Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022)
Time to get back your honor.
Time to wrap up the animated selection of last weeks’ choice. Gotta get it done up - after all, next week is the last logical chance to finish of the Wick franchise before the new one of those hits the theaters! Before we get too far though, this one’s a bit more interesting than the standard fare - well, at least it might not be entirely what you are expecting anyways. Ever got to watch one movie and find out someone spilled a bunch of another movie into it? That’s a little like what tonight’s going to feel like as we travel the wasteland of Snow Blind.
That’s right, I’m not doing out the entire title. Three extra words is a lot and you clicked that link so you know what it says already - anyways! What’s our story this time around, and how does it follow up that ending from last weeks movie? Well, it would appear that despite the world being saved and the realms being de-merged, old Earthrealm still has it’s fair share of problems. A monstrous outbreak of revenant, a savage desert wasteland - it’s not a great place to be. Still, some are finding a way to live a peaceful life - that is until the Black Dragon come knocking at their doors. Seems old Kano has upgrade not just his hardware but his title to King, and he’s not happy unless he’s ruling all the lands. With the likes of his roster of named characters surrounding him, it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to change that - not that it won’t stop one head-strong fighter who thinks he can take on the world from being easily manipulated after losing a fight and unfurling a string of events that’d rival the violence of any old Tourney.
Actors do a good job here. Much like with the others, most the body language side is left to the animation department, but the voice deliveries do add to some of the characters. It’s a fine mix between an old samurai movie, Mad Max, and Mortal Kombat scene-chewing. Yes, you’ll sometimes groan over a line, but for the most part you’ll find yourself a little caught off guard and laughing at times - not really in a bad way at all. You might need to clear over the shock of thinking you’ve turned on the wrong movie with all the vehicles and stuff rolling around, but I feel like when it comes to the voices they do a great job of making it feel like the character - down to that wonderful Aussie cockiness of Kano.
Animation quality is good for the most part when it comes to the acting side of things. There’s very few spots where it feels like it’s not doing at least something to help with the emoting the actors are trying to accomplish with the line deliveries. It’s more often over-done than it is under done, although this time around it does carry some… I’ll call it inconsistencies that we’ll cover later. The main cast is about four people wide, with the relationship between our two “hero” characters being quite similar to the classic student-master shenanigans from other kung fu movies, complete with seemingly ridiculous tasks like chasing chickens. It does provide for an ample amount of character growth between those two characters, which is a bit of a turn around from the other movies. That said, things can feel a bit disconnected or removed from the last movie until the final act, but that’s more from the storytelling component than it is the art or acting.
The animation makes me think of Archer
As alluded to earlier, there’s some parts of the animation that feel a little odd at times. Largely, it’s primarily vehicles feeling way more 3d than other characters - to the point where it feels like it stands out as different. There’s also a bit harder edge-lines to characters this time around - or maybe I’m just noticing it more after the last round of it. This leads it to feel a bit more akin to something like the animated show Archer at times, albeit slightly more violent. It still looks good, and you can recognize the characters you should recognize - given the others though, I’m sure some of these side folks are characters from the games I just don’t realize either, what with my lack of playing them in so long.
The fights feel better this time around. I can’t really quite put my finger on why though. Perhaps it’s less likely to be swinging the camera around during them, or maybe there’s just less fights that feel like it’s taking shortcuts to get through - I really just can’t figure it out. Either way, the fights are pretty sweet and brutal in this one - keeping on par with the past animated entries and in all honesty probably getting even more brutal at parts when it comes to dismemberment. That said, it does distinctly lack the slow-mo x-ray shots that were pretty neat in the last one, although it makes up for it well enough with the special moves and things like magic disintegrations.
Audio has the same thing most do for me - I don’t remember a lick of music from this thing. It works fine for what it’s in, but it’s just gone from my head by the end. I also still miss the original MK theme, but that’s probably only partially nostalgia-driven. Balance is pretty good, and it does have a moment towards the start where you get a character slightly quiet as the camera is far away, then getting louder after it zooms in. I don’t think most would have a hard time hearing or understanding things - and since Kano is in it, we get to enjoy some Aussie accent which is always fun! I don’t feel as heavy as it’s been in other iterations, but it’s still always enjoyable.
Mom, Someone got some Mad Max in my Mortal Kombat!
I feel like this is a fun entry for the folks that like Mortal Kombat. I also feel like this is probably the hardest one to follow as far as universe story for the average person. It really just kicks right into it, and doesn’t even attempt to explain anything that’s caused it to be this way until well into the movie. That said, the basic story on show here with the classic kung fu revenge and honor is something people have been following for decades, so the movie’s story shouldn’t cause any problem. It also has a bit more feeling of growth, so there is that for folks that wanted it.