Team PCheng

Fight! 

James Wan, a Mortal Kombat video game fan and one of the producers of the 2021 film adaptation, says that the biggest thing about “Mortal Kombat II” is there are now tournaments. “This one is bigger in scope and scale,” he says. 

Adds producer Todd Garner, “This movie has a lot more fighting and a lot more fight choreography given that it is a Mortal Kombat tournament. So, all of the actors had to completely step up in terms of physical training, fight choreography, and stunt work. Given that we have such incredible fighters and athletic members of our cast, everybody inspired each other to up their game on every level.” 

In “Mortal Kombat II,” the fan favorite champions – now joined by Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) – 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. Once again directed by Simon McQuoid, the film also stars 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.

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/YMaBDBehpLQ?si=FgNq95QVpzoucAxc

E. Bennett Walsh, also a producer, breaks down the painstaking process the team went through to make sure the fights were executed perfectly onscreen. “We’ve learned that these fights take a great deal of preparation. We have about 20 fights in total and they all had to be carefully choreographed,” he says. “We made video clips so that everyone could understand how they needed to flow, and then broke them up to add in all the technical components that went into shooting them. We doubled the stunt preparation time to five months.” 

Of course, it wasn’t just about the fights themselves. The filmmakers had to make sure that the action was always rooted in a compelling narrative. “[Director] Simon McQuoid and Kyle Gardiner – the stunt co-ordinator and second unit director – talked about each of the fights in great detail,” adds Walsh. “Within each fight you have to find its point of view, as well as the narrative that you need to weave into the story, so that the audience stays with it and doesn’t get fight fatigue. The fights need to have many layers, so that they don’t flatline. With enough time, we were able to design all the fights before we began shooting. That allowed us to take it to the next level and fine tune, which gave us a great advantage.”    

The cast were put through their paces from the moment they arrived on set. Comments stunt co-ordinator Gardiner: “The cast underwent a huge amount of training. It was quite brutal. They’d work all day, every day, and then if they weren’t on set, they’d be training with us. It was impressive to see them all handle the volume and really step up to the training.”

In order to develop each character’s fighting style, the stunt team dived deep into the characters from the game. Says Gardiner, “We stay true to the game at all times and the truth of the game itself. We have fatalities and brutalities. It’s all there. There’s blood, there’s gore, there’s everything! We pay homage to the game, but then we take it to another level entirely. It’s pretty awesome.”

The stunt work was certainly a challenge for the cast. Says McQuoid, “They make it look effortless, but it’s not easy. They had to understand their performance and their character. As well as learning their actual lines, they also had to learn the fight lines of the choreography. It was a huge amount of work for each little sequence. But they all worked so very hard and I think that hard work really paid off in each and every performance. I mean, it was tough – like running a marathon. There were days where everyone was tired, but with a smile on every face.”

As part of Karl Urban’s research, he delved into the culture of martial arts and martial arts tournaments, because that’s where his character, Johnny Cage, grew up. “When I landed at the airport to start filming, they picked me up and drove me straight to a stunt rehearsal, because the stunt choreography was such a massive undertaking,” shares Urban. “So, from day one, I was thrown in at the deep end. We had an extraordinary stunt team – one of the best I’ve ever worked with.” 

Comments Tati Gabrielle, who plays Jade: “There were so many fight sequences, but I’m very big on stunts. I love them. I’m always like, ‘Can I do more? Can you put me on a wire? I want to do more!’ Every little step needs so many drills. But it’s so much fun. And I felt so badass all the time doing all these great stunts!”  

“Hats off to the stunt team. I don’t come from a martial arts background, so they worked really hard with me to figure out the intricacies of Kitana’s fight style,” shares Adeline Rudolph, who plays Kitana. “The fans that Kitana fights with were my favorite part. They were so much fun to play around with. Once we were in the training phase, I had a normal pair of fans to begin with, and we just started to play around with those to figure out what felt comfortable and what felt good. I love my fans! I was annoyingly obsessed with them.”

A few of the cast did have experience in martial arts. Max Huang (Kung Lao) has been doing martial arts for over 20 years and comes from the Jackie Chan school of training. “To me, it’s about telling a story through movement,” says Huang. “I’ve been in the stunt and action world for many years, so it feels natural to me. Ludi Lin, who plays Liu Kang, was not so familiar. He trained so hard. He’d text me, ‘Let’s go down to the gym and train the choreography, train the fight.’ He put in so much hard work and I think it really paid off. It shows in our fight together.”

The filmmakers and the cast are proud of the hard work and passion they’ve put into the film, and are excited for movie audiences to watch the movie. “We all felt that we wanted to get the fights correct,” says James Wan. “We wanted them to feel special and unique to each of the different characters, but also to depict the characters in the correct way. We spent a lot of time designing the set pieces with the fights, focusing on each combatant’s special traits and abilities, which shaped the sequences while propelling the story forward as well.”

The wait is over! “Mortal Kombat II” is now showing only in cinemas and IMAX. #MortalKombatMovie