Sweet mother of Raiden! Warner
Bros. Animation made a Mortal Kombat
animated movie!
I used to muse to myself that Mortal Kombat deserves to have the Castlevania Netflix animated series treatment. But even though this isn’t a Castlevania-style animated series, I’m
still delighted that a modern animated adaptation happened to one of the most perfectly
adaptable video game properties out there.
And I hope that, moving forward, Warner Bros. Animation would release Mortal Kombat direct-to-video movies as
regularly as their DCUAOM (DC Universe Animated Original Movies) and Scooby-Doo! movies.
Anyway, the title of the movie is
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge. It’s basically a retelling of the storyline of
the bad but lovable 1995 live-action film adaptation, rather than an adaptation
of the first video game’s plot. However,
this time, the origin story of Scorpion is the headline.
If an MK film series is happening, then I think focusing on the undead
ninja Scorpion with the first installment is only fair since he’s the most popular
MK character. However, since the narrative also needs to
prominently showcase that essential first tournament itself, the focal point of
the movie frequently shifts toward the core trio of Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and
Sonya Blade – just like in the live-action movie. Scorpion’s arc does intertwine with their
arc, but for the most part, it feels like two different movies.
Moreover, Scorpion’s Revenge it doesn’t quite capture the essential dynamic
of the Mortal Kombat tournament, which the live-action movie generally managed
to do. It starts off with a couple of
one-on-one fights, but afterward, it becomes something of an anything-goes
battle royal. In exchange, however, we
get to have the pleasure of seeing a lot of bad guys get brutally mauled by the
heroes.
The action in this movie is
phenomenal and emphatic. True to Mortal Kombat form, there’s ample gory,
balls-to-the-wall cartoon violence. The
fights are well-choreographed, hard-hitting, and emphatically gory. There are tons of creative blows and kills, and
just like in the games, there are even attacks that are accompanied by gloriously
bone-crunching X-ray visuals. Truly, this
movie is worth watching for the action alone.
Moreover, there’s a good amount
of references to the characters’ patented moves in the game. I’m not necessarily an avid MK player; I only got to play some of
the older games a few times in the past.
But since I got to watch enough MK
gameplays and competitions, I get to recognize a couple of the characters’
moves and combos, and it’s exciting. Of
course, since Scorpion is headlining this movie, he gets to shine a lot with
his skill set. It takes a while before
he utters his “Get over here!” catchphrase, but it’s so cathartic when he
finally does. Shang Tsung doesn’t get to
say, “Your soul is mine!”, though.
Johnny Cage is my most favorite MK character (his daughter Cassie is a
close second), so I was hoping he would be awesome in this movie. He’s denser here than his live-action movie
counterpart, and he didn’t have much quality battles. In the live-action movie, he got huge wins
over Scorpion and Goro, and delivered great one-liners to boot. On the other hand, in Scorpion’s Revenge, (SPOILER) his only match is with Baraka, and he
wins by running away as the structure they’re fighting in collapses over his
opponent. He does get his I’m-not-just-a-comic-relief-I’m-also-a-bona-fide-badass
moment, but it doesn’t come out from battling another MK character. But I guess I’m
kinda fine that he doesn’t have that many highlights since this is a Scorpion-centric
movie after all.
All in all, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge isn’t great, but it’s
pleasingly fun. More importantly, it
serves as a solid start for a potentially terrific animated movie series.
Also, I can’t wait for that new
live-action Mortal Kombat reboot movie,
in which The Raid and The Night Comes for Us star Joe Taslim
will play Sub-Zero and legendary Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada will play
Scorpion.
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