Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Socket to 'em!

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 7, 2022

What if Daredevil starred in an ultra-gory version of The Road Warrior? That's not exactly the only question asked during Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind -- the direct sequel to both 2020's Scorpion's Revenge and Battle of the Realms -- but it may as well be. It exists within the ever-expanding Mortal Kombat universe but in a much thinner way than both earlier films... and when it's not borrowing liberally from other well-known properties, Snow Blind just throws in a bit more bloody fan service to remind you why you blew through so many quarters back in the day.

The story, such as it is, is more of a detour than a true sequel but takes place after Battle of the Realms, opening with the hostile takeover of several post-apocalyptic settlements by "The Black Dragon". Led by ruthless King Kano (David Wenham), his heavies Kabal (Keith Silverstein), Kira (Courtenay Taylor), and Kobra (Yuri Lowenthal) provide most of the fatalities and there's almost no resistance, bringing to mind the horrific butchering of villagers in Rambo. Even Kuai Liang (Ron Yuan), a humble farmer long ago known as "Sub-Zero", has resigned from his former life and bows down in servitude. Perhaps the only exception is Kenshi (Manny Jacinto), a cocky young fighter who surprisingly takes down all three of Kano's elite guards. Returning with reinforcements including the vicious Tremor (Imari Williams), Kenshi is finally beaten and, eager for revenge, tricked by a man named "Song" (Artt Butler) -- really Shang Tsung in disguise -- at the Well of Souls, where Tsung regains his youth and Kenshi is left for dead at the bottom of a well.

After a very questionable escape from his tomb and a long journey back to civilization, the now-sightless Kenshi's only initial gain from his experience is the discovery of a powerful sword called Sentō, which seems to aid him in perceiving close surroundings. Most of Snow Blind's second half concerns Kenshi's slow recovery and training with the help of Kuai Liang, who employs methods similar to about a dozen films we know by heart including Rocky II (chase the chicken!), Return of the Jedi (use The Force!), The Karate Kid (balance on poles!), and Batman Begins (mind your surroundings!); predictably, the fledgling student gradually gets his mojo back with the help of an experienced teacher before finally returning for The Big Rematch™. It's much more predictable and derivative than most fans will be expecting, with a tepid overall flow that's only partially salvaged by well-staged action and, yes, occasional fan service.

Naturally, given the bloody and shocking main character deaths in Battle of the Realms and the creative team's corner-painting decision to make these films quasi-sequels of one another, most of your MK favorites aren't here. That's both a good and bad thing: Johnny Cage, for example, was a highlight of the first two and he's certainly missed, as are a few others, but I've got to at least respect Snow Blind's attempt to try something a little different -- not to mention feature a character that rarely gets any time in the spotlight. Had Snow Blind used more original ideas than recycled elements of earlier and better films, though, we'd have something more worthwhile instead of perhaps the least satisfying Mortal Kombat Legends film to date. This doesn't exactly make me enthusiastic for future installments (if any are planned), because Snow Blind's vaguely open ending doesn't suggest that the reset button will be pushed.

Nonetheless, Warner Bros. continues to offer these MK Legends films in both Blu-ray and 4K options; this is much appreciated, although the latter doesn't exactly make its case as an essential upgrade this time. Both include identical audio, similar packaging, and a small assortment of extras including another audio commentary.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Keeping in mind that our rating system is more of a proportional score than an exact comparison between formats, Snow Blind's upscaled 2160p transfer is by no means inferior to the Blu-ray but doesn't fully eclipse it in all major departments. The limited fine detail seen in character designs, combined with the sketchy linework, means that there isn't much room for improvement as far as immediate impressions go, with only some edges and gradient colors being rendered visibly better due to the 4K's superior compression and higher bit rate. Backgrounds are a slightly different story, often showcasing stronger details that the higher-resolution format can occasionally wring a bit more juice from. Colors are surprisingly a toss-up in some respects: Snow Blind is dominated by dull earth tones befitting its wasteland environments, with some scenes obviously showing better color separation and contrast with HDR enhancement like the Well of Souls, fire effects, and the climactic showdown. But it's not a night-and-day improvement, and I daresay anyone without a display larger than, say, 60 inches or so will be able to tell much of a difference without squinting. Still, the 4K still ends up coming out ahead, so anyone equipped for the format is welcome to indulge.

For my thoughts on the included Blu-ray's native 1080p transfer (which is where these screenshots were sourced from), please see my separate review of that title.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Not surprisingly, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix serves up another very supportive sonic atmosphere with plenty of hard hits and squishy sound effects, many of which use strong channel separation, discrete panning, and rear channel presence to heighten Snow Blind's frequently intense atmosphere. Dialogue and background effects are balanced nicely, whether it's in the desolate Wasteland environment, King Kano's Thunderdome-like arena, the haunting Well of Souls, or Kenshi's training scenes with pinpoint channel effects, as individual characters are spaced out nicely to establish a relatively wide and immersive sound stage that's regularly supported by intermittent action. While Snow Blind's original score didn't immediately grab my attention, that's not exactly a complaint -- the Mortal Kombat games I'm familiar with didn't always rely heavily on dramatic, sweeping cues to sell the brutality either. Simply put, this is yet another effects-focused and often punishing lossless track that gives die-hard fans exactly what they want.

A few sets of dubs and subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature and select extras; these are formatted nicely with no blatant errors and synced perfectly with the sections I sampled.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Similarly to past releases, this two-disc set ships in a standard keepcase with attracting cover art, a matching slipcover, and a Digital Copy redemption code. Bonus features are slim but appreciated, and the included audio commentary is actually presented on both discs this time around -- maybe all my complaining finally paid off.

4K DISC

• Audio Commentary - Producer/director Rick Morales (who's apparently watching the finished film for the first time) and screenwriter Jeremy Adams sit in for another casual feature-length track which, as expected, covers the basics pretty well. Topics of interest include departing from the earlier films, expanding on a video game cut scene, alternate realities, laughing at fatalities, MK mythology, working with the voice cast, grindhouse movies, the storyboarding process, Kenshi's "sight" and other visual effects, deleted material, and more.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Audio Commentary

• Adapting Evil: Building the Black Dragon Clan (9:26) - Screenwriter Jeremy Adams, producer/director Rick Morales, and voice actor David Wenham (King Kano) offer their comments about Snow Blind's primary villain and his ruthless army of mercenaries, which includes concept art and short clips from various Mortal Kombat video game installments, as well as some pretty cool storyboard-to-screen comparisons.

• Kenshi - From the Video Game to Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (7:41) - Almost identical to the previous featurettes, this piece instead focuses on Kenshi and includes comments from Adams, Morales, and voice actor Manny Jacinto, as well as more game clips, concept art, and storyboard comparisons.

• Deleted Animatics (2 clips, 5:05 total) - Two deleted scenes in storyboard form with limited temp audio.

• Kuai Liang and King Kano (1:26)
• Kuai Liang and Kenshi Takahashi (3:42)

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind valiantly attempts to carry a torch for the first two films, occasionally reaching respectable heights but relying waaay too much on predictable genre tropes and conventional storytelling to set itself apart from the pack; combine that with the thinnest roster of MK characters to date and you've got a film that some die-hard disciples probably won't be happy with. Warner Bros.' 4K combo pack isn't exactly a major upgrade from the stand-alone Blu-ray either, although its HDR enhancement and better encoding smooth out a few rough spots. Both offer identical extras, but overall Snow Blind is only for the franchise's most (*sigh*) kommitted fans.