Movie Review: ‘Mortal Kombat II’ May 11, 2026By John Mulderig OSV News Filed Under: Movie & Television Reviews NEW YORK (OSV News) – Based on a video game series so notoriously violent that it helped inspire the establishment of the Entertainment Software Rating Board regulatory body, “Mortal Kombat II” (Warner Bros.) lives down to its blood-soaked heritage. Ostensibly concerned with the martial arts, the film ultimately revels instead in horrific mortality. Lost amid the carnage are the halting attempts in Jeremy Slater’s script to chart a conversion story, assert some positive values and display something resembling self-aware humor. All of those unfulfilled aspirations center on the figure of the story’s protagonist, Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). A washed-up Hollywood action hero, Cage is at a low point in his life when he’s approached by a pair of mysterious strangers who explain that they want to recruit him to fight on their side in a cosmic tournament taking place in an alternate universe. The outcome of the contest, they inform him, will decide the fate of an alien-oppressed version of Earth. Once convinced of the reality of this outlandish scenario, the initially incredulous Cage shows no interest whatsoever in getting mixed up in the struggle. But the “gods” of the plot’s murky mythos have other ideas and throw him right back into the arena. Left with no choice but to participate in the conflict as best he can, Cage reluctantly allies himself with the band of fighters championing the underdog earthlings, an ensemble headed, more or less, by warrior babe Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee). Other good guys include chopsocky champ Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and steel-armed Army vet Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks). Returning director Simon McQuoid’s follow-up to his 2021 reboot of the franchise — which also features Adeline Rudolph as Princess Kitana, the secretly rebellious adopted daughter of the occupiers’ evil sovereign — lumbers along from one dust-up to the next. When not fatal, these showdowns are merely tedious. Several characters, however, meet their deaths in hideous ways. Typical is the fate of one baddie who’s spectacularly eviscerated by the equivalent of a giant saw blade. Admittedly, the movie puts Cage on an upward trajectory, a path that sees him gradually becoming more committed to a positive outcome as well as more aware of his own capacity for genuine heroism. Yet all this is eclipsed by the narrative’s bottom-line bloodlust. In fact, the picture’s ultimately perverse values are clearly revealed when one combatant blasphemously declares, “Vengeance will be mine!” It’s a fleeting bit of dialogue — but a telling one. The film contains excessive gory violence, numerous grisly images, nonscriptural religious ideas, some sexual humor, a few uses of profanity, a couple of milder oaths, pervasive rough and much crude language and obscene gestures. The OSV News classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Read More Movie & Television Reviews Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on the horizon Movie Review: ‘The Social Reckoning’ Movie Review: ‘Digger’ Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on the horizon Movie Review: “Forgotten Island” Movie Review: ‘Primetime’ Copyright © 2026 OSV News Print
