Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)

 

The inevitable sequel to 'Scorpion's Revenge' sees Shao Khan and his many many minions waging war on Earthrealm. At the same time another Mortal Kombat tournament kicks off, only this time it could be the final battle. Raiden enters the deadly tournament as a regular Human to help Earthrealm. Scorpion is still being used by the bad guys, this time Shinnok. Characters new and old pop up as expected...but is it enough this time?

Well the movie starts off really well with Shao Khan's forces of Netherrealm demons and Outworld warriors attacking a monastery being held by the good guys. This entire sequence is essentially a rip-off (homage?) from the 'Battle of Helm's Deep' in the classic 'The Lord of the Rings' franchise. Thick towering stone walls lined with arrow-wielding monks fending off legions upon legions of demons both on land and in the air. Beasts of burden dragging huge wooden siege towers loaded with Tarkatan warriors all hell-bent on killing anything Human. Hordes of demons marching mindlessly into incoming arrow fire and just stepping over fresh arrow-ridden bodies. There's even a very similar wall breach moment in the thick of the action.

Naturally we see all the usual faces back again. Hero regulars Jax, Sonya, Cage, and Lui Kang are present and correct. This time they have assistance from Stryker and Kung Lao. On the baddies side we get new appearances from Kintaro, Reiko, D'Vorah, Jade, and Baraka, with cyborgs Sektor, Cyrax, and Smoke also. Gotta say the choice of characters for this sequel is odd and seemingly random. There are still many regulars missing yet they pick someone like D'Vorah from Mortal Kombat X? I do like how well-known characters are killed off, makes things more interesting not knowing who will make it to the end, to a degree at least.

Story-wise it's a bit convoluted really and things aren't really addressed. Sub-Zero and Scorpion are STILL battling it out in their little subplot but with the cyber Kin Kuei thrown into the mix. This doesn't last too long before the plot fixes everything and moves on. Kitana (Mileena anyone?) isn't really explored whereas Jade is a mere cameo. Shao Khan is still invading Earthrealm with no consequences from the Elder Gods? Yet they know about it? They just allow another tournament and Khan to carry on with his clearly evil plan. Shinnok still manages to carry out his plan to unleash a super being that will destroy all existence (why would you want to do that?). Personally, I didn't really like the finale of the movie with everyone fighting this Marvel-esque super God-like being and Liu Kang morphing into a huge dragon because he has the power of Grayskull or whatever. Meh just went off the rails and became some generic superhero-type crap.

But anywho, the visuals are on par with the first movie with the same animation style (obviously all made at the same time in one go). This is a good thing of course. Likewise all the brutal violence is still here and just as gooey if not more so! We get some nice tournament fighting within the classic MK arena showcasing some nice nods for the fans (although they still leave out SO much). All the action is just as kinetic as before and again the voice casting is spot on (same cast from the first movie obviously). Both this sequel and the first entry have followed the Mortal Kombat blueprint to a tee, no question about that. Highly enjoyable and engaging but still just lacking the final killer blow that would knock this out of the park making it a full-blown classic.

6/10

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)

 

There has been quite a lot of material thrown out surrounding the infamous Mortal Kombat franchise, most of it has been mediocre to say the least, but with this little gem it looks like they finally got it right, or close to.

For me personally I put this full-length animated movie alongside the now classic Genndy Tartakovsky animated Star Wars Clone Wars series. And by that I mean both seem to be unique standouts that, surprisingly, most people tend to forget about. Both have a similar attractive art style, and both took a much more serious approach to their respective franchises at a time when that was lacking, or in Mortal Kombat's case, most other things had just been plain bad.

This animation basically introduces Scorpion and how he became the skull-headed fire-breather. Spoiler alert: He and his family were massacred by another clan, so in the Netherrealm, he makes a deal with Quan Chi to come back from the dead and get revenge. It's a tale as old as time. At the same time, the regular gang of MK heroes (Sonya Blade, Jax, Lui Kang, and Johnny Cage) are off to Shang Tsung's island to compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament to try and save Earthrealm. It's a tale as old as time.

So the most noticeable element of this animation is of course the fact it's an adult animation stuffed with lots and lots and lots of Mortal Kombat gore. Aside from the stories that are mildly engaging the rest of the movie is obviously seeing various characters fight to the death showcasing familiar moves, stages, and quips. Naturally that's what people are mostly here for and the movie doesn't disappoint too much. Don't get me wrong I was satisfied but certain well-known characters are killed off surprisingly quickly whilst others don't show up at all. I kinda expected a lot more, there could have easily been a lot more characters and fights, some montages perhaps.

Have to mention that I've always had a bit of an issue with MK characters in movie/TV form because so many of them are so powerful. It definitely feels like there are too many main villains with Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Goro, Khan, Shinnok etc...You also know certain characters won't die for obvious reasons and other characters are sidelined. Reptile gets a pretty raw deal in this movie methinks. But this tends to lead to many characters just slamming their way through busloads of henchmen/thugs/ninjas as if they're in invincible mode. Gets a bit stupid really because how useless can these guys be??

I liked that the movie focused on Scorpion (it had to focus on one of the big names really) and his story was fine if predictable, cliched, and generic. As said the other main plot line was the simple tournament as you would expect really. The standouts were of course the brutal violence where we finally get to see some fatalities on the 'big screen' so to speak. The animation was lovely and much in the same vein as Tartakovsky's Clone Wars, a wise choice. They also give us the slow-mo X-ray damage hits with certain moves. The voice casting was spot on in my personal opinion and the small touches of humour with Johnny Cage were a pleasant addition.

In general overall this was a solid step forward in the Mortal Kombat franchise and probably the best thing to come out up to this point. All the live-action movies and TV shows have been so-so, never really hit the mark for me. But this animated entry certainly kicks all sorts of ass with electrifying high-paced action, thick gloopy buckets of claret, and top visuals to boot! The only problem is it all feels a bit by the numbers.

7/10