Mortal Kombat II delivered a few fatalities with new footage debuting at CinemaCon Tuesday.
The violent video game adaptation brings in Karl Urban to the franchise as fan favorite character Johnny Cage — a washed up ’90s action star called to become a champion of Earth in a deadly tournament.
That tournament was the focus of the scene shown in Las Vegas, with Johnny Cage talking a big game against mutant Baraka and trying to get him to fight Ludi Lin’s Liu Kang. However, his fast talking backfires when he’s called to take part in the fight instead because of the annoyance he’s caused.
Cage then starts to panic, stuttering, “I’m just a fucking actor” and “I have stuntmen do this shit for me.” He flails, “I’m going to die,” which his opponent confirms as he asks his face to be spared. But he’s encouraged by his friends, “you’re an actor, so act,” and kicks it — literally — into gear, showing off his martial arts skills and taking flight with some flips, followed by a kick to Baraka’s privates.
The feature opens on May 8.
Simon McQuoid returns to direct from a script by Jeremy Slater after helming the 2021 Mortal Kombat. That film arrived in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously amid the pandemic to modest box results ($81 million) but was a hit on the streaming platform, prompting a sequel.
The cast also includes Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada.
New Line’s relationship with the franchise dates back to 1995, when now-Warners co-head Mike De Luca worked on the original Mortal Kombat movie, which became the world’s first bona fide hit video game movie with $122 million globally ($262 million in today’s dollars).
