Following the events of Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, earth has descended into a wasteland. Survivors band together in outposts, fearing discovery and subjugation by King Kano and his Black Dragon clan. A young warrior named Kenshi challenges the Black Dragon and winds up beaten and blinded. An aging Kuai Liang, having long abandoned his moniker of Sub Zero, trains Kenshi to use his other senses to survive.

The limited cast keeps the running time to a lean eighty-two-minutes while still providing engaging characterizations. David Wenham shines as Kano, the monstrous, yet charismatic villain.

The animation proffers creative, over-the-top violence, but looks cheaper than ever. Early scenes substitute optical zooms and pans for real animation, and the finale sports 90s-era computer generated imagery. Odd given some of the computer generated backgrounds and establishing shots shine—often making the hand-drawn animation look even worse in comparison.

If the rule that each sequel gets a smaller budget holds true, the next installment might well amount to voice over with static drawings. That said, given how this entry ends, I’m not sure where the series goes next.