Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (4k UHD Blu-ray Review)
On the 30th anniversary of the original Mortal Kombat video game, Warner Bros. gives us the next film in the animated line of the MK Legends series, Snow Blind. This marks the third film in the Legends series following 2020’s Scorpion’s Revenge and last year’s Battle of The Realms. Directed by Rick Morales, a former storyboard artist on the Star Wars: Clone Wars movie, Morales guides us on this 82-minute tale through the Wastelands and back. How does this latest entry fair? Let’s check it out…
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Film 
Taking place well into the future from previous timelines in the MK video games, we now see Shang Tsung as an old and broken servant to a very metallic and mostly robotic Kano. The red-eyed machination leads a pack of ruthless martial artists through the desert raiding caravans and taking over settlements, with more than a few bystanders falling prey to his Black Dragon clan along the way.
The movie doesn’t shy away from gore and why should it? The gratuitous blood and guts have been a signature of Mortal Kombat since the first game came out in October of 1992. If it’s worked for 30 years, don’t give up on it now, and Morales makes sure to retain that look and feel.
The voice acting is performed quite expertly with David Wenham of Lord of the Rings and 300 fame voicing Kano, Manny Jacinto as Kenshi, Keith Silverstein as Kabal and Ron Yuan as Sub-Zero, just to name a few. Their efforts culminate into delivering a story that is very gang-oriented in a Mad Max Fury Road style of setting.
The film has heart, then sometimes that heart is ripped from the thoracic cavity and thrown to the ground in triumphant ferocity…literally. The storyline is proficient but there is something the movie lacks, especially when compared to the Scorpion’s Revenge film which was easily the second-best MK film to date.
Video
Encoding: HEVC – H.265
Resolution: 4k
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Colors are rather muted throughout the film with earth tones being quite prominent and overwhelming most whatever else the palette had to offer. This is upscaled 4k resolution and there’s no real wow factor here, nothing to make me run out for the 4k version when 1080p would do just fine. The animation is fluid and on par with the high quality of the prior Mortal Kombat Legends films, but again, there’s nothing wondrous about the ultra high-def attempt here.
Audio
Where the video fails to impress, the audio makes up for it presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The rear channels do not miss one bit of bone-crunching, organ-squeezing contact while the front channels clearly give viewers crisp dialogue. Additionally, the film’s soundtrack admirably pours through those same front speakers to compliment the spoken lines and the action at hand. The combination of the disc’s audio onslaught is impressive to say the least, and while it may not make you forget about the so-so video, you will definitely walk away remembering what you heard.
Extras
A commentary. That’s it. That’s all you get. While the film itself was entertaining, I did mention it left me wanting more. Here was its chance to fill that gap. Let’s see some cast interviews, the behind-the-scenes idea for the story, anything. Nope. A commentary. That’s the extent of what they came up with. Lame.
Summary
If you’re a hard-core Mortal Kombat fan, Snow Blind is a no-brainer addition to your collection Even the casual MK fan like myself will find enjoyment here. When it comes to the technical aspects, however, it’s a mixed bag with run of the mill video quality, yet superior sound delivery. The glaring issue though is the extras being so abysmally lacking that I have to wonder who fell asleep at Warner Bros. when working on that aspect of it.
