Snow Blind Film Review: Mortal Kombat Legends (NYCC 2022)

Snow Blind film review: what the movie is and who it is for

You do not need to have seen the earlier Legends movies to follow Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind. That is the first thing to know about this Snow Blind film, and the NYCC screening proved it. Much of the audience was there because it was a New York Comic Con event, not because of any long attachment to the series, and the crowd left entertained anyway. The film does a good job of beating expectations, and it does best when a viewer has none.

The screening itself was a modest one. Seating was limited because of covid precautions, and the room was full of people who had come to trade notes on what to see on the first day of the convention. A crowd like that is a fair test for a franchise movie, because nobody arrives with a stake in the outcome. The film held the room, which is a better sign than a standing ovation from a fan club would be.

Some context for the title. Snow Blind is the third film in Warner Bros. Animation's direct-to-video Mortal Kombat Legends line, following Scorpion's Revenge (2020) and Battle of the Realms (2021). Rick Morales directed it from a screenplay by Jeremy Adams, and the South Korean studio Digital eMation animated it. The running time is 82 minutes, and the movie reached digital and disc formats in October 2022. It is a standalone story with a different lead, set after the events of Battle of the Realms.

The casting is worth a note, because two of the main roles changed hands. David Wenham took over as Kano from Robin Atkin Downes, and Ron Yuan took over as Sub-Zero from Bayardo De Murguia. Yuan had already voiced Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 11, so the franchise was not new to him. Neither change gets in the way of a viewer who is new to the line.

A basic knowledge of Mortal Kombat helps with the fan service, but the barrier to entry is low. Sub-Zero and Shang Tsung turn up, along with a few more cameos that this review leaves unspoiled.

Kenshi, Kano and the Black Dragon

Kenshi is an unusual choice for the lead of a Mortal Kombat movie. He is a swordsman who fights blind, a character from the later games, and the Legends line had not centered him before. Starting with a younger Kenshi gives the film an origin story to tell without forcing it to retell the story of the tournament.

The story centers on a young Kenshi, the blind swordsman of the Mortal Kombat games, voiced by Manny Jacinto. Kenshi is a lesser-known warrior than Sub-Zero or Liu Kang, and that works in the film's favor because the story has room to be fresh. He is the only hero willing to stand against the Black Dragon, a recycled Mortal Kombat criminal organization led by a surprisingly unstoppable Kano.

David Wenham voices Kano, and this version is nearly a cyborg, built along the lines of a Terminator body suit. The Black Dragon is also more menacing here than in earlier depictions of the franchise. Around Kano and his crew come ruffians, a robbery and a newly pacifist Kuai Liang, voiced by Ron Yuan, who is stellar as the Old Man Sub-Zero.

The premise is simple and economical. Decades after the defeat of Shao Kahn, Earthrealm has become a wasteland of isolated cities, left that way after an attack by undead revenants. The Black Dragon clan runs those cities under Kano, who has declared himself king. Kenshi, a young warrior, crosses paths with an aged Kuai Liang, who has given up the Sub-Zero identity and lives as a farmer. That setup is where the film earns its Mad Max comparison, because the world is built from survival and scarcity, not from tournaments.

A Mad Max wasteland in the desert

Aesthetically, everything about the wasteland feels like Mad Max. It is a western post-apocalypse of desert, broken-down wooden saloons and bombastic villain tropes. There is a neat bit of logic in the choice. Kano, long retconned in the games as an Australian, makes a fitting antagonist for a setting borrowed from films that were shot in the Australian outback.

The movie is also extremely violent. The action, weapons, gore and viscera are over the top in the way of late-2000s Adult Swim series. The execution is not flawless. The linework and character models have issues, and the textures at times feel disjointed from the movement of the film.

Where the story falls back on clichés

The film starts well and then backpedals onto post-apocalyptic clichés by its midpoint. Anyone who has watched Daredevil, another blind swordsman story, or any old-mentor-trains-the-student tale can see the beats coming. There is a cursed item, a motive for revenge, and themes of regret and repentance that drive the characters violently but do not reinvent the genre.

None of that makes the film bad. A formula can still entertain when it is delivered with energy, and the second half does move. But it does mean the first act is stronger than the third, and a viewer should expect a familiar shape. The better surprises are in the voice work and in the quieter scenes between Kenshi and the retired Sub-Zero, where the film slows down enough to let regret register before the next fight.

Snow Blind at a glance

• Director and writer. Rick Morales directed and Jeremy Adams wrote the screenplay.
• Lead voices. Manny Jacinto as Kenshi, David Wenham as Kano and Ron Yuan as Kuai Liang.
• Running time. 82 minutes.
• Tone. Post-apocalyptic western with graphic violence and fatalities.
• Best for. Fans of adult animation and Mortal Kombat who want a standalone story.

Snow Blind film review: Manny Jacinto and the verdict

The best thing in the movie is Jacinto. His playful take on a smart-mouthed, headstrong Kenshi comes off as sly and cunning, and his arc feels refreshing for a series that has always depended on its extremes, from visceral fatalities to a tournament to the death. Hearing his cadence change as Kenshi grows is remarkable, especially when a viewer keeps remembering that this is Jason Mendoza from The Good Place. He moves from cocky youth to serious warrior with his voice alone.

Jacinto's performance even raises a casting daydream. Viewers who watched him here could imagine him as Nightwing, who would become the first Filipino Nightwing, with a cultural reason to use Eskrima sticks. That is only speculation, but it shows how much range the role revealed.

The supporting voices are solid without being showy. Wenham's Kano is gruff and theatrical in the right proportions, and Yuan gives the older Sub-Zero a weary dignity that contrasts well with Jacinto's brashness. The scenes between those two characters are the calmest in the film and, for that reason, some of the best. When the fights resume, they hit harder for the quiet that came before.

The verdict on the Snow Blind film is a qualified yes. It is not a mind-boggling adventure, and it does not lean on the laurels of its predecessor. What it does is deliver what a good Mortal Kombat movie is supposed to: violent action littered with fatalities and a ninja-flavored tragedy, in a lean 82 minutes, with a post-apocalypse as a bonus. Viewers who want more than that will be disappointed. Viewers who want exactly that will have a good evening.

A word on the animation, since it affects how the violence lands. Digital eMation's work is at its best in the wide wasteland shots and in the fights, where the camera can sit back and let the choreography read. It is at its weakest in close dialogue scenes, where the stiffness of the models shows. The disjointed textures are the weak point of the film, and they read as a limit of the line's resources more than of the direction.

For a first Legends film, it is easy to recommend. For anyone who has seen the earlier two, it is a change of scenery that pays off mostly through its lead.

Fans who care about what comes next got an answer at the same convention. Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match, a prequel with Joel McHale returning as Johnny Cage, was announced at New York Comic Con 2022 for 2023. Snow Blind is a reasonable bridge to it: it shows the line can survive without its best-known fighters at the center.

Sources

• Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind, Wikipedia — cast, crew, runtime and release details