Advertisement
Business rating: 0.5/5 star
Advertisement
What’s Good: Some of the action scenes.
What’s Bad: John Foo’s mediocre acting; the average plot; the fight sequences should have been much better.
Loo break: Anytime.
Verdict: Tekken will appeal only to a few fans of hardcore action films. Flop.
Watch or Not?: Watch only if you are into action flicks.
User rating:
Crystal Sky Pictures & Namko’s Tekken is the big-screen adaptation of the video games series by the same name.
The time is 2039, when five huge corporations have taken over the world. In a Big Brother-esque scenario, these corporations run everything and control everybody, brutally snuffing out their detractors and rebels.
Jin Kazama (John Foo) is a skilled, street-smart fighter who does odd jobs for the rebels for money. Jin’s mother opposes his dare-devil acts and fears for his life. Jin doesn’t support either camp – he hates the Tekken Corporation (which rules his area) and he refuses to join the resistance as well. One such mission goes wrong and Jin’s mother is killed by the Tekken officers. Alone and angry, Jin vows to avenge her death by bringing down Heihachi Mishima (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) – the ageing supremo of Tekken Corporation. Since accessing Mishima is next to impossible, Jin decides to do so by taking part in the deadly combat tournament, ‘King of the Iron Fist’.
In the tournament, Jin’s adversaries are some of the world’s deadliest and most skilled fighters, handpicked by their organisation to win the tournament. Here, Jin surprises everyone by defeating the incumbent champion. Meanwhile, Kazuya (Ian Anthony Dale), Mishima’s heir apparent, is desperately waiting to get hold of the reins of Tekken. Jin’s entry into the tournament infuriates him further as he knows of Jin’s involvement with the resistance and feels that it dilutes the spirit of the fight.
While Jin manages to win his fights (with help from his manager), he also wins the heart of another fighter, Christie Monteiro (Kelly Overton). After an unprecedented attack on him in his room, Jin realises that his life is in jeopardy outside the ring as well.
Why does Kazuya hate Jin so much? Will Jin be able to avenge his mother’s death? How long will his skills keep him alive inside the ring? Why are the assassins baying for Jin’s blood? The rest of the film answers these questions.
Alan B. McElroy’s screenplay doesn’t have much to offer. The death of Jin’s mother, his recollections of her lessons and the whole vengeance angle of the story seem forced. Another flaw in the story is Kazuya’s hatred for Jin. While Kazuya wants to get rid of Jin at the earliest, it makes no sense why someone as influential as him doesn’t just get his henchmen to finish off Jin instead of trying to bribe/threaten other combatants, change the rules of the game and use such other silly tactics. For a movie that has been adapted from an action-based video game, the fights should have been the highlight. Sadly, the fights are just mediocre. Even though every fighter is supposed to have his/her speciality in combat, except one or two of them, the fights are very similar. And flashbacks of six-year-old Jin with his mother between every fight don’t help.
John Foo doesn’t do justice to the role of Jin Kazama. While he is good in the action scenes, he can barely act. Kelly Overton is good as the sexy fighter, Christie Monteiro. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa does well as the severe and proud head of Tekken. Ian Anthony Dale clearly takes the cake as his haughty and cruel son. He is handsome and oozes malice in every scene. Luke Goss (as Jin’s manager) could have done with more screen time. While he has a very small role, his character is more interesting than the characters of many others.
Click next for more on the direction & box-office verdict
Dwight Little’s direction is just about mediocre. He fails to create any special moment that will remain with the viewer. Even the fights don’t look very different from each other. John Hunter’s music and Brian Reynolds’s cinematography are okay. David Checel’s editing is not upto the mark.
On the whole, you’d be better off playing the old Tekken video game than watching the movie.
Advertisement
