Mortal Kombat II Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Mortal Kombat II Blu-ray Movie Review

Re-test your might.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 26, 2026

I haven't played a Mortal Kombat game in years. In fact, I probably lost interest in the brand more than two decades ago, just a few years after the original game pulled in crowds like a magnet at arcades worldwide. I first glimpsed the original MK at a local bowling alley and still remember skipping a few frames to gawk at its unique graphics and bloody fatalities. That bowling alley finally closed its doors after six decades in business but Mortal Kombat lives on, doubling down on the bone-crunching action and ridiculous, over-the-top finishers with each new installment. Over the years it's grown from a controversial Street Fighter wannabe to a full-blown franchise with two earlier live-action movies, comics, action figures, socks, a "blood, sweat, and tears" scented candle, and more. Warner Bros. re-ignited its cinematic flame twice in 2021: first with the surprisingly solid animated origin film MK Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (a few more came later), and then with a live-action reboot, which wasn't as great but still pretty fun in its own right.

As its title implies, Mortal Kombat is a direct sequel to that 2021 live-action film. The story picks up more or less where the first movie left off and all of the original cast members are back in action too, for better or for worse. We also get a few new faces this time around, with fan favorites like Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), and the evil Shao Khan (Martyn Ford) getting their time in the spotlight. The latter two are extremely pivotal to the overall plot, as Mortal Kombat II opens with a short flashback of young Kitana (Sophia Xu) and the final tender moment with her dad King Jerrod (Desmond Chiam) before he's slain by Shao Khan as Kitana's mother Queen Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen) and the kingdom watch in horror. Up for grabs was the freedom of Edenia, which Shao claims on behalf of the Outworld, so he takes the Queen and her daughter as his own and rules over the land with an iron fist.

Fast-forward to the present, 20 years later, and we see adult Kitana training with her loyal friend Jade (Tati Gabrielle). The next Mortal Kombat tournament is fast approaching so from here, the film plays a quick game of "Where Are They Now?" and, back in Earthrealm, Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) are tasked with retrieving the elusive Johnny Cage, who's a washed-up action movie star who's approached by both of them after a convention appearance. He's reluctant to join them but eventually does, and they're hoping that he'll be the sixth and final fighter for Earthrealm in the tournament alongside Sonya, martial artist Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), the partially bionic ex-soldier Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), and former cage fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan, playing one of the only original characters in the film franchise). Meanwhile on the Outworld side there's the corrupted Sindel and Kitana, Jade, newly-resurrected Kung Lao (Max Huang), laser-eyed Kano (Josh Lawson), and of course Shao Khan himself.

Most of Mortal Kombat II concerns the tournament itself, which is made up of several fights (mostly one-on-one) with familiar moves and locations, brutal exchanges, and of course a handful of creative fatalities, some of which are faithful to the actual Mortal Kombat II arcade game. And while it's not a perfect film by any measure, what it does get right -- at least more than the 2021 film -- is that it has its own visual identity and feels like it wants to mimic the atmosphere of that notorious 1993 quarter-muncher. This means that Mortal Kombat II is also at least partially aware of its source material limits as it serves up lots of fighting, action, and fan service, all with a little extra cheese on top.

This alone makes it a slightly more satisfying film than its predecessor, because otherwise some of the exact same drawbacks are present and accounted for. More than a few terrible performances? Check. Slightly uneven CGI? Check. Questionable choreography here and there? Check. Episodic pacing and a gratuitous setup for the third and possibly final film? Double check. There's also a subplot about a magical amulet that distracts from the tournament, whose built-in stakes really don't need this extra layer. But while Mortal Kombat II ain't rocket science, it at least seems to know this going in... and from that perspective, anyone just looking for a surface-level film that pays tribute to the bloody, brutal franchise -- and in my opinion, the best game of the bunch -- will get their money's worth here.

Warner Bros. brings Mortal Kombat II to home video in several options including 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and a harder-to-find Walmart-exclusive Limited Edition Steelbook combo pack with both formats. Each of these separate releases serves up proportionately solid A/V presentations, but the bonus features leave something to be desired.

Mortal Kombat II Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

As usual, please see me recent review of the separate 4K edition for a general overview of Mortal Kombat II's visual aesthetic, which here has been downscaled very nicely to 1080p/SDR and should look mighty impressive on small to medium displays. Colors, black levels, and contrast aren't as tight as their UHD counterparts, and the same goes for WB's disc encoding, yet all of these fundamentals are still more than acceptable withing format boundaries and, trace amounts of macro blocking aside, there's very little room for improvement here. These screenshots should give you a reasonably good idea of what to expect from start to finish, and I'd imagine that most fans will be overwhelmingly happy with how Mortal Kombat II looks on Blu-ray. Simply put, it's not too much of a sacrifice.

Mortal Kombat II Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As expected, Warner Bros.' default Dolby Atmos mix brings the goods too, delivering an immersive and enveloping audio presentation that features loads of discrete channel activity, excellent use of the height channels, ample use of LFE, and plenty of support for the familiar sound effects as well as the original score by returning composer Benjamin Wallfisch. It's notably mixed a little tighter than the 2021 film's Atmos track whose dialogue was buried too deeply for my liking, and from that perspective shows no real room for improvement. Bottom line: you should know exactly what to expect here: a largely bombastic and full-bodied audio experience that worth cranking at high volume.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature and all extras listed below.

Mortal Kombat II Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork (identical to the 4K edition) and a Digital Copy redemption code. The bonus featuresare limited in number and I'm not really a fan of how they're presented, as each one has been edited within an inch of its life and none of them go into much detail.

• Mortal Kombat II: Evolving the Saga (6:34) - Producers Todd Garner, Michael Clear, and James Wan, director Simon McQuoid, several of the key cast members, and others -- whose names all flash by in about a half-second apiece -- offers their brief thoughts on how this sequel branches off from the original.

• Building the Realms of Mortal Kombat (5:51) - Most of of the previous participants return for this short piece concerning the production design and its mixture of practical sets and CGI, not to mention other elements such as hair, makeup, and costumes. Also, like the last featurette, it's too short.

• Mortal Kombat II: Choose Your Fighter (5:53) - Not that it needs explaining, but here we get a slightly closer look at the new and returning characters seen during the film via interviews and BTS clips.

• Klose Quarters Kombat (6:35) - A quick look at the fight choreography with rehearsal footage and interviews.

• A "Boon" to Gamers Everywhere (3:11) - Mortal Kombat co-creator and executive film producer Ed Boon -- along with several returning faces -- lead this brief piece about this film's place in the franchise.

Mortal Kombat II Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mortal Kombat II arrives five full years after its predecessor and this gap can be seen in its slightly unfocused first act... but once it goes into tournament mode, this sequel feels like a more purposeful and satisfying chapter in the franchise. If you know what you're getting into here, you'll likely have a good time and, surprisingly enough, I'm actually pretty curious to see where things go from here. Warner Bros.' 4K and Blu-ray offer great A/V presentations and, even though the bonus features aren't very impressive, established fans should add this one to their kollections.