Year: 2020. Director: Ethan Spaulding.

Written By: Jeremy Adams, based on the video games created by Ed Boon.

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

Running Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Way back in the eighties a little video game called Mortal Kombat had parents losing their freaking minds. Not only were they ticked off about Midway Games’ deliberate misspelling but the over the top violence in the game had them waving their pitchforks and torches. The new animated film Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge available on Amazon Prime and other digital services would have had their heads exploding like Michael Ironside’s did in Scanners.

I have watched all manner of animated films. Besides some Japanese anime, Scorpion’s Revenge is hands down the most violent animated film I have ever seen. And that is a very good thing when it comes to the Mortal Kombat franchise as fans have had to suffer with sanitized Hollywood versions of the characters and action they love. The 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm was especially embarrassingly as it was so pacifist in nature one wondered if it was a co-production between Mahatma Gandhi and John Lennon. Although the feature films and television series are fun none of them contain the uncensored brutality the games are known for, especially in this day and age…until now.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge makes even the video games look like episodes of Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting. The film spotlights one of the most popular characters in the series, Scorpion (Patrick Seitz), telling his really, really bleak story as an interdimensional martial arts tournament provides the backdrop for his revenge tale against his nemesis: Sub-Zero.

For those who don’t know, Scorpion’s tale of woe makes Kratos’ backstory read like Anne of Green Gables. A Japanese ninja warrior, Hanzo Hasashi and his family are brutally murdered by Sub-Zero and a rival clan of ninjas. Hasashi ends up in hell and under the command of sinister sorcerer Quan Chi.

With Scorpion’s origin out of the way, Mortal Kombat Legends introduces the other legends such as Johnny Cage (Joel McHale), Sonya Blade (Jennifer Carpenter), Liu Kang (Jordan Rodrigues), Sub-Zero (Steve Blum), Goro (Kevin Michael Richardson) and others who are competing in a prestigious tournament. There are also bit players like Reptile, Kano and Jax. Dave B. Mitchell is Raiden, the protector of Earthrealm.

As in any Mortal Kombat adaption it is the audaciously cavalier Johnny Cage who steals the show. Nabbing Community’s Joel McHale to voice him takes the character to the next level in Scorpion’s Revenge. A movie star, the oblivious Cage provides most of the humour as he mistakenly believes the entire tournament is just another action movie he and others are starring in. As you can see by the Gravestone and Pints of Blood ratings below, the violence and gore is off the chart giving Friday 13th a run for its money as far as creative kills go. Enemies don’t just get stabbed or battered. They get their faces and bodies sliced in two, their fingers chopped off and their arms torn off.

Scorpion’s Revenge also has some fun replicating the fatalities and x-ray attacks in the game in which you see the uncensored bone-crushing damage that is done inside of a victim.

There’s no cheese, no pulling back, no limits here. We even get some adult swearing in this adult animated feature. This is hands down the best Mortal Kombat adaptation ever made and the one fans have been waiting for. It is unapologetically Mortal Kombat from start to finish…him!

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Gravestones

Eight people sliced in half.

Arm chopped off, head split in two.

Four slammed to the ground and hacked up.

One decapitation.

Sword through the neck and head.

Sword to the face.

Six pulverized, sliced and chopped into bits.

Two necks snapped, crushed.

Icicle through the mouth and back of the head.

Ear bitten off, knee broken, head and torso split in two.

Decapitated by chain.

Killed in the collapse of a temple.

Spine snapped in half, head decapitated by a garrote.

Head ripped off by a chain.

Nine torn apart by chains.

Chain through three heads in a row.

Six shot to death.

Karate kick to the neck.

Fire fist to face, decapitated head kicked like a soccer ball.

Bashed to a pulp, thrown off a cliff and skewered on a stalagmite.

Chain through the head, brain torn from skull.

Swords through chest, arms torn off, chain through rig cage, head separated from body and burned alive.

2019 Naughty Bits

None

Memorable Dialogue

Scorpion: “Get over here!”

Johnny Cage: “Faaake. These special effects suck.”

Sonya Blade: “You gonna keep crying like a bitch or you gonna get up like a man?”

Johnny Cage: “This better not go straight to DVD.”

Scorpion: “I need no god.”

Shang Tsung: “Goro, you should stop playing with your food.”

Johnny Cage: “Eat me, buttercup.”

Sonya Blade: “Bring it, bitch.”

Johnny Cage: “Heeere’s Johnny!”

Sonya Blade: “Oh, shit. Johnny Cage can fight.”

Scorpion: “Damn your god.”

Pints of Blood

Rating