Rent Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023)

Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

I want to love how much effort this entry of Mortal Kombat Legends places in the 1980s staging of Hollywood egotist Johnny Cage. Artificially, it’s very much on point. The bold colors, the exaggerated style, the Hollywood satire, and the knowing commentary on the franchise’s own legacy have all the predictable flair of a comic book adaptation, akin to DC’s take on Hanna Barbera properties. That said, considering the targets, it doesn’t fire as well as it should.

Johnny Cage is at least delightfully staged as a rising yet selfish star who builds himself up bigger than he really is. Voiced by Joel McHale, Cage is portrayed as the snarky narrator of his own story, constantly breaking the fourth wall as he tries to build up his latest film of action film, where he plays a heroic mime. He is thrust from his Hollywood scene into a heroic mission of defending Earth from the violent forces of Shinnok (Robin Atkin Downes), a vicious god sought to be transported by the Brotherhood of Shadows into the Earthrealm. The stuck-up actor soon finds himself fighting for his life alongside the allies of the knowing Ashrah (Kelly Hu) and less-knowing assistant Chuck Golden (Dusan Brown) to save Los Angeles from transforming into the first conquering spot for Shinnok.

The film deserves some points for style in framing this 1980s tale. Cage Match portrays a vibrant and exaggerated era of Hollywood, complete with a constant neon in the lighting, bold fashion choices, and a matching soundtrack. There’s also a bit of charm to how McHale plays up Johnny as the narrator of his own story, constantly breaking the fourth wall and commenting on such elements as the familiar director that can’t legally be mentioned in this story. Not all of these bits are funny and could use better timing, but McHale’s performance keeps the energy high enough to keep watching.

However, everything outside of Johnny Cage’s ego and fumbling is pretty bland. Chuck has his moments as the bespeckled geek, but a little of him goes a long way. However, Ashrah, Shinnok, and the familiar batch of Mortal Kombat characters are boring. Their occultist plans that send Cage down paths of Satanic rituals, dungeons, and fist fights are a bit of a snooze, especially with the investigation. A film like this could use more of that wry humor that Cage places on this scenario, where he makes snarky jabs at how it’s easy to believe demonic forces control all of Hollywood. There’s a lot of him in this adventure, but not enough to carry it beyond the standard gore associated with Mortal Kombat.

Despite the effort in the animation to fit the era and be most distinct from the other Mortal Kombat animated movies, it always feels a tad off. Consider the car chase that Johnny engages with Ashrah early in the film. There are some decent bits about Johnny convincing a bus driver to follow a car with the treat of reading his screenplay (“It’s LA, everybody has a screenplay”) and the slapstick of the driver accidentally hitting one of the evil enforcers, believing it was a big bug. But that kind of humor requires perfect timing, and it all feels stiff. This is especially true with the casting of the late great Gilbert Gottfried, who is present as Cage’s greedy agent. Gilbert’s lines are loaded with vulgarity but spoken in a manner so slow it is almost sad to realize this was one of his final roles, and it feels limp.

Cage Match is an okay Mortal Kombat animated film, but it still feels off in trying to be violent, subversive, and satirical. It has its charms, but they’re small and, much like Cage, only lives up to half of its potential. What starts with great ideas is a ho-hum dose of adult animation with a routine climax of fitting the Mortal Kombat brand. By the time the film ambles towards the finale, you can already see the Finish Him sign above the screen, waiting for the final fatality to bring this picture to an end.