‘Mortal Kombat II’
If your biggest gripe with “Mortal Kombat” (2021) was the lack of Johnny Cage, then Simon McQuoid’s “Mortal Kombat II” has a remedy. In this rock ’em, sock ’em sequel, Cage (Karl Urban) is a washed-up action star who’s approached by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to compete as earth’s representative against Emperor Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford). Cage teams with Princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), whose father was killed by Kahn two decades ago in a bid to keep Kahn from harnessing the godly power of a magic amulet.
Thankfully, that’s where the logic of “Mortal Kombat II” ends. The real stars are the gravity-defying, video-game-inspired fighting techniques that fans of the franchise crave. Urban is a phenomenal Cage, precisely landing both the character’s choreography and wit with aplomb. The showdown between Kitana and Kahn is equally thrilling, pitting the pair in an excellent rain-soaked brawl that ends in a satisfying nod to the original games.
A taut heist action thriller, David Mackenzie’s “Fuze” zigs when you think it will zag. It oscillates between two story lines. A bomb squad led by Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) work to diffuse a World War II-era explosive discovered by a building crew in the Paddington district of London. At the same time, a group of robbers composed of X (Sam Worthington) and Giorgos Karalis (Theo James) use the evacuation of the neighborhood as cover to target a bank.
It’s best to leave how these two threads conjoin as a surprise, but suffice it to say that “Fuze” is supremely engrossing. The editor Matt Mayer nimbly toggles between the bomb squad, the investigation being led by Chief Superintendent Zuzana Greenfield (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and the fast-moving heist. The film’s betrayals and bloody shootouts, along with a grueling car chase, cause one to question everything about the shadowy figures at its center.
‘The Rip’
There are few cinematic pleasures greater than watching Matt Damon and Ben Affleck occupy the screen together. In Joe Carnahan’s gritty, dirty-cop movie, Damon is Lieutenant Dane Dumars of the Miami-based Tactical Narcotics Team. Affleck is Dumars’s trusted detective sergeant, J.D. Byrne. Following a tip, Dumars, Byrne and three members of their team — played by Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor and Catalina Sandino Moreno — enter a cartel safe house loaded with more than $20 million in drug money.
While the first half of “The Rip” is a tension-filled chamber piece that sees Dumars and Byrne questioning each other’s loyalty — a give-and-go granted further intrigue by Damon and Affleck’s well-honed timing — the second half is an action-packed extravaganza that recalls “Heat.” A chase involving an armored car holding Dumars that’s crosscut with Byrne fist-fighting in the woods is particularly intense, giving Damon and Affleck an opportunity to be dual action heroes.
In this film from Sandra Sciberras, Voodoo Child (Radha Mitchell) is a retired sharpshooter living on a farm with her teenage daughter, Anja (Annabel Wolfe), when a deadly figure from her past re-emerges. He’s the Dragon (Tim Roth), an expert marksman whose reputation is so fearsome that Voodoo Child calls in her sniper friends for protection. From there, “Seven Snipers” follows an expected format: The Dragon methodically kills the shooters one by one while Voodoo Child and Anja tirelessly work to evade his scope.
But the pleasure of the film goes far beyond simple plotting. This is a gruesome action flick filled with gory headshots accomplished with a savvy mix of sharp visual effects and tangible practical effects. In one moment with acutely rendered queasy sound design, Voodoo Child searches for a bullet in the skull of a fallen comrade. In another, a man’s face is completely blown off. It’s all enough to occupy your sights.
“Invincible Swordsman,” directed by Yiwei Luo, is a sturdy, meat-and-potatoes action flick. It follows Linghu Chong (Tim Huang), a talented warrior recently banished from the Mount Hua Sect of martial artists. Though his mentor, Feng Qingyang (Sammo Hung Kam-bo), sees talent in him, Linghu would rather drink wine and write music. Despite those desires, Linghu is dragged into a war between the sect and the sinister Sun Moon Cult, led by the Invincible East (Zhang Yuqi).
Yiwei’s film quietly mixes action and romance when Linghu falls for the Invincible East, who hides her identity from him. What arises from their pairing is a classic story of a hero deciding between the wants of his heart and his loyalty to his comrades. Matching that tension are plenty of lighter-than-air set pieces that see Linghu put his swordsmanship to the test. Yiwei executes these scenes with notable flair, selling the film as a comfort watch for fans of the wuxia genre.
