the end of what was most likely the last tournament and it's that memory that makes her switch sides and start fighting for earth thus giving us EarthRealm one more fighter and one more chance to win at Mortal Kombat. This is somethin that was both earned and yet at the same time not earned due to the fact that we don't really get to spend alot of time with her alone in this film as she's always with someone else and therefor we don't get to know what she really thinks of Shao Kahn as he has raised basically as his own daughter with her blindly believing in everything that he's saying to her and yet at the same time it is earned as she did need to have that moment to remind her that she is a good person and that she does fight for the side of right and true and not dark and evil but there should have been moment in the film where she sees that what Shao Kahn has been saying to her has been nothing but a lie as that would then cause her to question everything that she knows about the other realms and the things that he's told her about them as that is something that would have made the moment where she does turn on him be all the impactful and while it does still work as it is if the makers of this film had taken those extra steps to make her arc in this film feel more complete then it would have worked all the more better and be all the more impactful because of it.

Cole himself is basically a none factor in this film as outside of helping them recruit Johnny Cage he does nothing of note in this film. Which is odd as the previous film built him up to be this baa*s that should be feared and yet here they not only don't follow up on that but they also kill him and Jax and bunch of others of in the film which just seems like heavy sequel bating as the film does straight up tells us the survivors are going to look for there fallen friends in the other realms which is a good idea but you didn't need to sacrifice a good idea for a character in order to do it as while that is great for drama as it now says that any other main character can now die but because of the fact that Cole in the previous film wasn't that well developed in this film this film he might as well as be a background character it's not as effective. Moving on to Johnny he was a nice addition to the film and heck some of the films best scenes involve him with the film even having the New Line Cinema credit appear over the opening titles of one of his films which was a really funny thing to see as it does show that the makers of this film are more then willing to use there connections at that studio to not only lightly poke fun at the studio itself but also have a little bit of fun and heck alot of Johnny's scenes in this film just feel right as they help to make the film be all the more entertaining with him and Kano who was the comic relief character in the previous film here having some good banter with each other. The thing that does help to make this film be all the more better then the previous film tho is the fact that it's not afraid to be a video game movie as it does have moments in that are cheesy and that are pretty bad but it's those exact moments that when there blended with the films more better moments help to make this film really entertaining to watch. 

One of the many thing that people didn't like about the first film was the fact that despite it being called Mortal Kombat they never actually showed the tournament itself. This is something that is thankfully rectified in this film as while the tournament doesn't eat up as much screen time as it really should have done in this film it is something that does show you that the makers of this film are more then willing to listen to the fans as they give us there take on the tournament in this film with it being something to truly behold due to the fact that not only do we get to see the defenders of earth take on Shao Kahn but they also have to fight each other in Shao Kahn's own twisted way of getting them to lower there numbers for him. Whilst it is understandable why they don't show that much of the tournament in this film as the film is basically telling it's own story both separate and connected to the main plot it still would have been more awsome if the whole film was just them i this tournament to the death as the 1995 Mortal Kombat film has shown us that you can do a whole film that is nothing more then just fighting and still tell an interesting plot as you don't have to pick one over the other which is something that it does feel like this film does and while the film does credit for including lesser characters like Queen Sindel and Noob Saibot for example which is something that will for sure win them some points with the games die hard fanbase what would have won them over even more was if there was more of a focus on the tournament and the characters fighting styles as that is something that the fans will most likely want to see.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty four minuets and thirty five seconds. Which to be fair to this film is a fairly similar running time to what the previous film had but whereas that film very easily could have worked with that running time this film really needed to be longer due to the fact that it does have alot of characters to set up and establish and it can't do that and tell a good story however if this film was over two hours then it would have been able to do all that with ease with this film even having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. However tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely due to the fact the films really doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot as the film does spend alot of time on setting up both Kitana and Johnny Cage as characters and not enough time on developing and adding things to it's plot when it really should have added things to it's plot even if it's something as small as saying that when Raiden dies it means that the gods can do whatever they want to whatever realm they want as that would add some tension to when it looks like that he is going to die. The film ever doesn't take the time to fully its characters either with this being more due to the fact that the film does have alot of new characters to set up and it can't have all of these new characters and give them all the screen time that they need to be well developed characters whereas if the film took the Sonic The Hedgehog approach and only introduced one or two characters from the games then it would be able to give them all the screen time that they deserve to have yet because it doesn't do that it means that we have characters fighting for screen time with them all coming across as underdeveloped because of it but I rally will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I gave to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this vey film was in all honesty really good. With this films action much like the previous film being the best part of this film as it is perfectly clear that the makers of this film much like with what they did in the previous film put alot more thought and effort into giving us some really cool looking action scenes then they did anything and as this is a film thats based on a video game thats known for its action that is something that does make alot of sense. With the best action scene in the whole entire film being the fight between Kung Lao and Liu Kang as we get to see each of them trying to outwit each other whilst at the same time not trying to do that much harm to each ither due to the fact that they are cousins and yet when they realise that they have to kill each other the action only gets better with the two of them using there powers in really fun ways with the whole scene ending when Liu Kang uses Lung Lao's own hat against him by forcing him to lie down on the hats spinning brim which is just such a cool way to end the fight with this film and the previous film really staying true to the games by being as over the top with there gore as the games are and yet the same thing that lets down the previous films action is what lets it down here as there is alot of CGI blood in this film and while that doesn't take away from the films cool action scenes it does take you out of the film with the rest of the films action being just as a good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall this film is miles better then what Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was but this is still a film that's clearly not as good as the first one was as the film does have elements that fans of the games will be love and hate and has things that the people that watched the first film will love and hate as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boy and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.