Hanzo Hasashi’s family is exterminated by a group of ninja called Lin Kuei: Hasashi’s vengeful fury strikes the ninja, before stopping in front of the Sub-Zero warrior, who has the better of him. Thus Hasashi ends up in the Netherworld, the occult Realm, antechamber of hell in which he is reborn as a revenge-hungry demon Scorpion. His big break becomes the Mortal Kombat interdimensional tournament, called by the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung so that the champions of the Netherworld can face those of the Earth. After nine successes against the latter, in fact, the tenth would mean the definitive triumph and the possibility for demons to annex one world to another.
After the acquisition of Midway in 2009 and the resolution of legal issues related to the rights to the franchise, Warner Bros. gives life to a reboot in the form of animated films of the saga inspired by the famous fight video game. A sort of aperitif, entrusted to the direction of Ethan Spaulding, before the live action version takes place in 2021.
This is undoubtedly the most violent WB animation ever, with a level of grand guignol truculence never seen before. Detached limbs, gaps, eviscerations, mutilations, internal fractures observed from an X-ray view that illustrates in detail the damage inflicted by each blow: as for the spectacularization of violence, nothing is missing. And that’s probably what the Mortal Kombat fan awaits, turning to the franchise in search of strong emotions. A choice also justified by the adoption of the point of view of Scorpion, a vengeful spirit similar to the Ghost Rider of Marvel comics, so blinded by hatred as to induce designers to alter the existing graphics to represent his emotional reactions. For example, it affects the dominant blood red that takes the frame when Scorpion’s berserk mode prevails, in the manner of Doom and other action video games.
While the focus of the film remains on Scorpion and his revenge, the only reason for being of the character and engine of his actions, minutes of attention are also given minutes of attention to the other darlings of the franchise, such as Sonya Blade, Liu Kang and Johnny Cage. Perhaps too few for the narrative side to take shape alongside that of pure action. Of the three it is certainly Cage who gives the best moments of the screenplay, exasperating his vain nature as a silly movie star, even if the best is reserved for the Warner Bros. logo at the opening, with Scorpion grabbing the poor Daffy Duck.