{"id":238721,"date":"2026-05-06T21:45:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/mortal-kombat-ii-reviews-are-in-critics-are-divided-on-video-game-movie-sequel\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:45:33","slug":"mortal-kombat-ii-reviews-are-in-critics-are-divided-on-video-game-movie-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/mortal-kombat-ii-reviews-are-in-critics-are-divided-on-video-game-movie-sequel\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mortal Kombat II\u2019 Reviews Are In: Critics Are Divided on Video Game Movie Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Warner Bros.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mortal Kombat II<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is heading to theaters this weekend, and critics are weighing in with their thoughts.<\/p>\n

The movie hits theaters and IMAX across North America on Friday (May 8), and internationally beginning Wednesday (May 6). <\/p>\n

In the film adaptation of the beloved video game franchise, the champions are joined by Johnny Cage, and \u201care pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karl Urban<\/strong><\/a> stars as Johnny Cage, alongside Adeline Rudolph<\/strong><\/a>, Jessica McNamee<\/strong><\/a>, Josh Lawson<\/strong><\/a>, Ludi Lin<\/strong><\/a>, Mehcad Brooks<\/strong><\/a>, Tati Gabrielle<\/strong><\/a>, Lewis Tan<\/strong><\/a>, Damon Herriman<\/strong><\/a>, with Chin Han<\/strong><\/a>, Tadanobu Asano<\/strong><\/a> as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim<\/strong><\/a> as Bi-Han, and Hiroyuki Sanada<\/strong><\/a> as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion.<\/p>\n

Director\u00a0Simon McQuoid<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0returns to direct from a screenplay by\u00a0Jeremy Slater<\/strong>, based on the video game created by\u00a0Ed Boon<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0John Tobias<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Now that the movie is already out in some territories, the reviews are pouring in. Wondering what critics have to say so far?<\/p>\n

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The movie currently has a 74% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes<\/em>.<\/h3>\n

Guardian<\/em> gives it 2 out of 5, writing: “Treated like a premium format blockbuster does not do a film like Mortal Kombat II<\/em> any favours, its junkiness less charming and more distracting, a street fighter suddenly forced to go pay-per-view.”<\/p>\n

Bloody Disgusting gave it 3 out of 5, saying: “With the stage-setting and character introductions mostly out of the way, returning director Simon McQuoid<\/strong> cuts right to the pulpy, gory chase as Earthrealm and Outworld champions scramble to prepare for a barrage of lethal battles and fan service.”<\/p>\n

THR<\/em> says: “The film has its rewards, mostly of the unsophisticated kind, since the fight sequences come fast and furious and the cheesy dialogue has enough groan-worthy one-liners to inspire a thousand drinking games.”<\/p>\n

Consequence <\/em>gives it a B, writing: “Fingers crossed a third movie will do what this movie did: Improve on what came before, take the piss out of itself whenever possible, and never forget, at the end of the day, the reason people want to watch movies like this in the first place.”<\/p>\n

Mashable<\/em> had a negative review, writing: “The bar is in hell for video game movies, huh?”<\/p>\n

TheWrap<\/em> says: “Mortal Kombat II<\/em> isn\u2019t the best Mortal Kombat<\/em> movie, but it\u2019s hard to deny that it comes second. At least with the number ‘2’ and all.”<\/p>\n

Vulture <\/em>says: “Mortal Kombat II <\/em>is just McQuoid<\/strong> turning a big dial that says ‘fan service’ while looking back at test audiences for their reaction.”<\/p>\n

IndieWire<\/em> gives it a C-, noting: “Organizing that chaos into a coherent blockbuster format is a key part of the assignment here. But in Mortal Kombat II<\/em>, McQuoid<\/strong> fails to connect even the strengths of his own hard work from five years ago with the hit he should be releasing today.”<\/p>\n

AV Club <\/em>gave it a D+, writing: “Injecting a dash of schlocky B-movie energy into this lifeless video game sequel is like trying to defibrillate a fighter after a fatality has popped their head like a cherry tomato.”<\/p>\n

The stars of the upcoming movie\u00a0just walked the red carpet together for the European fan event!<\/a><\/p>\n

The post ‘Mortal Kombat II’ Reviews Are In: Critics Are Divided on Video Game Movie Sequel<\/a> appeared first on Just Jared – Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat II is heading to theaters this weekend, and critics are weighing in with their thoughts. The movie hits theaters and IMAX across North America on Friday (May 8), and internationally beginning Wednesday (May 6). In the film adaptation of the beloved video game franchise, the champions are joined by Johnny Cage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":238722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}