Tekken

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.

After Blood Rayne, Dead or Alive and Doom i gave up hope that the video game to movie adaptation could not be done successfully. In theory this movie should never have been watched by myself however as a long standing fan of NAMCO and the TEKKEN series i hunted high and low to find and see this movie.

(i wrote a longer comment but felt so let down and despondent that i deleted it and concluding with this as my final verdict) ADVENT CHILDREN is the greatest game to movie adaptation, there is no other let us stop wasting money! Production companies should be sued for false advertising and time wasting (1hour and 24mins i will not be getting back this year!)

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.

"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.

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.