Mortal Kombat II (2026)

Mortal Kombat II (2026)

Starring: Adeline Rudolph, Karl Urban, Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Josh Lawson, Martyn Ford, Tati Gabrielle, Tadanobu Asano, Chin Han, Lewis Tan, Max Huang, Hiroyuki Sanada, Joe Taslim
Director: Simon McQuoid
Action Directors: Michael Lehr, Malay Kim

Well, color me impressed!

I thought that the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot was “pretty good” at best. I liked the idea of setting the film before the actual tournament, with the Outworld trying to cheat its way to victory. But like most people, I wondered what the point of the Cole Young character was, since any other character could have been used as the audience proxy. And the action was disappointing, with the two bookend sequences being standouts, but the action in the middle being “Meh” at best. Much of the problem stemmed from the filmmakers not finding that sweet spot between the choreography, the powers, and the gore: the former suffered the most.

But director Simon McQuoid and his producers seemed to have learned from their mistakes and in this sequel, all of that has been corrected. In fact, considering the acting, story, cinematography, FX quality, and overall action, Mortal Kombat II may very well be the best live-action entry in the franchise to this date.

The movie opens a number of years (or decades) before the events of the first film in the Kingdom of Edenia. Edenia is located in the Outworld, and the place has been targeted for conquest by a powerful warlord named Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford, of the Red Sonja remake and The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud). The reigning king, Jerrod (Desmond Chiam, of Joy Ride and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier”), accepts the challenge. Although Jerrod gets in some good hits, Shao Kahn is the better fighter and kills Jerrod. He then marries Jerrod’s widow, Sindel (Primitive War’s Ana Thu Nguyen), and adopts her daughter, Kitana.

Cut to a few days after the events of the first film. We are introduced to Johnny Cage (Karl Urban, of Doom and the Pathfinder), a washed-up martial arts actor whose glory days are long behind him. It has gotten to the point where people don’t even pay attention to him at conventions, although I honestly think that’s a bit exaggerated. I’m more than sure that any once-successful martial arts actor could garner some attention: the power of nostalgia is real. Anyway, Cage is approached by Raiden (a returning Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (same for Jessica McNamee), who inform him that he has been chosen as a combatant for the Mortal Kombat tournament.

Cage is initially skeptical, although he humors him and learns for himself that a) there is indeed a tournament and b) even the human combatants have developed gnarly powers in order to face off with opponents from a completely different realm (or dimension) with neat powers of their own. Still believing that his best days are long past, Cage declines the invitation to train with the likes of Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), and Cole Young (Lewis Tan).

Meanwhile, back in the Outworld, Shao Kahn is organizing his own (new) team of fighters. That would include his now-adult adoptive daughter (Adeline Rudolph, of Do Not Enter and Hellboy: The Crooked Man); Kitana’s bodyguard, Jade (Uncharted’s Tati Gabrielle); Sindel; and himself. And who will be Fighter #5?

Well, that is where things get interesting. In Shao Kahn’s employ is a powerful sorcerer and necromancer by the name of Quan Chi (Damon Herriman). Quan Chi uses his powers to revive not one, but two characters from the previous movie. The first is Kung Lao, who had gotten his soul sucked by Shang Tsung (a returning Chin Han). The second is Kano. Kung Lao is revived to fight for the Outworld, while Shao Kahn has other plans for Kano.

You see, Shang Tsung made it clear in the first film that the Outworld has never been above cheating in Mortal Kombat and this last tournament would be no exception. But since the original plan to murder all the fighters before the tournament was a failure, they plan to cheat via other means. Those particular means revolve around an amulet belonging to the Chaos God Shinnok…and amulet that was stolen by Kano during the events of the first film. The amulet can transfer God powers from one being to another, including instant healing, rendering the receiver functionally immortal.

The tournament soon begins and both sides start taking losses. But once the details of Shao Kahn’s plan reaches the Earth fighters—it shouldn’t be difficult to know who the spy is—our heroes will find themselves having to fight both inside and outside of the tournament in order to prevent Shao Kahn from winning.

So, this film is about the tournament (unlike the last film, but like the 1995 film), but the amulet subplot gives the characters other things to do, especially those among the Earth fighters who actually lose, but still manage to walk away with their lives. And that goes especially for one of the main characters who would have no logical reason to win their particular fight, but needs to stay in the movie anyway. I think that is the film’s strength is giving certain characters things to do while the tournament progresses, with the success of the amulet subplot being integral to the other characters being able to win Mortal Kombat. It keeps both the action and story from going stale.

The main characters this time around are Johnny Cage and Kitana, although they receive ample support from the other returning characters and a few new ones, too. Fans questioned the portrayal of Cage as an over-the-hill has-been—the games usually portrayed him as being in the prime of his career—but I think it works in the film and for Cage’s particular character arc. Cage’s film-within-a-film was a hoot and he gradually gets his confidence as an actual fighter (something he hadn’t been in many years) back. Cage goes from a nothing to a) someone who has something to fight for, and then b) someone who has the means to fight for it.

Kitana’s story is more about subverting her step-father’s quest for power and seeking her own personal revenge. She herself doesn’t grow in the way Cage does, but she does get the final fight against her father’s killer, which makes more dramatic sense. Her journey is less about her own personal growth and more about her attempts to keep the Earth fighters abreast of what’s going on in the Outworld, but at great personal risk.

Surprisingly, there is some character development saved for Kano as well. We saw in the last film that he was initially going to fight for humanity, but then allowed himself to be bought out by Shang Tsung. And while he initially is on the Outworld’s side after his resurrection, he does have a change in heart, albeit for a reason that is very typical of Kano’s character.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation suffered from a story that often threw characters into the story to randomly get into fights, only to exit stage left after a few moments. That was especially true for Baraka, Mileena, and the Reptile clones. And to a lesser extent, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. That happens a little bit here, but not as bad. At least two of the combatants exit the film after their initial MK fights. And two more characters return from the first film (just look at the credits), once the search for the amulet moves from the Outworld to the Netherworld.

Speaking of exiting movies, one of Mortal Kombat II’s other strengths is that no character is given plot armor. Not all of Earth’s champions will make it to the end of the movie. You feel like the Paul W. S. Anderson didn’t want to kill our favorites in the two 1990s films, so only the villains and maybe one good guy would die. Not here. To quote Joe Bob Briggs, “Anybody can die at any time.” And when they get it, they get it good. People die hard in this movie, which is to be expected after the last one.

Speaking of dying hard, how is the action? Well, it is both more plentiful and more consistent than in the last movie. The action directors were switched, with Michael Lehr and Malay Kim taking up the reins. Both are veteran Hollywood stuntmen, with Malay Kim having done stuntwork for a few of the MK video games, plus action direction on the John Wick spin-off “The Continental.” Michael Lehr also worked on “The Continental”, but also has films like Fast 9; Extraction; and Day Shift on his résumé as fight coordinator. As I stated earlier in the review, these two manage to hit that sweet spot: the perfect balance of choreography, powers, and graphic violence. I’ll have to watch it again if anything will beat the original Cage vs. Scorpion and Liu Kang vs. Reptile fights—which are iconic because for many, this was the first time American viewers saw Hong Kong choreography in action—but I liked what I saw.

In my mind, the fight that stands out the most is the throwdown between Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Besides being an emotionally-charged fight, it is set up in a neat way. Long story short: both men are exchanging blows—Max Huang looks to be a wing chun stylist—while Kung Lao’s razor-sharp hat is flying around and coming at both men. So, both have to fight each other while dodging or deflecting the hat, which results in some creative action direction.

I also must point out that Shao Kahn, as a tournament participant, gets to have multiple fight scenes and is not just an end boss. The finale is broken up into two parallel fights. One of them is (SPOILER ALERT) is set in the Netherworld, as Kano, Johnny Cage, and Scorpion have to team up against Bi Han, who has been resurrected as Noob Saibat (I presume). There is some nice, complex choreography as they have to fight him and one of his clones, often simultaneously with swords, Scorpion’s rope weapon, and good ol’ fashioned fisticuffs. It’s a better fight overall than Shao Kahn vs. Kitana, even if it’s that fight that will determine the fate of the world. And I’m glad that Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada returned, even if just for an extended cameo.

Mortal Kombat II offers lots of quality fight action, a decent plot (maybe even a good one, by fighting game standards), solid acting, and a whole lot of gore and should be enjoyed by most fans of the franchise. I certainly liked it and look forward to the next one, which I assume by this point will have to involve Shinnok (who gets name dropped here). Bring it on!

Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983)

Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983)
Chinese Title: 武林聖火令
Translation: Martial World Holy Fire Order

Starring: Max Mok, Leanne Lau Suet-Wah, Yung Jing-Jing, Lau Siu-Kwan, Jason Pai Piao, Phillip Kwok, Yeung Ching-Ching, Liu Lai-Ling, Yau Chui-Ling, Candy Wen Xue-Er, Chiang Tao
Director: Tony Lou
Action Director: Phillip Kwok, Yuen Tak

Holy Flame of the Martial World is one of those sorts of films whose origin I question. Was it inspired by the success of Buddha’s Palm from the previous year? Perhaps by the hype around Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain (despite the fact that the movie flopped in the box office)? Or just the realization that your average Chor Yuen wuxia pian was just outdated and things needed to be crazier to stick out in the genre? This is one of those über-wuxia films that are so over-the-top that they border on xianxia, like Battle Wizard and the Bastard Swordsman films.

The movie starts off in a way that recalls Kung Fu Cult Master (itself an adaptation of Jin Yong’s Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre) with a couple being pursued by the Eight Schools of the Martial World. Why? Because they know the location of the Holy Flame—which turns out to be a pair of super-powerful swords—which all the clans are greedy to get their hands on. Chief among the schools is the females-only Ermei School, led by Chief Tsing Yin (Leanne Lau, of Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre and The Bastard Swordsman). She has thrown in her lot with the “Monster” Ku Pan-Kuai (Jason Pai Piao, of Shaolin Prince and Hell’s Wind Staff) and they are able to find out where the Yin Flame is hidden. They end up killing the couple, but the sudden arrival of the Phantom (Phillip Kwok, of The Five Deadly Venoms and Flag of Iron) stops them from killing the baby son (although the baby daughter is taken by Tsing Yin).

Flash forward 18 years. The Phantom has brought up the baby boy, Wan Tien-Sau (or Yin Tien-Chu in Mandarin), who grows up to be played by Max Mok (the Once Upon a Time in China sequels). The Phantom teaches him the Phantom Laugh and Devil’s Sword techniques and sends him on a mission to retrieve the Yang half of the Holy Flame. On his way, he saves a young girl, Chuan Ehr (Yung Jing Jing, or Mary Jean Reimer, best known as Mrs. Lau Kar-Leung), and her dad from the Bloodsucking Clan. He also saves the Monster’s student, Tuan Yuan-San (Lau Siu-Kwan, of Hex After Hex and The Plot), from the ghosts that guard the Moon Cave where the Flame is hidden.

After engaging in a pitched battle with razor-sharp Chinese characters—it makes more sense when you watch the film—Wan Tien-Sau is able to acquire both the Yang half of the Holy Flame. On his way back home, he discovers that Chuan Ehr has been kidnapped by the Bloodsucking Clan. So he and Tuan Yuan-San storm the clan’s headquarters, duel with some supernatural fighters who emerge from paintings, and kill its leader, Lam May-Heung (Chiang Tao, of Executioners from Shaolin and Bruce and Dragon Fist). After burying her father, Chuan Ehr agrees to follow Wan Tien-Sau back home. On their way, they come across the students of the Ermei Clan, including Tan Fung (Yeung Ching-Ching, of Treasure Hunters) fighting with Golden Snake Boy (Candy Wen, of Two Champions of Shaolin and Sword Stained with Royal Blood). All of this leads to a scuffle between Wan Tien-Sau and Chief Tsing Yin, which is stopped by Chuan Ehr, who has developed the ability to shoot lasers from her fingers after absorbing the blood of a snake’s bladder…yeah, I’m still scratching my head at that one.

Long story short: Tan Fung is Wan Tien-Sau’s long-lost sister. Phantom teaches Tien-Sau how to wield the Yang half of the Holy Flame while Chief Tsing Yin teaches Tan Fung how to wield the Yin half in hopes of killing both Wan and the Phantom. And the Monster wants the Yang half so he and Chief Tsing Yin can rule the Martial World together.

The story was provided by Siu Sang, which was adapted into a screenplay by director Tony Lou and newcomer Cheung Kwok-Yuen, who also wrote Secret Service of the Imperial Court and the infamous rape-revenge film Body Weapon (1999). Siu Sang is an interesting guy, because he is mainly known as a director and producer. He wrote and directed a couple of dozen wuxia movies during the 1960s and 1970s before moving onto television, where he produced and directed numerous wuxia series, including adaptations of Jin Yong novels, including two adaptations of “Legend of the Condor Heroes” for competing networks and “The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain” in 1977. The man’s TV résumé is impressive.

I don’t know if Siu Sang wrote a book that became this film, or if he just provided the Shaw Brothers with a story treatment. The film has a lot going on, but it never gets so convoluted as to become hard to know who is who. The good guys are good. The bad guys are bad. The rest of the Eight Schools are background characters played for laughs. There are no real twists in the story. No shifting alliances. The subplot involving the Blood Sucking Clan is a little random, but it doesn’t make the story less coherent. The biggest loose end is who Golden Snake Boy is supposed to be. He/she is played more like a plot device and source of exposition than a real character.

Max Mok would become a respected actor in Hong Kong, even if he never became the next Leslie Cheung (who was getting his start about the same time with Little Dragon Maiden). Yung Jing-Jing is best known for marrying Lau Kar-Leung (after his relationship with Kara Hui Ying-Hung went sour) and staying by his side until his death from cancer in 2013. As it was with most Hong Kong actresses, Yung retired from acting after her marriage and studied law to become a barrister. She is also a devout Buddhist who goes around falling out “false” monks asking for handouts—apparently real Buddhist monks have a system of I.D. so that people know they are legit. Yeung Ching-Ching (who name looks very similar to Yung Ching-Ching) was a real wushu stylist and became one of the only female fight choreographers in the business.

Speaking of fight choreographers, we have a lot of fantasy action sequences staged by Phillip Kwok and Yuen Tak. Yuen Tak was coming into his own as an action director by this point, doing some great work in The Lady Assassin. Phillip Kwok, or Kuo Chi, is best known for as the Lizard Venom and had stayed behind in Hong Kong, even after his comrades Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng had returned to Taiwan. The action here is a mixture of stylish swordplay, over-the-top wire antics, and crazy flying objects and colorful optical effects.

If you like your martial arts grounded and realistic, stay way from this movie. I mean, stay far away from this. Holy Flame of the Martial World is the sort of movie where the “superior martial arts” is not a triple flying side kick, Hwang Jang Lee-style. No, this is the sort of movie where your best techniques will blow a woman’s skin off her body, reducing her to a skeleton. Or where people can shoot green laser lassos and finger beams. Or where you can spin around in the air before kicking a person’s head off. Or where colored swords fire crystal disco balls at their enemies. Yes, people often stop to engage in more traditional swordplay, which is fast and furious and looks well-staged. But that usually happens for several seconds before the characters take to the air and things just get nutty.

In the end, I find this movie to be quite entertaining. It’s not the best wuxia pian, or even the best of the more hyperactive versions of it. But it is overflowing with imagination and Yung Jing Jing is very easy on the eyes…personally, I think Lau Kar-Leung traded up when he married her. And now I must defend myself from those rabid Kara Hui fanboys.

Young Hero of Shaolin (1984)

Young Hero of Shaolin (1984)
Aka: New Young Hero of Shaolin; The Young Hero of Shaolin, Part I
Chinese Title: 新方世玉
Translation: New Fong Sai Yuk

Starring: Xun Feng (as Shut Bo-Wa), Chen Yong-Xia, Du Xiong-Wen, Guo Liang, Zhao Zhi-Gang, Chi Ke-Chuan, Chow Kung-Kin, Wang Shao-Min, Zhang Hua, Li Wang-Hua, Xiao Hong-Fu
Director: Ngai Hoi-Fung, Yang Fan
Action Director: Zhao Chang-jun

Young Hero of Shaolin is the first of a two-part series of Mainland films directed by cinematographer-turned-director Ngai Hoi-Fung, whose career in Hong Kong went all the way back to the 1940s. He is best known for directing a handful of old school kung fu films, including Jackie Chan’s first leading role in Cub Tiger from Kwangtung, not to mention Story of the Drunken Master. Both this film and its sequel covers the life of Chinese folk hero Fong Sai-Yuk, played by Mainland wushu stylist Xun Feng, billed here as Shut Bo-Wa.

The film starts at a Fong’s birth, much to the joy of his parents, Fong Tak (Du Xiong-Wen, of A Loyal Overseas Chinese Family) and female martial artist Miu Chui-Fa (Chen Yong-Xia, of The Magic Beggar and Golden Dart Hero). The celebration of his birth is interrupted by a wicked priest (Sun Zhen-Ming) and his student, Lui Hung (Guo Liang, of Pride’s Deadly Fury and Tai Chi Chun—his character is referred to in the dub as “Raepon” or “Raehon”, which often sounds like “Raekwon”). The priest demands all sorts of money to leave the family alone, but Miu Chui-Fa gets in a fight with him. He is ultimately repelled by Miu’s teacher, the Shaolin nun Wu Mei (Chi Ke-Chuan, of Revenge of Swordsmanship). The defeated monk swears revenge on the baby Fong.

Miu Chui-Fa raises Fong, teaching him the basics of kung fu and bathing his body in special herbs in order to increase his endurance and durability. In his early adulthood, he is attacked by the old monk and injured. Fong’s parents decide to send him to Shaolin to study kung fu in a more structured setting. Although a bit too impish for Shaolin rules at first, he still curries the favor of the Abbot (Chow Kung-Kin, of Ninjas and Dragons) and starts to grow in his kung fu skills.

Some of the senior students (and the abbot’s second-in-command) don’t really like Fong and try to get him in trouble when he helps out a destitute young woman, Xiaohua (Zhang Hua, To Cross the Dadu River), and her ailing grandfather (Xiao Hong-Fu). They accuse him of having a girlfriend, which is strictly against temple rules, but he is exonerated just as he’s about to quit and leave the temple. The senior monk manages to perform a special kung fu demonstration that piques Fong’s interest and convinces him to stay and finish his training. After three years, him and fellow layman disciple Wu Wai-Kin (Zhao Zhi-Gong, of Kung Fu Hero Wang Wu and A Terra-Cotta Warrior—playing the same character Chi Kuan-Chun played in Chang Cheh’s films), are invited to face the Lo Ha Formation in order to graduate from their studies.

Now, one of the cruxes of the Wu Wai-Kin story is that he was never as good as his colleague and was unable to officially pass the Shaolin Exit Exam (this comes up in Shaolin Temple and The Kung Fu Master series). As a result, it is implied he had to sneak out of Shaolin in order to get his revenge on the dye company who killed his father. Fong Sai-Yuk, on the other hand, is more than a match for the formation and is given an honorable release from the temple.

From there, Fong Sai-Yuk’s personal journey will bring him back to Lui Hung, aka Tiger Lu, who is now the Captain of the Guard in another town and is running crooked martial arts tournament.

Young Hero of Shaolin (Part I) is a rather episodic kung fu film, hitting various parts of the Fong Sai-Yuk legend, although often failing to bring it all into a single cohesive narrative. Certain events of Fong’s life, like his duel with Li Bashan (Chui Ngai, of Out of Danger and Murky Shadows Over the Gorges) atop a series of wooden poles, are included, but feel divorced from everything else happening around it. Even after it is revealed that Li Bashan is Tiger Lu’s father-in-law, it doesn’t link that detail to the previous duel on the poles.

The first hour of the film focuses on his early life and experiences at Shaolin. Sadly, the training sequences aren’t very detailed, with a few scenes consisting of montages of different monks (and later Fong Sai-Yuk) performing all sorts of open-handed and weapons forms, but with little of the gradual build up from “undisciplined scamp” into “kung fu dynamo.” This is especially disappointing after he gets a sample of the advanced Shaolin techniques from his monk friends and decides to stay at the temple. I wanted to see him training in those moves, but alas, the film didn’t showcase any of that—it just skips to the Lo Han Formation test.

The fighting doesn’t really kick in until the hour mark or so, beginning with Lo Han Formation sequence. Fong Sai-Yuk and Wu Wai-King take on a contingent of Shaolin monks—about 80 or so—who take on the formation the Swastika (the Buddhist variation, not the German one). The formation creates “corridors” of monks that the heroes have to navigate, getting attacked on all sides. This sequence is frequently filmed from high overhead shots, which allows us to see all the monks, presumably played by entire schools of wushu students, running around in perfect synch. Logistically, it is an impressive scene.

The next fight is the duel atop the poles with Li Bashan. The fight is well-shot, although a lot of angles from the closer shots make me wonder if they had two sets of poles--a taller set and a lower one—on which to film. The choreography is pretty decent, considering the balance necessary for the actors to maintain (even on a lower set of poles), but it admittedly a bit slow at times and noticeably undercranked at times.

The last 20 minutes or so of the film revolve around a kung fu tournament thrown by Tiger Lu (or Raepon, depending on the dub). The early part of the tournament features different fighters using a variety of styles, including one guy who sticks out using Monkey Fist kung fu. The big disappointment of the set piece is when Fong Sai-Yuk throws down with the old priest who had injured him years before: Fong knocks him off the platform in two moves.

The emphasis of the finale is on Fong Sai-Yuk’s two duels with Tiger Lu. In their first showdown, leading man Xun Feng uses the Yingquan (Eagle Fist) and Southern Eagle Claw, especially the former. Meanwhile, antagonist Guo Liang uses both Bagua and Praying Mantis. There is a interruption in the fight, which allows Fong to regroup and learn a new technique from Wu Mei, thus preparing him for the second and final duel with Tiger Lu, which is a bit more drag-out brutal in its presentation. The choreography is attributed to Mainland Wushu Champion Zhao Chang-Jun, best known for his appearances in The Undaunted Wudang and Blade of Fury. The fights are generally solid by Mainland action direction standards, although not as good as those movies that had Hong Kong choreographers.

Overall, Young Hero of Shaolin is a decent, but uneven effort. The narrative of its sequel, Young Hero of Shaolin (Part II), is a bit more focused and enjoys better overall fight action. This one does have the beautiful Mainland Chinese scenery expected of these wushu movies and a solid second half. Worth a view to genre fans, but I prefer Part II.