The blockbuster video game franchise returns in all its brutal glory with MORTAL KOMBAT II. This time, the fan favorite champions—now joined by Johnny Cage himself—are 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.
Karl Urban stars as Johnny Cage, alongside Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, with Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion. Director Simon McQuoid returns to helm the follow up to his explosive 2021 cinematic adventure, from a screenplay by Jeremy Slater, based on the videogame created by Ed Boon and John Tobias.
As Mortal Kombat II prepares to smash it’s way into Australian cinemas on May 7, Nick L’Barrow spoke with KARL URBAN, JESSICAN MCNAMEE, and JOSH LAWSON, about finding their characters emotional journey through the fight scenes, and the moments they knew this movie was massive in scale and spectacle.
Nick: I saw the film in IMAX last night…
Josh Lawson: That’s the screen to see it on!
Nick: It really kicks arse. That last 25 minutes, all in IMAX, is incredible. But, with the limited knowledge I have of how movies get made, when you’re making the film, you don’t see the VFX, you don’t hear the music, and you don’t see these scenes on a huge IMAX screen. So I’m curious to know at what point did you fully grasp the scale and spectacle that this movie had?
Karl Urban: There wasn’t a moment on set for me where that happened. To tell you the truth, it was a couple of nights ago when I saw the movie myself in IMAX, and I was blown away, not just by how fun the movie is, but the way the audience reacted to it. It’s like, you always hope your movie hits all the notes, but it’s always a leap of faith. So, to get to this juncture and have the film deliver the way it does, it’s a special thing. And I’m not taking that for granted.
Jessica McNamee: I would say I’ve had a couple of “wow” moments, particularly during this junket. The first was the LA premiere, and when the credits started rolling, I just burst into tears. Then these guys [Karl and Josh] were laughing at me! But I couldn’t believe it was happening. Also because we filmed this three years ago. So, it was super exciting watching it in Sydney the other night, in IMAX, and I was just so goose-bumpy when it started. I couldn’t believe how huge and action packed it was.
JL: I think we’re all probably old enough and experienced enough to have learned the valuable lesson not to assume you’re making a good thing while you’re making it, because it doesn’t always end up the way you think it will go. I think you go into these things with a healthy dose of pessimism. But, you go into it trying the best you can. And so similarly for me, when we saw it for the first time, I was like, “Alright. We pulled it off!”
Nick: Something I love about both this and the first film is that, as the audience, you can really tell that the characters are fighting the way they’re feeling. Their emotions and where they are in their journey comes across during the fights. Do you find that the emotional elements of your character help you find the physicality, or does the choreography allow you to tap into that emotional state a bit more?
KU: Well, it’s very much so the case for Johnny Cage where at the beginning of the movie, you meet him as a very broken man. He’s literally at rock bottom. And it’s here where he gets called upon to defend Earth-realm. So, that initial fight that he has with Kitana is very reflective of that state. But, as the movie goes on, he starts to gain that confidence, believe in himself, and with the benefit of finding his family, that all becomes very infused into his fight style.
JM: I think the physical for me is informed by the journey that the character is on. I found that I kind of had an idea of what Sonya should be doing, but it wasn’t until I got in there and learned more about her that then informed the way she moved. I found that’s what worked best for me.
JL: I mean, you look at that Liu Kang and Kung Lao fight. Ludi [Lin] and Max [Haung] are expert fighters. All their moves are so precise. And it’s this beautiful, almost like artistic ballet. And that is so different to Kano. So, the character definitely informs the way you fight, but there are particular fights in this, one of them being the Baraka sequence, where the story advances through the fight. That’s unusual for fights to be a plot device. To watch characters change throughout a fight.
Thank you so much to Karl, Jessica, and Josh for their time, and to Warner Bros. for organising the interview. Mortal Kombat II is in Australian cinemas May 7.
