Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match

Before he was a champion of Earthrealm, Johnny Cage was still trying to make it big in the action movie business.  When his costar on his latest project goes missing, Johnny is on the case, not realizing he’s about to be pulled into a dangerous web of satanic cults, demon warriors and beautiful women.  It’s a fight for the City of Angels itself and now Johnny must step up and become the bad ass he’s always played on screen. This isn’t a movie though.  This is Mortal Kombat.

At last we’ve come to the (at the moment) last entry in the Mortal Kombat Legends series and it’s the one I’ve been looking forward to the least.  This iteration of Johnny Cage has been the weakest aspect of Legends overall for me.  But whether by intention or by popular fan demand, Warner Bros Animation decided to give Johnny his own solo film, a prequel no less.  Now yes, like Snow Blind this is more in line from what I expected from Legends overall and Johnny Cage is a good fit for his own movie…just not this version of him and certainly not this movie itself.
 
Now, before I go any further, let me address something: I don’t hate Johnny Cage overall.  I know why he’s always been such a fan favorite since the earliest days of Mortal Kombat.  His wise cracking façade hides the heart of a true warrior.  He’s been adapted for live action twice pretty well.  1995’s MK saw Linden Ashby’s take as more comic relief but Johnny did grow as a character and, more importantly, proved he wasn’t the fake the papers made him out to be, especially during his fight with Scorpion.  This years recent Mortal Kombat II improved on that with Karl Urban’s older, more weary Johnny down on his luck and full of self doubt, only to find his way back to the bad ass he’s always been.  Im my opinion, both of these portrayals are great and they handle the character almost perfectly.  The Legends series has not. 
 
Right off the bat: the Narraration.  As I’ve said, Joel McHale is a nice choice for Johnny overall if he were used correctly.  Instead, the movie pauses every few minutes for an anecdote or poorly timed joke and it got so insesant that I was wondering for a moment if this was all just a story Johnny made up in his mind full ego and all.  That theory does hold some water since it begs the question: with everything Johnny sees in this movie, why the hell is he so oblivious to what’s going on in Scorpion’s Revenge.  He’s seen demons.  He’s battled Shinnok apparently.  Why does he treat everything in SR with such denial?  If it’s an attempt to paint Johnny better than in that film, well that’s one of Cage Match’s greater failings cause if you didn’t like Johnny in SR or Battle of the Realms, you’ll definitely struggle with him here. 
 
The setting and overall story arc feels like a poor mans take on the John Carpernter classic “Big Trouble in Little China”, right down to the race to stop the resurrection of an evil dark force.  The neon laden animation and synth soaked soundtrack (with zero recognizable 80s pop track btw), set the mood but it doesn’t really add much to the story other than the feeling that the animators and writers wanted to do a throw back to action films like the aforementioned Big Trouble in Little China.  Then again, there’s the supposition that I don’t think has ever been cleared up about the overall Legends timeline.  If Cage Match is set during the 80s then do Scorpions Revenge and Battle of the Realms take place in the 90s like the games?  It’s funny how I’m thinking about logistics like this more than reviewing the actual movie itself…it’s far more interesting to think about, trust me.
 
What did catch me off guard is the violence.  It’s not that there isnt any and it’s still are gory as ever, there’s just way less compared to the previous three movies.  A lot of said traditional MK carnage is saved for the last act of the movie and even then, it’s nothing spectacular.  Even the near bottom of the barrel offering that is Battle of the Realms had some damn good fight scenes.  But after the more personal level treatments of showdowns in Scorpions Revenge and Snow Blind, Johnny getting pummeled by Shinnok while Ashara slices various demons feels like a step down.  It feels tame, even with demon entrails spilling everywhere. 
 
Speaking of, Ashara might be the best part of this entire affair.  While the movie does feel like it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel for MK characters to use here (including a “are you freaking kiddng me” choice), Ashara has a tale I feel like I’d rather be watching.  This gorgeous goddess of a demon wishes to live as a human and sees the weaknesses seen by her demonic brethren as strengths. She’s capable, bad ass, did i mention gorgeous, and a character like Kenshi I know next to nothing about that I want to know more of.  Also, shout out to Gilbert Gottfried, who voices Johnny’s duplicitous agent.  This was his last credited role after his passing in 2022 and the voice of Iago is very much missed.  Getting to hear him play a genuine threat has its perks, he just deserved better than Cage Match.
 
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match is a beyond lackluster finale to an up and down animated Mortal Kombat series.  The overall story clashes with previously established events.  The violence isnt anywhere near as fun or intense as previous films.  And the more I hear Johhny narrating his own fan fiction, the more I wanted to turn the movie off and never look back.  You want a better take on this failed project, go watch Big Trouble in Little China.  Not only did much of its visual flair have an influence on Mortal Kombat’s creation but Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton is the dumb idiot with a heart of gold I will never get tired of rooting for.  As for the Legends version of Johnny Cage…yeah why couldn’t they have just killed him off Annihilation style in Battle of the Realms?  And again, to be fair, Linden Ashby and Karl Urban could definitely kick this versions ass any day of the week.
 
1/10