As a big fan of Mortal Kombat lore, I watched the 2026 Mortal Kombat 2 movie without having seen the first.

Although I was lost here and there because the movie’s lore differs slightly from the games, I enjoyed how it didn’t take itself too seriously. I especially enjoyed how campy the movie was. The makers of the movie understood the source material.

I imagine someone who doesn’t know Mortal Kombat lore and hasn’t seen the movie would be totally lost, spending most of their time trying to figure out who’s who and what’s what instead of enjoying the movie.

I have to admit, the version of the movie I saw in theatres here was a bit strange. Mortal Kombat 2, true to its video game roots, is packed with violence, and as far as I could tell, all the gory scenes remained intact. However, for some reason, someone decided to blur out every shot of Johnny Cage flipping the bird—except when he did it on a smaller screen. 

This odd censorship choice says more about the backward approach to regulation here than anything else.

So, support the movie by watching it in theatres, and watch the first movie if you haven’t seen it before.