Funnily enough, despite how crushed I was when I first saw it, I actually still ended up watching it a number of times. Because while it had some huge issues, it was actually still a lot of fun. I ultimately ended up not hating it; rather I am slightly fond of it. You know, despite it's very significant faults.
The plot continued to try to more-or-less follow the games, with Outworld launching an all-out invasion on Earthrealm. The results this time were unfortunately a lot messier than before. Characters are sidelined to make room for new ones to be introduced, as the film tried to represent the games' expanded roster. The protagonists split up to try to achieve different objectives, but none of it really amounts to much more than busy-work and excuses for fights and character cameos, to fill up the movie before the final showdown. This is most egregious when it comes to Liu Kang, who's goal through most of the movie is to "learn to control his animality". Which is just a bunch of nonsense that does little more than justify a short out-of-place stop-motion Kaiju battle at one point, before everyone just goes back to hitting each other with their human fists and feet. There's a ticking clock that tries to create a sense of urgency, but this means characters spend more time just running around reacting; their personalities don't really come through as much. Again, Liu Kang suffers the most, as Robin Shou is really not given the chance to shine here the way he did previously.
Outside of the weaker plot and character work, and the darker, less light-hearted tone, the movie actually manages to get a lot of things right. It still revels in the fantastical, with interesting locations and opponents. Environments, costumes and creatures are still entertaining. The characters are mostly still likeable. The fights are still good and benefit from great music - in fact I remember some of the fights in this movie at least as fondly as I do the best fights in the previous installment, and if anything the soundtrack might even be better than the last one.
What's more, while I hate to put down any element of the original, I think most of the replacement actors were actually better cast. Both James Remar and Sandra Hess played their characters - Raiden and Sonya Blade - in less over-the-top but arguably more natural fashions than their predecessors. And while it's a matter of taste which approach you prefer, I personally fall on the side of Remar and Hess, especially since I thought they both handled the physical elements of their roles far more convincingly. While Jax was also recast, it's not fair to judge Gregory McKinney for his turn in the original as he's barely in that movie. Nevertheless I will say I really enjoyed Lynn Williams as the new Jax; his fights were fun and he was entertaining, earning a lot of the movie's laughs with his one-liners. Of course I also can't really judge Chris Conrad, Linden Ashby's replacement for the role of Johnny Cage, as he gets so little screen time in this one.
Returning actors Robin Shou and Talisa Soto were fine, but the script didn't really give them very much to work with. I enjoyed Keith Cooke's brief portrayal of the younger Sub-Zero. I didn't really like the way Nightwolf was portrayed, but I suppose Gary Davis played the role in a novel way and made the character more memorable than he might have been considering how little screen time he had. Brian Thompson was a great physical fit for Shao Kahn, and his larger-than-life "professional wrestler" portrayal might have worked if the script didn't undermine the character and just gave him more of a chance to be intimidating. The rest of villains were similarly hamming it up whenever they had the chance to taunt the heroes, and I think it just worked a little better for them as I found them fun to hate.
For me this movie was a 6/10. It still has fun characters and good action, but it can be hard to get past the film's flaws.
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