Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Blu-ray Movie Review

Enter the Dragon.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 31, 2021

I haven't played a Mortal Kombat game in years. In fact, I probably lost interest in the brand more than two decades ago, just a few years after the original game pulled in crowds like a magnet at arcades worldwide. I first glimpsed the original MK at a local bowling alley and still remember skipping a few frames to gawk at its unique graphics and bloody fatalities. That bowling alley finally closed its doors after six decades in business but Mortal Kombat lives on, doubling down on the bone-crunching action and ridiculous, over-the-top finishers with each new installment. Over the years it's grown from a controversial Street Fighter wannabe to a full-blown franchise with two earlier live-action movies, comics, action figures, socks, a "blood, sweat, and tears" scented candle, and more. Warner Bros. has re-ignited its cinematic flame three times in the last two years: the surprisingly solid animated origin film MK Legends: Scorpion's Revenge, an uneven live action reboot... and now this animated sequel to Scorpion's Revenge, Battle of the Realms.

As if the front cover didn't give it away, Battle of the Realms is mostly Liu Kang's show just as Scorpion's Revenge belonged to, well, you know who. Opening with his parents' brutal death at the hands of bloodthirsty Baraka-like creatures and the infant's rescue by thunder god Raiden, it weaves a complicated narrative during 70 minutes that packs in plenty of characters, fan service, violent deaths, and loads of MK lore that, if I'm being perfectly honest, feels awfully squished and scattershot for such a short feature. The main crux of this story revolves around an Outworld-hosted tournament involving many familiar faces: Shao Khan, Kung Lao, Kitana, Shang Tsung, Stryker, Jade, a couple jobbers, returning Raiden and Kung Lao, and many more, which ends up spilling into a vivid merged-realm finale that lets other characters get in on the action including Johnny Cage, Sonya, and Jax. Scorpion and Sub-Zero show up too, but they're mostly confined to various subplots involving Bi-Han, the Lin Kuei clan, Shinnok, Cyber Initiative, and The One Being, a deep-voiced creature first introduced in the 2004 game Mortal Kombat: Deception.

It's a lot to take in, and the multiple detours are broken up regularly by ultra-violent tournament fights that see a number of A and B-listers get killed off in fitfully shocking fashion. But where Scorpion's Revenge weaved a pretty solid narrative in with all the fighting, Battle of the Realms struggles to maintain that tricky balance. It's action first and too-much-story second... which might please fans just looking for straight-up bloodshed, but Battle of the Realms ends up feeling less streamlined than its 70-minute runtime suggests and, as such, a few of its most dramatic moments don't have time to build up enough weight. And while its hasty conclusion hints lightly at the prospect of another sequel, Mortal Kombat's main story is mostly tied up by the end credits, which leads me to believe that the creative team crammed in a bunch of extra stuff that might have gone into a second or even third follow-up.

Don't get me wrong: Battle of the Realms is still pretty damn fun in spots, with mostly great voice work (Johnny Cage steals the show again) and crisp, angular animation that fits in well with its foreboding, painterly backgrounds. Even the climactic showdown, which aims for a blown-out and surreal color scheme, looks pretty neat. But as appropriately hard-hitting as all the action is, most of it doesn't quite land with the same impact due to those nagging story issues, which draw attention away from Mortal Kombat's best characters and the journey they've possibly concluded. I'd call Scorpion's Revenge the clear winner between the two, but anyone who enjoyed that film as much as I did (or more) should wring some enjoyment out of this one. Not surprisingly, Warner Bros. serves up a similar amount of support on home video with this Blu-ray edition, which offers a good-to-great A/V presentation and a few decent bonus features too, including another full-length audio commentary with members of the creative team.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The direct-to-video Battle of the Realms follows suit with Scorpion's Revenge by serving up a mostly clean and vivid 1080p transfer that nonetheless suffers from a few format shortcomings. On the whole, it looks to be right on par with Warner's other DCAU features on Blu-ray, showcasing its appropriately dark and often scratchy appearance with very fundamental flows: colors run the gamut but mostly lean towards muted tones, with exceptions being bold primaries and elemental effects such as lava, lightning, and ice, as well as the merged-realm finale that pushes its otherwise familiar palette into near-fluorescent territory. Compositionally, Battle of the Realms should look comfortably familiar to die-hard fans of the franchise, from the one-on-one combat (sorry, I mean kombat) angles -- a mixture of dynamic three-dimensional movement with occasional "2D" flourishes -- to the up-close-and-personal "X-ray" sequences that showcase its more brutal, bone-crushing acts of violence. Heavy textures are almost non-existent since, also like its predecessor, Battle of the Realms relies more on color and limited line work for its main visual formula.

Although some of the establishing shots and background characters still look a bit chunky and inconsistent, overall it's every bit as good as the first installment from a purely visual perspective. Where it falls slightly short is in disc compression: this 70-minute show, though acceptably squeezed onto a single-layer Blu-ray (which should be plenty, given its runtime), suffers from a few obvious compression artifacts and other eyesores, including banding and color bleeding, that aren't an issue at all on the separate 4K release. While this Blu-ray should be good enough for most modest setups, anyone equipped for the newer format will notice the difference almost immediately.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix serves up another extremely supportive sonic atmosphere with plenty of hard hits and squishy sound effects, many of which use strong channel separation, discrete panning, and rear channel presence to heighten Battle of the Realms' frequently intense atmosphere. Dialogue and background effects are balanced nicely, whether it's in the massive Outworld arena, more intimate moments, or during the Helm's Deep-style battle involving Kung Lao during the opening scenes, with individual characters spaced out nicely to create a relatively wide and immersive sound stage that's regularly supported by plenty of action. The merged-realm climax sounds great too, with a wide and expansive overall presence suited to the size of its final villain. While Battle of the Realms' original score didn't immediately grab my attention, that's not exactly a complaint -- the Mortal Kombat games I'm familiar with didn't always rely heavily on dramatic, sweeping cues to sell the brutality either. Simply put, this is another effects-focused and often punishing lossless track that gives die-hard fans exactly what they want.

A few foreign dubs and subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature and select extras; these are formatted nicely with no blatant errors and synced perfectly with the audio tracks I sampled.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Similarly to Scorpion's Revenge. this two-disc release ships in a dual-hubbed keepcase (not eco-friendly this time around) with colorful art, a matching slipcover, and a Digital Copy slip. The extras are pretty similar, too.

• The God and the Dragon: Battling for Earthrealm (7:05) - Another short and mostly promotional behind-the-scenes featurette with comments from a few key cast and crew members including director Ethan Spaulding, MK co-creator Ed Boon, voice actor Jordan Rodrigues (Liu Kang), storyboard artist Milo Neuman, and more.

• Voices of Kombat (8:34) - Several of the same participants return -- along with a few more voice actors, of course -- to speak about the on-set experience (with studio footage) and their respective characters.

• Kombat Gags (4:06) - A short gag reel with more in-studio voice work, some of it creatively layered over still frames and clips from the finished film. Lots of Johnny Cage and plenty of cuss words, too!

• Audio Commentary - Producer Rick Morales and screenwriter Jeremy Adams return for another feature-length track to discuss plenty of odds and ends. Highlights include the second "WB Animation" opening gag, picking up where Scorpion's Revenge left off, setting the proper tone, comparisons and contrast to the first film, reuniting with the cast, early drafts of the script, other unused ideas, a few character backstories, returning to R-rated territory, storyboards vs. finished scenes, dream fights, Easter eggs, and much more.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ethan Spaulding's Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, like its predecessor Scorpion's Revenge, is a bold and violent animated adaptation of a beloved franchise that, for many die-hard fans, will play better than this year's live action reboot. But it's a step down from that earlier animated film, going all-in on the blood, carnage, and gory deaths while cramming too many subplots into its remaining runtime which, at only 70 minutes, never gets enough room to reach a truly satisfying conclusion. But it's well-done otherwise with great fundamentals, including solid voice work and striking, angular animation with kinetic special effects sprinkled throughout, so fans will obviously find much to enjoy here anyway. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray follows the template of Scorpion's Revenge, pairing a mostly-solid A/V presentation with a handful of lightweight and enjoyable bonus features. Recommended to the right krowd.