Mortal Kombat II - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Mortal Kombat II



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
As a lifelong fan of the games, the Mortal Kombat series has had a rocky road in cinematic history. I fully well know that video game adaptations (especially action and horror ones) have a hard time being adapted, but Mortal Kombat has gone full-blown “War & Peace” on us. And by that I mean “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. The series blew up during the 90s, causing a hasty feature film to be made that, while pretty crummy from a technical standpoint, became a cult classic overnight. I mean, how many video game movies are so impactful that the video game creators actually took inspiration from IT for future games? Or its techno score was so iconic that it gets implemented in these nearly 30-year-old reboots, or the fans have an issue with it? All I can say is, I’ve been here every step of the way. With crummy sequels, a decent TV show, tons of animated flicks, and I can’t wait for the next one to come out.

2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot was one of those films that had me very bored checking out the trailer. It looked cheesy, badly costumed, and barely held any resemblance to the original games. Let alone the modern games that basically rebooted the game franchise with MK9-MK11. But at the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised by McQuoid’s attempts at revitalizing the franchise. It had story, costuming, and budget problems, but they did what they could with what they had on hand,d and the results were decent. I loved Hiroyuki Sanada and Joe Taslim as Scorpion and Sub Zero. And Josh Lawson absolutely STOLE every scene he was in as Kano, but the rest of the movie was middling at best. And let's not forget the powers that be deciding to introduce Cole as the protagonist. A new character never before found in the games, and routinely rejected by fans. But I have to say, ever since I saw the trailer for Mortal Kombat II, I was insanely excited. It felt like McQuoid and crew had learned from their mistakes on the first film and were actively working at correcting it. And to be perfectly honest, they did for the most part. THIS was the film the very first flick should have been.

As the title pretty much states, Mortal Kombat II is a direct sequel to the 2021 film, and picks up nearly immediately after. The fighters are about assembled, and we’re ready for the tournament with Shao Khan (Martyn Ford) and his Outworld fighters. But with Kung Lao (Max Huang) murdered by Shang Tsung (Chin Han) in the previous film, the Earthrealm fighters are down a man. And that’s where our main man Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) comes in. Recruited at the last moment, the Hollywood martial arts actor gets thrust into the world of the tournament with barely a courtesy “here’s what you missed”. Now the worn-down and depressed actor has to dig deep within himself to stand up and fight for something bigger than himself.

While the idea of the tournament seems to be the primary narrative of the film, it really isn’t. The tournament acts as the framework to get our heroes in the same location, but the real story is that of finding Shinnock’s amulet and keeping Shao Khan from becoming immortal with it, effectively rigging the outcome of the tournament. Johnny actually loses the very first fight of the tournament, but due to Princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) sparing his life, he’s not subject to the infamous fatalities of the games. But with everyone else distracted by the tournament, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) sends Johnny and several other surviving members to Netherrealm, wherein they are to gain the assistance of Scorpion and get the amulet before it’s too late.

The movie plays fast and loose with canonical lore, but it seems to be taking inspiration from the modern reboots of the franchise, especially Mortal Kombat IX and X, with Princess Kitana being the “chosen one” this go-around. And in reality, it really is 50% her story as much as it is Johnny Cage's. The story is split between the tournament and the amulet, but it is also split between Earthrealm’s quest for survival and Kitana finding the strength to stand up to Shao Khan and enact revenge on him for conquering Edinia. We get plenty of fan service from the games, ranging from Ed Boon’s infamous “Get Over Here!!” from Scorpion (this time with Ed Boon’s voice dubbed), bits of the techno theme song from the 95 movie, Revenants, ACTUAL combos and moves from the game for the fighters (seriously, it was awesome to see their special moves in real life), as well as actual arenas from the various games. But the crème de la crème of the entire movie has to be the fight between Kung Lao and Liu Kang. It was THE fight of the movie, and probably the only fight in all of the sequel movies that actually rivaled the awesomeness that was the fight between Liu Kang and Reptile in the 1995 film.

But the downsides are moderately solid and detract a bit as well. We have Kano deciding to become a good guy out of nowhere (most likely because he was an absolute scene stealer and they wanted to keep him around), and we have the same problem that Mortal Kombat XL suffered from. The fact that Liu Kang was only a stand-in, and Kitana is the one to take down Shao Khan. The reboot games of IX-XI had a major problem dumbing down the awesome might of Shao Khan and making him just a super strong enemy, and the movie copies that bit from the modern games. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of having Shao Khan neutered like that, and a lot of fans agree as well. I would rather have had him be a final boss that gets subverted till the third movie, but it looks like they’re going with the “fire god Liu Kang” and the revenant storyline for the next movie. But the major letdown in the film is one I didn’t see coming. I wanted to love Karl Urban in the role of Johnny Cage, but he just didn’t embody the personality of the character at all. Urban is a great actor, and gave it his all. It’s just that he was badly miscast for the rol.e




Rating:

Rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, and language.




4K Video: Video:

Taken from a native 4K master, Mortal Kombat II looks fantastic on 4K UHD. The film is much darker than the 2021 film, spending most of the time in the dark and murky world of Outworld. Fine details are excellent throughout, with heavy blacks that really test the limits of the Dolby Vision enhancements. I didn’t find any artifacting or crush going on, and colors (which are generally a bit muted) pop as much as they can (such as Kitana’s blue outfit, or Jade’s green staff). Highlights in the Netherrealm are a punchy orange and black, and the obvious CGI used throughout sometimes looks a bit wonky. But overall this is a great looking encode that should please just about everyone.








Audio:

And the one facet of the entire 4K UHD package is the 5/5 rating for the audio mix. The Mortal Kombat audio tracks have always been held in high regard (except that one for Annihilation), and this is a doozy. Powerful, throbbing with energy from the mix of a modern and nostalgic score, the Atmos mix is a powerhouse to listen to. LFE response is deep and guttural, adding weight and authority to the many fight scenes, and the overheads get used extensively with lots of discrete action. ESPECIALLY when the crew goes to the Netherrealm, and you hear all of the scraping rocks from odd angles and Noob Saibot dropping in from the sky. Dialog is above reproach (except for Shao Khan’s muffled voice under his mask,) and the dynamics are massively wide. Simply put, this track is probably the best part of the entire disc, and pure reference.

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Extras:

• Mortal Kombat II: Evolving the Saga - Returning characters, new alliances and even bigger fatalities! Go behind the scenes to learn all that went into creating the latest chapter in the Mortal Kombat film saga and how the sequel expands the universe to bolder, bloodier heights.
• Building the Realms of Mortal Kombat - From the decaying streets of Edenia to the terrifying Pit featured in the iconic video game series, discover how the Mortal Kombat II design teams blended practical sets with groundbreaking VFX to create the legendary realms in the film.
• Mortal Kombat II: Choose Your Fighter - Awaken your Arcana as you meet the cast and explore the brutal weapons, epic costumes and fierce training that went into bringing their characters to life.
• Klose Quarters Kombat - Cast members and key creatives share insights into how the stunt preparation, intense fight scenes, and weapons training shaped both classic moves and new, merciless combat styles.
• A "Boon" to Gamers Everywhere - Sit down with chief Mortal Kombat mythmaker and creator Ed Boon for a deep dive into the franchise's storied history and ongoing evolution that spans three decades of near-infinite games, films and comics, culminating with the live-action sequel.
• Original Trailers

Final Score: ​

Is Mortal Kombat II a great movie? Nah, but neither was the 1995 film. It has a lot of fun with the lore, and is the actual movie the first one really SHOULD have been. I did like a lot of the fights, AND that they didn’t just try to CGI Karl Urban’s face on some stunt guy’s body. Instead, they went the route of the 1995 film and had non-martial artists fight it out on screen and use camera angles and tricks to make them look more competent. Sure, it’s cheesy, but it fits with the motif of the franchise and works more often than not. The 4K UHD disc looks and sounds awesome, and there’s even a decent set of extras on board. Fans of the movie will love the set; everybody else….well….give it a shot. It’s fun, cheesy, and schlocky. But this is Mortal Kombat. Definitely recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Karl Urban, Tati Gabrielle, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Adeline Rudolph
Directed by: Simon McQuoid
Written by: Jeremy Slater, Ed Boon, John Tobias
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, French, French (Canadian), German, Spanish, Czech DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish
Studio: Warner Bro's
Rated: R
Runtime: 116 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 28th, 2026

Recommendation: Recommended