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.

When I was a child there was 3 video games that to this day will always go down in history as my favorite games ever made. One of those games happened to be Tekken. When I first heard about this movie I was pretty psyched. To be honest, I didn't really know what to expect. To say the least I wasn't "Butt Hurt" but I wasn't happy either. From the perspective of somebody who has never played the games before, this would in fact be a good film. However, from the perspective of somebody who has played the games... I found myself saying "omg what are you guys doing this isn't how that happened" almost every 5 minutes in this film. I guess I now know how those guys who say "The book was better" feel. A lot of the Tekken characters in this movie where completely out of character compared to the character they portray in the gaming world. Like I said though, I can see how someone who has never played the console games could enjoy this movie. Aside from all that, the content of the film as story progress wise was forced. The action is what made up for that downside. With all that being said as a loyal Tekken fan. I either hope A. They make an anime movie out of Tekken that sticks true to the roots or B. Does this movie some justice in a Hollywood remake. They're going to need to take a completely different approach if they want to attract the interests of the hardcore fans.

"If you can still breathe you can still fight, your only defeated when you decide." In the future countries no longer exist. The world is owned by corporations, each of which as a competitor in the "Iron-Fist" fighting tournament. Looking to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of the Tekken group, Jin (Foo) fights his way to the tournament. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. Very, very entertaining with very good fighting scenes. It also stayed very close to the video game, complete with the pick-a-fighter sections. The downfall of this movie is the same problem with all video game movies though. When the movie is just the one-on-one fighting sequences like the game has it is very strong and fun to watch. When it tries to add a story aspect and a plot is where it begins to drag. But the filmmakers knew this I think and the movie never strays too far from the tournament aspect for too long. Overall, much better then I expected, and knowing it's a video game you will have certain expectations going in. I give it a B.

Would I watch again? - I actually might.

*Also try - Muay Thai Fighter

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.