Solid Movie, good for a one watch. But yeah I have to agree with most people. Cole, while the actor was good, the way he was written in, the plot about his character, the "family" thing which I don't know why this movie needed a "family" arc, was just really off for the "theme" of mortal kombat.
You could have salvaged Cole's character and did really well with him if you stuck with the MMA/Martial Arts thing and erased the rest of his plot and rewrote some of his motivations. As for his abilities, would have been better to not do the suit out of thin air with "SUPER ARMOR" or whatever you want to call it.
Everyone elses roll with the exception of Liu Kang, I also enjoyed. Being a fan of the 90's, I'll take the 90's Liu Kang over this Liu Kang any day. Sonya I felt matched, or was even better then the 90's movie. Again, the actor of Liu Kang actor did fine, but his character did diminish for me over time watching the film because he was a side character, and the things they had the character do was weak. I just don't think it was an actor problem rather then a script problem.
I would go further into details but not trying to spoil the content of the movie. Have to make your own choice based on what you see and know of the franchise.