Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)

 

The inevitable sequel to 'Scorpion's Revenge' sees Shao Khan and his many many minions waging war on Earthrealm. At the same time another Mortal Kombat tournament kicks off, only this time it could be the final battle. Raiden enters the deadly tournament as a regular Human to help Earthrealm. Scorpion is still being used by the bad guys, this time Shinnok. Characters new and old pop up as expected...but is it enough this time?

Well the movie starts off really well with Shao Khan's forces of Netherrealm demons and Outworld warriors attacking a monastery being held by the good guys. This entire sequence is essentially a rip-off (homage?) from the 'Battle of Helm's Deep' in the classic 'The Lord of the Rings' franchise. Thick towering stone walls lined with arrow-wielding monks fending off legions upon legions of demons both on land and in the air. Beasts of burden dragging huge wooden siege towers loaded with Tarkatan warriors all hell-bent on killing anything Human. Hordes of demons marching mindlessly into incoming arrow fire and just stepping over fresh arrow-ridden bodies. There's even a very similar wall breach moment in the thick of the action.

Naturally we see all the usual faces back again. Hero regulars Jax, Sonya, Cage, and Lui Kang are present and correct. This time they have assistance from Stryker and Kung Lao. On the baddies side we get new appearances from Kintaro, Reiko, D'Vorah, Jade, and Baraka, with cyborgs Sektor, Cyrax, and Smoke also. Gotta say the choice of characters for this sequel is odd and seemingly random. There are still many regulars missing yet they pick someone like D'Vorah from Mortal Kombat X? I do like how well-known characters are killed off, makes things more interesting not knowing who will make it to the end, to a degree at least.

Story-wise it's a bit convoluted really and things aren't really addressed. Sub-Zero and Scorpion are STILL battling it out in their little subplot but with the cyber Kin Kuei thrown into the mix. This doesn't last too long before the plot fixes everything and moves on. Kitana (Mileena anyone?) isn't really explored whereas Jade is a mere cameo. Shao Khan is still invading Earthrealm with no consequences from the Elder Gods? Yet they know about it? They just allow another tournament and Khan to carry on with his clearly evil plan. Shinnok still manages to carry out his plan to unleash a super being that will destroy all existence (why would you want to do that?). Personally, I didn't really like the finale of the movie with everyone fighting this Marvel-esque super God-like being and Liu Kang morphing into a huge dragon because he has the power of Grayskull or whatever. Meh just went off the rails and became some generic superhero-type crap.

But anywho, the visuals are on par with the first movie with the same animation style (obviously all made at the same time in one go). This is a good thing of course. Likewise all the brutal violence is still here and just as gooey if not more so! We get some nice tournament fighting within the classic MK arena showcasing some nice nods for the fans (although they still leave out SO much). All the action is just as kinetic as before and again the voice casting is spot on (same cast from the first movie obviously). Both this sequel and the first entry have followed the Mortal Kombat blueprint to a tee, no question about that. Highly enjoyable and engaging but still just lacking the final killer blow that would knock this out of the park making it a full-blown classic.

6/10

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)

 

There has been quite a lot of material thrown out surrounding the infamous Mortal Kombat franchise, most of it has been mediocre to say the least, but with this little gem it looks like they finally got it right, or close to.

For me personally I put this full-length animated movie alongside the now classic Genndy Tartakovsky animated Star Wars Clone Wars series. And by that I mean both seem to be unique standouts that, surprisingly, most people tend to forget about. Both have a similar attractive art style, and both took a much more serious approach to their respective franchises at a time when that was lacking, or in Mortal Kombat's case, most other things had just been plain bad.

This animation basically introduces Scorpion and how he became the skull-headed fire-breather. Spoiler alert: He and his family were massacred by another clan, so in the Netherrealm, he makes a deal with Quan Chi to come back from the dead and get revenge. It's a tale as old as time. At the same time, the regular gang of MK heroes (Sonya Blade, Jax, Lui Kang, and Johnny Cage) are off to Shang Tsung's island to compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament to try and save Earthrealm. It's a tale as old as time.

So the most noticeable element of this animation is of course the fact it's an adult animation stuffed with lots and lots and lots of Mortal Kombat gore. Aside from the stories that are mildly engaging the rest of the movie is obviously seeing various characters fight to the death showcasing familiar moves, stages, and quips. Naturally that's what people are mostly here for and the movie doesn't disappoint too much. Don't get me wrong I was satisfied but certain well-known characters are killed off surprisingly quickly whilst others don't show up at all. I kinda expected a lot more, there could have easily been a lot more characters and fights, some montages perhaps.

Have to mention that I've always had a bit of an issue with MK characters in movie/TV form because so many of them are so powerful. It definitely feels like there are too many main villains with Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Goro, Khan, Shinnok etc...You also know certain characters won't die for obvious reasons and other characters are sidelined. Reptile gets a pretty raw deal in this movie methinks. But this tends to lead to many characters just slamming their way through busloads of henchmen/thugs/ninjas as if they're in invincible mode. Gets a bit stupid really because how useless can these guys be??

I liked that the movie focused on Scorpion (it had to focus on one of the big names really) and his story was fine if predictable, cliched, and generic. As said the other main plot line was the simple tournament as you would expect really. The standouts were of course the brutal violence where we finally get to see some fatalities on the 'big screen' so to speak. The animation was lovely and much in the same vein as Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, a wise choice. They also give us the slow-mo X-ray damage hits with certain moves. The voice casting was spot on in my personal opinion and the small touches of humour with Johnny Cage were a pleasant addition.

In general overall this was a solid step forward in the Mortal Kombat franchise and probably the best thing to come out up to this point. All the live-action movies and TV shows have been so-so, never really hit the mark for me. But this animated entry certainly kicks all sorts of ass with electrifying high-paced action, thick gloopy buckets of claret, and top visuals to boot! The only problem is it all feels a bit by the numbers.

7/10

Blue Beetle (2023)

 

So this new comicbook flick is based on a Latino character? Yes I definitely think he was supposed to be of Latino heritage, a Latino Spanish-speaking character. Yep I definitely got that vibe, so much Latino, you want Latino? You got it here. They didn't even bother with English for much of the movie, it's that Latino-based. Seriously though why do they do this? Yeah I get this new incarnation is Latino but the fact they make almost 100% of the cast Latino, including background characters, and cram it full of Latino culture seems kinda unnecessary frankly. Does it need to be made this way? This top-heavy? As I said this character wasn't even Latino originally, they just race-swapped him.

So I went into this umpteenth comicbook adventure with an open mind as I didn't really know anything about the character. He has a cool name, the movie poster was cool, and I like the retro 80's vibe it had going on. Sure I was also getting some heavy Guyver/Iron Man/Spider-Man vibes but nevertheless, I was intrigued. So it was REALLY disappointing to find myself watching a poor man's Iron Man/Spider-Man flick with a Guyver vibe, ugh!

It's getting really hard to review some of these movies these days because they are all virtually the same and in turn I end up writing the same damn thing! So yes the plot is your standard fair with no surprises. An artifact or mcguffin is found and eventually ends up in the hands of our young hero Jaime Reyes (Jaime and not Jamie? Really?). Said mcguffin attaches itself to our young hero and he inadvertently becomes the Blue Beetle. Low and behold Blue Beetle must battle a company who's director plans on using the mcguffin to help her create an army of super soldier types...geez, haven't seen this before.

Everything in this movie looks cheap and horribly CGI, everything. The Blue Beetle suit in question is awful looking, like some kind of lowkey mishmash of Guyver, a Power Ranger, and a random cosplay. Seriously it looks like one of the rubbery villain costumes from 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'. The suits even acts like the Guyver suit being symbiotic with its host and comes with inevitable Iron Man-esque internal HUD shots. This look approach must have been pinched from the various franchises I have mentioned as the original Blue Beetle was nothing like this, he was more like The Phantom. Oh and he also doesn't like to kill his enemies no matter what they do, so expect lots of throwing moves and the inevitable destruction that usually causes.

Horrible looking hero suit aside what else is there? Well there's the really weak villain combo of Susan Sarandon trying to be bad and her lone single henchman who is also a CGI super soldier (ugh!!!). So yes there are lots of faceless CGI armour-plated Gundam-esque fight sequences that we've definitely not seen before. There's a woeful looking Blue Beetle Batcave/mancave that appears to be a simple backroom with neon blue strip lights everywhere. Oh and the less said about the huge bug-eyed Blue Beetle tank/craft thing the better (get better CGI). Oddly enough the transformation sequence for Reyes into the Blue Beetle was probably the most disturbing thing in this entire movie. It actually looked unpleasant and scary, definitely not a fun ''morphin time'' for this guy.

Jaimes's (Jamie's) family are supposed to be the lighthearted comic relief but are easily the most cringe elements of the movie. Granny with a big-ass gun? Oh please no. Anyway they all speak Spanish, often with no subs, and apparently have no problem killing the hordes of faceless bad guys (seriously how many faceless bad guys?) despite Jamie/Blue Beetle refusing to. Don't get me started on George Lopez's pathetic attempt at being this off-the-wall Danny Trejo-type crazy guy.

Look, Xolo Maridueña is a likeable main hero and his family (cos family) are a somewhat likeable and relatable group. The real problem here is I've seen this movie before, many many times before. There is nothing new here. This movie has a serious lack of good special effects. It relies WAY too much on subpar CGI. There is a huge villain issue in that there isn't a good one. This flick might have been received much better back in the late 90's or early 00's but these days there's far too much competition and it's way better than this. Ultimately this looks and feels like a straight-to-DVD, made-for-TV, Power Ranger knock-off. And I get the character is called Blue Beetle but did we really need all the blue/purple neon lights everywhere? Was the director really going for a certain tacky 90's Batman vibe here or what?

3/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

 

Another month another year, another reboot or remake, and we're back with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles again after the failed Michael Bay attempts. 

Plot wise again I wasn't overly impressed. Let's not get carried away here there isn't much you can do with the Turtles and this offering is clearly aimed at the younger generation so...Baxter Stockman is killed and his mutagenic ooze is stolen, but not before some falls down into the sewer and creates our heroes. Years later the now fully grown Turtles must try to stop a criminal known as Superfly (not Baxter Stockman for some reason). Turns out Superfly is a big mutant with a mutant gang (guess how?) who are planning to turn the human race into mutants with the ooze.

What's the fundamental change this time? Well it mostly appears to be the visuals for the most part. On the whole I appreciate the art style used, I appreciate the attempt at a new angle and approach visually but I have to be honest and say I didn't really like it. Personally I just thought it looked messy, I know that is the style but I would have preferred it a bit neater. Whilst some shots/sequences definitely looked gorgeous (night skylines for sure), at many times I felt everything looked a bit hectic.

Another main factor I didn't really like here was the plain and simple fact that the Turtles make friends with all the villains to the point that they turn on Superfly AND they all get a happy finale! Now don't get me wrong I appreciate the story angle here with the bad guys realising their mistakes and admitting they don't really wanna be bad, they've just been misled by Superfly. But this really messes with the whole Turtle lore in my opinion and leaves nothing for future movies. As it stands right now, Bebop, Rocksteady. Leatherhead, Wingnut etc...are all good guys living in the Turtles lair! And can I ask, did we REALLY need the Superfly villain to actually sound like a cliche Blaxploitation character? Bit on the nose.

I was also not too overwhelmed with some new character aspects. Splinter is voiced by Jackie Chan, the master of martial arts infused with stunt comedy. Alas they have taken away the wise old man aspect from Splinter and gone with a somewhat dumbed-down comedic relief angle, minus the stunt comedy. Splinter also looks rather heavy-set and goofy truth be told. Sure he can still fight but we only see this once with the rest of the time just offering lighthearted silliness. Also not a fan of what they did with April O'Neil. Again I hate to bring up politics but yes they race-swapped April and also made her rather dumpy for some odd reason. Why?? They could have also gotten a voice actor with a real Aussie accent for Leatherhead geez!

I just feel like they've missed the mark here trying to appeal to the MCU base again. Like, Splinter and the Turtles learn martial arts...by watching TV? Was this just to get some visual laughs? Surely Splinter could have maybe gotten some literature, studied hard over the years, and then taught the Turtles himself? The fact they ALL did this at the same time is kinda stupid. All the Turtles also seem to have smartphones with no connection issues. I mean, I get they're young and I might be picky but really? How? Did they steal them? And why does Splinter fall in love with Scumbug? A mutant cockroach (gender-swapped I might add).

I know this might sound ridiculous in a kid's movie about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but, I didn't like that they used actual kids for the voices of the Turtles. To me it just doesn't sound right even though the ages are correct for the characters. Call me crazy but I prefer having actual voice actors for the characters. Plus we didn't really get fully fleshed out Turtles in my opinion, probably because of the age angle. For example, everyone in the movie talks about Raph's anger issues and rage, but we never actually see any of it, probably because they wanted to keep everything nice and safe. And then there's the soundtrack, yeah, trying WAY too hard guys. You didn't need to crank out a hit song for every new scene Jesus!

Unsurprisingly they leave Shredder for the sequel which was obvious right from the start, weak move. I mean I'm curious for sure but considering all the main villains are all cosy in the Turtle lair there's gonna have to be some major story U-turns. Either that or we won't be getting anymore Bebop, Rocksteady etc...? But who else does that leave?? Aside from the lesser known lesser cool villains.

So I dunno, I'm kinda torn here. It's not a bad movie that's for sure and as I've said I do appreciate the artistic style. But overall I still think it fails to beat the original way back in 1990 mostly because this doesn't really feel like a true Turtles flick. This feels more like a cool niche fantasy that just happens to have the Turtles in it. Like you could have replaced the Turtles with any number of fantasy characters and it still would have worked. I just didn't feel like there was anything that really made it stand out as a Turtles movie. I also miss that level of grit and darkness that the original 1990 movie had, all these recent versions are all too kiddie friendly, almost like weekend cartoons.

5/10