Mortal Kombat IIjust released its first trailer, and while it has generated quite a bit of excitement for the long-awaited sequel, one major complaint is the fact that a lot of the visual effects and CGI shots look pretty underwhelming, while some of them look entirely unfinished.
While bad effects are never make-or-break for a movie,Mortal Kombat II’s trailershowed thata lot of the movie is going to rely on these visual effects, especially the bigger action scenes. This seems to be following along with modern trends of existing in nearly entirely computer-generated environments.
However, this issue didn’t just extend to the fight scenes. Evensome of the basic green-screen effects present during some of the dialogue exchanges looked unnatural.Considering how much of the movie is going to take place in these kinds of environments, that does not bode very well for its full release.
There’s Still Time For Mortal Kombat 2’s CGI To Improve
The Movie Still Has Plenty Of Time Before Its Release
The movie still isn’t going to be out until October, which means thatthe visual effects artists and designers still have plenty of time to make changes to the final product.This means potentially fixing or just touching up some of the less believable effects.
If every other shot is destroying the immersion of a fight scene due to bad effects, then the movie will be dragged down pretty significantly.
Mortal Kombat IIwrapped filmingin January of this year, so by the time it hits theaters, it will have had ten or so months of post-production, which is a pretty solid amount of time for a movie like this. With only a few months left, theydon’t have time for any massive changes, but can still make a lot of small adjustments.
If the film isn’t able to solve this issue, then it will likely fall pretty flat, as thefights inMortal Kombatare obviously the biggest draw. If every other shot is destroying the immersion of a fight scene due to bad effects, then the movie will be dragged down pretty significantly.
While the firstMortal Kombatreboot movie in 2021 wasn’t incredibly well-received by critics, audiences were pretty happy with it.It managed to succeed at creating interesting and engaging fight scenes, alongside some very fun performances, which made up for the lackluster writing.
Whilethe sequel seems like it may have similar problems in the writing and storytelling department, introducingKarl Urban as Johnny Cageinto this universe already makes this movie very exciting. If the creative team can touch up the film’s visuals, thenMortal Kombat IIcould prove to be an even bigger success than the first.
Mortal Kombat IIis set to release in theaters worldwide on June 10, 2025.
