TEKKEN Movie Review. From VIDEO GAME to one swashbuckling BIG SCREEN Adventure.

TEKKEN Movie Press Preview

Movie buffs these days are spoilt rotten for choice.

Mind you, this is the techno age.

Emerging technologies are breeding new ways in the art of film making.

We are experiencing powerful and relentless waves of sweeping change in the industry.

Consumer expectations, going beyond the dollars and cents, are rapidly rollercoasting.

We are all at once swarmed with an influx of the 3D cinematic offerings and movie

re-makes. Even converting popular video games or comics into big screen adventures is fast becoming a worldwide fad.

Just take your pick.

Everybody’s jumping onto the bandwagon.

The list goes on …. and on.

TEKKEN falls under one such genre.

Here’s how the story begins.

In futuristic year 2039, the globe is in a state of chaos.

The world wars had destroyed most of the civilization on earth, the remaining territories of which are no longer controlled by governments.

Instead they have been usurped by treacherous corporations and one of these is TEKKEN where our story hits off.

In order to keep the masses down and in place, TEKKEN sponsors the IRON FIST TOURNAMENT where greedy fighters fight to the death for  overnight riches and stardom.

Directed by DWIGHT LITTLE, it’s touted as another action thriller derived from a NAMCO video game, depicting a handsome street fighter called JIN KAZAMA (JON FOO) who’s out to avenge his mother’s death.

But in order to vanquish the enemy, JIN must first earn the trust of KAZUYA (estranged father since birth) and grandfather HEIHACHI MISHIMA – both devious organizers of the IRON FIST TOURNAMENT.  He must therefore compete in this Tournament to defeat the elite line-up of fighters from all over the world.

It’s not just a fight for personal glory, but also one of redemption.

Because JIN possesses this mysterious dark streak in him, a gene of power that he has unknowingly inherited from KAZUYA MISHIMA, the father he despises.

And in order to achieve his task, he has to confront his inner demons, as well as to win at the Tournament, whatever the risks.

But the Tournament is not apparent, given that every participant harbors his or her own secret agenda. Even undercover police and assassins are banding together in the hope of unearthing the underlying truth.

Expect a potpourri of death defying maneuvers, bone-crunching and rib cracking action combining global fight styles along the line of the Hong Kong’s Kung Fu and other martial arts flicks.

You get a hazy bit of this and a glorious bit of that.

And this remains the focus of the story.

The story line is predictably shallow, with nameless characters careening in and out of the big picture without explanation, and the plot existing only to set a series of mind-blowing, perfectly choreographed fight stunts.

Of course JIN takes on his opponents by snapping the limbs of each and everyone.

And naturally every hero has his “down” moments but the most annoying part here is, the spirit of JIN’s dead mother will always fill up the screen in flashbacks whenever JIN is brutally  beaten and “almost” looks like losing, admonishing him to “stand up and fight back”!

Such scenes are cliched.

In terms of acting credits, rookie martial arts actor JON FOO is a new action hunk to watch, with his poster boy looks.

He did a cameo in TONY JAA’s TOM YAM GOONG years ago and that short scene remains memorable enough for the producers of TEKKEN to cast him as a lead in this one.

For fans of the martial arts movies, TEKKEN can do no wrong as the taut fight choreography, helmed by CYRIL RAFFAELLI (Kiss of the Dragon, The Incredible Hulk) will keep you happily entertained.

Go watch it with a suspension of belief.