I haven’t played any Mortal Kombat video games since I was kid. We didn’t have the game at home to play on console, but we would always play at the Take Ten Arcade at our local mall or at the arcade part of the skating rink Round-A-Bout. We didn’t have many fighting games at home besides the first Super Smash Bros. So, obviously, picking to watch Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match makes very little sense.
I do know a lot of the main characters from back of the day, but there are so many Mortal Kombat characters now. I knew that this movie would obviously be about Johnny Cage, but would I know any of the other characters? Well, I did see Raiden for a little bit! All of the demons and other monsters? No idea about any of them.
The movie is fun and violent as you would expect from a Mortal Kombat project. It’s animated, so some of it is over the top and gross. Still, I think it works, and while this movie isn’t great, I had a good time with it.
Joel McHale plays Johnny Cage, who in this universe is a 1980s B/C-list action star filming a movie called Ninja Mime. The opening bit about the movie was hilarious with Cage acting like a mime in the fight. Just wonderful. McHale is perfect for this role. His sarcasm and dismissive nature that he portray as Jeff Winger on Community fits very well here.
Gilbert Gottfried voices Cage’s manager. This was one of Gottfried’s last roles, as the movie came out after his death. And, Jennifer Grey playing herself and a demon named Serena was a nice surprise.
The setting of the 1980s was good. Every scene was very 80s feeling. The vibe was 100% Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Nice work. If you told me this was a weird expansion part of the game, I think I might believe you.
This movie wasn’t great by any means, but I had a really good time checking it out. If you like Mortal Kombat and want to play something in the background sometime, you should do it.