Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind

• Directed by Rick Morales
• October 9, 2022
• Based on Mortal Kombat created by Ed Boon and John Tobias

Voice Cast

• Kenshi-Manny Jacinto
• Kano-David Wenham
• Kuai Liang/Sub-Zero-Ron Yuan
• Kabal-Keith Silverstein
• Kira-Courtenay Taylor
• Kobra-Yuri Lowenthal
• Shang Tsung-Artt Butler
• Tremor-Imari Williams
• Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion-Patrick Seitz
• Sento, Peter-Lei Yin
• Kindra-Sumalee Montano
• Graji-Debra Wilson

A blind warrior named Kenshi takes on Kano and the Black Dragon.

I’m thinking after watching Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind I probably should have re-watched both Scorpion’s Revenge and Battle of the Realms to better understand events in this story. This has have lingered in my ‘Unwatched’ pile for enough time to gather dust that I felt it was time to watch but did not consider the gap too long that I might be a bit lost.

Snow Blind is said to be a direct sequel to Battle of the Realms. I don’t recall that ending setting something like this up but I could be wrong. The story takes place in the Wasteland which I’m guessing means more to someone who is steeped in the Mortal Kombat mythology than an individual like myself.

The basics of the story are similar to a Western where a bad guy and his gang come in and take over. The townsfolk really do nothing until a heroic stranger arrives. That stranger is brash and cocky which causes him to get knocked to rock-bottom in his first confrontation before finding a mentor that trains him (accidentally or not) into somebody that can end the threat.

Right away Snow Blind tells you it ain’t for kids. We get a cinematic set up and then it cuts into heavy blood and gore. Head strike, blood squirts, decapitations, and just about every bit of goo you could imagine. It becomes excessive to the point it lacks impact when it should be shocking to display the threat of the villains.

Our hero Kenshi starts out as a jerk but along the way he loses his eyesight and grows into a genuinely good person. He has help on his journey by Sub-Zero who is now a bitter and broken old man because he lost control of his powers and apparently killed a whole bunch of people.

I must go off on a little something here but stick with me. I need to discuss an idea called ‘Surf Dracula’. ‘Surf Dracula’ refers to modern TV shows and movies that keep from showing their main premise, character, or action such as Dracula catching waves until the very end in favor of slow burn.

In this case for me it is Sub-Zero unleashing his powers. The closest we get for much of the film is him sighing in resignation and we see cold breath escape his mouth until the last five minutes or so when he lets loose. Thus an instance of Surf Dracula. The selling point of this movie is Sub-Zero being here. At least for somebody only vaguely familiar with Mortal Kombat. Perhaps Kenshi is a selling point as well to more knowledgeable people, but the concept still applies there with his ability only coming into play at the end.

You may be asking how Kenshi became blind. Shang Tsung, pretending to be a Kano lacky called ‘Song’, uses Kenshi to open the Well of Souls in a desert cave. Kenshi gets blinded and Shang Tsung gets rejuvenated so he can take on Kano just long enough to do it in a rather disappointing scene. He was there just to blind Kenshi. A narrative waste of a character.

Kenshi falls under the care of Sub-Zero. It’s not a tutelage care but instead a functionality care with Sub-Zero showing him how to function blind over training him to defeat Kano. Does he have a great deal of experience helping the disabled? I don’t know but what is done is reminiscent of the training by Mr. Miyagi though these are also accidentally applicable to combat. Like Mr. Miyagi!

If anything, Snow Blind is not a student learning from a teacher but a teacher of learning from a student because once Kenshi is able to function with a combination of his senses and his magic sword that allows him to see, Sub-Zero and Scorpion decide to end the problem because until then it was all cool.

Oh, when we learn Kano has a really cool device that allows him to never lose but of course he does because stupidity. In a moment of bad writing Kano in his battle with Sub-Zero tells him all about Kronika’s Hourglass allowing Sub to kill Kano during the speech.

Visually this looks like Invincible or even something from the ‘90s that was riding the more serious wave of the time. It works only until they try to have messy stuff. Brains and whatnot are more a suggestion than anything. An anime approach would have been more appropriate.

I was entertained while watching but honestly it’s forgettable. Much of it is been there done that. Or more accurately seen all that before. The derivative nature is not the problem. It’s that it doesn’t seem to really try. With the blatantly obvious use of Western tropes highlighted by the dusty environment and the Karate Kid training aspects (maybe even Bloodsport) it felt all very familiar. Contrast that with the creators relying a little too much on knowledge of the fictional universe and the movie is lacking.

With memories already fading I can’t say I was particularly impressed with Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind. It looks okay and may appeal more to strong Mortal Kombat fans. Unless you are really into the games skip this.