User blog:Rm2kking/MK Legacy review

Like many of you, I saw the Mortal Kombat rebirth test footage a while ago, and wondered what its eventual result would be. When Mortal Kombat Legacy came out, I was taken a bit by surprise since the "gritty" realism was abandoned it favor of a modern retelling that, for the most part, sticks pretty firmly to the series' canon. I actually find that I like the latter idea better. I've always loved MK's storyline, so why change it?

The series opens with Jax, Styker and Sonya preparing a raid on a Black Dragon illegal operations facility. The facility seems to be producing parts for the Lin Kuei's Cyber Initiative (which is awesome), and Kano participated in an amusing bit of foreshadowing where he picks up the "red eye" from a bunch of cybernetic parts and inadertenly holds it over his own eye for a moment. Sonya get's captured and held captive. This is fine and all, since it serves to drive the story foreward, but I was a bit disapointed with Sonya's relegation to the damsel in distress job. Meanwile, Jax convinces Stryker to go ahead with the raid, lest Sonya be harmed by Kano. They then raid the facility, which is pretty awesome. The scene has some pretty good gunplay, and the climactic fight between Jax and Kano is pretty cool too. Eventually, a stray grenade goes off, and the fight is forced into a temporary end. Meanwile, Sonya escapes. I suppose escaping by herself as opposed to needing to be rescued makes her position a little less cliche in my book.

So, then we have the next episode. This episode serves as little more than a continuation of the last one. Kano and Jax literally just get back up and continue their fight. It's a pretty cool fight, but eventually, Jax gains the upper hand and literally punches Kano's eyeball out. This get's points for being unexpected, and being a wonderful example of the gore that should be a part of anything MK. Just as Sonya and Jax begin their reunion, another stray grenade goes off. Sonya wakes up in the hospital. She asks Stryker how jax is doing and his reply is a wonderful allusion to Jax's need for prosthetic arms. Hopefully we will get to see those bad boys at some point in this series. We also learn that Kano escaped, and we see the reconstruction of his shattered skull, complete with his metal faceplate and the red eye.

The next episode has quite a different feel altogether. I feel like episode 3 is meant to be set firmly in a world where Mortal Kombat is unknown to anybody. From the start of the episode till the time when things get supernatural at the very end, this episode is set in the "real world". Johnny Cage is introduced in a sort of "where is he now" biography show. We see the high points in his career, and then we see him now. He is shown pitching an idea for a reality show to corperate execs. His idea is for a crime fighting show where he would use his skill in martial arts to subdue criminals. The execs don't buy it and Johnny begs for another chance, which is reluctantly granted. His next presentation is much better, and seemingly meets the exec's requirement for more realism. The idea is once more shot down, and we see Johnny's extreme disapointment. I actually feel bad for the guy here. He gets pretty shafted. Eventually he hears the two execs pitching a reworked version of his idea to an actress. Enraged, he then proceeds to beat the hell out of the execs, along with a bunch of security guards. Eventually, upon realization of what he has done, time seems to freeze. It is at this point that we are once more reminded that we are in the Mortal Kombat world. Shang Tsung walks into the dark, frozen room and offers Johnny what I presume to be an invitation to the MK tournament. The episode then ends here. While this episode isn't bad, per say, it's quite different from the first two, but I feel that is on purpose. I would like to see more of Johnny Cage in future episodes.

The fourth episode is my favorite so far. The episode tells the story of the conquering of Edenia. The destruction is shown breifly, with an awesome scene of Tarkatans, led by Baraka, killing those who resist. In this chaos, Shao Kahn arrives on the battlefeild. We are then introduced to King Jerrod, his wife Sindel, and his infant daughter Kitana. At some point, a Tarkatan breeches their castle's defenses and attempts to kill Sindel and Kitana. Jerrod arrives and dispatches the Tarkatan. He then leads his family to an escape route. During their attempted escape, Baraka appears and kills Jerrod with his blade lift fatality. Sindel, knowing further flight would be no use, and would even prove dangerous, surrenders. Shao Kahn arrives and states that the king they killed is an imposter, that the real Jerrod has already escaped. Kahn then takes Sindel as his queen and Kitana as his daughter. Sindel, of course, dispises him, and fearing that Kitana will grow to hate him as well, he orders his sorcerer, Shang Tsung to create a second girl in Kitana's likeness. Shang Tsung responds by creating Mileena. She is shown as an infant, complete with a wide, toothy mouth. Sindel kills herself in order to "merge her soul" to Kitana's, which lends a more selfless angle to her act. Kitana and Mileena are raised as sisters, and Kahn is shown to play their emotions against one another in order to ensure their loyalty to him. Mileena's Tarkatan traits have begun to emerge with her puberty, and she seems torn between her insane bloodlust, and efforts to hide it and be normal. The episode ends with the start of a fight between Kitana and Mileena, Shao Kahn looking on from his throne. This episode was interesting in a lot of ways. The most noticable thing about this particular episode is that sections of it are done in animation. While this is a cool idea, the animation is a bit lacking. I feel they could have done a better job and not some across as so lazy with it. Despite this, it's still pretty cool. My favorite thing in this episode, though, is the inclusion of the Tarkatans and Baraka. I really love their look, playing up their orcish aspects and downplaying the teeth. While this seems wrong at first, they really come across as quite cool, and seeing Baraka kill Jerrod with his blade lift is a fanboy's treat.

So I guess we wait for next week.-Rm2kking 18:18, May 4, 2011 (UTC)