Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge is available now on digital platforms and hits physical release on April 27, 2020 from Warner Bros.
Synopsis
After the vicious slaughter of his family by stone-cold mercenary Sub-Zero, Hanzo Hasashi is exiled to the torturous Netherrealm. There, in exchange for his servitude to the sinister Quan Chi, he’s given a chance to avenge his family – and is resurrected as Scorpion, a lost soul bent on revenge. Back on Earthrealm, Lord Raiden gathers a team of elite warriors – Shaolin monk Liu Kang, Special Forces officer Sonya Blade and action star Johnny Cage – an unlikely band of heroes with one chance to save humanity. To do this, they must defeat Shang Tsung’s horde of Outworld gladiators and reign over the Mortal Kombat tournament. Prepare to witness all of the bone-crushing action in the first Mortal Kombat Legends animated feature!
Review
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge marks a new, animated, entry point in to the world of a franchise which has existed for almost thirty years. Instead of offering up a simple brawling adaption of the beat ’em up work of the games it transposes familiar tropes on to the backbone of a story centred on the legendary character of Scorpion.
Writer Jeremy Adams find an opening in the decades of franchise storytelling by looking at the characters from a more human point-of-view. Often beat ’em up games will plaster the smallest amount of personality on its characters in order to help them stand apart from each other outside of the visuals but what Adams does is truly open up the world of Mortal Kombat and lay the groundwork for what could become a wider universe of storytelling.
The film opens with a scene built to really drive home the human emotion aspect of the story. We see Hanzo Hasashi (voiced by Patrick Seitz) and his son observing a scorpion in battle with a fleet of ants. Though a rather on the nose explanation as to why Hasashi will eventually take on his classic name, it serves the audience in acclimating them to his backstory in quick time and allows for the story to get to the meat and bones (quite literally in some cases) of why we’re here.
When their home village is attacked by Sub-Zero and his men the visceral nature of Scorpion’s Revenge really comes to the fore. The first fight sequence quickly delivers some visual flare which will become common place throughout Scorpion’s Revenge, there’s blood, gore and some bone-crunching x-ray shots which feel ripped right from the games themselves.
From here we’re transported to the Netherrealm and Scorpion’s Revenge begins to translate itself from a simple character portrait to a wider, franchise encompassing tail of the Mortal Kombat tournament itself.
It’s here that the film takes a misstep, albeit one which doesn’t dull the audience’s enjoyment of the film. In order to maximise our time with Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage we spend little time on Hasashi’s time in the Netherrealm and his journey to becoming Scorpion. We scratch the surface, touching on the character of Quan Chi and why Hasashi is to be returned to Earth for the tournament but I would have liked to see more of this overall.
Each of the remaining leads is given sufficient time for an introduction and each feel steeped in the lore of Mortal Kombat. Sonya Blade features a strong performance by Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) and it’s great to see one of the franchise’s female characters taking on a lead role. Liu Kang (Jordan Rodrigues) is introduced via his connection with Raiden (Dave B. Mitchell) which adds some weight to his motivations.
But if Scorpion’s Revenge belongs to anyone other than the titular character then it has to be Joel McHale (Stargirl) as Johnny Cage. His character is an excellent source of comedy consistently throughout the story, a sub-plot between him and Sonya feels somewhat cliché, but when it counts, he can also throw down in a fight scene.
Much of Scorpion’s Revenge‘s second half is made of individual fight sequences, each one more and more brutal as the Mortal Kombat tournament builds to its conclusion. There are plenty of character cameos and moments which will really thrill players as sit back and relinquish control to director Ethan Spaulding.
The fights themselves are all equally stylish and brutal when compared to the opening sequence. Characters carry out more and more elaborate kill sequences and, of course, the immortal line of “finish him!” is uttered in the film. It all feels incredibly well adapted from the game and is certainly the film’s biggest selling point throughout.
The ending leaves plenty of plot threads hanging in preparation for what will hopefully become a pantheon of Mortal Kombat Legends films in the coming years. But these dangling threads don’t stand in the way of Scorpion’s Revenge feeling like it has its own, satisfying conclusion.
Verdict
Mortal Kombat Legends offers a brutal and powerful glimpse in to the potential animated universe. Taking well known characters from the franchise it masterfully adapts the violence of the games with guttural glee.
7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEDiPBPbcgUJoel McHale (Community, The CW’s upcoming Stargirl) and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight) lead a stellar cast as the voices of Hollywood star-turned-fighter Johnny Cage and all-business warrior Sonya Blade, respectively. The voice cast also includes Jordan Rodrigues (Lady Bird, The Fosters) as Liu Kang, Patrick Seitz (Mortal Kombat X, Agrretsuko, Naruto: Shippuden) as Scorpion & Hanzo Hasashi, Steve Blum (Cowboy Bebop, Star Wars Rebels) as Sub-Zero, Artt Butler (Her, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Shang Tsung, Darin De Paul (Overwatch, Fortnite) as Quan Chi, Robin Atkin Downes (The Strain, Batman: The Killing Joke) as Kano, David B. Mitchell (Mortal Kombat 11, World of Warcraft franchise) as Raiden, Ike Amadi (Mass Effect 3, Mortal Kombat 11) as Jax Briggs, Kevin Michael Richardson (Family Guy, The Simpsons) as Goro, Grey Griffin (The Loud House, Young Justice, Scooby-Doo franchise) as Kitana & Satoshi Hasashi, and Fred Tatasciore (Robot Chicken, Family Guy) as Demon Torturer.
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