Mortal Kombat: Legacy II Review

You have to hand it to director Kevin Tancharoen. He was just a man with a dream of making a live-action Mortal Kombat movie. His proof-of-concept short film, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, was enough to convince WB to fork over some cash and commission him to write and direct a web series called Mortal Kombat: Legacy. That series was received well enough that Tancharoen has now been given the reins of the theatrical Mortal Kombat reboot (currently slated for fall 2015, because that year isn't crowded enough with geek-focused films as it is).

But before the reboot becomes a reality, WB also green-lit a second season of Legacy, all 10 episodes of which were released simultaneously this week. Two key elements have changed this time around. The first is that, where Legacy Season 1 delivered a set of loosely connected origin vignettes set before the fateful Mortal Kombat tournament, Season 2 offers a somewhat more cohesive storyline that covers the tournament itself. The second is that Tancharoen has a much bigger budget to work with this time. With Microsoft throwing no less than $10 million into making Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn last year, the bar for video game-inspired web series has risen very high indeed. The increased budget is immediately apparent from the very first shot in Legacy Season 2. In its best moments, Legacy already feels very much like a proper reboot of 1995's Mortal Kombat, widely considered to be one of the only decent film adaptations of a video game. But in other instances, Legacy seems to be aiming more for the much-despised sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation instead.

The season starts off strongly enough, with the first two episodes set in Macau and focusing on Liu Kang (Brian Tee) and his "brother," Kung Lao (Mark Dacascos). And again, the increased budget is immediately apparent. The sweeping shots of the city, the well-lit sets, the more robust fight choreography, the more ambitious camera work - it all contributes to a more professional-looking product. Even the actors themselves bear this out. Aside from from a few familiar faces like Jeri Ryan and Michael Jai White, Season 1 was populated by relative unknowns. But The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift fans will recognize Tee as that film's scowling villain (he can also be seen in The Wolverine), an experience that serves him well here. And Dacascos certainly needs no introduction after kicking ass in films like Brotherhood of the Wolf and his lovably overzealous approach to hosting on Iron Chef America. His presence alone brings a newfound sense of legitimacy to the project. That he gives easily the best performance of the season is not surprising.

Season 2 features a mix of returning characters and new faces. But more often than not, even the returning characters have been recast. Only Scorpion (Ian Anthony Dale) and Kitana (Samantha Jo) are played by the same actors from Season 1. Johnny Cage is now played by B-movie mainstay Casper Van Dien. Raiden is played by South Korean actor David Lee McInnis. Mileena is now played by actress and stuntwoman Michelle Lee (who also provided motion capture for Ada Wong in Resident Evil 6). And Sub-Zero is now played by TV veteran Eric Steinberg. These characters are joined by newcomers like Kenshi (Daniel Southworth) and Ermac (Kim Do Nguyen). The general standard of acting is significantly improved, with only McInnis' Raiden coming across as weaker than the original. Some of the minor roles leave a bit to be desired. Legacy has about the least convincing feudal Japanese warriors I've ever seen. But these roles are generally too small to matter anyway.

Easily the most noteworthy bit of recasting involves Shang Tsung. The role originally filled by Johnson Phan in Season 1 is now played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Tagawa actually played Shang Tsung once before in the 1995 film. Though these two projects aren't connected by any sort of continuity, it's still a treat to see him reprise the part after nearly 20 years. And if anything, he seems more suited to the role now that age has added some more weathering and wrinkles to his face.

So yes, the season gets off on the right foot as it explores the fractured relationship between Liu Kang and Kung Lao as the start of Mortal Kombat nears. It always seemed strange that Tancharoen left these two out of the picture in Season 1, especially considering how integral Liu Kang has been to the franchise from the very first game. But the show hinges very much on the duo in the first two and last two episodes. Their struggle lends a nicely emotional slant to a story about colorfully attired martial artists ripping each other's spins out. But unfortunately, there's way too much pointless fluff unfolding in between those four episodes.

The plotting and pacing in Season 2 veers all over the map once the first two episodes wrap and the kombatants enter the realm of Outworld to begin the tournament. For one thing, there's no actual tournament, per se. No sooner do Raiden and Shang Tsung transport their respective teams to Outworld than the characters begin blindly wandering around and stumbling into fights with one another. The first time we're reacquainted with Johnny Cage after his initial appearance, he's running down a dirt road screaming for some reason. Van Dien is given annoyingly little to do throughout the season. Worse, none of the match-ups in these middle episodes really seem to matter. For all that both seasons work to establish the tragic rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, it all leads to a brief fight and a winner. There's no emotional fallout or resolution. The same can be said for the Mileena/Kitana battle. This is a story that hinges almost entirely on Liu Kang and Kung Lao's rivalry, and those episodes not featuring them feel like little more than wasted space.

Oddly, certain episodes also focus heavily on flashbacks despite the first season supposedly having covered that ground already. Blame it on the fact that the cast has changed so much since then. Characters that factored prominently into Season 1 (Jax, Sonya Blade, Kano, Cyrax, Sektor, Shao Kahn) don't appear at all. Meanwhile, newcomers like Kenshi require a certain amount of back-story to justify their presence. So the flow of the "tournament" is further broken up by more extended flashback scenes. The Scorpion/Sub-Zero flashbacks are strong enough on their own merits, but they serve too little purpose in the end. And sometimes the episodes are downright wasteful, particularly episode 5. There's no reason to showcase the same Ermac/Kenshi fight twice from slightly different perspectives, nor did we need to see so much of the Kitana/Mileena material from Season 1 regurgitated.

And for all the talk of increased budgets and production values, there are times when Season 2 falls short of the mark. I can forgive the sometimes awkward CG effects (even the laughable shot of CG vomit). It's more the look of Outworld that leaves much to be desired. The games tend to unfold across various colorful arenas full of spiked pits and hellish landscapes. Here, Outworld is basically a grassy field full of fog. It's frustrating that the scenes set in Earthrealm look so good while those in Outworld can look so dull and cheap. Again, the fight choreography and camera work are much improved over Season 1 regardless of location. But the battle environments need some serious work when and if there is a Season 3.

I wish that Tancharoen and his fellow writers (Todd and Aaron Helbing) had either written Season 2 to take better advantage of the setup from Season 1, or kept the focus more squarely on Liu Kang and Kung Lao throughout. Legacy is a great viewing experience when it features those characters. It's mostly enjoyable in the two Scorpion/Sub-Zero installments as well (up until the very end). But that, at best, gives the season a 60% success rate. And the fact that Liu Kang and Kung Lao are relegated to the opening and closing episodes means that their story is far from complete by the end. Season 2 offers very little resolution, to the point that it ends on a cliffhanger. The cast and crew who attended this past summer's SDCC panelseemed confident that there will be a Season 3, though I still have my doubts with pre-production gearing up on the theatrical reboot.

The most we can do is hope that Legacy will continue on in some form or another. There's clearly more potential to mine in this episodic format, but the story needs to be much more focused and directed next time.

THE VERDICT

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Season 2 is far more ambitious than the first. Unfortunately, it's also more flawed. The attempt to tell a more cohesive, linear story fails because the episodes still meander about and don't center enough around those few characters who form the emotional core of the story. Still, there are some very memorable moments in this batch of ten episodes, and there's no reason a third season couldn't live up to the series' full potential.