Alrighty, fellow Mortal Kombatians, it’s time for yet another “Face-Off” review from the good folks at GHG. Today, we cover something we have never covered yet before: a web series. And, you can bet this isn’t your average “made in the mom’s basement” web series. No, friends. This is Mortal Kombat Legacy, Season 2.

“The Reverend” Joe Rivera: Now, for those who aren’t familiar with the web series in the first place, here goes. MKL initially began as a 2010 short film titled, Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, directed by Kevin Tancharoen (also bro-in-law to Joss Whedon). The short film starred the former Spawn as Michael Jai White as Jax, Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade, and Ian Anthony Dale as Hanzo Hasashi a.k.a. Scorpion. Rebirth was originally a pitch to WB, in hopes of earning a bigger budget film reboot. Tancharoen was aiming for a grittier Kombat — of course not going to stray away from the video game franchise’s infamous gory violence. And yet despite the short film exploding all over the internet with extremely high remarks from fans, WB declined to back it (but they’ll greenlight 300: Rise of an Empire? *chokes*).

Absolutely babality-bummer!

It was definitely what Mortal Kombat should have been. Instead, Tancharoen was given the green-light to direct the MK Legacy web series, which was released back in 2011. Legacy hit the freeway furiously, opting for more focus on realism and character backstory. Things did get a bit confusing, however, when realism were later abandoned for more supernatural elements. Although it turned out more or less fine, I would’ve rather had them “pick one!” Whew. So, here we are two years later with a new Season, and even if this does continue the story, it appears we have more of a reboot, as well…

“The Abbot” Ray Getsbusy: “Confusing” is a great way to put it. Yes, Season 2 of MK Legacy feels very much like a reboot with a somewhat new cast of characters and some new backstories. “You’re messing up my origin!” I honestly had a tough time connecting some of the dots between S1 and S2. Given that it has been 2-years, it’s safe to say I should’ve rewatched S1. Initial impressions? Where’s the funding for a full blown series? Granted what Machinima is doing with this — on what seems to be a  really minimal budget — is outstanding. Like I said before, the CGI on this is trumping some network shows *cough*agentsofshield*cough*. Thankfully, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is back as the soul-stealing Shang Tsung. He brings that great spark of evil to a character that’s.. what.. over 1000-years old? Even so, some of the new additions and casting choices were questionable, such as Mark Dacascos as Kung Lao and David Lee McInnis as Rayden. If anything, they should have been swapped.

Joe: Haha! Yeah, gotta say the visual effects in MK Legacy were pretty damn amazing for a web series. I guess waiting two years paid off, especially with a whole new creative development team. I’ll also agree that it was awesome to see Tagawa back as Shang Tsung. I mean, he is Shang Tsang! No other actor could make me cringe with the line, “Flawless Victory.” I also remember bringing up the casting of Rayden and Kung Lao. Nothing to do with either performances, even if Mark Dacascos is hit or miss. The good acting is ruined because they’re both playing the wrong character. It just seemed as if Dacascos’ Kung Lao was too much of the mentor type to Liu Kang. Delving into the MK mythology, Kung Lao was always the big brother type to Liu Kang; but this time, he seemed more like a father figure. That’s Rayden!

This leads me to Liu Kang (Brian Tee, Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), who comes off more of a darkly violent vigilante. His story: Kang leaves the Shaolin Temple, falls in love with an American girl, she gets murdered by robbers, and he goes on this vigilant killing spree. I don’t mind the concept, but even The RZA would have to agree this scenario does’t fit with the Liu Kang we all know. Sure, he does become vengeful in the game, but always with that sense of honor. And, is it just me, or did Liu Kang look more like Jin Kazama from Tekken. Blame it on the Hood. Although, it was pretty funny that Tagawa also portrayed Heihachi Mishima in the God awful Tekken film.

Japanese Frisbee is easily.. like.. the new craze.

Ray: Yeah, the new Liu Kang backstory that explains why he’s evil now was a bit eh. I get why they wanted to do it, because it’s a great plot twist to have the original earth realm hero fight on the side of the outworld.

And speaking of fighting, did you find there was a lack of action? Isn’t the source material based on fighting?

Maybe the creators were caught off-guard as to where to take this Season in terms of new character introductions and backstories. From Rebirth to S1 then S2, it seems they were making up a lot of stuff on the fy. Still, the new season is a very enjoyable and fresh experience. I don’t much care for the Netflix factor where we got all 10 episodes at once. I would’ve preferred a weekly release. For one, it’d give the audience more time to go back catch up with S1 on their way to S2.

What does work with the new Season, though, are some of the classic moves and fatalities that got depicted, like Sub-Zero throwing an ice ball, nailing his classic slide, and ninja pal Scorpion’s teleporting. Hands down, I think the Scorpion/Sub-Zero storyline and fight sequence are the best part of the series as a whole. I’m not gonna give it away, but the writer’s did mess up who dishes out a classic fatality…

Joe: Such lack of action, this time around, and more and more and more backstories. Though, when we had the fight sequences, they were amazing. What a tease. I guess since it had been two years, the writers felt the fans needed a refreshing. Although we’re supposed to be “Facing Off,” Abbot, I’m finding it difficult not to agree with you on several points, especially the whole Netflix trend. I would have been a lot happier with weekly episodes, they would given me a chance to anticipate more on what’s to come. The Scorpion/Sub-Zero storyline was also definitely the best part of the series, from S1 and S2, with its spectacular combination of fight choreography and stunt work. In fact, I would have preferred the entire series to focus of the feud between the Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei, since it was built up so much. Scorpion is by far the most developed character in the entire series, from his origin on to his own vengeful path.

Before the Matrix, bitch.

Next we have Johnny Cage, this time play by Casper Van Dien, replacing Matt Mullins. Nothing against Van Dien (Starship Troopers), but he will always be Johnny Rico to me in just about everything he does. Where Mullins’ (S1) performance was flat, Van Dien’s was just annoying. I know Mileena is pretty gruesome looking, being half-Tarkatan, but Cage would just run from her, screaming like a little bitch. Not sure if that’s what the director wanted, or if that was a choice for Van Dien. I know that Johnny Cage is supposed to obnoxious, arrogant, and not a favorite to most gamers, but neither actor had the same charm as Linden Ashby (MK film, 1995), hands fucking down. Ashby played his arrogant and obnoxious self all very tongue in cheek, which served as nice comic relief in the original film.

Oh, what was the deal with Mileena dropping all the F-Bombs? I mean, I know this supposed to be for a mature audience — and I just dropped one myself — as it should and I should, be but it just didn’t sound right. Okay, if this is how people from other dimensions talk, it’s all fuckin’ make-believe. That “F-Bomb” was not intended! It just doesn’t sound very Outworldy, for certain characters to talk like the way we do. If that makes any fucking sense.

Ray: Hahaha! The inclusion of some very adult language certainly threw me off. Mind you, we have people getting busted up left and right, and for whatever strange reason, the profanity seemed inappropriate. Both choices for Johnny Cage were definitely abysmal, where Ashby did the damn thing in the movie. Johnny Cage was a role, as many of you may know, intended by the MK creators to be played by none other than “the muscles from Brussles” Jean Claude Van Dam. And, yes, I’m not sure if it was the writing or what, but the J.C. of this season is indeed very bitch made.

One of the problems with the series is that they’re trying to encompass too many characters of the franchise from jumpstreet; given the fact that they have an uber limited budget — and not to mention episode time — it’s not working as well as it should. There’s no reason for Kenshi or Stryker. I actually had to wiki Kenshi to find out who he was. All in all, the Abbot of Call of Duty did enjoy this Season 2, but I’m just sad I already watched it all (despite the fact Moody made me). I’m wondering if we’ll get a season 2.5 relatively soon, or if we’ll have to wait a very Tsung-like life length for Season 3. Either way, this is a definite must watch for anyone who is a fan of the franchise.

Beats being in G.I. Joe.

Joe: Seriously, I could have done without Kenshi and Stryker, either, since they’re not core characters, whereas Johnny Cage actually is! I’ve played a ton of MK, and I think I only played as Kenshi maybe once. Stryker, never! I’m almost wondering if Season 3 is going to mostly build characters such as Rain, Smoke, Reptile… you know, the rest of the colors of the rainbow. Though, Noob Saibot is essential; he’s who the first Sub-Zero becomes, so that would be a nice edition to story. I wouldn’t mind a season 2.5. I feel like they spend too much time on character stories and not enough on actual plot. Maybe the episodes would have worked if they were extended to 25-30 min. It worked for Video Games High School! Hell, get FreddieW to direct Season 3!

Even so, you can tell that Tancharoen is growing with this series. You can tell he wants it to be better, despite how plodding it’s become. We didn’t get to the tournament until the end for fuck’s sake. The tournament itself is what Mortal Kombat is all about. The new shit is definitely a step up from S1 despite its flaws, but why expect anything different from a video game adaptation? Despite the fact I label Season 2 a definitive watch for MK diehards —  with more eyes on S3 due to the tournament — the Rev still gives it 3 (out of 5) Bibles.

Ray: The whole lack of a tournament is weird, as I was really hoping to see more of that aspect. They need to take some cues from Bloodsport to get this tournament movie down right. I don’t think more characters are needed, just better development of the current roster. If it ever reaches a Season 4 or 5 with a bigger budget, perhaps we’ll get longer episodes. Then again, I’ll take a well done 10-minute ep over a half-hour fluff job. I’m with you, Rev, a solid 3 Bibles. Peace out!