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Sunday, April 19, 2020

'Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge' Doesn't Exactly Achieve a Flawless Victory, but It Definitely Packs a Wallop

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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