20 Recent Movies WAY Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

18. Mortal Kombat II

2021's adaptation of legendary fighting video game Mortal Kombat was totally fine, but it didn't exactly set sterling expectations for any subsequent installments.

And while Mortal Kombat II's story is absolutely nothing to write home about, it was a marked improvement over its predecessor in basically every way, enough that even most critics gave it a passing grade.

It's clear that filmmaker Simon McQuoid heard fans' issues with the first film loud and clear. 

For one, audience insert character Cole Young (Lewis Tan) has a much smaller role this time around, while the script leans harder into the franchise's inherent comic book-y campiness, the action sequences are better executed, and the icing on the cake is Karl Urban's absolutely delicious performance as fan fave Johnny Cage.

It's got brutal action, hilarious one-liners, oodles of Easter eggs, and a whole ton of nostalgia-bait - what more could you possibly want out of a Mortal Kombat movie?