Warner Bros Animations is on fire this year beside churning out the bunch of DC animated movies and series, they are the biggest talk in the town by adapting most controversial storyline or by concluding a saga in the most controversial way possible(fans are still confused about the blood and gore balance in the Justice league Dark sequel) or by kickstarting a new phase for a beloved video game phenomena. They are acting like our saviors in this qarantine with VOD releases.

Warner Bros animations released the Mortal Combat animated movie, Mortal Combat legends: Scorpion’s revenge earlier in this year, sparking new hopes among the Devastated fan base, a video game which inspired a whole new genre of Mature Rated Games after so many failed and nightmarish attempts it didn’t get the Justice it deserved for years. This new movie is like a remake to the original Mortal Combat adaptation, placing Scorpion’s character at the center of the events.

Directed by Ethan Spaulding

Release date- 14 April 2020

Plot

Hanzo Hashai grand master of Shirai Ryu Clan left devastated and when his entire clan and his family including his son gets annihilated by the rival clan Lin Kuei clan. He gets killed by the Sub Zero, grand master of Lin Kuei Clan. In the depths of the Netherrealm, Hanzo gets resurrected by the sorcerer Quan Chi, he makes pact with him and agrees to participate in the Mortal Combat tournament to seek his vengeance by killing Sub Zero there. Meanwhile thunder god Raiden assembles Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade lead by the Shaolin Monk Liu Kang to be the Earth’s Champions the Mortal Kombat tournament, hosted by the aging warlock Shang Tsung. They must fight and win the tournament as the fate of the Earthrealm depends on this tournament.

This new arc of Scorpion’s revenge brings something new and interesting to the overused storyline of trio saving the earth realm. Scorpion’s character(voiced by Patrick Seitz) his rage of vengeance and his transformation from a loving father into a killing maching with his skull on fire makes him the most endearing element of this movie. When Scorpion still Hanzo enters into the berserk mode upon seeing his wife killed is my favorite scene, the emotions of grief, rage and a faint look of disgust when he looks back at the botched bodies of Lin kuei Clan Ninjas makes this scene priceless.

Maybe this is too much to reveal, let me know in the comments

Talking about the other characters, portrayal of Liu Kang(voiced by Jordan Rodriguez) is not very exciting and his plain character doesn’t leave any scope of redemption but it’s tolerable, also the character of Sonya Blade(Jennifer Carpenter) isn’t exciting as well, as a revolting character movie doesn’t seem to cashin instead it hampers her by giving her some cheesy and aged dialogues. Johnny’s character(voiced by Joel MacHale) is like a surprise out of nowhere and our only source of humour in this bloody tournament which he still thinks is a studio set for his movie. And our thunder god Lord Radain(voiced by Dave B Michelle), his character is really enjoyable especially when his character is only meant to be a all knowing, serious guy who often motivates our heroes, I enjoyed his comments which were out of nowhere especially on the Johnny.

The animation here is top notch and it seems to have achieved some sort of pinnacle in depicting brutality thanks to a gut wrenching combination of X rays and hard dealt deathly blows complemented by a character design comparable to punching bags. If you are still not satisfied by the cut scenes from the video game, this movie has plenty of blood and gore to quench your thirst. The fights are stylish and well choreographed and a great use of camera angles.

Though story seems to suffer from it’s short duration and things become slightly less entertaining in second act, eventually the third act really pays off but the movie doesn’t seem to sustain the intensity and brilliance of the First act. For such an exciting concept and premise there feels a lack of exploration and movie seem to struggle in allocating screentime between trio and the Scorpion. Being titled as Scorpion’s revenge it should have explored more about his infighting, his emotions, his struggle maybe few more flashbacks would have helped. Even though it’s a masterpiece and how studio has handled is remarkable. You can easily notice the character cameos and titular monologues of the characters.

Conclusion

Finally a worthy Mortal Combat movie and easily the best among all of them. The movie seems to understand the spirit of Mortal Combat video games and delivers a compelling story stuffed with lots of blood and gore. The movie has it’s flaws but I would not call it a missed opportunity.