Ah, the curse of the video game adaptation. It was once an almost cast-iron guarantee that any translation from console to cinema, regardless of the quality of the source material, would result in an end product ranging from at best dull, to at worst utterly unwatchable. Landing on the latter end of that scale was Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, an original attempt to make a live-action sequel in this franchise, and suggesting that a video game whose raison d’être is to allow for a fight to be completed with a brutally fatal finishing move may be a shallow well from which to draw content.

For any such adaptation, the low bar that needs to be cleared is to ensure any fight sequences, replicating the core inspiration, should carry the same satisfaction as watching their pixelated counterparts unfold. One would hope there would also be some sense of story and character arcs woven in to actually create a narrative feature. Not much to ask, is it? It might seem harsh to approach a film with such meagre expectations, but experience – of every poor adaptation from Hitman to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – suggests that this is the best way to avoid disappointment. (Who could have anticipated, when all of these games first launched, that the best big screen adaptation of all-time would currently be a Sonic the Hedgehog threequel?)

The original Mortal Kombat film in this franchise held back two key elements from its original source material: an actual tournament, and key character Johnny Cage, seen briefly pictured in the 2021 film but now fully fleshed out in the form of Karl Urban. Cage is a washed-up actor, famous for his low-brow action movies decades earlier, but now absolutely no-one’s idea of a saviour. He does, though, carry the birthmark which marks him out as one of Earthrealm’s fighting heroes.

He’s called into battle almost immediately as that tournament unfolds, one in which defeat for Earth’s mightiest heroes will mean a new era for humanity under the rule of Shao Khan (Martyn Ford) and his forcibly adopted daughter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph). Shao Khan’s also got a side quest, acquiring an amulet which will make him effectively immortal and consequently make his chances of winning this tournament just a tiny bit better.

Those returning on the side of the good guys from the first film include Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), and Raiden (Tadanobu Asano). They will each, in turn, be called in to fight to defend Earth, employing their own special powers, while hanging markers in the sky indicate how many fighters each side has left. Thankfully, the premise is kept fairly simple, so the main focus of Mortal Kombat II is exactly what you get from the game: fights, and brutal fatalities, and there are plenty of both on offer here.

That is, to a large extent, at the expense of any sense of character development. Johnny Cage’s arc is so narrow that you wouldn’t be troubling your pencil case for any specialist equipment to draw it: once called into the fight, can he actually fight, or is he just an actor? Is that actually his special power? Karl Urban’s an old hand at bringing his roughened charisma to this kind of role, and he’s given a decent chunk of the film’s best lines, spewing out pop-culture based witticisms as if they’re an extra weapon.

The bad guys have a few tricks, though, which also include the abilities of Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) to bring back dead characters from the original. Thankfully for all concerned, his resurrection skills are employed on Australian mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), the defector from the original whose loyalties are equally nebulous here. But his motormouth refusal to take anything remotely seriously is one of the film’s highlights, with a noticeable lift in the energy whenever he’s on screen.

While Cage and Kano bring some much-needed levity, it’s when Jeremy Slater’s script aims for gravitas that it ends up sliding into portentousness, with no real weight to the threat of the film’s antagonists. There’s little sense of drama or jeopardy, just a wait for when the plot’s clunky cogs will turn enough to lock the next two fighters into another battle. Character beats which should also carry some weight and offer narrative propulsion feel clichéd; no-one here on either side of the camera can claim originality as their special ability.

Returning director Simon McQuoid and regular Fast & Furious franchise cinematographer Stephen F. Windon keep the action watchable, often mirroring the 2D-aestetic of the original games, and Stuart Levy’s editing avoids too much choppiness in the edits. Visits to several different realms in the Mortal Kombat world also offer the opportunity for some varied visual textures, although one too many of them would be under “dusty rock” on the colour tester chart.

The fatalities are various flavours of interesting, but the film feels slightly dialled back: one or two more gruesome post-fight dismemberments wouldn’t have done any harm. McQuoid keeps the pacing up, and while a running time of close to two hours verges on overstaying its welcome, it keeps the right side of low-key entertaining for the duration.

Fans of the series should be satisfied by the detail that populates the film: anyone ticking off a franchise bingo card will score well, although the mooted third instalment might do well to lean into some of the more comedically outlandish elements of the game’s fighting climaxes. Those less well versed in MK lore are likely to fare more poorly, probably being finished off well before the credits roll, but on balance, Mortal Kombat II just about defies the video game adaptation curse, vaults narrowly over the low bars of expectation, and delivers a moderately entertaining instalment which will leave the Kombat Kommunity waiting for the threequel.

Mortal Kombat II is in UK and Irish cinemas and IMAX now