Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)

Starring: Jennifer Carpenter, Joel McHale, Ike Amadi, Artt Butler, Bayardo De Murguia, Robin Atkin Downes, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Yang King, Matthew Mercer, Dave B. Mitchell, Paul Nakauchi, Emily O'Brien, Jordan Rodrigues, Patrick Seitz, Fred Tatasciore, Debra Wilson
Director: Ethan Spaulding

It has taken Warner Brothers four years to write, produce, post-produce, and (eventually) release the sequel to the live-action reboot of Mortal Kombat. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers animation was able to release a Mortal Kombat Legends films once a year for years. This was the first sequel, which basically acts as a remake (or redo) of the much-maligned Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, tackling the same general story of that movie. It manages to correct most of the flaws of that film and still manage to throw in a climax that is essentially a giant monster battle.

The last film ended with Shao Khan declaring that he would simply ignore the rules of the Mortal Kombat and invade the Earth Realm anyway. After a brief prologue showing us how Raiden came to “adopt” Liu Kang, the film jumps to the modern times (although it initially feels like a flashback). A temple is being attacked by the demons of Outworld, with the monks and Kung Lao (Matthew Yang, who voices Liu Kang in some of the latter MK games) fighting a losing a battle against the monstrous hordes. Suddenly, Stryker (Matthew Mercer, of the Thundercats reboot) and Jax (a returning Ike Amadi), now outfitted with metal arms that can transform into machine guns, appear and help beat back the demonic hosts. Okay, so we’re in the modern days in the middle of the war. Gotcha.

Back at the Outworlders’ camp, Kitana (Grey DeLisle again) is planning her next attack on the temple. She and her cohorts (including Kintaro, Reiko, and Jade) are confronted by Johnny Cage (Joel McHale again), who (in his own goofy manner) gives them an ultimatum: if they surrender, the Earth forces will spare them. Of course, Kitana balks at the decision and sends her minions to kill Cage. Thankfully for him, he has cover in the form of Sonya Blade and her sniper rifle, who keep the monsters at bay until Raiden and Liu Kang also show up. Raiden sews some seeds of doubt in Kitana about her role in all of this and the two parties separate.

Back in the Nether Realm, we learn that Scorpion has managed to free the chaos god Shinnok from his prison. Shinnok has a new mission for Scorpion: acquire some mystical McGuggin that will allow Shinnok to resurrect the original being of Cosmic Chaos who existed before the universe was created. Shinnok’s plan is to resurrect the being, merge all of the realms, and then destroy all of creation. Scorpion is not a fan of this idea, so he flees the Nether Realm for Earth. Shinnok responds by hiring the Lin Kuei Clan to find Scorpion.

These days, the best ninja in the Lin Kuei are Kuai Liang (Bayardo de Murguia, of “Tiny Pretty Things”), the brother of Sub-Zero from the last film, and Smoke (Matthew Mercer). When the head of the clan (Paul Nakauchi, whose extensive voice acting career includes the 2019 “Carmen Sandiego” reboot) gives Sub-Zero II and Smoke their mission, he adds that the Lin Kuei will be acting just a scootch differently from usual. Two of their top ninjas, Cyrax and Sektor, have been transformed into cyborgs and the master hopes that Sub-Zero II and Smoke will undergo the same procedure. Their response is a joint “Hell no!” and they try to flee, but only Sub Zero evades capture. So, now Sub-Zero is on Scorpion’s tail in order to avenge his brother while evading his roboticized brethren.

Back at the temple, Shao Khan himself (Fred Tatasciore, who has more than one thousand voice acting credits on the IMDB) shows up and offers to make a bargain with Raiden. The two will go to see the Elder Gods and request a second and final Mortal Kombat tournament. Same the rest: if Shao Khan wins, the Earth Realm is his. Otherwise, he and his armies will retreat. Raiden agrees on the grounds that even if mankind repels Shao Khan’s armies, it will take the humans longer to build themselves up against another invasion that it will take Shao Khan to rebuild his interdimensional military. The Elder Gods agree to a new tournament and Raiden himself turns over his own immortality so that he may fight alongside the humans he loves…

This very much feels like a redo of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, but with a more fleshed out story and a subplot involving Shinnok’s attempt to destroy everything. One of the problems with Annihilation was much of the film felt completely random: characters would show up, get in a fight, and then disappear from the narrative with no reason whatsoever. Why doesn’t Sub-Zero join the heroes? What does Scorpion do after kidnapping Kitana? Where the hell did Mileena come from? Moreover, there were the noticeable editing flubs, like Raiden getting attacked by three Reptiles, but only beating two before the set piece ends. A similar thing happens when Liu Kang is attacked by Baraka and two other Tarkatan warriors. Two are killed, one just sorta disappears.

Although there is a lot going on in this movie, we generally know what is happening and why. We have an introduction to the Lin Kuei clan and their leader’s designs to transform his men into cyborgs (something Annihilation alluded to, but never showed or explained). Sub-Zero is given an obvious reason to be interested in finding and defeating Scorpion, even if they ultimately set aside their differences and team up later on. The fighters that Shao Khan gathers together do not have a lot to do except fight in the tournament, but I’m sure people will enjoy seeing them nonetheless. It probably takes a bit too long for the Scorpion subplot and the main story to finally intersect, but in the end it does so on a generally satisfactory note.

My main problem with the story—and the only thing that Annihilation did better—is address Shao Khan’s treachery in breaking the rules by invading the Earth. Although the Elder Gods in that movie initially didn’t do anything, they eventually did step in and act by imprisoning Shao Khan’s father (who was supposed to be Shinnok) and removing Shao Khan’s immortality, allowing Liu Kang to injure and ultimately kill him. They make it explicit that their actions at the end were the penalty for breaking the rules. Battle of the Realms does involve the Elder Gods, especially once the Shinnok subplot takes center stage in the third act, but they never address Shao Khan’s treachery and disobedience to cosmic law. That really stood out to me. That, and Johnny Cage is around mainly as comic relief this time, getting only one or two moments for some good action.

Beyond that, there is a lot of action and violence, just like in the last film. The film kicks off with a huge battle between monks and demons, with the former being joined first by Kung Lao and his razor-sharp sombrero, and later by Stryker and Jax. There is some nice gore when Sonya Blade starts shooting demons with a sniper rifle, including on POV shot of the bullet going through an arm, a head, and then another arm, after which we see the same scene from the outside: the bullet rips off both limbs and the head. The participants in the tournament include Jade, Reiko, Kintaro, D’vorah, Shang Tsung, and Shao Khan. And nobody is really immune, so some of your favorite MK heroic characters get to die some really awful deaths.

In the end, Battle of the Realms really had one objective: be a better movie than Mortal Kombat:Annihilation. And it pulls that off quite well, to be honest. Lots of blood, martial arts, violence, super powers, special moves, gore…all from your favorite characters in the game. Let’s see if the next film, Snow Blind, manages to keep up the same standard of quality.