‘Tekken,’ the best fighting game movie since ‘Mortal Kombat?’

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News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

TEKKEN (2010)

That’s the suggested first impression made by IGN’s Jim Vejvoda who published a written preview of a promo trailer for director Dwight H. Little’s upcoming, live-action fighting video game TEKKEN, which premiered at the American Film Market but has yet to make its way, officially or otherwise, to the web.

“It felt like MORTAL KOMBAT crossed with X-MEN and with some of the sexy, hip, urban youth appeal of the FAST AND THE FURIOUS films. Unlike most other videogame movies, TEKKEN actually looked like it had something of a budget and that it wasn’t made for TV pilot money. Nothing in it looked particularly cheesy or embarrassing, which is kind of remarkable considering how much of the look of the game and its characters it retained,” said Vejvoda.

Based on a tournament-style video game filled with colorful competitors, TEKKEN’s script is written by Alan B. McElroy (THE MARINE, RAPID FIRE) and centers on Jin Kazama, a teenage martial artist who enters the “King of Iron Fist” tournament to challenge the world’s top fighters with the ultimate goal of taking on the person responsible for his mother’s death.

TEKKEN is only the latest in a string of fighting video game-to-movie adaptations ranging from recent releases DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE and STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI to other upcoming fighting game films THE KING OF FIGHTERS and a MORTAL KOMBAT reboot.

TEKKEN may have a literal leg up on the competition in that it features real martial arts-trained stars in key roles including leading man Jon Foo as Jin Kazama, Gary Daniels as Bryan Fury, Cung Le as Marshall Law, and Lateef Crowder as Eddy Gordo.

Behind the scenes is French tricking sensation and DISTRICT B13 star Cyril Raffaelli orchestrating the fight choreography. Raffaelli has already made the big time in Hollywood by taking on Bruce Willis in LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, as well as choreographing fight work for another video game-to-movie production, HITMAN.

“The fight scenes looked good and appeared well-crafted; slow-motion and wirework were evident but not overused (again, at least as far as the trailer is concerned),” said Vejvoda. “Judging from this footage, TEKKEN looks like a pretty decent (fighting) game-to-film adaptation. Hell, it looked better than WOLVERINE and that was released by a major studio.”

TEKKEN is an independent co-production of Crystal Sky Pictures, Japan’s GAGA and TEKKEN video game maker Namco. As yet, no U.S. distributor has picked up the film which is not surprising given the film’s lack of big-name stars. However, if Vejvoda’s first impressions are indicative of the film’s actual quality, fight fans who have grown disenchanted with Hollywood’s ability to translate fighting games into solid action movies may be in for a pleasant surprise.

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  • Damn man, Nina looks much better in this movie than gameO_O
  • liho
    "Nothing in it looked particularly cheesy or embarrassing, which is kind of remarkable considering how much of the look of the game and its characters it retained,”. Yeah,right. Just look at that 4th pic, it screams extra cheese. Will wait for it to come out,before completely bashing it.
  • pawan
    It looks nice ..........
    If i would have enough money to produce and direct that movie then i would show this world the new definition of martial arts and direction.
  • darrinkemp
    The thing I find most distressing is this movie is full of people whos work I like(Gary Daniels especially)but it's a video game movie which means it's likely going to stink like dead cats,dog shit,and corpses from CSI combined.
  • hvc
    Eh, looks worlds better than KOF or Legend of Chun Li. At least it has fidelity to the source material.
  • Guest
    MK was terrible tho
  • archie
    MK was not terrible MK2 was terrible movie
  • IGN is frequently full of crap, particularly when it comes to movies. That bit about The Fast and the Furious and X-Men and Mortal Kombat was enough for me to stop thinking that Mr. Vejvoda was somebody worth reading. "Sexy, hip, urban youth appeal" might as well read as bleaugoaurljogiuardsf, except "bleaugoaurljogiuardsf" is a far more substantive description.

    I remain unconvinced.
  • shaolindude
    Heard that Crystal Sky th producers pulled a strange bit of business at the American Film Market, they were supposed to have 2 screenings of the flms to buyers etc...they wouldnt let a lot of people into first screening, then cancelled 2nd screening just before it was supposed to show

    Makes me worry the film isnt as strong as hoped, and they have little faith in the film despite pimping AFM with promo art for the film...i hope i'm wrong as would love to see either this or 'King Of Fighters' deliver the goods
  • MK meets X-men's already been done, and it's called Wolverine. Tekken's only claim to fame has been that it was Virtua Fighter with better-looking characters and graphics; and it's been going downhill ever since Soul Calibur DOA beat it in the actual gameplay department. Nonetheless, other than the Marine writer being involved, it sounds like a good line-up thus far. Plus, I'm a bit suspicious, since they've already given the sucker a 7.8 at IMDB, which is where they had the Gianna Jun Blood movie a few months ago. Still, if they can cut a good trailer, I might consider it. It'll be more worthwhile than the Prince of Persia movie, anyway.
  • The Darque One
    It would have a better chance at being picked up if it had some sort of presence on the internet so it could generate some buzz. No teasers and not even an official site. I love the game though, so I'm hoping it's good.

    ost of the actors are good fighters and look the part. I'm not sure about the guy dressed as Raven though, he looks a little too anime geek dress up.
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