Review of Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms
Last year, WB’s animation department delighted fans of the bloodiest video game franchise with the release of Mortal Kombat Legends Scorpions Revenge. This is a stylish and dynamic animated action movie, savoring the 18+ rating with all the love and passion, which can also be safely called the only film adaptation close to the original. Even the recent film, unfortunately, failed to achieve this status. But just the other day a direct sequel was released – Battle of the Realms and I hasten to share with you my impressions of watching it.
The plot of the sequel starts immediately after the end of the first part. The heroes of Earthrealm in the person of Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade are trying to prevent the invasion of Shao Kahn, which, in principle, they succeed with great difficulty. Heroes already familiar to fans of the franchise in the person of Kung Lao, Stryker and Jax come to their aid. The latter was in the first part, but now he has acquired his own cybernetic prostheses. It would seem that victory is for the heroes, but Raiden decides to make a deal with the emperor of the Outer World and organizes another Mortal Kombat tournament, which will once and for all put an end to the conflict between the worlds. And in parallel with these events, behind-the-scenes intrigues are taking place with even larger-scale developments in which Scorpio and Sub-Zero will be drawn into.
For those familiar with the events of https://redkingscasino.co.uk/login/ the Mortal Kombat gaming universe, the plot will seem quite predictable, which nevertheless does not prevent you from enjoying it. For beginners, it would be logical to start watching with Scorpio’s Revenge in order to understand what’s going on here. But even in this case, they can be confused by the large number of main characters and the rapidly changing events. Closer to the middle of the viewing, you begin to notice that the plot begins to accelerate and expand, taking on a very gigantic scale, which is why in some moments the logic of the narrative is lost and the characters do not really have time to open up. And the ending, although it takes on an epic scope, still looks crumpled and too hasty. It would be better to save it for the next sequel. But it is worth noting that the plot in the original game source was far from ideal.
The story here is more like a condensed retelling of the main events of the last three games in the series with some changes in the chronology of events and a slight departure from the canons. For example, at the moment, a new generation of heroes has not yet appeared in the person of Cassie Cage and Jackie Briggs from MK X, but some events from MK 11 have already happened. Liu Kang became the winner of the first tournament, but not because he defeated Prince Goro, but because the victory was simply given to him. The creators play a little with the expectations of the audience, changing the canonical elements of the narrative, but it doesn’t come to any deep revelations, and everything remains within the framework of the story we know.
There’s a comical Johnny Cage tagging along with Sonya, who looks too much like a buffoon. There is some drama, especially between Raiden and Liu Kang, although it’s not entirely clear why it’s there. After all, you and I understand perfectly well that we are not here for her sake at all. As in the first cartoon, there is a lot of fan service and references to past film adaptations and games. Here and there, familiar characters like Kintaro or Reiko will flash, who will have literally a couple of scenes throughout the entire runtime, but this is like a balm for the soul of fans of the old MK lore. And the design of the clothes of the heroes and arenas coincides almost to the smallest detail with those that you could see in the latest games in the series. But the most interesting and funny is the reference to the petition of MK fans, where they asked the developers to add Shaggy from Scooby Doo to the game. Now you can see how, in the intro for the cartoon, the almighty Shaggy puts the show-off Scorpio in his place. Looks very funny.
Otherwise, everything here is the same as it was a year ago: hyper-reactive action scenes and off-scale ultra-violence with juicy details: guts falling out, severed heads, and torn out ridges. And all this is seasoned with classic Fatality and X-Ray techniques from games. It’s a pleasure to watch all this, and you most likely won’t see anything like this in more than one cartoon. Everything is shown down to the smallest detail, and here is the very case when, for once, a work fully justifies its name. For fans of animated meat, of which I am one, this is a must read.
Battle of the Realms looks like a fan-made title in many ways, but it could also be a good entry point for newcomers unfamiliar with the franchise. There are a lot of unusual, colorful characters, not the deepest, but quite interesting plot, and for every minute of running time there is just an off-scale level of inventive cruelty. What else do you need to entertain yourself for another hour?? And if you, like me, were disappointed by the recent film in the franchise, then I especially recommend that you watch this and the previous cartoon and wait for the release of the next sequel. Still, the ending clearly hints at this. I’m sure you won’t regret it.
Overall, I really liked the cartoon. Of course, not without flaws, but after watching I was satisfied, charged with positive emotions and filled with the desire to replay the old parts of MK. Maybe the timing could have been a little longer and the plot a little more logical, but that’s just me nitpicking. I’m looking forward to the continuation, and honestly I would like to see more animated projects with an adult rating, fortunately now all roads are open for this. If you have already watched it, then share your impressions, and if not, then tell me if you are interested in the project and whether you will watch it. In the meantime, I thank you for your attention, quickly say goodbye and run off to watch a new cartoon from Netflix based on the Witcher universe. Friendship to everyone!
