Todd Garner Responds to ‘Mortal Kombat 2’ Critics: “They’ve Never Played the Game”

Mortal Kombat 2 producer Todd Garner has responded strongly to the mixed reviews for Mortal Kombat 2. He said that some critics do not understand the Mortal Kombat games or lore. The film has scored a 65% critic score and an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7/10 on IMDb, and debuted on CinemaScore with a B.

Garner says critics don’t understand what longtime fans actually want from the movie, adding that some reviewers seem unfamiliar with the franchise’s canon. Despite the mixed reviews, the film has not been significantly affected at the box office, already earning over $5.2 million in domestic previews and expected to gross $80 million worldwide during its opening weekend.

On X, Garner wrote, “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.”

The producer continued responding to fans online, repeating that the movie was “made for the fans” rather than critics. He also told one user, “It’s called Mortal Kombat 2 for a reason…” while another fan pointed out that the film actually has more positive reviews than negative ones.

Directed by Simon McQuoid from a screenplay by Jeremy Slater, Mortal Kombat 2 is based on the video game franchise created by John Tobias and Ed Boon. Serving as the sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat‘ the film is also the fourth installment in the Mortal Kombat film series.

The film stars Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Sophia Xu as young Kitana, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson “Jax” Briggs, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Damon Herriman as Quan Chi, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han / Noob Saibot, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion, Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn, Desmond Chiam as King Jerrod, Ana Thu Nguyen as Queen Sindel, Max Huang as Revenant Kung Lao, and CJ Bloomfield as Baraka.

Produced by James Wan, Michael Clear, Garner, Simon McQuoid, and E. Bennett Walsh, Mortal Kombat 2 is a production of New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, and Broken Road Productions.

Mortal Kombat 2 is now playing in theaters.