MORTAL KOMBAT! The year is 2023, and we’re not really sure when Mortal Kombat 2 is coming out. We just know that it is coming, and that Karl Urban will be in it as Johnny Cage.
Honestly, even though the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie did well at the box office, I wasn’t the biggest fan of it. I even wrote about how I’d much rather watch the 1995 Mortal Kombat over the then-new version. That said, as an old-school fan, I have five hopes for this sequel, which I want to voice right now.
Can We Get An Actual Tournament This Time Around, Please?
One thing I wasn’t too fond about with the reboot was that the quest kind of seemed a little aimless to me. Having played all of the games, I know that the story can sometimes go into strange new territories. But, when it came to the middling Mortal Kombat reboot, the story seemed to be even more unfocused.
It might have been because we got a brand new character in Cole Young who was being hunted by Sub-Zero. The big reveal that Cole shared ancestry with Scorpion just…well, it didn’t make much sense, and it seemed a little silly.
Granted, the property, overall, has always been kind of silly, but the one thing that usually ties all of the silliness together is the tournament aspect. Now, there kind of was a tournament aspect in 2021’s movie, but it happened BEFORE the events of the film. I want the tournament to take place during the movie. Just think of the 1995 flick as an example.
Sure, in the earliest titles in the series, the storyline was a lot more simplified, and didn’t really have all of the wars with elder gods going on. But that 1995 movie actually featured the tournament. That’s what I want in this sequel. Just make it a tournament. Because, really, who doesn’t like a good tournament movie?
A Little Less Of The New Character, And More Focus On The Mainstays
Okay, no offense to Lewis Tan, who played newcomer Cole Young, but, can we perhaps get a little less of him and more of the series mainstays? I’m happy that we’re getting Johnny Cage this time around, but I’d actually prefer even more familiar characters in addition to him.
We’ve already learned that another sequel character is making an appearance, but honestly, I want almost the entire movie to be focused on the characters I already know and love, and a little less on Cole, who took up a lot of story time in the last movie.
I don’t want this to turn into a who’s who mess like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (which is bad, but I’ll still defend it), where almost every MK character under the sun made an appearance. I’d like more of a balance. Keep Cole, but maybe add meaningful subplots concerning characters like Johnny Cage, or Sonya Blade. Is that too much to ask?
Meaningful Fatalities
It wouldn’t be MK without fatalities, right? We got some gruesome ones in the 2021 remake (Kung Lao’s was a variation from the game). Here’s the problem I have with them, though. They didn’t feel meaningful. When Nitara gets cut up by Kung Lao, we, as the audience, don’t care. She was a throwaway character. Her death felt meaningless.
I’ll give you an example of the opposite. Remember how people were outraged by Glenn’s death in The Walking Dead? Granted, the death was in the comics, and a lot of people knew some version of it was coming, but I can’t even tell you the amount of people I’ve heard say that they stopped watching after that moment. His death was meaningful because people LOVED Glenn. When he died, it was too much for some fans to handle, and they gave up on the show completely.
In the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, we get a little bit of this as well. In the first few minutes of the movie, Liu Kang has a dream where his brother is murdered by Shang Tsung, and it’s very effective. Sure, we don’t see his spine getting ripped out or anything like that, but the character’s death matters to us since it matters to our protagonist.
I think MK2 movie could really get us invested in one of the characters (Say, Johnny Cage, perhaps?) only to have him ripped apart by a really gruesome fatality. If the audience likes his character (unlike the one who died within seconds in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), then that could be a real gut punch.
A Slew Of Characters From The 3D Era
We don’t quite know the entire cast of this sequel, but we do know that it will have King Jerrod (played by Desmond Chiam) in it. We also know that Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) will be in the movie. When it comes to the rest (so far), it looks like we’ll only be getting early roster MK characters, like Sindel, Noob Saibot, Jade, and Shao Khan, just to name a few in this movie.
Fine. I don’t mind the early MK characters. That said, could we please also get some from the 3D era? I’m talking Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
What was weird about the last movie was that it featured Nitara, who made her first appearance in Deadly Alliance. But, like, why? It didn’t make much sense, because the rest of the roster was mainly characters from MK 1-3 (remember, it had Kabal in it). I mean, I’m not complaining that Nitara was in it. In fact, I want even more 3D-era characters in this movie that we don’t know about. I already mentioned King Jerrod, but he’s a cameo character who’s really more mentioned for story purposes.
So, what I want is fighters from the 3D era, like Frost, or Bo’Rai Cho, or Ashrah. A lot of the new 3D era characters are kind of wack (Darrius, anyone?), but I feel like all anybody really cares about when it comes to the movies is the early era, while the 3D era gets largely forgotten. Why?
A Little More Humor And Personality This Time Around
Lastly, and I don't think anybody will disagree with me, but Kano (Josh Lawson, who improvised some one-liners) was the best character in the last movie. Do you want to know why he was so good? It's pretty obvious. The reason was because he actually had a personality!
I mean, it's not like the other characters DIDN'T have personalities, but they were so subdued that it didn’t feel like they did. The first movie definitely seemed like it was more concerned with establishing the new MK universe, and separating itself from the earlier movies, and I often think that was to its detriment.
As I mentioned earlier, yes Annihilation is a train wreck, but the one reason why I've seen it multiple times is because the characters are all so goofy. Nightwolf shouts about animalities in the night, and Sindel's actress has the worst line reading ever.
Sure, a lot of my enjoyment of that movie comes from just how bad it is. But, the characters are also all engaging in their badness, which makes me always come back for more. Same with the first movie. Honestly, when I re-watched 2021's Mortal Kombat, it genuinely put me to sleep. When you strip away all of the special effects and you actually focus on the characters, it really is kind of bland, save for Kano and Kabal, and really, that shouldn't be. So, more personality, and less world-building in this sequel, please. Make it happen!
If you’re also an old-school MK fan, what would you like to see in the sequel? For all things Mortal Kombat 2-related, make sure to swing by here often!
