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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