Film Review: Mortal Kombat II

  

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Mature

Vulgarity Mature

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

Sometimes a movie doesn't try to me more than it is and that is okay.

And sometimes a movie sequel takes audience feedback and uses it to improve.  And that's even better.

This is the case with Mortal Kombat II.

The previous film in the franchise came out during the weird post-COVID era when movies were being platformed on streaming and in theaters.  For that reason, I never got a real handle on how popular that movie was.  In my original review I remember thinking that the final act was too gory and that they made a massive mistake in ruining their best character, Kano (Josh Lawson).  Many other people found the main character Cole (Lewis Tan) a bit generic, but I had not problem with him.

To my great surprise, the sequel is an improvement on the first.

This time the movie centers on two characters.  The first is Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), a washed-up 1990's action star full of regret and cynicism.  But for some reason, he has been chosen to participate in the final Mortal Kombat for the fate of earth realm against the forces of Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford).  He wants nothing to do with all of this mystical violence, but is reluctantly drawn into the fray.  The other main character is Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), whose father was killed by Shao Kahn in the previous Mortal Kombat and now so now has become's Kahn's adopted heir.  However, she secretly works as a double agent for Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) to help the heroes of Earth survive.  So Cole, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), and Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) must face off against Kahn's forces, including Kitana, her bodyguard Jade (Tati Gabrielle), and some resurected characters from the first film.

Like I said, this movie doesn't try to be more than it is.  It isn't trying to be a deep meditation on heroism and violence.  It just wants to offer you a good time.  

And a good time is what I had.

The main reason for this was because of Johnny Cage and (the resurrected) Kano.  Urban is fantastic in everything he does and this is no exception.  There is a weariness to him that boarders on exacerbation.  He is not ready, not prepared, and is constantly overwhelmed by the craziness around him.  I like that they made Cage and older person in this movie.  It taps into that feeling that we get as we age where the world we knew sort of passes us by and the modern world is strange and unfamiliar.  I feel this way whenever my students try to explain the latest TikTok trend and my old brain cannot comprehend.  The movie actually plays into this early where Johnny is sitting alone at his table at a comic con while social media influencers are mobbed by fans.  It doesn't make sense to him and it doesn't make sense to me.  Because of this, he delivers some great one liners and gives the movie a nice touch of cynical humor at everything.  But he is not a one-note comic relief.  Part of his journey it to rediscover his self-worth and heroism that is buried under all of that wasted potential.  There is an actual heart beating in this character that you root for to come out and win the day.

But the real scene-stealer is Kano.  Every time he comes onto the screen Lawson knocks it out of the park.  He plays his character with such an odd enthusiasm that is both evil and innocent.  I laughed more at his scenes than I do in most theatrical comedies.  When he is resurrected, it is asked why isn't a mind-controlled zombie like the others.  Quan Chi (Damon Herriman), the necromancer, says that Kano had so little soul in his life that there was nothing there to control.  Hearing this, Kano beams with pride and shouts, "Loophole!"  In the hands of another actor, almost all of this would have fallen flat.  But Lawson knocks it out of the park with every line.  I'm not kidding when I saw he is at the top of my list of Best Supporting Actor this year.  Comedic performances are almost always overlooked but Lawson carries every scene.

The other performances are decent, straightforward, and earnest, but most don't really stand out.  This is unfortunate because the other half of the emotional engine of this movie is Rudolph's Kitana, and she isn't able to get you as invested as Urban.  She isn't even able to get to the level of charisma of the original Liu Kang (Robin Shou) from the very first Mortal Kombat, who had a similar roll to fill in that story: the earnest chosen one. Hiroyuki Sandada returns as Hanzo/Scorpion, and he brings some much-needed gravitas to the nearly cartoonish entertainment.  CJ Bloomfield also has a surprisingly good turn as the monstrous Baraka whose fight with Johnny Cage is a highlight of the film.

Director Simon McQuoid should be commended for taking what he did in the first film and improving on it.  The fight sequences are generally better and world-building is better than the original.  The script by Jeremy Slater delivers a more straightforward story than the first, but he has a few twists and turns that I did not see coming.  I remember at one character death, my wife sitting next to me actually gasped in shock.  In a traditionally by-the-numbers sequel like this, that isn't an easy thing to do.  But Slater seems to get the characters and gives them each a moment to shine.

Like the original, the movie is a bit too gory, but it did not bother me as much in this film as in the last.  The vulgarity is through the roof, especially with Cage and Kano, but it is done with great comedic effect.  As I said before the movie's biggest problem is that it divides the weight of the narrative between Johnny and Kitana, but only one really succeeds in doing the heavy lifting.

If the violence and vulgarity are things that offend you, I would avoid this movie.  But even so, there are some good messages about heroism and redemption.  As milquetoast as most of the other heroes are, there is something admirable about their heroism.  Cole tells Johnny early on that he is stepping up to fight even though he knows he may never see his family again.  Johnny has to slowly learn this lesson over the course of the movie through failure after failure.  But in the end, he discovers that the most important part of being a hero is simply standing up to the danger.  I know that sounds overly simple and cheesy, but for this movie it works.

The movie is primed to become a trilogy.  I don't know if that is in the cards.  But with the characters that we have established in this movie, and if the series continues to improve, I am definitely in for another round of Mortal Kombat.

Film Flash: The Breadwinner

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

A sanitized, overly simple, family-friendly Mr. Mom held together by Bargatze's stand-up humor and relatability.

Memorial Day 2026

 

    

(repost from 2019)

Today is the day that we honor those who fought and died for our country.  I doubt that I can add any deep, universal insight into the meaning of this day that has not already been given by those more eloquent.

I do have some friends who are cautious about the elevated status we give those in the armed forces.  They worry about the glorification of war or that it trains citizens to put too much trust in their government agents.  There are some arguments to be had there.  To be sure, while war may make soldiers into martyrs, it does not always turn soldiers into saints.

But in this moment I will not speak for them.  I will speak for myself and why this day is especially reverent for me.

Some answered the call to fight for our nation.
I did not.

Some left spouses and children to enter into violent conflict for their country.
I did not.

Some lost their innocence, their friends, or their health in the crucible of war.
I did not.

Some gave every last measure of devotion down to their lives for our country's freedom.
I did not.

I write this not as some kind of admission of guilt.  Being a soldier is not my calling.

But some did answer the call.  Some paid a price higher than I have had to pay.  I am in this present moment enjoying the fruits of their sacrifice.

Winning and preserving freedom is a bloody business.  I do not want to be in a blissful bubble where I treat my freedom too casually, not remembering that it was purchased at a price of blood.

Today as we rest from our labors, let us remember the fallen martyrs of our freedom.

Let us pray for them and for our country.

Film Flash: Star Wars - The Mandalorian and Grogu

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Fun, 1980's-style Star Wars adventure.  If you liked the show, you'll enjoy the movie

Film Review: The Sheep Detectives

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

This movie is a surprise in a good way.  It's a children's movie with a surprisingly dark center that is both funny and touching.

The Sheep Detectives follows the lives of the sheep in the care of George (Hugh Jackman), who loves and cares for his flock.  The smartest of the sheep is Lily (Julia-Louis Dreyfus) who is able to figure out the ending to the mystery stories that George reads to the sheep at the end of every day.  Most of the sheep live simple, pleasant lives.  One of them, Sebastian (Bryan Cranston) lives a more solitary and foreboding existence mostly away from the community.  When George is murdered, Lily takes it upon herself with the help of her friend Mopple (Chris O'Dowd) to go into the local town and solve the murder.  Seeing as how the town's only policeman, Tim (Nicholas Braun), seems a bit of a fool, Lily and her friend have their work cut out for them.

First of all, what the movie gets right is that it plays out like a traditional British murder/mystery.  Lily knows the tropes and so does the audience.  In that sense, the story is a bit meta, but not in a way that overwhelms to the narrative.  Fans of the genre will enjoy watching Lily apply what she has learned to the evidence.  The colorful list of suspects is a hodge-podge of small-town personalities that could be the source of potential dangers.  Behind every polite smile could be a dagger.

The second thing the movie does really well is that it hits the proper emotional beats.  Part of the movie is Lily's journey to heroism.  In the story, sheep have the ability to force themselves to forget things that they don't want to remember (except for Mopple who does not have this ability).  At first Lily and all the sheep want to forget George because it is too painful to remember him.  But as Lily goes deeper into the mystery, she learns things that cause her even more fear, stress, and pain.  The temptation to bury those memories becomes overwhelming and it only takes a heroic act of the will and her love of George and her friends that pushes her onward.

The third thing that surprised me was that they allowed their characters to have depth and growth.  It seems silly that you should find such a strong character arc in CGI sheep.  But they do the same thing with the human characters.  Tim the cop could have easily been a one-note stereotype of an idiot.  But unexpectedly, he develops as a character.  He isn't the smartest, but he knows he's not the smartest and works to think through the problem for the sake of justice.  This puts him in some precarious moral and relational dilemma's where he, like Lily, has to learn to trust himself.

Director Kyle Balda shots the film beautifully, making you yearn for the pastoral peace found in Geroge's pasture.  Some of the shots are downright beautiful, almost too beautiful for a movie like this.  There is one particularly, where George is carrying Sebastian on his shoulders that is such a moving homage to Jesus the Good Shepherd that hit just the right note.  Balda also knows how to use the visuals to bring about his emotional moments.  There is one scene where the sheep enter an unfamiliar barn and with some simple visual items shot in just the right way, the sense of danger and terror hit very hard.

The Church and Christianity are brought up, but the movie's attitude towards them seems more ambivalent than antagonistic.  George is not a churchgoer, but he does make a dramatic entrance one day and give a large sum of money to Reverend Hillcoate (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith).  The clergyman isn't a saint, but the movie also doesn't paint him as an outright villain the way they did in last year's Wonka.  There is also a funny line where Sebastian tries to explain who God is to the other sheep which is a little irreverent but not insulting.  My only caution is that since this is a movie aimed at children, parents might want to be aware that it does not portray the faith with reverence, though it doesn't explicitly attack it either.

That also gets to one of my criticisms of the movie: it's a children's movie that is also a murder mystery.  There is something about the darkness of the subject and the innocence of the target audience that doesn't quite jibe with me.  Because of this, the movie is almost in almost a no man's land of who it's made for.

The performances are fine, but they are broad in the way that you would expect from most children's movies.  Cranston does bring a great deal of gravitas to the character of Sebastian with some fantastic voice work.  Everyone else does their level-best I'm sure, but because the sheep are photo-realistic, it has the same problem as The Lion King remake had with range of emotion.

Thematically, there are some beautiful messages about love, courage, loyalty, and memory.  There is also a nice sub-plot about overcoming prejudices that is a bit on the nose, but it works in a movie like this.  And while the explicitly Christian elements are not very strong, there is a lot of Christological imagery, especially in how the sheep see George.

I was charmed by the characters and drawn into the mystery.  I would be happy to see another adventure of The Sheep Detectives.  If you are looking for a fun time at the movies, you can count on these sheep.

Film Review: The Devil Wears Prada 2

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

Even after 20 years, the original The Devil Wears Prada is still popular among fans.  

And those same fans will thoroughly enjoy the sequel.

The Devil Wears Prada 2  takes place two decades after the original.  Andy (Anne Hathaway), is an award-winning New York journalist whose paper gets unceremoniously shuttered suddenly.  At the same time Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and her brand "Runway" have just been hit by a scandal.  In order to bring back integrity to the publication, Andy is hired without Miranda's consultation.  At the offices, Andy reuintes with her old friend and mentor Nigel (Stanley Tucci).  She also eventually encounters her old posh co-worker Emily (Emily Blunt), who left "Runway" and is working for Dior.  The movie shows Andy re-adapting to the changed world of fashion while at the same time trying to bring journalistic idealism and integrity to the brand, all the while struggling for Miranda's elusive approval.

Part of the strength of a movie like this is that it makes me fascinated about a subject I would normally ignore: fashion.  I am not someone who keeps up with the latest trends and fancies.  I think my own fashion sense ended in the early 1990's.  So it is a credit to this movie and the original that I found myself deeply invested in the ins and outs of the industry.  Since the original, print magazines have become obsolete.  "Runway" is a style brand that seeks to move the needle with its online presence and its large, splashy events.  Miranda herself has had to pivot not only her business model, but also her style.  No longer can she throw around coat and abusive comments.  She is caged by modern HR practices.  This feels like a mixed bag: the enviorment is less unpleasant, but crucible that forged Andy into the competent person she became seems to be missing.  Like most Gen-Xer's, it is almost sad to see the adversity disappear because we know that as much as it hurt, it also helped build character (if it didn't crush us completely).

The studio was incredibly smart to bring back the entire main cast and crew together.  Original director David Frankel and original screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna returned, which gives such a great continuity of tone, character, and look.  Sometimes when a legacy sequel like this happens, there is a bit of disjointedness between the first and the second.  But with exception of the age of the actors, this movie could have been filmed almost immediately after the first and I would have believed it.  

Much of the movie follows many of the same story beats from the original: Andy gets the job, Andy tries to do a good job, Miranda criticizes her, Andy gets upset, Andy pushes herself harder, Andy does something excellent... etc.  Some may see this is a deficit, but with such a time difference since the first one, I see it more as a comfort.  They remembered what people enjoyed about the first and tried to give them the same experience.  It reminds me of how Rocky II also hit a lot of the same beats as the original for the same reason.

What the story does do as an improvement is that it allows for more catharsis.  The first film had everyone at a slightly professional distance from each other.  But in this movie, with the characters older, it allows for them to be a bit more reflective about the relationships in their lives.  Kenneth Branagh, one of my favorite actors, has a nice turn as Miranda's husband.  Unlike her previous spouse, he brings out her softer side with his gentle encouragement.  There is one moment towards the end, where a character finally gets a much-desired cathartic moment that I could not helped but be touched.

I also like that the film has something to say about modern life.  I don't always agree with it, but it has a voice.  Benji (Justin Theroux) is Emily's dopey billionaire boyfriend.  But even he has a moment in the third act where he talks about how technology bears down on us like the fires of Pompeii and we cannot stop the change.  The world is changing and the question becomes how much do you adapt to it before you lose what you value.  There is a scene where Andy goes into a recently renovated apartment building and complains to a man there Peter (Patrick Bramwell) that the gentrification was everything wrong with the world: taking something beautiful and gutting it for a profit.  Peter turns out to be the renovator and he says that the building was vacant and in disuse and would have been lost anyone unless he brought it into the 21st Century.  There is a constant give and take in the movie about its relationship to the changing world.  This is something that the Catholic Church is constantly wrestling with especially post-Vatican II.

The performances are as good as the original, if not better.  Time and the layering of the relationships gives the actors a lot more to do.  Hathaway is as good as always.  Here Andy is complicated and flawed.  In an argument she has with Peter, her self-centered side comes out and there is something ugly about it.  Hathaway does not try to embrace this selfishness like a girl-boss, but allows the audience to see the downside to her ambition.  Streep steps back into the role of Miranda very well.  Though I would imagine that some people my be disappointed at the slightly less ferocious lioness from the first one.  I remember my wife did not like seeing Miranda having to hang up her own coat.  I think this disappointment would be the same that people felt at the aged Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III.  Blunt still plays Emily as shallow, but she does it with great comedic timing.  But the standout is Tucci, who really is the heart of the film.  He carries a quiet grace, always tinged with a sense of sadness that time has passed him by, so he is content to enjoy his time in this art.  He never goes for big, maudlin emotional beats.  Instead, he shows incredible restraint in a way that seems almost paternal.

My biggest head-scratcher is why Andy is so desperate for Miranda's approval.  Nothing about it feels false, but I could not find an explanation other than, like most over-achievers, she is in need of constant validation.  The movie also seems to celebrate divorce in some areas as something empowering of women and their independent identity.  As a child of divorce, this was not a particularly pallatble theme to me.  Children also seem to be pushed to the sidelines.  Miranda's twins are barely seen.  Emily has children that she pawns off on her ex-husband so she can globe-trot.  And Andy mentions that she has her eggs frozen because she chose not to start a family.  It just seemed like children were more of a luxury or a burden to the main goal of fame and success.

However, this does not ruin the good aspects of the movie.  In the second half there are a few twists, some I saw coming and some I did not.  The overall effect was surprisingly cathartic experience.  I didn't realize how much I missed these characters and how much I would hope to see them again for a third film.

Sunday Best: Top 5 Karl Urban Performances

 In honor of Mortal Kombat II coming out, I thought I would take a look back at Karl Urban's career and talk about his best performances.

Urban is an excellent actor who I don't think has ever really gotten his due.  He should be an A-lister with his talent and charisma.  I find that he elevates everything that he is in, especially his most recent work.

So here are his top 5 performances.  To be clear, I am not saying that these movies or shows are good or bad.  Some of them are amazing and some are awful.  But Urban is fantastic in all of them.  

5. Eomer - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

While he does not have nearly as much screen time as much of the cast, he carries with him a seething anger at the injustice happening to Rohan while maintaining a powerful presence and strength.  In the extended edition, it was very powerful to see how that stoic exterior broke down at the sight of his injured sister.  

4. Johnny Cage - Mortal Kombat II

He is the heart of this film.  A reviewer recently said that his Johnny Cage is the Jack Burton of this movie and that fits perfectly.  He is funny and charming in every scene, using all of his charisma to light up the scenes he is in.

3. Butcher - The Boys

I really don't like this show at all.  I dropped out in season 1 because of the content.  But that is not a reflection of Urban's performance which is excellent.  He is ostensibly a protagonast, but he has all the characteristics of a villain.  And that edge is something he constantly plays with so that the audience doesn't quite know what to make of him.

2. Dr. "Bones" McCoy - Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond.

His impression of DeForrest Kelly is spot on with his cadence and mannerisms.  But if that is all that it was, it would only be an empty impression.  Instead, Urban gets at the heart of the character so that you really feel how he sees and feels about the world.  My favorite moment is in Star Trek Beyond when he says that at least he won't die alone.  But then Spock gets beamed away and there is this wonderful frustration and sadness and resignation when he responds by saying, "Well, that's just great!"

1. Judge Dredd - Dredd

One of the great things about this performance is its degree of difficulty.  Most of his face is covered for the entire movie.  Some of the most important acting tools are taken out of his arsenal.  But he gives us the best onscreen version of the character with his amazing control of voice and body language.  If it was not for Urban, this movie would not be nearly as good as it is.  After this, I thought he deserved to be a star, and I maintain that I am not wrong.

Thoughts?