Tekken

"You will fight, the world will watch, and my legacy will be written with your blood."

Tekken actually wasn't half-bad. I'm as surprised to be saying that as you probably are to be reading it. 

It probably helped that the bar is so low for video game adaptations, and that the last such movie I saw was King of Fighters, which was awful to an absurd degree. Tekken can't help but look good in comparison to that. It helps that it makes at least an effort to keep some of the story and characters from the games, while offering frequent decent, if not great, fight scenes. The overuse of flashbacks gets a little old, but that's a much more minor issue than I was expecting Tekken to have.

I have to mention that Tekken looks pretty good, with some impressive sets and a slick, high-budget veneer. The main actors are adequate, with John Foo as Jin being a capable fighter and believable enough as an earnest and ultimately good-hearted guy. Kelly Overton doesn't have a lot to do other than look hot in her greatly revised role as Christie, but she's infinitely qualified in that particular area. She does okay in her action scenes, too. Ian Anthony Dale is appropriately villainous as Kazuya, and everyone else is at least acceptable. 

Tekken is basically just another fighting tournament movie, placed in a video game setting. But, that's all it really needs to be. The story is simple and straight-forward, and I think that's a good thing. Keep in mind that this isn't supposed to be a 100% accurate adaptation of the game, and it'll probably entertain you.

While there was reason to dislike the movie from both fan-based point- of-views (Lack of characters from a game that has quite a healthy roster, especially the absence of two main characters/transformations that could have been an obvious choice for the final bout) and movie critics point-of-view (scene inconsistencies, story), I can honestly say I enjoyed the movie. I didn't take any notice of the 'goofs' that were listed on this site while I was watching the film. Characters were imitated to a decent quality and the action was quite solid. But I feel what most critics are forgetting, is that yes a 'good movie' requires a good plot..or so that's what the critics seem to believe.. This is based off a FIGHTING game. A fighting game that also focuses more on fighting than story. So you shouldn't expect much more from a movie based on just that. To sum it up, I thoroughly enjoyed it but don't actually take my word for it.. In fact don't take any critic's word for it. I know from personal experience that only you will know whether you will enjoy a movie or not. People have different opinions and this is merely my opinion. I would be interested in an open-discussion about this movie anyways though :)

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT:

I WANT A SEQUEL! I feel like there's a love triangle going on that needs to develop/conclude in the next movie. Also I want to see more fighters..especially devil,devil jin,ogre,jinpachi. And Heihachi Mishima is NOT dead ;)

I was expecting something of the level of stupidity like the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies, so I was pleasantly surprised when the movie had a consistent script and some decent action. I was already fantasizing about my IMDb review, saying how I was expecting crap and found a gem.

Of course, that only lasted for the first half of the movie. Afterwards, attempts to make the movie follow a script, budget concerns and other movie politics made it all fall into the gutter of action movies when the cardboard villain must come into focus and be honorably defeated by the hero. I call bullshit. If the movie would have continued in the same style as the first half of the movie, where heroes meet on the battlefield of the arena and wither win or lose, it would have been a decent, even good film. Instead, hair gel and bad villain lines polluted the ending and turned it into another crappy video game movie. Why?!?!?

Summary: Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa should have asked for a fortune in payment for the silly hair style of his character, probably something taken from the video game Tekken, that I have never played. The main character looked like a combination of Jean Claud van Damme and the vampire from Twilight. The hot chick that is the focus of his male desire gives him a kiss after being totally easy, but she denies him any... ahem... action. He returns to his slum where a girlfriend that actually wants and accepts sex awaits him. That part was artfully realistic. Tamlyn Tomita is still hot as hell, even if she keeps playing roles of moms that have to die. Kelly Overton mimics some decent fight moves, even if her only purpose in the movie is to look good.

After thoughts: I wonder what would have happened if the hot girl would have actually had to participate in the tournament and fight Jin, and then the father grandfather angle actually been used in a royal politics manner... a good script maybe? Why did Raven (a black guy with white clothes and white hair?! An albino raven, maybe? What hair gel company sponsor this movie?

Bottom line: watch 45 minutes of the movie. Stop. Fantasize about what cool movie this could have been. That is the only way to enjoy this film.

I was surprised positively. Yes, it's a video game adaption and from what I can tell it doesn't stick too much too it story wise, but for me it was quite entertaining. It's stupid, but not yet on a level where you want to face palm yourself all the time. It's much more serious than DOA and I still like that one better, but that's mostly because of its all-out- trash-appeal and because the fight choreography is a million times better. In Tekken many fights look like training exercises, many cuts can't hide, that you're not watching one fight, but many separate actions. Plus, there are some shots that are supposed to look dramatic or cool, but the just look badly done.

But all in all, it's mildly entertaining, it does look more expensive than it was, the cos-play-factor is bearable and some ideas in the fights are nice to see. I would never buy it, but for rent it's entertaining 90 minutes of mindless fun.

He could be the only motif for see the film. not for performance, not for story ( who seems do not exist ) but only for his physical presence. sure, for martial arts fans , "Takken" is a nice film. maybe. for the fans of game - a must see. I have few doubts about it. because it has a story to tell. because the fragments of story are so bizarre and not more than sketches , than all remains at level of confusion. the film does nothing new. or interesting. or predictable. because it is only another action film, with a precise target, who gives few fights, a kind of love story, few crumbs of Star Wars and,, this is all. if you ignore Jon Foo who, maybe, could be the reasonable motif to see the film.