Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Review

So what does a Nothing Burger taste like? Because for everything that this could have been (and it could have been a lot) this was at least in my opinion, the very definition of a Nothing Burger. I've been very lenient with the recent "Mortal Kombat" games, even giving "Mortal Kombat 1" an 8/10, I still consider "Mortal Kombat 11" to be the weakest entry and "Mortal Kombat X" to be the most wasted in terms of potential...but this...this is...*sigh*...this is unforgivable. Listen, I'll defend the concept of a the multiverse until I'm blue in the face because I think that any writer worth their salt to take a concept like a multiverse/timeline whatever and actually make something really awesome with it (take a look at Stephen King) so use of a multiverse isn't exactly lazy in and of itself as I've written before here, BUT when you do this with it...well...let's just dive in;

So "Khaos Reigns" is the latest DLC storyline to drop from "Mortal Kombat", a trend they started with "Mortal Kombat 11", which expands on the ending of "Mortal Kombat 1". For those who don't remember or don't wanna go back and read my article about it, here are the bullet points: Liu Kang restarted time, Shang Tsung returned as a Titan with his own Hourglass and universe, Liu Kang and Shang Tsung had a big scuffle, Liu Kang won and the multiverse is saved...however since there are other universes, one universe happened to be controlled by Mortal Kombat's biggest accident since Kobra, Havik. After witnessing the clash of universes Havik, being an agent of chaos (we'll get into that later) decides that he wants to start a much bigger and longer war (which he doesn't even come close to fulfilling). And that's where we left "Mortal Kombat 1". With the return of Havik...for some reason...

Seriously, who the f*ck wanted him back?

"Mortal Kombat 1" introduces us to 2 Lin Kuei members that we should be familiar with and yet we're not and that's Sektor and Cyrax now gender-swapped to be female (for no discernable reason, and considering both Sektor and Cyrax are cameo characters in the game this makes this decision even more baffling but whatever...) who are attacking the wedding of Kuai Liang or Scorpion (as he is in this timeline, Hasashi finally getting to rest in peace) this doesn't amount to much, just Sub-Zero getting arrested and taken to Outworld to stand trial for his crimes before Empress Mileena. Then in a fashion so chaotic that it almost seemed purposeful (if written by competent people) Havik shows up and kidnaps Geras with Bi-Han chasing after him, thus causing Liu Kang to send Scorpion, Sektor, and Cyrax to rescue Geras and Bi-Han...

For starters why the hell didn't Liu Kang send his chosen warriors? I grant that they only had a limited time for this DLC, but you're telling me that Liu Kang was willing to send Johnny Cage, Kenshi and Kung Lao into Outworld to investigate (without Outworld's permission mind you) but he can't send them (the best fighters of his universe) to save an important member of his staff? Bear in mind that since the end of "Mortal Kombat 1" Liu Kang now has Reptile a.k.a Scyzoth on his side, a being that can literally become invisible and shape-shift, and an actual demon in Ashrah, why not utilize those assets? The bright side of this is that we got to see a Johnny Cage variant from WWII and Johnny Cage is "Mortal Kombat's" answer to Deadpool in the fact that you just can't hate him and he makes just everything better. But not even 1940s Johnny Cage could save this trainwreck of a story.

You did well, soldier. At ease.

Havik is ultimately harvesting Geras's from other universes to extract their history in his Kamidogu (now that they've been reintroduced) in order to use them to reshape other universes, in the meantime, Havik isn't actually protecting this project or treating it with the utmost security, now this absolute waste of time is holding gladiator fights in a colosseum for other Havik variants...and we spend a good portion of the story following Tanya and Rain (who are a couple in this universe and the former Emperors wouldn't you know...) because God forbid we actually introduce a character like...oh say...Hotaru, and establish that the Chaos Realm was once a realm of Order before Titan Havik took over and he's leading a resistance with WWII Johnny Cage and a guy named Drahmin (who Havik later kidnaps and turns him into the Drahmin we know rather than Havik being the one who created Noob Saibot)...ya know...something that actually sounds cool...

Look, I've expressed my absolute loathing of the character of Tanya, originally introduced in "Mortal Kombat 4" and stabbed Liu Kang and Edenia in the back to score points with Shinnok. Tanya has always been a backstabber and Rain has always been a schemer from the shadows, a man bidding his time until he could claim some power for himself, and while I've always liked Rain and thought he was an underrated/underutilized character I did NOT think the same about Tanya, so following these two characters variants be damned was just annoying because the real Rain wouldn't have gone out like that...but I digress. So we follow variant Tanya and Rain along with Scorpion and company to save Geras. Ultimately, they save Geras and Havik chases them to Liu Kang's universe where they have a tidy little battle nowhere near the scale of what Havik was planning to basically wrap things up.

My Reaction

*sigh* I love "Mortal Kombat", honest I do...but what the f*ck did I just watch? It's not that no effort was put into this story, clearly, there was...but not enough time was spent really crafting this to be a narrative worth $60 in this economy. For everything that this could have been (and maybe I'll write a follow-up "What If..." to my previous one) this was a Nothing Burger because there were no real stakes and the characters didn't treat this with any real urgency. This isn't a multiverse problem, this is a problem with understanding how to craft narrative tension. "Mortal Kombat" is a game where death is an essential part of the story when a character dies that should have some impact, in "Mortal Kombat 11" when Sonya Blade died that actually had some impact despite the fact that a Sonya from a previous timeline entered the chat, we lost our Sonya Blade and Cassie lost her mother so the loss was real.

Havik merging the realms to become the Khaos Realm should have been a horrifying notion...but when the characters actually visited the Khaos Realm it looked pretty much like Detroit at 3am (and dare I say better), for a realm where chaos is their only rule there were no nonstop riots, random acts of violence, people getting raped in the market place (yes I know this is a video game) but the Khaos Realm should have looked like what would happen if every GTA player had the invincibility and infinite ammo cheat on in real life. Furthermore is Havik the only one capable of removing his body parts, head included at will, or is that a feature of the citizenry because it seemed like there were just normal freakin' people there. Also for someone who loves chaos, Havik is extremely freakin' organized to an impressive level, having a maze and traps laid about and an actual plan.

Even Havik gets called out on his hypocrisy by Noob Saibot who says Havik only likes chaos when it suits him... you can't argue with the logic, and this is why I don't like the character of Havik, he was merely billed as a character who worshipped chaos and wanted chaos to reign supreme over everything, but that leaves little room for other forms of characterization. If Havik had been introduced as a character who instead worshipped freedom and thought the bindings of the Elder God or Titans were restrictive and sought to do away with all Titans and Elder Gods including himself once he was finished that'd have made a more compelling narrative than "Chaos, yay!". This is what made The Joker so compelling in the fact that The Joker just said things, he has no message, no agenda, no nothing, he just wants to watch the world burn and he'll say and do anything to accomplish that goal. So in that scene where he tells Harvey Dent that he's an "agent of chaos" that's all bullsh*t, he just said what he said to corrupt Harvey Dent, he literally says "Do I really look like a guy with a plan?" and the answer is YES! He planned the whole freakin' movie. Havik is NOT interesting at all, people only like him because his move set was interesting, THAT'S IT! His appearance sucks, his motivations suck and he sucks as a character.

Proof positive this man had a plan the second he opened his mouth.

If Havik wanted to start an interdimensional war he could have done so very easily by invading other universes and making them fight for their survival Battleworld style, but instead, Havik goes for a tidy little skirmish and get his ass handed to him by Noob Saibot of all people. Whatever NetherRealm Studios was going for this was not it, Fam. I wanted to like this...but *sigh* "Mortal Kombat" has really fallen off lately, I mean the games have been pretty lackluster and the less said about the movie the better, but this...this is just indicative of a much larger problem with media in general and that's the constant need for everything to be bigger and better than the last thing, the writers have written themselves into a corner so tight that I can't even think of a joke appropriate enough to finish that. With the establishment of Titans "Mortal Kombat" either needs to reboot the universe for the 4th time OR find something stronger than a Titan to threaten the universe OR Make the game about the tournament!

I'm more than happy with "Mortal Kombat" being about something other than the tournament BUT the tournament should be at the very least a part of the game. At this point, I have no clue what's gonna happen next but I am interested, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. "Mortal Kombat" hasn't gotten so bad that I don't care about it but man was this a hard pill to swallow. Genderswaps for no reason, poor writing choices, and lazy characterization are really driving this series to the ground. "Mortal Kombat X" was a bright spot in this new era as it introduced new characters like Takeda, Erron Black, Kung Jin, Cassie Cage, Kotal Kahn, characters who could carrier the franchise for a new generation of players and it seems as though NetherRealm Studios lost faith in trying something new and just decided to hit the reset button TWICE. Whatever comes next I'm hoping there will be some new faces and a new storyline that's actually worth the price of admission. Here's to hoping, so long Havik, no one misses you.