‘Mortal Kombat 2’ Tears Apart Critic And Audience Review Scores Again

InnovationGaming‘Mortal Kombat 2’ Tears Apart Critic And Audience Review Scores AgainByPaul Tassi,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.Follow AuthorMay 09, 2026, 10:48am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Mortal Kombat 2WBIt’s often said as an excuse for less-than-great initial reviews that someone isn’t made for critics, it’s made “for the fans.” But there is one franchise where that has been proven true twice now: Mortal Kombat, where Mortal Kombat 2 arrives this weekend and is looking to do pretty well at the box office.This time around, Mortal Kombat 2 has avoided a “rotten” Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, a 65%, but that’s far below the “verified hot” 89% from audiences. It’s almost identical to the split for the original Mortal Kombat, 55% to 85%. The 1995 version…had both fans and critics agreeing it wasn’t great (44% and 58%).Mortal Kombat 2 adds more key characters to the franchise, like Johnny Cage and Kitana, and less heavily (far less heavily) on original ones like Cole Young. It has kept the blood and gore and given fans the fights they wanted, while maintaining a coherent story. But some involved with the film are still taking shots at some of the negative critics. This was producer Todd Garner on Twitter this past week:“Some of these reviews are cracking me up. It’s clear they have never played the game and have no idea what the fans want or ANY of the rules/canon of Mortal Kombat. One reviewer was mad that a guy ‘had a laser eye!’ Why the f*** do we still allow people that don’t have any love for the genre review these movies! Baffling.”Mortal Kombat 2WBMORE FOR YOUIt’s a little odd that you’d bother posting this when critic reviews are overall positive and the movie is tracking well. And I also don’t think it’s the case that everyone who...