Film news: Karl Urban stars as Johnny Cage in ‘Mortal Kombat II’ trailer

Warner Bros. recently unleashed its first trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat II film with Karl Urban front and centre.

This video game adaptation sees Urban star as franchise favourite Johnny Cage and looks set to be a level-up from its 2021 cinematic predecessor.

Film News Blitz’s Dan Lawrence takes you through the new trailer.

Urban is the star

Two things look virtually guaranteed in the new Mortal Kombat II film, slated for release in UK cinemas on October 24.

One, this will be an ultra-violent film, delivering on one-on-one fighting set-pieces that fans of the NetherRealm video games will recognise instantly.

Second, Urban’s Johnny Cage is unquestionably the film’s focal point and main protagonist, after being absent from director Simon McQuoid's 2021 Mortal Kombat.

Urban’s Cage is, according to the trailer, set to mingle with a host of returning cast members from McQuoid’s previous film, including Josh Lawson's Kano, Hiroyuki Sanada's Scorpion, and Tadanobu Asano's Raiden.

Returning cast members also include Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Lewis Tan as Cole Young, who appears to be relegated from main protagonist to supporting cast member in the wake of Urban’s arrival.

The trailer, which leans into video game-friendly fight sequences over plot, also unveils a host of new character reveals from the beloved franchise, including the likes of Baraka, Kitana, Queen Sindel and Noob Sabot.

But make no mistake, this is set to be the Johnny Cage show.

Synopsis

For those keen to know what Urban and company will be getting up to, Warner Bros, and New Line Cinema have said Mortal Kombat II showcases “the fan favorite champions—now joined by Johnny Cage himself—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.”

The crew

Returning director McQuoid helmed Mortal Kombat II based on a screenplay by Jeremy Slater, with cinematography by Stephen F. Windon, production design by Yohei Taneda, editing courtesy of Stuart Levy and costume design from Cappi Ireland, with casting by Rich Delia and music by Benjamin Wallfisch.

Producing credits go to Todd Garner, James Wan, Toby Emmerich, E. Bennett Walsh and McQuoid, with executive producers Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Slater and Lawrence Kasanoff also on board.

Building on a lacklustre entry

Focusing on Urban’s star power and charisma (his Johnny Cage quips in the trailer that his superpower is being “incredibly handsome”) is a smart play given that 2021’s Mortal Kombat wasn’t a rip-roaring success.

A thin, unoriginal plot didn’t play well with critics, scoring 55% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the action flick didn’t fare much better at the box office either, returning $84 million worldwide.

With a production budget of $55 million before marketing, this film was hardly a blockbuster.

Still, that hasn’t halted the pursuit of a follow-up, and there were enough positive ingredients from Mortal Kombat, Sanada’s Scorpion and Lawson’s enigmatic Kano among them to suggest an added sparkle of Urban could hand Mortal Kombat II a flawless victory when it lands in cinemas this October.

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