Mortal Kombat: Karl Urban's Johnny Cage Is Exactly the Sort of Stupid the Movies Needed

IGN conscionable debuted the newest trailer for Mortal Kombat 2, which hits theaters connected May 8, 2026. Like the first, this trailer focuses heavy connected Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, 1 of the caller kombatants joining the combat successful the sequel. All signs constituent to Johnny being the de facto main quality this clip around, and we deliberation that’s a precise bully motion for the movie.

Let’s interruption down wherever 2021’s Mortal Kombat went astray and wherefore the sequel is showing each motion of getting backmost connected track, with a batch of assistance from Mr. JC himself.

Why 2021’s Mortal Kombat Didn’t Quite Work

1995’s Mortal Kombat inactive stands arsenic 1 of the champion live-action video crippled movies released truthful far. It says a batch astir the authorities of the genre that it peaked truthful aboriginal and has had truthful small to connection since, but there’s nary denying the information that MK ’95 conscionable got a batch right. It faithfully adapted the premise of the games, fundamentally playing retired similar a much high-concept mentation of Enter the Dragon.

And crucially, it did truthful by striking conscionable the close code with the root material. The 1995 movie is thing if not a campy, silly martial arts romp. It’s got multicolored ninjas, a rubber, four-armed miniboss monster, and Christopher Lambert hamming it up arsenic a thunder god. It’s got a mid-’90s techno/industrial mash-up soundtrack that goes mode harder than it has immoderate close to. The movie treats the root worldly with reverence, but it ne'er behaves arsenic if that root worldly is precocious art. Mortal Kombat is champion erstwhile it allows itself to beryllium silly and campy.

That’s thing the franchise occasionally loses show of. Certainly, the little said astir the dreadful messiness that is 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the better. The games themselves person tended to onslaught the close equilibrium betwixt gathering up the amazingly analyzable lore of this beingness and wallowing successful the campiness of it all. But past you person thing similar DC’s Mortal Kombat X prequel comic, which became wholly excessively enamored with said lore and forgot to conscionable archer a fun, goofy communicative astir colorfully clad fighters eviscerating 1 another.

That’s an country wherever the 2021 movie reboot ne'er truly recovered its footing. On paper, the reboot had a batch going for it. It had overmuch amended peculiar effects and accumulation values than its predecessors. It besides took a reasonably caller attack to the script, focusing not connected the interdimensional martial arts tournament, but connected the eternal rivalry betwixt Hiroyuki Sanada’s Scorpion and Joe Taslim’s Sub-Zero. In a cleanable world, the reboot would person been a large showcase for however acold the video crippled movie genre has travel since 1995.

But successful execution, not each the close ingredients were there. Mortal Kombat ’21 is precisely what Mortal Kombat shouldn’t beryllium - excessively superior by fractional and excessively absorbed successful the mythology of this universe. The movie mostly leaned connected Josh Lawson’s Kano to supply the wit and campy absent everyplace else, but that lone served to marque Kano consciousness similar the unusual antheral out. It besides tries to cram wholly excessively galore characters into a struggle that truly boils down to the household play betwixt Scorpion and Sub-Zero, starring to a large galore MK icons feeling similar underdeveloped hangers-on.

And don’t adjacent get america started connected Lewis Tan’s Cole Young, the cardinal protagonist of this grim small conflict. As an archetypal instauration for the film, Cole is meant to beryllium the stand-in for the assemblage - the outsider abruptly thrust into a satellite of deadly martial arts duels and conflicts betwixt realms. But Cole is besides a quality with zero charisma oregon depth. There was thing to endear the quality to the audience, and the full movie suffered arsenic a result.

Mortal Kombat ’21 is acold from the worst video crippled movie ever released. It has its definite merits, peculiarly erstwhile it comes to the well-choreographed, hyper-violent combat scenes. And astatine slightest they kept the classical ’90s taxable song. But it yet falls abbreviated of the barroom established by the archetypal film. It’s not arsenic amusive oregon campy arsenic MK ’95, and it plays things a small excessively consecutive with the franchise and its mythology. Fortunately, that seems to beryllium a mistake Warner Bros. aims to close the 2nd clip around.

The Campy Appeal of Johnny Cage

It took 5 years, but Warners is yet releasing a sequel to the Mortal Kombat reboot successful May 2026. Mortal Kombat II is again directed by Simon McQuoid, though this clip the publication is written by Jeremy Slater. Much of the formed from the archetypal movie are returning, specified arsenic Sanada’s Scorpion, Jessica McNamee’s Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks’ Jax, and Ludi Lin’s Liu Kang, but determination are plentifulness of caller additions to the premix arsenic well, including Damon Herriman’s Quan Chi, Martyn Ford’s Shao Kahn, and CJ Bloomfield’s Baraka.

But easy the astir important newcomer this clip astir is Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage. As successful the games, Cage is presented arsenic a washed-up enactment movie prima unwittingly dragged into the tourney betwixt Earthrealm and Outworld. Urban has been the focal constituent of the film’s selling truthful far, with Warners adjacent going to the occupation of commissioning a abbreviated movie that acts arsenic a faux-teaser trailer for Cage’s magnum opus, Uncaged Fury. All signs look to constituent to Cage being the main quality successful the sequel, supplanting Tan’s Cole Young this clip around. Cole is reportedly inactive appearing successful MK II, but you wouldn’t cognize it based connected the trailers.

Right away, this looks to beryllium an illustration of the sequel trying to marque up for past mistakes. Cole intelligibly wasn’t moving arsenic a protagonist and assemblage stand-in, truthful McQuoid and Slater are pivoting to a quality fans are overmuch much intimately acquainted with. Already, it’s evident that Urban’s Cage has the charisma Cole himself was sorely lacking successful the archetypal movie. He’s a self-absorbed narcissist who wants thing to bash with the larger-than-life struggle unfolding astir him, adjacent though helium whitethorn beryllium conscionable the close feline to prevention our dimension.

Or not. The caller trailer shows Lin’s Liu Kang battling Ford’s Shao Kahn successful what we presume is the climactic last battle, truthful the crippled whitethorn inactive beryllium sticking to a much accepted mentation of the MK mythos successful that regard. But regardless, Cage is being positioned arsenic the assemblage stand-in this time, and we can’t ideate a amended quality for that role.

The trailers are crammed with Cage’s one-liners and snarky comments toward his chap MK fighters. It truly feels arsenic though the sequel has developed a self-deprecating consciousness of wit that the erstwhile movie lacked. And that’s precisely what needed to happen. The sequel isn’t sticking to the overly grim code of the first, but veering into the campier absorption of the archetypal 1995 film. And it’s each anchored by what is already shaping up to beryllium 1 of Urban’s much memorable movie performances.

Nor is it conscionable Cage himself who seems liable for this displacement successful approach. In general, the trailers are much stuffed with the acquainted MK elements fans cognize and love. There are much iconic catchphrases and peculiar moves from the games. Nearly each enactment changeable successful the trailer hearkens backmost to the games successful immoderate way, whether it’s Liu Kang summoning a Fire Dragon against Shao Kahn oregon Kitana performing her deadly Fan Lift. Mortal Kombat II shows each motion of leaning into the sillier trappings of the games successful a mode the 2021 movie ne'er afloat committed to. And successful the process, it’s telling a overmuch much implicit and cohesive communicative astir the struggle betwixt realms. It doesn’t travel crossed arsenic a sequel truthful overmuch arsenic the archetypal due movie successful this series, making the 2021 archetypal much of a prologue.

This each seems to beryllium a precise intentional displacement connected the portion of the filmmakers. Back successful a 2022 interrogation with The Direct, Slater revealed that the caller screenplay is simply a effect of lessons learned from the 2021 movie.

“I can’t accidental thing astir the existent story, but I deliberation they decidedly learned immoderate lessons the past clip astir successful presumption of, ‘Here’s the worldly fans responded to, and here’s what radical liked retired of the movie, and here’s the worldly that didn’t enactment retired arsenic good arsenic we hoped.' So we’re truly looking astatine this arsenic a accidental to instrumentality everything that worked successful the archetypal 1 and bash it adjacent amended and springiness the assemblage adjacent more, and marque thing that is conscionable incredibly satisfying, and truly exciting, and unpredictable."

Slater added that the sequel is decidedly veering successful a antithetic tonal direction, 1 that embraces the much outlandish qualities of the MK games.

“I don’t deliberation it’s needfully going to person the aforesaid code arsenic the MCU, but it’s decidedly going to person immoderate of my sensibilities. That was portion of my transportation to them. This is Mortal Kombat. We person guys who are ripping disconnected their faces and breathing fire—it’s a weird universe, let's clasp immoderate of that weirdness, and let’s marque a Mortal Kombat sequel that nary 1 is expecting and that tin benignant of sneak successful and stroke everyone away.”

The assemblage is inactive retired until the sequel really lands successful theaters, but betwixt Slater’s comments and what we’re seeing of the Johnny Cage-heavy trailers, it truly looks arsenic though the Mortal Kombat franchise is getting backmost connected the close way connected the large screen. With immoderate luck, we whitethorn soon person a caller contender for the champion live-action video crippled movie. It’s astir time.

But fto america cognize your thoughts connected Mortal Kombat II. Do you deliberation it’s shaping up to beryllium an betterment implicit the original? Is Johnny Cage precisely what this bid needed? Sound disconnected successful the comments.

For more, cheque retired each video crippled movie and bid successful development.

Jesse is simply a mild-mannered unit writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intelligence thicket by following @jschedeen connected BlueSky.