Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge Review

April 14, 2020 at 8:50pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a different sort of animated film, it entirely embraces the graphic brutality of the series and tells an intriguing story. This tale largely follows the birth of Scorpion (Patrick Seitz), and the start of the most recent primary tournament. It somewhat rushes through many narrative elements, and character developments. This is in order to fit into a rather short run time, so the pacing feels blazing fast. You’re introduced to a pile of characters and then basically watch non-stop action.

This does definitely inflict some problems with aspects feeling skipped over, such as the connection between Sonya Blade (Jennifer Carpenter) and Johnny Cage (Joel McHale). That aside, if you’re a fan of Mortal Kombat then you’re in for a treat. They really did seem to nail some iconic aspects of the modern games, and have translated them wonderfully over to this medium. They bring bone shattering moments, tons of gore and a couple classic catch phrases that didn’t feel too cringy in their placement.

I quite liked the dynamics they setup with this one, and only wish that more breathing room would have been allowed. There seemed to be a lot of possibility when it came to connecting the various characters that built up this Earth based roster. The side foe creatures definitely got neglected, which might be disappointing to some.

I found the animation work here to be generally solid. It was insanely graphic, and didn’t hold back when it came to the visceral parts of the combat. Spines were being removed, bones were shattered and there were swimming pools worth of blood spilled. The areas felt highly detailed, as did the various characters.

The styles for each of the main combatants represented their gaming characters well. They also came across as being more natural in design. The combat was fairly fluid, at times being over exaggerated. That did work for what this was, just some of the kicks were a tad silly. It looked cool, at the same time some of the distances for strikes were ridiculous.

The Conclusion

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge is a solid representation of the series and an insanely graphic animated film. This worked out well for what they were aiming to present, and I definitely enjoyed it. Some aspects did feel rushed, mainly the narrative and some of the showcases for the smaller characters. A little bit of extra time just to flesh certain characters or moments out would have been appreciated.

I got the just of what everyone important was about, but some of those extras could have used more time so that I could understand who they were. I’m sure if you’re a big fan of the franchise then you’ll know, more casual or new viewers will likely be really lost at times. It does cover all the basics however, you’ll understand the setup of the tournament and why they’re fighting.

You also get the full showcase of Scorpion, who does not at all disappoint. Whatever the case, its fun and has some great action in it. It never holds back on the gore, and doesn’t waste a second going over anything. An element that’s both great, and some disappointing in regards to how the narrative is rushed through.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge Review at Home with Standard Viewing

Rating Overall: 7.0