Watched the movie twice, still feel the same way about it.
The writing felt somewhat forced and lazy. Cole was a big mistake to be part of this story. The story between Subzero and scorpion is the only good plot about this movie. Kano, subzero, and scorpion were the only good things about this movie. Everything else didn't really stick to it’s original source. The fighting feels basic and too many cuts, there’s not really any martial arts or kung fu being used except from Kung Lao. Fatalities were also good. Liu Kang and Cole felt useless because of the weird writing. they should’ve recasted Mileena bc Mileena doesn’t look or feel like Mileena. The director talking about how he was a big MK fan this n that, he’s clearly not.
(Spoiler free)
The fact that it’s a prequel, they decided to kill off Kung Lao before the tournament which makes zero sense. Raiden does something useful towards the end for the movie. While the temple was being attacked, he didn’t do anything about it and he was so calm after Kung Lao died which doesn’t feel like Raiden. Cole’s arcana being Plot Armor like Black panther, gets a baton and a sword that comes out of his arms. His arcana has no connection to his motive or why he would have those. Goro killed over 80,000 warriors just to lose to Cole was the dumbest thing I’ve witnessed. Reiko doesn’t feel like Reiko, he’s literally just a big brute with a hammer that just yells which annoyed me. Scorpion vs Sub Zero fight was the part I was excited to see until Cole jumps in to 3rd party which doesn’t feel like the traditional fight we were waiting for and unfair. This movie is a 3/10.