Mortal Kombat II (2026)

This installment adds series staples like Kitana, Jade and Baraka to its roster, but it's the secret weapon of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, a washed out movie star from the '90s, that proves to be the right move. He's the least convincing fighter of all of them and has more of an Ash/Bruce Campbell presence, but it changes the tone considerably. They lean even further into the nostalgia and ridiculousness, aiming more for game accuracy than realism. This one is better than the last one but not by much. It's extremely dumb but enjoyable in a way.

Throw on the MK techno theme song and you can have yourself a little party.

2½ split nut punches out of 5

Mortal Kombat (2021)

After Annihilation came and went, the film franchise was dead in the water. This reboot attempts to regroup the characters and lore from the video games and it's surprisingly decent, when it's not taking itself too seriously. As usual, the plot revolves around a tournament of champions between the Earthrealm and Outworld. You've got your classic roster of characters, including Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kano and Jax, and led by Sonya Blade and a new character named Cole Young (why?). They cast a bunch of unknowns to keep the budget modest, which gives it a direct-to-video feeling, but it has enough gory fan service and tongue-in-cheek humor to make it watchable and at least surpasses the 1995 film in terms of enjoyment (although that one has its own set of quirks and charms). I found it to be fun but largely forgettable.

2½ fatalities out of 5