"Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms" is a study in contrasts. It has too much plot going on,
but it also has awesome action, ninjas, and the voice of Joel McHale. Here are all
the best and worst things about "Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms."
Johnny Cage is a "Mortal Kombat" mainstay going back to the very first entry of the
hit game series. He brings to life a strong hero archetype, bravado and a sense of humor
as well. Looking at the discussions around his absence in the recent live-action film,
and the fans' desires to see him portrayed by the right actor,
it all shows how important he can be to any project in the franchise.
Joel McHale was a shining part of the previous "MK" animated movie, "Scorpion's Revenge,"
and he continues that streak as one of the best characters in "Battle of the Realms."
His relationship with Sonya Blade and the levity he offers is amusing
without taking away from what's going on around him.
McHale has spoken about how he improvised with his scenes,
and that may have helped make some of his moments more genuine and funnier.
The only complaint, of course, is that Cage never secures that big win in this adventure,
but he's still a memorable part of the Earthrealm defenders, even while being a bit of a jerk.
There are many different realms in the "Mortal Kombat" lore — several smaller ones,
and six primary worlds, but it's rare that any others than Earthrealm,
Outworld, and Netherrealm get to play much of a part in the adventures.
Even Edenia, where several characters hail from, is usually relegated to a mention or the tiniest
flashback. Worlds like Chaosrealm and Seido are barely mentioned even in the newer games,
having become afterthoughts in the character endings for the most part.
This also means that smaller realms the lore has introduced, like Vaeternus,
Zaterra, Arnyek, and Osh-Tekk, have little chance of ever being relevant.
"Battle of the Realms" still has a story that lives up to the name,
but it seems silly now to have hoped the film would have seen our heroes go to these places
or even give us new information on them. Seeing our champions jump across worlds for the various
fights would have been quite the treat, but even on the worlds that were used, there weren't many
new details to be glimpsed. Even some of the newer spots from the movie look as if they
were taken directly from the games, such as the shots of Shinnok's chambers, apparently
directly inspired by the in-game cutscenes from the Konquest mode of "Mortal Kombat: Armageddon."
"Scorpion's Revenge" gave fans a wonderful look at the key parts of Shang Tsung's island,
but the sequel film opened the battlefield up a bit, offering animators a chance to
show off some areas with which players of the games have become quite familiar.
The majority of "Battle of the Realms" takes place in Outworld, but beginning portions show
off a few locales on Earth, brief interludes in Netherrealm, the meeting place of the Elder Gods,
and an incredible exercise in color toward the end as realms begin to merge.
Most of these are gorgeous backgrounds and help bring their individual parts of the story to life.
Most notable on Earth is the Lin Kuei temple, a site that has been shown in different
forms before, but could never be explored thoroughly enough. The audience sees a slow,
long shot of the main structure, the outside courtyard, and a look at the
inner sanctum of the Grandmaster. Warm, radiant, containing statues of famous
Lin Kuei warriors - it all ties together the foreboding feeling the scene presents.
In Outworld, the participants express how intimidating Shao Kahn's fortress is, and a
brief glimpse of his throne room shows off that awesome green hue behind him — there
is a lot of detail put into the arena where most of the fighting takes place.
These are all solid representations of the stages, mostly inspired by the newer games,
but the extra bits help make the worlds feel more alive.
One of the awesome things that the last couple of "Mortal Kombat" games did was progress the
overall narrative, giving fans new events and lore to chew on. With the subject matter
for "Battle of the Realms," there was hope that the film would give us fresh tidbits of
lore or clarify some of the existing meta-plot. This isn't just to learn more about the realms,
but a hope that fans could see deeper backgrounds for various characters,
or some progression in the relationships they share. None of this really happens, however,
with the exception of Liu Kang, which is only a brief moment that shows the death of his parents.
What was that even connected to, and why were those Tarkatans on Earth, hunting them down?
Those with a truly extensive knowledge of "Mortal Kombat" could potentially fill in some gaps,
but not all of what fans tend to believe is also considered to be canon,
so a film adaptation like this presents an interesting opportunity to firm up aspects of
the series' lore. The real missed prospect here is not providing anything new about the Elder Gods,
the newer Titans, or especially The One Being, who plays a pivotal role at the end.
True, The One Being is supposed to be a mysterious figure that no one truly comprehends,
but it seems like the writers purposefully guided the plot around him — perhaps so they wouldn't
have to answer any questions or say something new. It's a shame, and it feels like this
promising alternate story, though full of passion, falls short of doing anything truly spectacular.
Although the last one did a fair job in delivering on violence and bloodshed,
"Battle of the Realms" pushed it just a bit further.
"Mortal Kombat" is a series that needs to embrace its more vicious tendencies to feel at home;
judging by the creativity in some of these murders, they are loving the recent R-ratings.
Audiences will see some brutal finishes and a couple of interesting takes on classic fatalities,
but a large portion of the carnage comes from the standard fighting,
dispatching grunts in the most over-the-top way possible.
Not only is there a ton of decapitations, bone-breaking, and the ripping out of perfectly
good body parts, but the first act takes advantage of an army of disposable soldiers.
We see shots linger more when some of this happens, and much of the art and animation
choices around these attacks are meant to accent the savagery each fighter possesses when pushed.
This leads to the use of more X-ray moves that never overstay their welcome.
One of the problems with movies like this is the desire to throw in as
many extra characters as possible, sometimes because it'll get the fans
excited to see one of their low-key favorites — but more often than not,
they are in there because the script needed someone to take a loss or eat a fatality.
For this installment, it seems like Stryker and Jade took the bullet — both
are introduced by name, get some lines, and do absolutely nothing else worth mentioning.
Jade's relation to Kitana isn't brought up at all, and she gets her skull cracked open by
Sonya early on and then knocked off-screen with an impressive uppercut from Liu Kang,
never to be seen again. Stryker, at least,
gets a little bit more time to shine. He may be "the new guy," but he's also a capable hero,
and he at least receives a beautifully disgusting death scene. Still, these are
two great characters that feel wasted and would have benefited from more moments focused on them.
Scorpion and Sub-Zero are two of the most iconic characters in the "Mortal Kombat" franchise,
but players have a soft spot for all of the various palette-swapped ninja characters from
the games. Though "Scorpion's Revenge" gave us the classic origin of the iconic ninja duo,
fans were excited to see the sequel bring in Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke, and, of course,
the younger Sub-Zero, Kuai Liang, who's seeking revenge for his dead brother.
These characters are all badass, and each given at least a brief moment to shine.
Having their own storyline going on outside of the tournament,
but with their robotic arsenals and elemental powers, their fights almost steal the show.
That's right, "Battle of the Realms" crams the Cyber Initiative story arc into a few spectacular
scenes. Many of these characters fight together and against each other, giving fans a lot to
observe, especially when fighters like Scorpion and Sub-Zero begin using their powers together.
But for many, the coolest bit is getting to see Smoke in action,
building up the friendship and respect he has for Kuai Liang, and watching the story
unfold after his change. It's hard not to wish for more of it, but their mission eventually had
to feed into the bigger plot and take the focus off of those incredibly cool ninja characters.
"Scorpion's Revenge" had its flaws, but overall it pleased fans and gave them
a reason to believe a sequel would deliver the goods. While "Battle of the Realms"
might be an adequate follow-up (especially if only considering the first two acts),
something about the ending just doesn't sit right. It isn't horrible, but is nowhere near
the quality of the rest of the film. The third act is much crazier — which is expected — but
feels like it's from a different movie, predominantly because of the two main fights.
The final battle against Shinnok has a ton of moving parts,
and is on a much grander scale, with godlike powers being thrown around. This makes sense,
but it loses a lot of the intensity – not to mention the blood – of the previous encounters,
even if the stakes are sky-high. No one can call this anticlimactic; a little boring, perhaps,
but there should be some negative points awarded for only having a slightly better version of the
ending from "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation," with the giant dragon and everything.
The fight between Liu Kang and Shao Kahn may be worse, however. Some of the moves look like
they were lifted directly from "Dragon Ball Z," but without the extra power levels to help it
make sense. Both of these encounters needed to stay a bit more grounded to stick the landing.
Many of the "Mortal Kombat" characters have found their voices over the lifespan of the series,
though the actors who portray them often change. Even if what's coming
out of the combatants mouths might not be a perfect recreation of recent games,
none of the voices in either of the two modern animated movies have felt bad enough to stand out.
So, many of the talents who helped bring the cast to life in "Scorpion's Revenge" returned to play
the characters again, which is a testament to how well they did — and a great number of the
voice actors fill their parts perfectly, with many of them playing multiple roles.
It's always fun to hear words like "Kamidogu" and "Outworld" uttered
with such seriousness and precision. New voices mix well with the old,
forming a bloody chorus of grunts and screams that work perfectly for the film.
Animated features are typically shorter than their live-action counterparts,
but "Battle of the Realms" clocks in at right under 90 minutes. It's about nine minutes longer
than its predecessor — which again, tried to cram too much into its plot — and here,
it's obvious that WB didn't learn from their earlier mistake. The idea of not overstaying
your welcome is certainly admirable, but why throw so much into the mix if that's the plan?
There's enough plot here for two feature-length projects,
making matters even more overstuffed than "Scorpion's Revenge." The champions of
Earthrealm going to a "final" tournament in Outworld feels like a plot that easily could
have filled 90 minutes — but piled on top of that is all the drama of the other stories too.
It'd be easy to go trim the fat, saving the Kamidogu and The One Being for a follow-up tale
when a true final boss was required. However, screenwriter Jeremy Adams
has implied that the "Mortal Kombat Legends" films were a two-chapter story,
meaning they had to put everything in because there might not be others to come.
If true, that is a huge shame, as doing so may have hindered the overall story — and fans would
have likely welcomed further animated films in the Mortal Kombat universe.
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