Dank Clank Reviews: Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge

(Originally published on The Real Dank Clank Facebook page on 06/22/20* - Has been edited since originally archived)

When it comes to film adaptations of video games, their first big hurdle to overcome is their lack of interactivity. Which is the Achilles heel of these sort of endeavors. How do you properly capture a game's essence and represent that onscreen? These days, you're better off watching cutscene compilations on YouTube than see Hollyweird's latest attempt at fucking up a good lay. Mortal Kombat hasn't quite been as successful at making the jump from arcade classic to the silverscreen. Since its first attempt in 1995, it's been a steady stream of bad sequels, cartoons with the budget of chewed gum and paperclips, and some mixed results with an online web-series or two. Now Warner Bros. Animation has taken a stab at their own take on the franchise with Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge.

The least interesting part of Mortal Kombat, for me at least, is the narrative. Not like MK was ever in danger of being Deus Ex-caliber storytelling. But it does it's job well. It's there to hang gory fights and the occasional Easter egg off of. And there's nothing wrong with that. Some of my favorite films are just action set-pieces with a protagonist whose sole reason to exist is to kill things and spit one-liners. The most enticing thing about MK for me is the stylistic over-the-top violence. And there's plenty of that with this flick. If you're bored on a Saturday afternoon and just wanna watch some over-the-top 90s style animated action with a generous peppering of gore, you'll get your money's worth. Plenty of ripped off faces, forcibly amputated limbs, and Sonya Blade's weird man-jaw. A good time for the whole family.

In recent years, Warner Bros. Animation has been skinny-dipping into the adult animated content pool. And good on them I say. Because for an R-rated animated film, Scorpion's Revenge uses it to its fullest potential. In a far more satisfying manner than DC's animated Killing Joke adaptation. The fatalities alone are worth seeing at least once. Every bit as frenetic and bloody as what I would imagine an MK fan could ask for (hi Brad). Even if the amount of "X-ray attacks" could have been toned down a smidge. Look, I like Hershey's chocolate syrup on my sundae as much as the next guy, but at some point you just wind up with more chocolate syrup than a sundae the more you squeeze. It's cool in the games, sure, but in a movie it gets rather repetitive. Thankfully, the otherwise kickass fight choreography of the action set-pieces provides enough of a counter-balance.

As the subtitle suggests, Scorpion is the main protagonist of the film. So naturally you'll be following him whilst everyone else in the MK cast is relegated to playing second-fiddle. Now I dug Scorpion. He's cool and all. And despite the film's near hour and a half runtime it gets across just enough without overstaying its welcome. But even still, I feel like you could have expanded on some of the other secondary characters. Especially Liu Kang, who's hinted at having a much larger role in the future. The best we get apart from Ninja Ghost Rider is Johnny Cage's fish out-of-water sidestory. Made all the more fun with Josh McHale's performance. I mean, I get it. It's called Scorpion's Revenge. So he's got top-billing. It's just that the rest of the cast comes off as Slim Jims compared to Scorpion's smoked German sausage.

Overall, Scorpion's Revenge is a decent flick to kill some time with. I may not be as in love with it as more hardcore fans would be, but I got plenty out of it nontheless. Plus, as someone who is positively starved for decent 2D animation - especially of the adult variety, I'll take what little I can get. Given the sequel-bait ending a follow-up is certainly possible. So I might be tempted to give it a look-see in the near future. While I feel there's room for improvement, the overall appreciation for the source material certainly shows in the presentation. And frankly, that's something to be admired by any fan of any franchise these days.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge: Featuring the cast of Mortal Kombat gets an excessive amount of x-ray attacks out of 10.