Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match - Bom de Briga

When this movie was first announced, I got super pumped up. Johnny Cage has always been one of my favourite personalities in the Mortal Kombat Universe.

Therefore, I was eager to see his side of the story, but alas! My expectations were not fulfilled, mainly due to a lacklustre direction that had opted for style over substance.

Considering it was supposed to be a 'Johnny Cage' extravaganza, I wouldn't have been bothered by it if only this approach hadn't compromised the natural flow of the narrative, which lacked both charm and spirit and surprisingly so!

P. S. I cherished the 80s-inspired Music. It did not come as a surprise, though; I have always admired such style of tracks, and this was no exception.

If you're gonna get hung up on the MK mythos and source material, it may not be for you; but as a fan of the 80s and the aesthetic, this movie delivers. The look, the music, even the animation style all is of that era. They do a really fantastic job with the animation and color choices to mix MK with Miami Vice. McHale NAILS the voice and cockiness of Cage and the rest of the voice cast (Jennifer Grey anyone?!) does a great job too. Adams has been pumping out fun animated scripts for years at WB and this may be my favorite that he's done. I appreciate that it's a bit of a standalone movie so that Cage can shine. If you like the character and just wanna laugh and have fun, then this movie is for you. Laughed so many times and the MK action and fighting and FINISHING MOVES are all there. Loved it.

If you are paying attention, it seems that in our new "woke" universe, merely trying to do something is now literally as good as actually doing it. By that odd logic, this film should be a "10." Because, in every scene, and with every line of dialog, it tries so darn hard to get the formula right -- yet fails repeatedly -- that the end result is almost painful to watch. The MK universe is not my favorite part of Warner Animation, but it can be fun when it works. Here it does not not work. Clearly the writing team had watched one too many episodes of Archer -- because the entire movie is mainly swagger and little else. Martial Arts? Barely an afterthought. For diehard fans of the franchise only -- and even then you may not like what you see. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

The final instalment of the Mortal Kombat Legends Kollection series stars Johnny Cage as the lead in a retelling of his story from youth to star during the 1980's time period.

The animation is outstanding as is the entire series of films yet this film has a different atmosphere to stand out with the 1980's retro vibe by the bright fluorescent lights of purple, pink, orange, blue and other bright colors.

The story isn't too bad but it's still enjoyable to a degree. It becomes a little over the top in the second half when Johnny finds his co-star Jennifer (ironically they never mention her last name- as we find out its actress Jennifer Grey portraying an exaggerated version of herself as the end credits say "Jennifer Grey as Herself") then it becomes this demon, devil satanic underworld realm type of film air over the top characters turning into monsters and demons. The violence and gore turns up a notch.

Overall it's still highly enjoyable and possibly the second best of the series (Scorpion's Revenge is still superior) especially for fans of Mortal Kombat as well as Johnny Cage fans.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match fully embraces the personality of its self obsessed title character and it makes this entry the best since they started these. This has such a unique personality to it, helped by the fact that it's focusing on the best character. The one off story approach really works for these, so far.

Joel McHale remains a great choice for Johnny Cage, it's his third and best time as the character. He once again nails that complete lack of modesty and it's particularly impressive that despite being the lead as well as narrating the whole thing, he never becomes grating.

Ethan Spaulding's direction is helped massively by the 80s setting which allows him to imbue everything with so much more style than the previous ones (lots of neon in this one). The score by John Jennings Boyd and Eric V. Hachikian also benefits a lot from the 80s setting, giving it the opportunity to go very synth heavy.