Aside from Sub-Zero, the first 10 minutes and of course, Kano, the movie was trash. Kano was carrying it for his scenes. Hell, a movie full of him, Kung Lao & Lui Kang at the table would've been golden.
If they had to shoehorn Cole into the movie as the audience, they should've just made the movie about protecting him. I didn't see the point in taking Jax out of the movie. Make Cole an average guy with little-to-no abilities, Jax and Sonya track him, find him, and meet up with Lui Kang & Kung Lao and Raiden. All while Shang Tsung has sent Sub-Zero and others against them. And let everyone get their ish off. The training montage was not needed at all.
If they didn't want to use the Enter the Dragon plot like '95 & Scorpion's Revenge, he should've been the MacGuffin - Jax & Sonya out to protect him because Kano & Kabal have been looking for him. Sub-Zero is hunting him personally because of the blood feud, while Lui Kang and Kung Lao are trying to stop him...and Shang Tsung sent others to kill him because of what he could mean for the tournament,. With Raiden playing the wise protector role.
Ensemble flicks are not hard to do. You put them into large groups, let them play off each other, give them cool ish to do, and go against menacing opponents.