Someone somewhere figured that we as movie lovers and action buffs needed or would have wanted a “Tekken” movie–even if no one asked for it. Because as we are all aware, the “Mortal Kombat,” “Double Dragon,” and “Street Fighter” movies were all so amazing and rich in bone crunching action and sharp cinematic prowess that we just had to have a fifth tier video game franchise with fairly forgettable characters lacking any iconic sensibilities be turned in to action heroes for a potential film franchise. And not surprisingly this isn’t making the rounds in theaters any time soon. Movie websites have reported on this film for a short time and since then the word’s been slim to none on its quality.
“Tekken” is the film adaptation of the entertaining but admittedly outdated Playstation fighting series that possesses (as most fighting games do) very little storylines at all and just has a framework on which to build its characters around. This is a game that has a fighting bear, a boxing dinosaur, and a karate fighting piece of wood, by the way, so apparently someone thought this would be cinema gold. “Tekken” dodges most of the fantasy elements and strips it down to “Best of the Best” proportions in which the entire film is based around a fighting tournament and clandestine organization running said tournament. That’s original, right? John Foo plays Jin Kazama a–you guessed it–freedom fighter! He’s a sly talking charismatic underground hood who seeks to corrupt the Tekken database all the while the world ruler Heihachi (played by go to bad guy Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) prepares the lower class for the Tekken world tournament.
He influences them to enroll and take each other on hopes of inspiring gladiatorial sportsmanship distracting from their starvation and poverty. Much like the games, “Tekken” is only a framework concept for non-stop action scene and fight sequences, so in the first five minutes alone we’re given a small fight, and a foot chase involving an army and gunfire. All the while we’re exposed to expository dialogue after expository dialogue all of which revolves around filling audiences in on what gamers already know. To his credit, John Foo’s acting is shaky but his performance is all about charisma and energy and he possesses just the right amount of appeal Jin did in the video games that made him such an interesting anti-hero. Foo manages to rise above the rather forgettable fodder to show he has real star potential and he takes the role of Jin for as much as its worth adding an edge to what is basically a Luke Skywalker role.
His dialogue delivery borders on iffy to cardboard on occasion, but he’s obviously in the film for his martial arts skills and shocking resemblance to the video game character. Jin appeared later on in the game series, but why he’s the primary character is not a shock to anyone whose ever played the series. In spite of being the only character in the series who is remotely marketable, Jin also bears a connection to the villainous Heihachi that I won’t spoil for the uninitiated. Jin runs back and forth throughout the film talking to character after character from the series learning bits and pieces about his mysterious past and his unnamed dead father, all of which is directed like cut scenes from video games by Dwight Little (whose credits include personal favorite “Rapid Fire”). There are constant flourishes of yellow and reds, most of the dialogue is drowned out by a booming tech score, and a good portion of the important sequences are just montages void of any real substance. A la “Star Wars,” Jin’s mysterious past comes flooding up when his mother is murdered by Heihachi’s foot soldiers. This leads Jin to do nothing other than embrace his fate and seek out the origins of his youth and fight the evil of Heihachi.
Jin’s dead mom serves as his Obi-Wan, living through flashbacks and convenient lessons she taught him as a child that guides him through his battles during the tournament. Beyond John Foo, most of the performances are hammy and hokey, especially Tagawa who is basically on auto-drive channeling Shang Tsung from “Mortal Kombat” (they’re the same character!) while mugging for the camera in fluffy white hair and a thin mustache serving as a literal adaptation of the character from the games. Meanwhile, “Tekken” does maintain its nationalism by including a wide variety of multi-racial characters straddling the line of import and domestic action film appealing to all audiences. “Tekken” takes every advantage to be about as loyal to the games as it can be and for audiences looking to just re-live the fighters they played in the heyday, this will be a jolt of nostalgia for them. Since the story is basically nothing but a paper thin paragraph, the fight scenes are basically the only involving element in the entire film. For a low budget actioner, the choreography is very sleek and sharp with some rapid fire fight scenes and engrossing bits of character interplay that will keep audiences eyes glued to the screen.
Meanwhile the characters all look like cosplayers, but it’s still pretty interesting for a nostalgia goon like me to see folks like Nina (played by the insanely sexy Candice Hillebrand) and Eddie Gordo appear in full garb donning their character designs. Christie Monteiro (Kelly Overton is sultry and there for eye appeal but quite likable just the same) is also given a major part as the love interest of Jin trying to help him discover who is trying to kill him while also romancing him. The best performance comes from Luke Goss who plays fight mentor Steve Fox, an aid and teacher to Jin who instructs him before every fight and has to be ridiculed by ex-competitors. He’s a definite element that works well and adds some substance to Foo’s Jin. Behind the fights, there is the family conflict of Heihachi and his son Kazuya (both of whom mutter the word “Tekken” at least ten times every five minutes) who wants to take over Tekken while Heihachi becomes a more sympathetic villain aiding Jin by the climax.
When all hell breaks loose, “Tekken” becomes just another action film and doesn’t even seem to try to focus on the fighting anymore. That’s when it transforms from sub-par to just plain confusing. It’s impossible for anyone to squeeze in an epic downfall in ninety minutes, and writer McElroy (the man who wrote “Spawn” FYI) proves it. “Tekken” might be just filler for a Saturday afternoon, but if you’re looking for the first video game movie to make a mark in motion pictures, you’d be piss out of luck. For my money, I’d stick to the video games which, while just cookie cutter, are still a ton of fun with some entertaining character concepts, but even for an ex-gamer like moi, “Tekken” won’t be much of a treat unless you want an experience that boils down to a simple time killing action film that blasts you to the past. If fodder like “Best of the Best” is your bag, give this a shot, it’s not the worst game movie ever made.