Director – Ethan Spaulding, Screenplay – Jeremy Adams, Based on the Videogame Created by Ed Boon & John Tobias, Producers – Jim Krieg & Rick Morales, Music – John Jennings Boyd & Eric V. Hachikian, Animation – Studio Mir (Directors – Heo Sung Man, Kang Sun Gi & Lee Jae Beom). Production Company – Warner Bros. Animation.
Voices
Joel McHale (Johnny Cage), Jennifer Carpenter (Lieutenant Sonya Blade), David B. Mitchell (Lord Raiden/Kintaro/Sektor), Patrick Seitz (Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion), Fred Tatasciore (Shang Tsung), Bayardo De Murguia (Kuai Liang), Artt Butler (Shang Tsung/Cyrax), Ike Amadi (Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs/One Being), Matthew King (Kung Lao), Jordan Rodrigues (Lui Kang), Grey Griffin (Satoshi Hasashi/Kitana/Mileena), Matthew Mercer (Kurtis Stryker/Smoke), Robin Atkin Downes (Shinnok), Paul Nakauchi (Lin Kuei Grandmaster), Emily O’Brien (Skarlett/D’Vorah/Mother)
Plot
Following Earth’s winning of the Mortal Kombat, various of the defenders of Earthrealm are holding off against the forces of Outworld led by Shao Khan. Shao Khan proposes they settle their differences by going to the Elder Gods and asking for a new Mortal Kombat. Lord Raiden agrees and he and Shao Khan travel to the realm of the gods who decide to allow a new tournament. Raiden also asks that he be made mortal so that he can enter the competition. The various forces gather for the tournament in Outworld. Meanwhile, Scorpion makes an escape from the Neatherrealm, finding that the key embedded inside him is sought to open the gate that will release the mad deity known as the One Being. He is pursued by cyborg-enhanced members of his former clan wanting to open the gateway. At the same time, Kuai Liang adopts the role of Sub-Zero to exact revenge against Scorpion for killing his brother.
Mortal Kombat (1992) was a computer game, initially released to video arcades and not long after for home computers. In the game, players could adopt roles as various fighters and engage in a series of combat moves up against opponents. The game was adapted to film with Paul W.S. Anderson’s okay live-action Mortal Kombat (1995), followed by a universally disliked sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) and a short-lived live-action tv show Mortal Kombat: Conquest (1998-9). More recently, the game was resurrected with a new live-action film Mortal Kombat (2021) that was intended to launch a franchise.
Twelve months before the 2021 live-action reboot came out, there was the animated film Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge (2020). This was the first in an animated series and was followed at annual intervals by Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms and the subsequent Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022) and Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023). I enjoyed quite Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge but had more difficulty with Battle of the Realms even though it is direct follow-on of the first film and made by the same talents.
The Earthrealm kombatants – (l to r) Johnny Cage, Kurtis Stryker, Liu Kang, Lord Raiden, Kung Lao, Major Jackson Briggs and Lieutenant Sonya Blade
The main problem here becomes apparent from the first few scenes where we are thrown into a massed battle that becomes a blur of characters – why the battle is occurring we never get any particularly good answer. Along with the concurrent plotlines that play throughout, one is left confused trying to work out who is who. Amidst the familiar faces, some characters are introduced from the games that have not appeared on screen before. Given that some of these characters are never referred to by names, I was left having to use the Mortal Kombat wiki to try and visually identify who was who. It is a film where you feel like you very much need a dedicated familiarity with the mythos and where someone who is not a gamer (like me) is left behind in the dust. Even then, the film takes the unusual step of killing off regular characters, albeit some of the lesser known ones.
This bewildering profusion of characters is something that gets in the way of Battle of the Realms actually telling a story. Much of the film is a sequential series of scenes where the various characters are pitted against one another in the arena. There is still the high level of violence and bloodshed we had in the first film, along with the animated x-rays where we see internal shots of fists and weapons impacting through people’s skulls and bones. Certainly, the film has a reasonable quality of animation and Ethan Spaulding’s direction of the kombat scenes is furious and energetic. The B plot about unleashing the mad god Kuai Liang never goes very far, while being wrapped up in a fairly routine array of animated energy blasts, flashing lights and power punches familiar to these films.
