Much like their animated DC Comics films, Warner Bros. has teamed up with the Mortal Kombat video game franchise and expanded their universe in animated form. With Scorpion's Revenge and Battle of the Realms under their belts already, the Mortal Kombat story arcs have delivered some great action beats and narratives that dive into fan favorite characters of the game. The third film in this animated franchise is called Snow Blind and follows an unlikely character with some wonderful homages to amazing action films set inside the Mortal Kombat world.
With so many stories and characters to focus on here, it's nice to know that the filmmakers and writers cared enough to spotlight a smaller character from the game named Kenshi this time around. Serving as a sequel to Battle of the Realms which showcased some fan-favorite deaths, Snow Blind catches everyone up in a post-apocalyptic world similar to Mad Max and the undead. It's chaos out there in the Earth realm where Kano has named himself king of the land and leads a group of bad guys known as The Black Dragon who kills and pillage the survivors whenever they get a chance.
Meanwhile, Kenshi is a young fighter who is single-handedly taking out these elite villains with some wonderfully fun fatalities. But he meets his match and is left at the bottom of a well just like Baby Jessica. Anyone? Low and behold, a gentle farmer named Kuai Liang crosses paths with Kenshi and teaches him more ways to use his marital arts skills in a variety of hilarious and exquisite montages that mimics a ton of '80s films until he's ready to fight the good fight one last time.
Warner Bros. and Mortal Kombat do not shy away from their R rating. Even though this is in animated form, there are some pretty groovy fight scenes and exquisite, bloody fatalities that will make fans squeal with joy. And since most fan favorites don't show up this time around, it's nice to know that the creators are giving fans more exploration with smaller characters in this big world such as Kenshi. But there are some amazing surprises with those iconic blue and yellow masked heroes that evoke all those nostalgic moments of glee from the games that come to fruition in a big way here. There is an open end scene, leaving the way for more films, and the hope is there will be more films. Mortal Kombat: Snow Blind is a great sequel that gives some much-needed character development to this world with some excellent fight scenes.
Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Mortal Kombat: Snow Blind fatalities its way to 4K + Blu-ray + Digital Code via Warner Bros. The two discs are housed inside a hard, black plastic case with a cardboard sleeve. The artwork features newly illustrated images of the main characters of the film. There is an insert for a digital code as well.
Mortal Kombat: Snow Blind comes with a 2160p UHD 4K transfer with HDR10 that looks wonderful within its own boundaries. Most DC animated films have a simple animated visual style with almost no bells or whistles. The same goes for this Mortal Kombat animated franchise. The animation is simple yet refined so that the action sequences seem fluid and smooth with no choppiness. The colors are on the warmer side of things with those muted and rusty colors of the apocalyptic wasteland.
The HDR10 enhances the more supernatural colors against those darker brooding tones. The background colors of landscapes and buildings all look good with the right amount of darkness. The black levels are mostly inky and rich as well. The detail in the animation again is simple, but background items show the most detail as the picture pans around. The blood red spurting from various places shimmers in a deep red for maximum effectiveness. There are no major issues with banding or rendering.
This release comes with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track that sounds impressive. It's just unfortunate there was no Dolby Atmos track because the sound effects in this film are so intense and come from all over the place, the addition of a Dolby Atmos option would have benefitted everyone. Still, the sound effects of every punch, kick, and supernatural element comes with a mighty heft of bass that can be felt with a wonderful rumble. That montage and training sequences explore every surround speaker wonderfully with a ton of sonic ferocity. The score always adds to the tone and feel of the film but is never really memorable like the feature films were. The dialogue is always clean, clear, and easy to follow along with. The ambient noises of screams, people talking, and other effects are pitch-perfect.
There are 23 minutes of bonus features included here with some great interviews with some of the cast and crew on the villains and the heroes of the movie, along with some deleted storyboards. There is also a worthwhile commentary track from the filmmakers.
4K DISC
BLU-RAY DISC
Mortal Kombat: Snow Blind is a worthy third sequel of this new animated franchise based on the hit games. It's gory, violent, bloody, and a ton of fun. It also furthers the story of some fan-favorite characters along with some not so well known ones. The 4K picture with HDR10 looks very good within its own limits and the DTS-HD 5.1 audio track sounds fantastic. The bonus features are worth watching as well. Recommended!
