Tekken (2010) User Reviews

Ouch.

[Haplo-9 · 4/10 · 7 August 2010]

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.

Actually not that bad

[maik-buetefuer · 5/10 · 12 August 2010]

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.

Good start, disastrous ending

[siderite · 5/10 · 21 August 2010]

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.

Tekken didn't blow me away, but it's much better than I expected.

[lewiskendell · 27 September 2011]

"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.

It's not as bad as people think

[brolyhavik · 7/10 · 23 April 2013]

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 ;)

What was the director thinking?

[johnny-446 · 1/10 · 7 August 2010]

I guess you could rate Tekken based on the video game or as a movie on its own. Either way its as bad as it can possible get. The story feels artificial just to get on with the fights, you feel during the whole movie that the characters are totally out of place.

Jin Kazama in this movie has for some odd reason Australian accent and has no martial arts training from what i can see. Marshal Law is not a bruce lee character anymore, he is suddenly a beefed up MMA fighter!

Jun (Jin's mother) and Kazuya is enemies for also some weird reason. The only things they are keeping from the game are some of the clothes and hairstyles. If you would review it as a fighting movie it would be bad as well, cause the fighting is non existent. Tekken is nice cause you have fighters with different fighting styles. Here you have mostly MMA fighting which consists of no real proper training behind it.

This movie fails on so many levels. How on earth can a director get money to make a movie like this?

Don't understand the dislike

[lee_shenlong10 · 8/10 · 15 November 2010]

Look I understand Video Game movies have a stigma about them but to hate on a movie due to the lack of authenticity you should look again. The writers of this movie did the best they could to pick out the story of Tekken. What people do not understand is when a movie is made they can take liberties with the story because it is "Based" on characters not carbon copies. I enjoyed this film from beginning to end, some of the writing was bad and some of the actors could have been better(Movies now a days have the same issue), but you have to realize most of the actors in this film are actual MMA and martial artists. I liked how they changed things around to make sense of it all, especially for those who will be fresh to the story of Tekken. The fighting was top notch, Jin was likable, you really felt like he was an ordinary Joe. I loved the fact that the film was left open (watch after the credits). This movie to me has a wonderful replay value almost like "Kickboxer" on crack. All you fans need to get your heads out of your A$$ and enjoy the movie for what it is. If you like Tournament, Fighting or even a nice action flick this one is for you.

One of the better video game movies made. Pretty good, until they try to add a plot and stop the fighting. Could be worse. I say B

[cosmo_tiger · 17 July 2011]

"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

"Tek-eh, Who Cares"

[Kamurai25 · 5/10 · 4 June 2021]

Boring watch, probably won't watch again, and can't recommend.

I tried and fell asleep on this 3 times. There is plenty of things happening, but who cares, really?

The movie goes far out of the way to disconnect the audience from the characters, world and action.

Maybe I'll update this if I can ever get through it, but I can't see it being better than what I think it is right now.

Unless you're just a big Tekken fan, go watch "Dead or Alive" instead.

The Dual Perspective

[Glimmerman218 · 6/10 · 10 August 2010]

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.

Terrible

[pinoygooner · 1/10 · 13 August 2010]

Fighting games make for poor plot material in general and I expected this to suck in terms of the story but I never expected it to suck on basically all levels. The fights were poor. Anyone who has played the game will come out of this very disappointed if what they are expecting to see is at least a decent fighting spectacle. The moves were generic, the action was boring and what was with the projected screen on the ring while they were fighting? Scenery? Not a single signature move from any of the characters. Not one. Again I wasn't expecting this one to have Oscar caliber storytelling, but you know an action movie falls flat on its face when even the action was generally terrible.

Oh, and did Kazuya Mishima really have to look like George Michael? I mean come on... what did Kazuya do to deserve that?

bad publicity

[rakschas · 3/10 · 5 August 2010]

The only thing the movie and the beat'em up series have in common are names. This movie is bad and unentertaining to the core. It sure does have a few good looking women in it, but that is about it. Cheap dialogs, bad acting and worse fight scenes, the thing a movie adaption of Tekken should possibly be about. Each Tekken character in the game has signature moves and a certain style, which the movie attempts show, but fails horribly. The characters do not have any depth, being stereotypes at the most, but fitting perfectly in a scenario glued together from bad cliché. Though i acknowledge that it is basic stuff that makes the world go round and the heart of the audience beat, THIS is not IT.

I do not think this is what the Iron Fist series deserves, if you are a fan, spare yourself the agony watching it.

i gave it 3 out of 10, because i saw a lot of movies in my time and this is like the saying "E for effort".

better than expect

[kloxalot · 8/10 · 5 August 2010]

did not seem to be a video game movie...unlike " street fighter." they did a good job of making the fight scenes seem realistic. the story line wasn't to bad either. i thought this film was going to be a disappointment...i was wrong. i thought it was better than any of jaun claudes movies. the women in this movie are all hott. there was even a little bit of sex scenes that were kinda spicy. the characters all had there own unique style. the one thing i was disappointed about was that yoshimitsu made a quick appearance and did not get enough camera time. some quirks about the movie was there really no surprise ending. all around it was a pretty good action packed movie that was surprisingly good...worth the time to watch.

starts off good but then loses its potential

[OldSchoolRecords · 7/10 · 8 November 2011]

This movie is hard to discern. It has its ups and downs, its cheesy moments and its groundbreaking battles...

As a stand-alone movie, one might think it pretty good. The acting isn't as bad as independent movies usually deliver. The characters are two-dimensional, and all the main characters were adorned with minimal background stories that blended in well with the movie; in other words, they didn't feel forced just so you can know the characters better. Also, unlike other movies that start off from one setting and then jump to a luxurious island/mansion/castle, etc., this movie maintains its dystopian vibe from beginning to end, maintaining the reality of its world its inviting you in.

Compared to the games, there were a lot of disappointments. The characters dress like they do in the games, yet none of the actors are physically similar to them, nor do they talk like them. Also, some important characters (Heihachi, Kazuya, Nina) were extremely reduced to a disappointing level, while others (Christie, Steve, Raven) were needlessly emphasized.

The movie actually manages to grasp your attention, but halfway through, it spans out of control, and the final fight was a major disappointment. I will also say that I'm glad some core characters like Paul Phoenix, Lei Wulong and Hwoarang were left out; it's better to leave them untouched than to ruin them.

All in all, the movie might have had more credit if it changed the title and the names of the characters. In other words, it didn't need to be a Tekken adaption. One could easily come up with a movie based around a tournament without disappointing a lot of gamers (because let's face it, most of the people that watch these types of movies are gamers).

non-fans will trash this movie, fans will hate this movie

[ultimitsu · 1/10 · 22 August 2010]

As an avid game player I rarely watch game made movies, but of the ones I had watched, Tekken is easily worst. Even Doom was a better game movie than this junk, and at the least DOA had some nice sceneries.

When you make a movie based on a game, there must be some element about the game that is worth using, in Tekken the game there are many, moves, story, locations, etc. yet Tekken the movie had none of them.

Tekken is loved by many for its bone breaking move animations, various fighting styles, and its signature game mechanism - juggling and 10 hit string. you would expect the movie to at the least incorporate some of that. but instead we got nothing, the only character with moves somewhat resemble its original is bryan fury and eddie gordo, what happened to Jin's Kazama Karate? Kazuya's Mishima Karate? Steve's boxing? and Law's bruce lee style kung fu? there was no juggle nor 10 hit strings, most of the fighting were extremely generic and somewhat sub-par by 2010's standard, especially when you consider this is suppose to be a fighting game.

Tekken the game is also rich in storyline, especially during first 3 installments, each character had an interesting back story and good motive to enter the tournament, feud between them is often quite entertaining. Yet the movie chooses to abandon just about all of it, reinventing the wheel, which by all accounts is boring and generic, not even close to the level of the original. I especially hated the part where Kazuya admits raping Jun with no remorse, in the game it was never confirmed it was rape, it was more implied to be a one nightstand, i.e. Kazuya had a wake of conscious and showed his human side, and attracted Jun, but retracted to his demonic side after which caused them to separate. This kind of story had much more potential to be explored into something warm and bitter (or cliché).

Character roster choice is also bad, rivalry between Jin and Hwoarang, Jin and Xiao or Asuka's potential love interest, would all have fitted in much better than Christine and Miguel's story, Yoshimitsu is hard to do right so IMO should not have been brought out since they couldn't do his right. And the turned the most menacing Tekken character, Heihachi Mishima, into a muscle-less fat fart.

All in all very disappointing, apart from character costumes, this movie in noway resembles Tekken and all these things it sets out to outdo the game had failed badly.

Jon Foo

[Kirpianuscus · 24 January 2018]

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.

Great interpretation of the legendary Tekken!

[wayne_b43 · 8/10 · 12 July 2014]

I first saw this movie a few weeks ago in a movie rental.

Since im a big fan of Tekken i had to buy it.

The introduction is the best part of this movie for me.

The game characters were made great.

The choice for Jin Kazama was great although maybe a little too young(not that im complaining!) The choice for Heihachi Mishima was great although they should have made at least one scene where he fights.

The choice for Kazuya Mishima was also great! Other notable choices were Brian Fury and Eddy Gordo/ Brian was actually much better then the main character Jin Kazama!(regarding the choice of actors) Thats my two cents! I watched this movie 4 times so far and it never bores me.

Im a lil on the fence about this Movie

[the_malbogia · 7/10 · 9 August 2010]

I'm a lil on the fence about this Movie because I'm a HUGE Tekken "Fanboy".

Tekken (the video game) in itself has a lot of history, has its own story lines, and basically has its own little universe that it is part of. All the knowledge you have to the Tekken games are not a really good reference for this movie, and actually would annoy you to some point depending how loyal you are to the game series for a number of reasons. 1- The casting is not all that great. There are certain people that 'work'. I find the majority of people do not look at all like they should, which is sort of sad. You should be able to just look at someone and say "THERES LAW!" or "THATS KAZUYA", but you find yourself more like "Thats Steve?" (Granted, Heihachi does work!) 2- The story line is completely different, but workable/doable 3- The character design, persona, style, attitudes are different than their original characters. So basically they are only that character by name since the

Basically if you take the already existing Tekken Universe and consider this to be a completely different/alternate Universe, it makes this move more doable. Mainly because the story line of the movie isn't that bad. The characters (although the designs and personalities don't match the norm) are not that badly designed

Basically this movie is a 'different' take on the entire Tekken Universe, which could be considered annoying if you're a loyal fan of the series. But at the end of the day, it is a "Tekken" movie, so the characters, although their stories may end up different, should reflect their more of the game to identify them.

I should have learnt my lessons... and played the game instead

[she_diabloyk · 12 November 2011]

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!)

This movie doesn't deserve the Tekken name!

[Dzsurnik · 3/10 · 6 August 2010]

First, I am a big fan of the Tekken video game. For me the world's best fighting game is the Tekken series. I watched the movie last night, when I first saw Jin, I knew that something was wrong. In the game Jin was a strong character, but in the movie he was just a weak little boy.

When I see a movie which based on a game, my first looking is to how similar the movie characters with the game characters. Here is horrible the situation, only Heihachi Mishima and the girls look the same as the game :(,but the behavior was not even the same. Even not my favorite character's Bryan Fury. I think actors have to play before the game to find out how people are formed by it, and then play his/her role. For this have I give 3/10.

About the movie: Apart from these, the movie is good. Have some action scene, and fight, not so many but enough.

Sorry, for my advise to the big fan's is not to expect too much, because they will be easily disappointed.

Great action movie but poor made....

[viofitz · 4/10 · 3 June 2010]

I've been expecting this flick years ago & luckily it was released in my country. Okay, the movie itself contains a great action scenes & the looks of the character is good enough, but the story is crap(mostly bothers me)... The story made the actions feel useless, & it's very different compare to the game.(Well, Hollywood...) Let say it now, story are completely unclear to me even though it is a simple plot about vengeance. This movie is too much focusing on 1 character making other character's role got ignored... & here's what I've saw:

Christie Monteiro: Yes, yes... Indeed she's hot & most people like this flick because of the looks(& action) & she's one of them, though she's not the right choice for Christie... Kelly Overton looks better to be Julia Chang instead of Christie IMO.

Kazuya Mishima: His appearance is too far to be near from the game because some of his looks seems unnecessary & personality(mainly). Actually Ian Anthony Dale is perfect to be Kazuya, but here they made him like an retarded guy.

Heihachi Mishima: Now, one of the character that appeared in the entire game. His personality is nowhere from the game even his looks didn't espouse him to be a skilled fighter. Before watching this flick I'm expecting he would do 1 of his signature moves which he's punch down then strike the enemy with his straight fist.

Raven: I don't know much about him in the game since I only played TEKKEN 1, 2, & 3, but judging by the looks Darrin Dewitt Henson looks perfect to be Raven even though I didn't like his outfit, & for the fighting style, I found some of his moves are inartistic.

Jun Kazama: I personally think Tamlyn Tomita looks ugly to play as Jun, even her voice didn't help her to fit her as Jun. In here she looks older than Kazuya, of course Tamlyn is 44 & Ian is 32. Her appearance in here bugged this movie a lot... Actually in the game I like her specially her basic roundhouse kick which she inherit to her son then I became more enjoyable on using Jin.

Marshall Law: 1 of things that bugged this movie, & the actor has no resemblance with Law/Bruce Lee wannabee at all. In here his personality seems a bit disgracing as Bruce Lee wannabee & his fighting style is completely inartistic.

Steve Fox: In here he rolled as supporting character. I personally Don't know much about him in the game. Unfortunately after I've saw his looks from the game, Luke Goss has no resemblance at all. IMO if he's not considered as Steve I'd probably like his character....

Bryan Fury: Well, his actions made this movie became more enjoyable for me to be watch. The actor had a good looks & performance to be Bryan, unfortunately his skin must be a bit pale, in the movie he looks nothing like a half robot IMO.

Miguel Caballero Rojo: Don't know much about him since I only know important character in the game. To be honest I didn't like his appearance in here.

Eddy: Though his role is very small, at least the actor had a good looks & performance on playing Eddy.

Nina Williams: She's a bit resembles to Nina but apart from her character & story from the game. Here, her role is gone with no reason how she was ended.

Anna Williams: She's just a mere eye candy for this movie. Well, I personally liked her looks in this movie....

Yoshimitsu: I like him in TEKKEN 3 & I'm glad when they chose his design from the 3rd, & he had a good performance in the movie unfortunately his fighting style is nowhere near from the game yet the story too. One more thing the costume is cheap IMO.

Sergei Dragunov: Same like Miguel, but he's not that worst than Miguel IMO & some of his moves were artistic enough.

Jin Kazama: Finally... Jon Foo's acting is quite good, his performance is great though he's nothing look like Jin from the voice, & fighting style. I don't know much what kind of style he got in here except his practice before some opponent, my opinion some of his moves when fighting his opponent seems inartistic. Lastly, I personally think Jon Foo's looks in here, were resembles to me instead of Jin....

That's for the character & for the setting them-self, are cheap the arena looks junkie & some stuff are mostly fake, making this movie described as a low budget. & the other setting on the street where Jin's lived exactly looks like an low area in 90's compare to 2039. Lastly for anyone who loved actions I'd suggest you to watch since it contains lots of action scenes but if you're a fans or not much loved action scenes... Judge them by your vision. In my country not many people like this movie either fans or not.

You've Got To Be Kidding Me

[cihank1 · 1/10 · 30 August 2010]

First of all, I've never played Tekken games. And after watching the first 20 minutes of this mega-mess (which was all I could take before stopping the movie screaming with outrage), I have no regrets what-so-ever.

Now don't take me wrong, I like a good old fight movie as much as the next guy, but this Tekken-thing is so horrible that I doubt even the most die-hard fan of the genre will have the endurance to watch through it.

The story seems like it was written by a four year old retard, the camera during the fight scenes are all over the place, and the characters have less believability than Tooth Fairy. And for some reason that I can't discern, almost all of the characters speak with foreign (and awful) accents.

And how the hell is a Japanese corporation controlling the States with samurai-looking henchmen?! Are there no powerful American corporations in the near future? Is that even remotely possible? In short, the movie is dumb beyond measure. Don't bother.

"Defeat is a choice. So is victory"

[The_Phantom_Projectionist · 6/10 · 11 May 2015]

If nothing else, TEKKEN gets in my good graces just for being what it is: a flashy and ultimately decent tournament-based martial arts movie bearing an impressive cast list. The film's eventual falling point, however, is that it's based on a video game series that's so much better than decent that I can't help but lament that it isn't as awesome as what I've been able to create on arcade screens. If judged solely on these latter disadvantages, my rating for this film would be lower, but in light of my genuine appreciation for the remaining content, I'm going to consider it from a rounder perspective and name it as one of the better adaptations out there.

Like in most video game flicks, the story suffers. It's played straight and high-tech, excluding all supernatural elements from the games and seriously watering down the triangle of contempt that serves as the canon plot line between the three main characters, Jin Kazama (Jon Foo), Kazuya Mishima (Ian Anthony Dale), and Heihachi Mishima (Cary Tagawa). The film takes place in a dystopian future where the Mishima-run Tekken corporation reigns supreme over a scarred earth and sponsors a regular fighting tournament to keep the masses entertained. After the death of his mother at the hands of the organization, Jin enters the tournament to avenge her while Kazuya plots the overthrow of his father.

The backgrounds of most of the characters have been addled a bit as well, which is disappointing but I'll argue that their better-than-average casting makes up for some of this: Luke Goss as Steve Fox, Gary Daniels as Bryan Fury, Darrin Henson as Raven, Lateef Crowder as Eddy Gordo, Cung Le as Marshall Law, and several others are swell fits, making for one of the best ensembles ever seen in a fighting-themed adaptation like this (or at least a much better one than in THE KING OF FIGHTERS). Utilization of these performers and characters, however, is another issue: Heihachi and Steve Fox are prominent characters but don't fight at all, Kazuya is written as a slimy rich boy rather than the fighting beast we know him as, and - with very few exceptions - no character besides Jin has more than a single fight.

When they do fight, however, it's mostly good stuff. Director Dwight Little hasn't done much action fare since he directed Steven Seagal and Brandon Lee during their prime, but he seems to have gotten better with age: he and choreographer Cyril Raffaelli wrangle some very competent brawls which occasionally peak as deliciously eye-opening, like during the Eddie Gordo and Bryan Fury fights. In-game fighting styles are mimicked pretty well (sans Marshall Law, whose portrayer sticks with his MMA instead of jeet kune do) and even the actors who aren't real-life martial artists come across looking tough. On the downside, almost all of the fights could've been longer, if only to do justice to the millions of times the same match-ups have taken place between gamers, and slow-motion was unquestionably overutilized. The final match between Jin and Kazuya was ruined by the movie's portrayal of the latter, but the remaining seven should all be considered generally satisfying if you're not out to hate them.

In the end, this one doesn't transcend the game-to-movie curse that we're all waiting to see shed and hardcore fans will rightfully bash the snot out of the altered storyline and missing characters, but as far as this button-masher goes, my needs have been sated...maybe not by the ideal TEKKEN movie, but by a good fight flick that ought to have gotten better than a direct-to-video release.

A step by step guide in how not to make a martial arts movie.

[A_Llama_Drama · 3/10 · 10 May 2011]

Tekken.

By far my favourite beat 'em up on any console. It's got class, a great fighting system, fun characters and really, really hot characters. The mythology of Tekken is simple despite having nearly 40 fighters (since Tekken 6). The Mishima Zaibatsu corporation organise the Tekken tournament each year and fighters around the globe assemble to see who will be crowned the King of the Iron Fist ('cause that's what Tekken means, duh). Every game sees the patriarch of the family (Heihachi) fight off his son Kazuya and, later, his grandson Jin as he tries to gain ultimate power from the Devil gene. Kazuya is evil. Jin is not. Jin becomes the Devil. Heihachi kills Kazuya. Kazuya comes back and leaves Heihachi for dead. Most of the other fighters' stories coincide with this little tiff but some have completely no relationship what-so-ever.

The game is rich in fighting styles. Every single character (besides a few who are a punch of throw different from their progenitors) has a fully realised and unique style. Even those who began as carbon copies of originals (Anna Williams, Armor King, Hwoarang) have developed their own bafflingly large vocabulary of combos and attacks and stance.

The move from game to movie should have been great. After all, the only other amazing beat 'em up (MK) managed to make a brilliant, if not cheesy, transition from game to movie. Somehow, the creators of Tekken have failed in every respect.

First of all, they eschew the entire mythology set down by the game in favour of a very basic revenge scenario. Tekken is now an American term (really?!) and the tournament is a way for Tekken, the establishment, to show that it's better than the other 7 establishments around the globe. Thankfully for America, I mean, Tekken, everyone speaks English. Here, Jin is presented as a wet, English/Chinese streetfighter who lives in some dystopian slum with his tai-chi classy mother, Jun. Jun is the innocent girl who tried to save Kazuya in Tekken 2 but tragically died when Kazuya went all Devil on her ass. Here, Kazuya is a misogynist who raped her. She, shockingly enough, is killed early on, spurring a reluctant Jin to enter the tournament as the people's choice. He meets a few of the favourite fighters from the game (Nina and Anna Williams, Christie Monteiro, Marshall Law) and a few of the rather dumb characters (Dragunov - who's made extra specially gay in this one - and Miguel - who doesn't seem like a tortured Spanish heart throb at all). Not a single one gets to do more than even pretend to look bad or good - it's all about Jin. He fights his way through, facing unfair match ups and assassination attempts before, miracles of miracles, he well.. you know.

Lesson 1; if you are going to make a good martial arts film, you need good fight sequences. Take a leaf out of Jackie Chan or Tony Jaa's book - you can have a dreadful story so long as the fighting is good. Or be like Jet Li and have one or two fights and a really good story. Or be like Hero and have them both. Tekken has neither. The fight scenes must have been the one part that the director didn't want to include because they are slowly paced, all too short and not a tad bit inspired. It's MK 2 all over again. The final climactic fight between avenging son and evil father is over in a whopping 10 seconds. Oh, and Jun pops up in every fight that Jin has to give him some sage advice that will see him pull back from the brink and kick butt.

Then there's the direction of the remainder of the film. It's slowly paced, uninspired and short. Sadly for the actors, half seem to have been told they're in a cheesy martial arts flick and half seem to think they're in a Jet Li epic. The only decent performance comes from Heihachi who's a very serious yet noble dictator. He knows exactly what film he's in and is by turns Fu Man Chu evil and slightly poetic. Classy. The action moves away from the tournament to some dreadful siege/ rebellion thing in the middle which completely destroys any build up that the film has put together. It then returns to the tournament but by this point nobody cares.

The only creative thing the movie has done is included the stage selection aspect. After the two fighters have been randomly chosen on massive monitors, a third screen will randomly pick out an arena and the ring will take on the display. Some of the stages from over the 6 games are visible and it makes a pretty sight but they aren't enjoyed long enough. The women aren't enjoyed long enough. Lots of butt shots and tummy shots but 2/3 girl fighters are ugly as sin. The lighting is too dark in the arena to get to drink it all in. The guys get topless a lot (and in great light to boot!) which is great for some, not so great for others.

Overall, this film has quite possibly the worst direction ever. Had they played Tekken? Did they have any desire to make a good movie? No and no. The fights suck. The story sucks. The acting is dreadful (the director's fault, not the actors). the themes and tone of the film changes a hundred times in the first few minutes and then dissolves into muddy waters for the actual tournament.

Save your money. Play Tekken. Watch Mortal Kombat.

It's not Mortal Kombat, but it's still freaking awesome.

[kevinxirau · 8/10 · 19 November 2011]

Now this is a cool movie adaptation of a video game series. I only recall playing Tekken 3 and the arcade game version. When I realized this film existed, I was surprise because while the franchise was popular, it wasn't as big as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. So I checked this action out and found myself impressed.

Plot: After numerous wars messed up the planet, governments dissolved and corporations took over, the most powerful being Tekken, headed my Heihachi Mishima (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa from Mortal Kombat!). Every year, a tournament called Iron Fist takes place were fighters from different corporations battle each other brutally for the people's entertainment. When his mother gets killed by Tekken's Jackhammer soldiers, Jin Kazama blames Heihachi and decides to go kill him at the Iron Fist tournament, but first he must get past the likes of Bryan Fury, Nina Williams, Yoshimitsu, and other furious fighters that are also at the tournament.

This is a true action movie. Brutal fights, diverse cast of characters, sexy women, great use of music, and a cool story. It's awesome that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is in this movie having previously played as Shang Sung from Mortal Kombat.

I'm not sure why some people didn't like this movie adaptation. I'm sure I did. This is good old-fashion tournament fighting and I highly recommend that you check this out. MORTAL KOMBAT!!! Oh, sorry, wrong game.