Movie Review Tekken

Tekken (2010) 

Directed by Dwight Little 

Written by Alan B. McElroy 

Starring John Foo, Kelly Overton, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa, Cung Le, Luke Goss 

Release Date March 20th, 2010

Films based on video games rarely succeed. In fact, most of them are laughably bad. The most recent one is Tekken, a film based on Namco’s fighting game of the same name. While it doesn’t offer much in the area of story or character development, it does deliver some fast paced and extremely well choreographed fight scenes. It’s also nowhere near as bad as any of the Street Fighter films.

The film follows Jin (Jon Foo), a man who makes his living running from gangs and providing contraband to rebels fighting against the Tekken corporation; the corporate owner of what used to be America. The United States, along with every other country, was lost in war years ago and corporations rose up and took over.

To maintain order and placate the masses, the Tekken corporation instituted martial law and offered people the Iron Fist Tournament, a yearly ultimate fighting battle in which fighters from around the world battle to become the world champion. This, along with a thuggish, mindless army called Jack Hammers, keeps most of the population from rising up against their corporate overlords.

Jin was content to stay out of any possible rebellion until his mother was killed by Tekken soldiers. Newly motivated, Jin enters the Iron Fist Tournament intent on killing the rulers of the Tekken corporation, Heihachi (Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa) and his son Kazuya (Ian Anthony Dale). Along the way, Jin befriends an ex-fighter named Steve Fox (Luke Goss) and falls for fellow competitor Christie Monteiro (Kelly Overton).

One problem with the film is that the rules of the Iron Fist tournament are unclear at best and a complete mystery at worst. In the end, the tournament reaches its semifinal with eight competitors remaining and then suddenly moves on to the finals. Whether women compete against men in the tournament is unclear; but the ladies definitely fought guys in the game and the lack of girl vs guy fights in Tekken the movie is a politically correct choice that is likely to irk long time fans.

Speaking of fans ,those who enjoy the Tekken video game series, especially those in fealty to its legendary characters and storylines, should be prepared to be offended. Much of the lore and many of your favorite characters have been excised in favor of a slightly more straight forward storyline.

The fight choreography in Tekken was crafted by Cyril Raffaelli, the groundbreaking Parkour master who became famous for his incredible work on District B13 and its sequel. Raffaelli is aided by a well trained cast of mixed martial arts specialists, including a pair of Strikeforce champions, and star Jon Foo, who trained under Jackie Chan and is skilled in multiple fighting styles. While the plot of Tekken is extraneous and unimportant and the acting is so-so, the satisfyingly bloody and video game-esque fight scenes alone are worth the price of a rental.

As for the Blu-Ray presentation of Tekken, Anchor Bay is releasing the Blu-Ray and the transfer is more than adequate for a film of such limited visual dynamism. The filmmakers saved the best stuff for the fight scenes which really pop on Blu-Ray, with color and fast pace. The sounds of fist pounding flesh, bones breaking and the pulsing heavy metal score comes through with ear aching clarity in Dolby  True HD 5.1 and dialogue is always centered and clear.

As for special features, Tekken isn’t exactly the kind of movie that requires a film school dissection. There is one feature though that is quite good. It’s a look at the film’s excellent fight scenes and it’s dedicated to the extraordinary efforts of stunt coordinator Cyril Raffaelli. Considering that Raffaelli’s work is the best thing in the movie, it makes sense that it gets the only feature. Also included is a trailer, if that interests you.

If you’re going to pick up Tekken, know what you’re getting into. It’s by no means a great film, but it’s passable. The fighting is fantastic and it does manage to entertain. Those who are fans of the videogame may not take kindly to some of the creative choices at play here but overall, this isn’t nearly as bad as some of the other videogame based films that we’ve seen.

Movie Review: Ballistic Ecks vs Sever

Ballistic Ecks vs. Sever 

Directed by Kaos 

Written by Alan B. McElroy 

Starring Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry, Ray Park, Talisa Soto 

Release Date September 20th, 2002 

Published September 19th, 2002 

Well I must admit I was growing complacent. After a series of good movies mixed with some average and below-average movies, I had forgotten about Hollywood’s ability to make truly horrible films. In the past month or so Hollywood had lulled me into a trance of average movies that left no impression, good or bad. The new movie, Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever, woke me from this trance with the loudest, dumbest, most idiotic movie this side of Rollerball. The byzantine plot of Ballistic is too ridiculous to explain. From what I was able to deduce, Lucy Liu played Sever and Antonio Banderas played Ecks. Other than that I am at a loss to explain the stupidity that passes for a plot. 

There is something about a weapon that was stolen from a lab in Germany. The microscopic weapon can cause heart attacks if it gets into the bloodstream, I think. There is something about a little kid that Sever takes as a hostage, something about Ecks' wife who he thought was dead but wasn't and Gregg Henry as the villain named Gant. The amazing thing about Gant is the audience has no clue why he does what he does. The movie teases that he is some public official but for the life of me I can't figure it out. 

We know Gant and his men can manipulate the local law enforcement of Vancouver, British Columbia, though we don't know why. Gant's men interact with the FBI but it's implied that they aren't with the FBI. There is some organization called the DIA. Whatever that is, the move never explains. We do know Gant wants this weapon, the heart attack weapon. The trailer is a better source than the film if you want to make sense of the weapons ability. Apparently you get it inside someone then it lays dormant until you press a button and it kills him or her. How do you get it inside someone? You shoot them. Of course that kind of defeats the purpose of the weapon doesn't it? 

Maybe you can rationalize that somehow, but how do you explain that the weapon is made of metal. So you have given the head of state a heart attack but your weapon is inside the body and easily detected in the autopsy, once again defeating the implied purpose of the weapon, which I believe is supposed to go undetected. It doesn't matter. Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever is a mess, which is appropriate because a guy who was credited as Kaos directed it. The irony is thick. The film is essentially a series of large explosions and that's it. The story is nonexistent, the script is a joke, the actors are completely lost and that is the only thing the audience can really relate too. 

Poor Lucy Liu and poor Antonio Banderas. While they deserve to be criticized for just being involved in this mess, I don't blame them for its failure. Both stars are attractive and charismatic. Unfortunately the director doesn't care. The only thing Kaos is interested in is getting to the next explosion ASAP. 

The director especially abuses Lucy Liu. Liu is an actress, yet in the films entire running length Lucy has 7 lines of dialogue. SEVEN. I counted them. That is less than Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hercules in New York and he could barely speak English then. Why hire an actress like Liu for a role that could have easily been filled by a stuntwomen? 

Stuntman Ray Park is also singled out for abuse, he has more dialogue than Lucy Liu and his character only exists for the purpose of being killed by Liu in a karate fight. Then there is Gregg Henry as the villainous Gant. Henry does his job in workmanlike fashion, oozing slime and dripping with evil. Gant actually gives us insight into which star got top billing. You see, whichever star kills Gant is the one with top billing. I will leave the mystery.

The most amazing thing about Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is the director’s ability to combine an incomprehensible plot with plot devices more predictable than a calendar. That is a true accomplishment. Is Ecks Vs Sever the worst film of 2002? I'm not sure. Rollerball, Fear Dot Com and Tart have strong arguments for that title. Ecks Vs Sever will be near the top of the list that is for sure.