The hugely popular Mortal Kombat franchise has a new cinematic entry with the release of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge. The film is based on the very popular game series which began in the arcades and grew to dominate home gaming systems.
The franchise has also included theatrical films, toys, and scores of merchandise and the recent Mortal Kombat XI game was a massive success as well.
With news of a new live-action film in the works; Warner Bros has given fans something that truly fits the franchise well in the form of an R-Rated animated film.
While the prior films had a PG-13 rating, this one relishes the gore and violence and gives fans plenty of what they have come to expect.
The plot follows elements of the game and early film in that the evil Shao Khan has called forth the champions from the various realms to fight in a generational tournament where the realm who wins 10 strait events will have control over all the realms.
With 9 consecutive wins in place for Shao Khan and his champion Goro (Kevin Michael Richardson), the God Raiden (Dave B. Mitchell), has assembled a team of champions to save Earth.
There is Liu Kang (Jordan Rodrigues), Sonya Blade (Jennifer Carpenter), and the ego maniac Johnny Cage (Joel McHale).
The team must battle all manner of enemies which includes a very impressive list from the game series and it was great to see so many of them appear even if their roles were small.
The main story focuses on Scorpion (Patrick Seitz) and his attempt to regain what was taken from him and it is his backstory which sets the tone and frames much of the events.
Action wise the film delivers as there are the moves, graphic internal close ups, and gore that fans will expect. There are also a few surprises along the way that I do not want to spoil. I did wonder why every creature in the film had red blood as I do remember there being a bit of variety amongst the non-human creatures but this is a minor fact in what is otherwise an enjoyable film that fans should like.
While the plot does not hold much in the way of surprises; it does give fans the action and characters they love and does bring some interesting new elements to the franchise as well as the basis for some character growth in future films.
The animation and voice work is first-rate and really captures the look and tone of the series while having a visual style of its own.
The ending clearly seems to be setting up a sequel and I for one cannot wait to see what they have in store next.
4 stars out of 5
