Tekken

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.

"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

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.

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.

Okay just finished watching this and wow is it bad. I could sit here and kick the heck out've it for not being faithful to the game, which hooo boy it isn't, but then all I'll get is a bunch of people going "It's Tekken The Movie, NOT Tekken The Game!".

So I'll review it as a simple action movie. The plot was thin, the character motivations were practically nil and the fight scenes were shot with far too many cuts. The acting ranged from over the top to poor.

Interestingly for a movie that did not in any way respect the storyline of the game, it went out of it's way to include homages to it. Hell entire characters were in it for no more than that. Anna Williams didn't have a fight or indeed even a line! She existed for no other reason to name drop and to wander about in her underwear. While we're on the subject of the Williams sister's what the heck is wrong with Nina's face?!? I have no idea if this is true, but it looks like it's been constructed in the operating theatre, apologies if it wasn't, but DAMN.

They also managed to incorrectly spell Cung Le's name in the credits.

Not for Tekken fans as they'll get angry, not for action movie fans as they'll get bored.