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While movies based off popular video game franchises used to have a bad reputation, many of the best video game movies have arrived over the last few years. Chief among them is Simon Mcquoid’s Mortal Kombat (streaming with a HBO Max subscription) and its sequel. I had the chance to speak with the director ahead of the latter movie’s release on 4K UHD, and he revealed his three favorite fight sequences. But I’m also surprised on the ones he left out.
Mortal Kombat II hit theaters back in May, and brought more beloved characters to the burgeoning franchise. It’s available on digital now, but MK II‘s 4K UHD release is coming later this month. When asked about his favorite fights of the movie, McQuoid named a few starting with:
So Sonya and Sindel. I love because I thought both Ana and Jess did an incredible job of making that feel the kind of mongrel street fight dirty. Like it was sort of a fist fight with extras, right? With the sort of extra layers to it. I always wanted that. Because it was like, okay, each of these fights needs to have its own distinct flavor and style and approach. It can’t just be the same thing all the time. So that one I particularly love. Yeah, I just love the, the brutality and the relentlessness of that. And when it arrives, it’s a real sort of paddles to the chest. I wanted that to feel like, ‘Okay, here we go. This is like full on.’
He’s not wrong. While Sonya Blade’s romantic relationship with Johnny Cage wasn’t part of Mortal Kombat‘s sequel, her early fight with Sindel showed just how much she’d been training since the first movie. The battle was bloody and hardcore, and resulted with Kitana’s mother dying. And just like that, the stakes for the movie were raised.
Another fight that Simon McQuoid shouted out was Liu Kang’s battle with a Revenant Kung Lao. That battle resulted in a gnarly fatality, but was also emotional thanks to the characters’ familial relationship. As the director put it:
And then Blue Portal I love because it’s first and foremost about their relationship and, and how that matters and, and how through that fight. So every single fight we did was the, the characters need to move through their, through their journey, through each fight.
He’s not wrong. Each of the battles in Mortal Kombat II serves a purpose, and isn’t there just for the fun of it. Either characters or the overall story progress as a result of each one, and Kung Lao and Liu Kang’s was arguably the most emotional of the entire sequel.
So what is the third fight that Simon McQuoid called out as his favorite? It was actually Johnny Cage vs Baraka, which ended up being the most comedic of the action scenes. The director explained his penchant for that sequence, saying:
And then the Baraka/ Johnny fight. Because yeah if it was up to me, everything would be on location and there’d be no CGI whatsoever and everything would be in camera and real. So that’s how I kind of approach everything. And even though, um, you know, it’s, it’s many sort of CG and many stage scenes in this film, but I’m always pursuing, ‘How do we make this feel real? How do we make this feel like it’s an actual place?’ And so I think that the Baraka Johnny fight tonally, and it really achieved that for me.
Baraka’s fight with Johnny Cage wasn’t only the funniest fight of MK II, but it also felt especially practical. That’s exactly what McQuoid was shooting for, and why he loves the scene so much. That and the two fighters’ surprisingly funny chemistry.
Simon McQuoid named some great choices, but I’m surprised about the fights that he didn’t mention. Namely Kitana’s epic final battle with Shao Khan, and the Netherrealm fight between Noob Saibot, Scorpion, and Johnny. These were the finales of the movie, so I’m surprised that they weren’t at the top of the director’s list. I also think that the opening battle where King Jerrod was murdered was very brutal and memorable.
Mortal Kombat II is available on digital now, and will arrive on 4K UHD on July 28th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Fingers crossed we get a third movie, especially after the sequel’s cliffhanger ending.