Genre: Action/Fantasy
Director: Gareth Evans
Writer: APJ & Chad Taylor
Based on the video game series
Cast: Iko Uwais, Jet Li, Ken Watanabe, Ronda Rousey, Scott Adkins, Patrick Wilson, Kate Beckinsale, Julie Estelle, Winston Duke, Jessica Henwick, Yoshi Sudarso, Zahn McClarnon
Plot: Hidden in seclusion in the Outworld, Shang Tsung (Ken Watanabe) starts to plot how he will rebound from Shao Khan’s defeat. He talks with his shadow priest advisors, who tell him of another option - albeit somewhat riskier. He can attempt to resurrect Khan’s dead wife, Queen Sindel, but in the Earthrealm instead of the Outworld. This would then justify the Outworld mixing with the Earthrealm. He tells his advisors that this is good but he has learned his lesson this time. He wants them to get in contact with the Lin Kuei - a lethal group of Outworld assassins - as he has a job for them before he can revive Sindel.
Jax (Winston Duke) sits on the sideline of a small soccer field where his young daughter, Jacqi, is playing. He gets a little too into the game and berating the referees until his wife, Vera, calms him down. He hears a sudden commotion and turns around to find a human-cyborg named Smoke heading towards him. Jax is quick to instruct his daughter's team and the parents and coaches to safety before turning to Smoke. He challenges Smoke to see what he's got. When Jax goes to punch him, Smoke vanishes into thin air. Jax comments that that's unfair. Smoke reappears from behind, punches Jax in the back of the head before reappearing in front of him and giving him an uppercut. Jax groans and gets up from the ground, asking "Is that the best you got?". This time, he wants no time while Smoke is in front of his and shoots at it with his guns. This works and momentarily stuns Smoke. Jax leaps atop a stunned Smoke and begins to repeatedly pound its face. This almost works until Smoke regains his functioning and disappears again into smoke before Jax can deal the final blow.
Jax takes an exhausted breath and is ready to make his way to his family in hiding. Again, he laments having to face someone who can turn into a puff of smoke. As he walks towards them, he begins to feel a burning sensation as smoke begins to trickle from his ears first and then his nose and eyelids. He begins a coughing fit and falls to his knees as he begins to cough up smoke. He is now in intense pain as his skin starts to burn off and smoke emirates from his pores. Amidst his agony, he tells Vera and Jacqi to look away. Once Jax's lifeless body completely collapses to the ground, the smoke coalesces into the cyborg Smoke as he walks away from the damage he as done.
Sonya Blade (Ronda Rousey) and Johnny Cage (Scott Adkins) are enjoying a romantic vacation in the Caribbean, relaxing on the beach, drinking margaritas. Suddenly they're sun is blocked by something, causing Cage to get annoyed and sit up. Before them are two cybernetic Lin Kuei assassins, Sektor and Cyrax. Sektor fires a missile from his chest. Blade and Cage hurry to their feet and dive away from the blast. Cage grabs a nearby beach umbrella and charges at Sektor, while Blade kicks Cyrax. Both assassins are sent flying back. Cyrax opens up his chest compartment and pulls out a saw blade that he throws at Blade and Cage. Cage charges at Sektor again with the umbrella, but Sektor teleports away, then reemerges under Cage and sends him flying into the air with an uppercut. Cage crashes down in the surf. Blade attempts a jump kick at Cyrax, but the cyborg grabs her by the leg and throws her towards the ocean. Sonya catches Cyrax with a cartwheel kick to the the head. She then finds a length of rope. She quickly wraps the rope around Cyrax's neck from behind and presses into Cyrax with her legs, decapitating the cybernetic assassin. Cage is still fighting Sektor in the sand. Blade comes over and tackles Sektor into the water, which begins short-circuits Sektor's cybernetics. Sektor then uses his arm console to activate a self-destruct mechanism. Blade and Cage run away from the impending explosion, diving into the water to avoid the blast. Cage, more annoyed than anything else, tells Blade that he thought they were done with all of this kind of stuff.
On Outworld, Princess Kitana (Julie Estelle), daughter of Sindel and Khan, is in the royal palace when she receives a message from her sister Jade (Jessica Henwick) to come see her. When she does, Jade informs Kitana that their father was killed at the Mortal Kombat tournament. Kitana feigns shock but this turns into real shock when smoke starts seep through her pores. Smoke is revealed to be standing behind her. Jade says that she is disappointed that Kitana would betray their father and that she will bring her before Shang Tsung - whom she tried to assassinate - for punishment.
Liu Kang is by himself training, per usual. He looks at a picture of Kung Lao, his deceased mentor. This makes Kang train even harder, with revenge on his mind. Once he finishes, he learns of the attacks on Jax, Sonya, and Johnny. Suddenly, he hears someone enter the warehouse and goes on alert. Someone looking like Sub-Zero emerges and, before he can even say anything, Kang goes to attack him. They fight throughout the warehouse until Sub-Zero is able to fend him off and tells him he does not want to fight. Liu Kang is confused. The man explains that he is Tundra (Yoshi Sudarso) - the younger brother Bi-Han, also known as Sub-Zero. After seeing his brother defeated in the tournament, he has taken up the mantle to protect their princess at all costs. That's why he needs Kang's help. Kitana was captured in a coup attempt by her half-sister Jade with the help from Shang Tsung. And who better to help him in rescuing her than the tournament's best fighter. Liu Kang is unsure at first but again looks at the picture of Kung Lao and realizes this is his chance at avenging his death. He accepts Tundra's offer.
After believing he has done the deed, Shang Tsung prepares to revive Sindel from the dead. His shadow priest do his work in the Earthrealm and the resurrection begins. In order to muster enough power to bring her into the Outworld, they feed on the souls of the billions living in Earthrealm. We see a montage of souls leaving the bodies of Earth's citizens as. We cut to see Raiden (Jet Li) for the first time - realizing what is happening and in a panic. Using his powers, he musters all he can to protect the few people he know will be helpful in his plot to reverse Shang Tsung's dastardly work. Still, seeing the loss of life in the Earthrealm is devastating. The shadow priest is in awe when he first lays eyes on the revived Sindel (Kate Beckinsale) - who is nearly glowing but is in a trance-like state.
NYPD SWAT Sgt. Kurtis Stryker (Patrick Wilson) wakes up in a hospital room. He vaguely remembers crashing his squad car. He gets out of the bed and doesn't see anyone else in the hospital. Stryker leaves the hospital and is stunned to find New York City a decimated wasteland. He finds his crashed car and gets his SWAT gear out of the trunk. Stryker finds himself the lone survivor of a city once populated by millions of people. Ignorant as to what has happened, Stryker suddenly receives a vision from Raiden, who instructs Stryker to travel west where all will be revealed to him.
Sonya and Johnny arrive in Los Angeles via yacht and find the city in ruins. They see a fire lit down the beach and head toward it, only to find a wolf howling at them. Sonya and Johnny prepare to run when suddenly the fire turns into the shape of wolf, then into the shape of a man, Nightwolf. The fiery vision of Nightwolf (Zahn McClarnon) tells them that they must head to the badlands of South Dakota to prepare to defend the Earthrealm. The fire then disappears. Johnny rolls his eyes and says that all he wants is an actual vacation, one where he doesn't have to try to save the world. Sonya gives him a playful smack and tells him to come on. Johnny says fine, but if they're going to go bumfuck South Dakota they're going to go in style. Cut to Johnny and Sonya driving a Ferrari away from Los Angeles.
Smoke and Jade bring Kitana to Shang Tsung's hideout. Shang Tsung is pleased that they managed to capture her and asks Kitana if she is excited to see her mother again. Kitana says her mother was corrupted by sorcery and killed herself. Tsung says Sindel will be back to life soon enough, finally allowing Outworld to consume Earthrealm. Jade says that the warriors from Earthrealm stopped him before, and they can stop him again. Tsung laughs, telling Kitana that it won't be long until Earthrealm is no more.
The cyborg Smoke appears before Shang Tsung, holding the primary components of his fellow cybernetic assassins: Cyrax and Sektor. Tsung appears as an apparition before the shadowy Lin Kuei council. He is furious that their cybernetic assassins have failed in their seemingly simple mission. They assure him they have upheld their end of the deal they made with Shang Tsung and banish his apparition from their chambers. Tsung holds the pieces of Cyrax and Sektor up to the chest of Smoke. The pieces of all three cyborgs begin glowing and morphing together into one new cybernetic organism. Shang Tsung dubs the new cyborg, Triborg. Tsung looks over to Jade and tells her that perhaps where three cyborgs failed, one superior cyborg can succeed.
Stryker is headed west on a police motorcycle. He notices the bike is almost out of gas, so he pulls off the road at an abandoned gas station. As he is filling up the bike's gas tank, he is surrounded by bandits. One of them sneaks up behind Styker with a large knife, but Stryker sees the man's reflection in the motorcycle's rearview mirror and hits the bandit in the side of the head with his police baton. The bandit's eyeball is knocked out of his skull as he hits the ground. Stryker grimaces in disgust until he sees several more bandits converging on him. He grabs his riot gun off the motorcycle, and fires the beanbag rounds at the bandits. He successfully hits each of the bandits, leaving them on the ground unable to move. Stryker finishes putting gas in the motorcycle and drives away from the gas station.
Liu Kang is taking a moment to meditate. He receives a vision from Nightwolf telling him that he must go ahead to Outworld with Tundra and rescue the princess. Nightwolf says that if he does this, the other Earthrealm warriors will join him when the time is right. Tundra watches Kang meditate and notices Kang's skin start to become scaly. Tundra nudges Kang awake, and Kang's skin returns to normal. Tundra asks what was going on there, but Kang simply says that he was meditating. Kang stands up and says they need to keep moving if they're going to rescue Princess Kitana and stop Shang Tsung.
Cage and Blade pull off to the side of the road next to a sign for Mount Rushmore. Cage gets out of the car and looks around. He kicks the Ferrari in frustration and demands to know where they're supposed to go. Blade notices a sound in the distance. Cage and Blade both look over toward the noise and see a motorcycle fast approaching. Blade gets out of the car and readies herself for a fight. Cage simply sits on the hood of the car and waits. When the motorcycle arrives, it is Stryker. He pulls a gun on them and demands to know who they are. Blade shows her badge, while Cage begins listing the action movies he has starred in. Stryker ignores Cage, but shows his badge to Blade, who asks what the NYPD is doing in South Dakota. Stryker says he's pretty sure there is no more NYPD, but he was told to come out here by some guy in a hat. Cage jokes that it sounds like Raiden. The trio hears the howl of a wolf, which makes them uneasy. A wolf then appears out of the shadows and growls at them. The wolf stares at each of them in the eye and then begins walking away down the road. Blade says they should follow the wolf.
Cage, Blade and Stryker follow the wolf to the base of Mount Rushmore. Stryker is quick to notice that the monument does not feature the right heads. Confused, Cage and Blade look at it and see that the heads of Washington, Roosevelt, Lincoln and Jefferson have seemingly been replaced by the heads of Shao Khan, Sindel, Kitana and Jade. They continue following the wolf to a campfire where they find Raiden waiting for them. The wolf then transforms into Nightwolf. Cage asks why Nightwolf couldn't just greet them like a person. Nightwolf says that he thought a man with Cage's resume would appreciate the theatricality of the approach. Blade asks why Mount Rushmore is different, and Raiden explains that Shang Tsung has revived the late Queen Sindel. As she gains more power, more of Earthrealm will be replaced by Outworld. Cage asks which realm they are in right now, and Raiden says that they're in both realms simultaneously, which will allow them easier access to Shang Tsung's palace. Cage asks where Liu Kang is since they don't stand a chance without him. Raiden tells them that they must continue without Kang, but that they should cross paths with him soon enough.
Raiden leads the group toward the twisted Mount Rushmore where a portal appears in front of Shao Khan's head. Raiden tells Cage, Blade and Stryker that they must continue on without him as his powers will not work in Outworld. Cage, Blade and Stryker disappear through the portal. Nightwolf asks Raiden if the three of them are going to be enough. Raiden says there are no other options, but that he will be praying that they find Liu Kang before the time is too late.
In his palace, Shang Tsung watches as Queen Sindel is finally back to life. Sindel's eyes glow white as she rises to her feet. Tsung tells Sindel that he has brought her back to life in order to merge all the realms. Kitana tries talking to Sindel, but she claims to not remember Kitana. Sindel does, however, remember that Jade is her daughter. Jade tells Sindel she is happy to see her, and that her father King Shao Kahn would be pleased she has come back to life to rule the land. Kitana continues to try to remind Sindel of who she is, but Sindel continues to be ignorant of her relation to Kitana. Shang Tsung smiles at this.
Liu Kang and Tundra make their way to Shang Tsung's palace, but once they enter the main chamber of the palace they are attacked by doubles of themselves. Kang fights his identical copy, while Tundra fights his own identical copy. Kang and his double have an even fight. Tundra generates an icicle and tosses it to Kang, who uses it to stab his double. The double then disappears into a cloud of dust. Tundra and Kang stand opposite each other with the Tundra double between them. They both run and kick the double in the head, causing the Tundra double to also disappear into a cloud of dust.
The earth shakes as Cage, Blade and Stryker walk down a road that resembles a twisted western ghost town toward Shang Tsung's palace off in the distance. A pair of glowing blue eyes watch the three walk through the deserted streets and approach the palace. They enter through the front doors where they find Tundra and Liu Kang. Blade and Cage are excited to see Kang, who introduces himself to Stryker.
With a flash of blue light, Triborg teleports in front of them. Tundra tells them that he'll take care of the robot, and urges the others to go rescue Princess Kitana and fight Shang Tsung. Tundra fires an icy blast at Triborg, who quickly teleports out of the way. Triborg reappears right behind Tundra, and kicks him across the room. Tundra covers himself in an ice armor and fires a large ice beam at Triborg. The cybernetic assassin seemingly catches the ice beam and throws it back at Tundra, freezing him in place. Triborg walks toward Tundra and grabs the frozen fighter by the throat. Triborg then activates his flamethrowers. He melts Tundra down to a puddle of slush and blood.
The Earthrealm heroes make their way up a long winding staircase to the top of a tower where they find Shang Tsung, Jade, Kitana and Queen Sindel. Liu Kang becomes angry when he sees Tsung, and briefly grows in size and his skin becomes scaly. The other humans are shocked by the sight. Blade cuts Kitana free. In a flash of blue light, Triborg appears in front of our heroes. Kang tells the others that he'll fight Tsung, leaving them to deal with cybernetic Triborg.
Triborg attacks Blade, Cage and Stryker. Triborg manages to grab Blade. Cage and Stryker try breaking her free from their grasp. Triborg then teleports to a graveyard outside of the palace, taking the three of them with him. They then fight in the graveyard.
Kang's eyes turn yellow as he charges at Tsung and tackles him out of the tower window. As Kang and Tsung fall they both begin transforming into something more monstrous. The two fall into a body of water. Kang swims his way out of the water, but is attacked by Tsung - who has transformed into a giant cobra. Tsung wraps himself around Kang, beginning to suffocate him. Kang's eyes turn yellow and his skin begins turning scaly. He then slowly and painfully transforms into a dragon.
Meanwhile, Princess Kitana faces off against her sister Jade, with their mother watching on. Jade’s primary weapon is her bo staff while her sister is equipped with sharpened metal fans. They are both experts in defense, knowing their other halves very well. Jade is able to sweep Kitana off her feet and, while Kitana is on the ground, forces her staff through her sister’s left leg. While definitely wounded, Kitana still manages to get and asks her sister for more. This lulls Jade into a false sense of security and Kitana uses her fans to cut the staff in half. With Jade’s primary weapon now defunct, Kitana gives her sister two dozen cuts all over her body. However, although she is hurt, Jade summons her mother in to take on Kitana. Kitana does not want to fight her mother as she knows she is under a trance but she also needs to survive.
While Shang Tsung’s cobra transformation was the ultimate back-up plan, Liu Kang’s dragon form is an unforeseen development. He is now double his previous height and towers over Shang Tsung. Shang Tsung tries to submerge himself in the water and escape but Liu Kang is able to track him down. Unlike last time, Shang Tsung is not able to bail out on his showdown with Tsung. With nowhere left to go, Shang Tsung attempts to bite his enemy but the dragon’s mouth is bigger and bites the head of the snake whole. He then breathes it out into a fiery ball. The rest of Shang Tsung’s body transforms into a headless body while Liu Kang also transforms back, unsure of what just happened.
Using Raiden’s guidance, Liu Kang finds the graveyard where the other Earthrealm heroes are fighting. Triborg finds itself outnumbered with the heroes surrounding the cybernetic assassin. They keep hitting Triborg, bouncing him back and forth, not allowing Triborg a chance to use one of his high-tech weapons. Finally, Stryker stabs Triborg in the chest with his police baton. Blade and Cage each grab one of Triborg's arms and rip them clean off of his body. Triborg starts the process of launching a missile, but Liu Kang grabs Triborg's head and snaps it off its shoulders. Kang then tells everyone to run. Triborg's missile explodes, with our heroes getting out of the way just in time. The heroes observe that Triborg is definitely out of commission, having exploded into countless pieces.
With Shang Tsung's defeat, Kitana finally manages to break through his sorcery while she fights her mother. She reminds Sindel of the loving queen and mother she was before she became involved with Shao Kahn. Sindel realizes that with her back from the dead, Earthrealm will cease to exist. Kitana understands what her mother must do, but asks if they can have a moment first. Sindel nods her head and gives her daughter a hug. Sindel walks to the roof of the tower and steps off the edge, falling down to the rocks and fog below.
We see Earth begin to transform back to its normal self. Greenery and life return to the previous desolation, with the souls being restored to all of those lost. Everyone understands that they must go their separate ways, especially Stryker. We see him return to New York and share an emotional reunion with his family. The city is bustling once again, which he feels relieved about. Johnny says that he doesn’t know how many more of these big battles he can take and asks if she wants to get married or something. She asks if he even has a ring and he says they go pick one if she wants. She’s down, anything to get their mind off of those assassins. Before they do, they visit Jax’s family to offer their condolences. Finally, Kitana thanks Liu Kang for his help and gives him a kiss. He is a man of honor and says that he was just doing his duty.
The film ends with Liu Kang visiting Raiden. He looks weakened from using all of his power to protect the warriors, which ultimately pay off. Liu Kang is worried but Raiden says that he will recover. Despite Raiden being an elder god, he accepts Liu Kang’s offer to share a drink in the memory of Kung Lao and the other warriors lost along the way.
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