Written by: Jeremy Adams

Directed by: Ethan Spaulding

Starring: Joel McHale, Jennifer Carpenter, Grey Griffin, Kevin Michael Richardson, Steve Blum, Robin Atkin Downes, Darlin De Paul, Fred Tatasciore, Hordan Rodrigues, Patrick Seitz, Ike Amadi, Dave B. Mitchell, Artt Butler

Scorpions Revenge as a fast paced, action packed, gruesome movie targeted at fans of the video game series. Some breathtaking fight sequences which leaves nothing on the sideline. Broken bones, blood, decapitation, it has it all and more. Much like the games, especially the newer versions, this plays very much into the fight style and finishing moves you will be used to.

THE STORY

A multi layered simple to follow story with just enough depth to make you care about the outcome. Two parallel stories collide at the Mortal Kombat competition. One is a story of revenge, as the title suggests this is the journey of Scorpion. The secondary story is a battle to save the earth realm, led by Lord Raiden and Liu Kang.

Both of these stories have their own motivations and although simple in purpose some very clever writing from Jeremy Adams sees these clash and come together in a believable way. Scorpion is an anti-hero who you are rooting for the entire movie due to the heart wrenching opening sequence we are exposed to. The genuine heroes of the movie Liu Jang, Lord Raiden and Sonya Blade walk the honorable path never swerving their determination to meet their goal. 

Johnny Cage is the comedic relief in the movie who accompanies our heroes along for the ride. I often find humor difficult to work in animation as you lose key facial expressions and physical moments which just don’t work animatedly. What Jeremy Adams does well with the script here is focus more on what Johnny Cage is saying and the impact of the punchline rather than any physical related humor. This worked for me as Johnny had a number of one liners which made me laugh.

ANIMATION

One word, Brilliant. As a lifelong fan of animation I have witnessed the grade of animation change through the years. I like that the Warner Bros. animation house has stayed true to its core and continues with its own animation style. Many other animation houses have tried to follow the Pixar model and make the characters as life-like as possible. This is fine for certain films and if it’s done well. I love the style of this movie, especially with the fact it’s based on a video game. It knows its fantasy and make believe and doesn’t shy away from that, in fact it embraces that with some over the top theatrics 

CAST

Joel McHale (Community, Star Girl, Ted)  as Johnny Cage and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter, The Enemy Within, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) as Sonya Blade are the most recognizable names. They are backed up by an experienced voice cast including Kevin Michael Richardson (Batman, Lilo & Stitch, The Simpsons) Fred Tatasciore (Team America, Kung Fu Panda, DC Super Hero Girls) and Patrick Seitz (One Punch man, Thundercats Roar, My Hero Academia).

While nobody stood out and stole the show with their performance, they collectively delivered a good character accurate display. Joel McHale plays into his comedy background with great expression in his jokes.

CONCLUSION

A graphic and gruesome movie which tugged at my heart early on and convinced me to believe in the characters. As a fan of the Mortal Kombat games I class this move as a big win. It gave me enough nostalgia for the games I grew up on in the 90’s while making it relevant to today by including graphic X-Ray sequences which resemble Mortal Kombat X & 11. The action, build up, suspense and execution is complimented perfectly by a score which not only sets the tone but also the pace in the story and at times really makes your heart pump with excitement. 

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge is available on Digital Download on April 14, and arrives onto 4K UHD, Steelbook Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray™ Blu-Ray with MiniFigure & DVD April 27.

Check out the trailer below