‘Mortal Kombat II’ is Ready to Feed its Bloodthirsty Crowd

May 6, 2026

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Are you being finished? (CREDIT: Warner Bros./Screenshot)

Starring: Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroyuki Sanada, Martyn Ford, Desmond Chiam, Ana Thu Nguyen, Max Huang, CJ Bloomfield, Joe Taslim

Director: Simon McQuoid

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Rating: R for Gory/Spiky Violence, Deranged Cockiness, and an Ever-Present Middle Finger

Release Date: May 8, 2026 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Some are in it for the power, some are in it for the love of the battle. And the rest are wondering what the heck they’re even doing there in the first place! In the competition known as Mortal Kombat, that adjective means what it means. That’s bad news for anyone standing in the way of the emperor known as Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), who’s in possession of an amulet that has made him effectively omnipotent. He currently has his sights set on conquering Earth (or “Earthrealm” in the parlance of the MK community), so those with a stake in protecting the planet seek the legendary martial artist Johnny Cage (Karl Urban). Johnny considers himself little more than a washed-up movie star, but a certain crew of interdimensional fighters believe he’s not giving himself enough credit, as they recruit him into this deadly tournament. However, if Earthrealm is to be fully preserved, he’s probably not the only combatant who needs to accept his destiny right quick.

What Made an Impression?: Get Out of Your Cage and Into My Realm: I’m not terribly familiar with the actors of Mortal Kombat II, save for a few exceptions (including one of the stars of a current NBC sitcom, bizarrely enough). It seems like most of them were cast for their physicality and martial artistry, rather than their thespian bona fides. So while this is decidedly an ensemble piece, it helps a great deal that someone as charismatic as Karl Urban is at the center of it all. It’s also a stroke of rationality that his rendition of Johnny Cage is a mix of low and high status. He tries to charm his way out of all the deadly situations he suddenly finds himself plopped into, which works sometimes, but also gets him into even more trouble. Either way, there’s more charm than there would be otherwise, which is a net-positive for those of us watching.
How to Tell Your Blades Apart From Your Kitana: There are plenty of scenes in MKII without a single whiff of Johnny, which is nice if you’re looking for a message about the importance of collective action. But it’s not so nice if you want characters whose motivations go beyond the standard cookie-cutters of “You killed my parents” and “This is what the gods said must happen.” At least the costume and makeup designs are interesting and lovingly rendered.
Following Directions: The Mortal Kombat games are famous for their graphic brutality (as emphasized by the directives to “finish” a defeated challenger), and this latest adaptation does not blink when bringing all the blood and guts to big screen life. I wouldn’t recommend reveling in this sort of over-the-top mayhem every day, but I feel compelled to admit that there is a bit of Looney Tunes-style finesse to all the beheadings, vivisections, and pulverizings. Overall, I wouldn’t quite declare MKII the champion it aspires to be, but it’s having enough fun to justify the effort.

Mortal Kombat II is Recommended If You Like: Cheesy 90s Action Flicks, Jagged teeth, Funny hats

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Amulets

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Skyscraper’ is at Its Best When It Keeps It Simple

July 12, 2018

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CREDIT: Kimberley French/Universal Studios

This review was originally posted on News Cult in July 2018.

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Richard Møller, Pablo Schreiber, Noah Taylor, Hannah Quinlivan, Matt O’Leary, Byron Mann, McKenna Roberts, Noah Cottrell

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Running Time: 102 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for A Tall Building on Fire, But Mostly the Gunfire

Release Date: July 13, 2018

One of the many revolutionary joys of Die Hard was the motivation of the villains. They presented themselves as terrorists, but they were really just simple thieves. There are several reasons why Skyscraper, which is basically “Die Hard, but in the tallest building in the world,” is not as entertaining as John McClane’s original exploits. The premise is now far from unique, obviously. Plus, any character played by Dwayne Johnson, even an amputee in this case, is already too larger-than-life for any of his heroics to be surprising. But the most fundamental mistake is that the villains’ purpose is never clear. I’m pretty sure they’re not after money, but if they are terrorizing, it is never clear what point they are trying to make, if any. It is possible this was all explained at some point while I was momentarily distracted, but if it was that hard to miss, then that’s a problem.

Thus, then, just about the only reason to check out Skyscraper is to see Johnson pull off some gravity-defying stunts. If you suffer from acrophobia or vertigo, you will definitely want to stay away, whereas if your favorite action scene ever is Ethan Hunt on the Burj Khalifa, then you will find some thrills. Johnson does not quite reach Tom Cruise’s poetic heights, but he is not far off from them. It would just be nice if the whole affair were undergirded by more of a purpose.

But there is one piece of Skyscraper that I can endorse wholeheartedly, and that is its use of the old “turn it off and turn it back on again” trick. Seriously, that is the solution that solves the day, and it is actually quite satisfying. Bringing it back to Die Hard: brilliant in its simplicity.

Skyscraper is Recommended If You Like: Die Hard “on a whatever” (minus the memorable villains), Death-Defying Stunts

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Prosthetic Legs