An animated remake of the film by Paul Anderson, which does not tell almost anything new, but pleases with a bloody action.
Mortal kombat – This has long been not only fighting games. The franchise, created by Ed Boon, John Tobias and the company, has proven itself in all possible formats: movies, comics, TV series, animated series, web series. The animated feature film looked like a logical addition to this series. Fortunately, the rights to the series belong for many years to Warners, who have Warner Bros. studio under their control. Animation It was she who released endless cartoons on DC comics, and now for the sake of diversity, she was entrusted with the adaptation of “Mortal Kombat”.
In the center of the plot, Hanzo Hasashi is a loving husband, a caring father and a devoted warrior of the ninja clan Shirai Ryu. But once upon a time, the clan Lin Quay under the leadership of cryomancer Sab-Ziro treacherously attacks the settlement. All of Hasashi’s friends, his wife, son, and ultimately Hanzo himself are brutally murdered. But death does not provide deliverance from suffering. The warrior finds himself in the Underworld, where he meets the sorcerer Kuan Chi. The necromancer promises help to the fallen ninja in finding the offender and even resurrecting the family, but instead of Hasashi, now called Scorpio, he must infiltrate the Mortal Kombat tournament and steal one valuable artifact.
It is unlikely that among the MK characters there is someone more popular than Scorpio – for nothing, does he adorn the covers of the last three games of the series? The yellow ninja has a consistently cool design, effective and effective techniques, as well as a dramatic biography. In fact, this is such a hybrid of Spawn with Kratos, only from the world of fighting games. The story of Scorpio has long been asked for on the screen, especially since in almost all previous adaptations he got the role of a one-dimensional villain. The only exception was the semi-fan web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, but it’s hardly worth considering a full-fledged film adaptation. And now, after the announcement of “Legends” it seemed that the fans would finally get what they had been waiting for a long time – the solo album of the most brutal ninja in pop culture. But it was not there.
In a cartoon called Scorpio’s Revenge, the title hero is given only a third of the timing. The rest of the time is occupied by “Mortal Kombat”, and not some, but the one with the participation of Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. The same tournament that we saw in the original 1992 game, in its adaptation of the 95th and in a remake of 2011. And if in the first case everything was pretty arbitrary, then with respect to the remaining two, few complained about the lack of entertainment. “The Legends of Mortal Kombat” do not offer any new look at familiar events – on the contrary, the cartoon diligently reproduces the film of Paul Anderson episode by episode. Gathering of fighters, arrival on the island, performance of Goro, several fights and the finals. Only now have Scorpio been promoted from the mini-boss to a supporting character. It’s still impossible to name him the main character – Cage is more likely to claim this role. He has a full-fledged arch, in which he habitually transforms from a naive narcissistic fool to a brave warrior, he got all the wittiest remarks, and besides, he is voiced by Joel McHale from the cult sitcom “Community”. Jennifer Carpenter from Dexter, but her Sonya Blade can hardly boast of an expressive character – she is still the same strong and independent soldier, whose vocabulary is half composed of army jargon. And there is nothing to say about Liu Kang – this time he was not even given the tragically dead brother. Well, was it worth it to change the coolest Scorpion to this trinity again? Surely, it was possible to tell a more original story about the formation of a ninja-revenant, because clearly many years passed between his death and the beginning of the tournament. Alas, we will learn about the epic adventures of Hanzo Hasashi some other time.
Backgrounds in the cartoon are effectively stylized as painting
However, if you come to terms with this state of affairs, then the rest of the “Mortal Kombat Legends” will surely please you. Scorpio’s Revenge can be put on a par with Dead space: downfall or “Castlevania” from Netflix as yet another clear proof that video games are much more lucky on multi-screen versions than on films.
First of all, she’s damn beautiful. Yes, it is clear that this is not a high-budget project of the first echelon, but from the majority of cartoons on DC “Legends” compares favorably with the style of drawing and smooth animation. Judging by the angular silhouettes and characteristic contrasting shadows, the same team that worked on them was engaged Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Perhaps the best feature film of WB Animation in recent years.
On the one hand, the characters look authentic, and on the other, they give away a little of the anime and comics of John Romita Jr. It’s as if in The Adventures of Jackie Chan there was blood. A lot of blood. Here, “Scorpion’s Revenge” is clearly doing all the previous adaptation of MK. Anderson somehow put everything in the PG-13 rating, about the series “Conquest” and “Defenders of the Empire” it’s not even worth talking – paradoxically, they were originally designed for a children’s audience. But the “Legends” are completely uncompromising in their loyalty to the original source. From the very first minutes, the most fierce dismemberment in Western animation starts. Heroes decapitate their enemies, break their bones in an X-ray, release their intestines, pull out their spines – everything is just like in games. The fights were spectacular, and the choreography successfully combines realism and completely impossible tricks.
The director of “Legends of Mortal Kombat” was Ethan Spalding, on whose account Justice League: Throne of Atlantis and Batman: Assault on Arkham. In fact, these are animated analogues Aquamena and “Suicide Squad”, which in some ways are superior to the versions with live actors, in some ways they are inferior to them, but in general they are on the same path. And now a similar alternative has appeared at the “Mortal Kombat” of 1995, and at the same time at the upcoming restart. If you do not mind once again seeing the already familiar story on the screen in another embodiment, then launch Scorpio’s Revenge. Mortal Kombat is never too much.
