After Mortal Kombat II, Ludi Lin Wants To Do Things He "Sucks" At

Ludi Lin still finds it surreal to be in a sequel.

“I think 99, 98% of films don’t get make a sequel, and it’s rare,” he says.

He should know. He had high hopes for an encore with Power Rangers: The Movie, the 2017 reboot of the ‘90s campy children’s TV show, in which he played the Black Ranger.

Alas, that film’s Batman Begins-lite treatment — only Elizabeth Banks, as the OTT resident villain, didn’t receive the memo, but that’s another story for another time — impressed neither fans nor critics. Its underwhelming box-office performance put the brakes on a follow-up.

But Lin knows there’s a demand for it. “I get questions all the time about the Power Rangers sequel…fans are still asking when we’re getting the sequel, he says.

In fact, the enthusiasm has taken on a life of its own. “The last time I was at one of these big Comic-Cons, someone approached me with three comic books that they’d written themselves… and it’s a sequel to the movie!”

Now, though, the Chinese-Canadian actor’s back for another round of gleefully splattery and body-part-ripping video game-inspired mayhem as pugilist Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat II, the follow-up to the 2021 hit. 

8days.sg is with Lin in the Presidential Suite at Frasers House on a Friday afternoon, on the eve of Hari Raya Puasa. Dressed in a relaxed olive-green jumpsuit paired with worn-in high-top sneakers, he’s a far cry from Liu Kang’s warrior robes — but the physical presence is undeniable, still energetic after a full day of press.

The last time we met, it was over Zoom in 2020 — just a few weeks before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic — to chat about his Netflix series The Ghost Bride.

Cut to the present: the world is, well, still messed up. Nothing Lin can do about it. But in the reel world, he — or rather, Liu Kang — can.

In Mortal Kombat II, the fragile détente between the Earthrealm (the good guys) and Outworld (the bad guys) is once again on the line, with the fate of humanity decided in the eponymous tournament.

Returning as the fire-shooting Liu Kang — who serves as the “true north” and “moral compass” of the saga — comes with a certain ease.

“The second time around, it's just much more relaxing because you know you have the job… you've done it once already, and everything is just much more in the body,” Lin says.

Plus, it’s nice to be surrounded by wonderful collaborators, both returning and new. “It’s just about getting together with the people I love working with and continuing something we started.”

And if you know your sequels, they tend to go bigger. Here, the scale has grown — and so has the cast, including Adeline Rudolph as fan-blade-wielding Kitana, and Karl Urban as washed-up B-movie star Johnny Cage.

“Working with Karl is just like working with a buddy — always joking around,” Lin raves.

Ironically, the Boys star didn’t steal the show with his punches, but with his punchlines.

Urban was a “beast” of improvisation, frequently dropping Star Trek references mid-fight. In one scene, “[Karl] walks up to CJ [Bloomfield, who plays Baraka], and goes something like ‘live long and prosper’,” Lin recalls.

In fact, he and the other actors would sometimes huddle at the video village to watch Urban drop quips.

“On paper, it shouldn’t work, but he makes it work somehow.”

When it came to action, Lin didn’t just stick to the video games. “We did a lot of video game references,” he says, but he also looked to classic martial arts cinema — drawing from Jet Li’s Once Upon a Time in China to the works of Donnie Yen to shape the fights’ acrobatics and emotional tone.  

When asked what he would do if he had Lui Kang’s fireball-shooting powers, Lin says, “I would become a firefighter.”

It’s something that goes back to childhood. “One of my dreams was to be a firefighter… you can fight fire with fire,” he adds. “I would be an ironic firefighter — starting fires and fighting fires at the same time.”

It’s a power he wishes he’d while filming the comedy feature Reunion in Los Angeles — the production began on the day of the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires broke out.

“It was surreal,” Ludi says of coming face-to-face with the fires. “I went out also to do some volunteer work… because everything just felt so devastating at the time.”

“You saw some of the most horrific scenes — people losing their homes — and the best in humanity. People coming together, risking their own health and lives to help others.”

Lin isn’t content staying in his comfort zone. “What I’m always gunning for is new experiences, new roles,” he says.

Next on his plate is The Unlucky, a Canadian sci-fi thriller by Quentin Lee (Shopping for Fangs), in which he’s set to star and produce. The film will launch at this month’s Cannes market.

Lin has previously worked with Lee on Comedy Invasian, a docu-series about Canadian comics. This helps explains Lin's new hobby. “I’ve also been working on some stand-up comedy…it used to scare me,” he admits.

His philosophy is simple — and brutally honest. “I'm constantly trying to seek out things that I suck at to see if I can experience that fear and that thrill.”

Is Lin taking a break from action? He pauses.

“I think action films is kind of like going to the gym. Training for it is important, but rest is also very important—because it really takes a toll on you,” he says. “After Mortal Kombat II, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I would never do anything like that again.’ But you need that rest in between to really miss it.”

Will Lin trade fireballs for gun-fu in the John Wick universe?

“Absolutely, I love trying new things. And John Wick is such a freaking good series,” he says.

He’s even game for a cameo. He grins: “I think it’d be an honour to be killed by Keanu, to be honest.

Mortal Kombat II (M18) is now in cinemas. Street Fighter opens Oct 15. 

Ludi Lin portraits: Dillon Tan/Mediacorp