{"id":2411,"date":"2011-07-14T22:39:28","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T05:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=2411"},"modified":"2021-04-22T22:27:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T05:27:02","slug":"review-tekken-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2011\/07\/review-tekken-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Tekken Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Tekken<\/em><\/strong> is just the next in a long line of failed game to film adaptations. I didn\u2019t feel this was a bad movie, just an average one. It held some entertainment value but not nearly enough to recommend this.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nTekken (2010)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Action, Martial Arts
\nAnchor Bay | R \u2013 91 min. \u2013 $39.99 | July 19, 2011<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Dwight Little
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Alan B. McElroy (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Luke Goss<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Featurette, Trailer, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (Dolby TrueHD 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.35
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, Spanish
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tekken<\/em><\/strong> is a story set in the year 2039. The world has gone to hell (are there any futures that are bright and cheery?) and economies and governments have collapsed and are now under the control of various corporations. The United States, for instance, is now owned by the Tekken Corporation run by Heihachi Mishima (CARY-HIROYUKI TAGAWA) as his sociopathic son, Kazuya (IAN ANTHONY DALE), serves as his right hand man and head of security.<\/p>\n

When the film opens, we meet who will become the underdog hero named Jin (JON FOO), an illegal techno-runner who transports various pieces of hardware for use by, primarily, the rebellion living in the outskirts of Tekken where things are really bad. The Tekken security squadron routinely hunts down those who are a threat including Jin. Their investigation of who has been transporting technology that can be used against the corporation leads to Jin\u2019s mother who, along with fellow security personnel, is blown to smithereens. Before Jin was passive wanting only to make enough money to buy expensive goods (like coffee, chocolate and oranges) rather than facing off against Tekken.<\/p>\n

Now with the death of his mother, Jin wants revenge against Tekken and Heihachi so he enlists in an open call to defeat a beast of a fighter which will gain him entry into the Iron Fist competition. Needless to say, Jin wins the match and because he needs finances and management that the others already have, he accepts the help from Steve Fox (LUKE GOSS) with a nice cut if Jin were to win the tournament. I could recount the competition, representing the corporations running other regions, but they\u2019re not really iatrical to the plot save for Christie Monteiro (KELLY OVERTON) who is sort of a love interest but not really since Jin has a girlfriend (MIRCEA MONROE) on the outside as well.<\/p>\n

** Spoiler Territory **<\/strong><\/p>\n

While you could guess the rest, there is a detour when Jin\u2019s anger moves from the father to the son who, in a twist that would only impress M. Night, Jin discovers is actually his father. You see, Kazuya had sexually assaulted Jin\u2019s mother, who was also an Iron Fist fighter, and out of that Jin was conceived. Surely we won\u2019t see some final fight between Kazuya and Jin… right? There\u2019s some corporate politics thrown in but that\u2019s the gist.<\/p>\n

** End Spoiler **<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not much of a gamer playing mainly sports games (NCAA Football) and the occasional action-fighter (Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mortal Kombat vs. DC) and while I have heard of the \u201cTekken\u201d game, I never played it and thus don\u2019t really have a dog in the fight when it comes to the motion picture adaptation of the same name. Reading some comments on IMDb, fans of the games didn\u2019t care for the film but as an outsider, it\u2019s merely an average and forgettable film.<\/p>\n

My main problem I had with Tekken<\/em><\/strong>, beyond it being forgettable, is the fights themselves, while energetic, aren\u2019t anything special. I\u2019ve seen it numerous times in other films and there\u2019s little suspense because you know how it\u2019s all going to end. Now, one can point to a movie like Rocky<\/em> and say the same thing but that was a great character drama building up to the final fight where the story here is thrown together using the tried and true revenge plotline.<\/p>\n

In regards to the casting, I\u2019ll give some props to Jon Foo for taking on the lead character with some success, sans a lame one-liner, as he\u2019s believable as a fighter and he has enough talent give credibility to some of the more dramatic moments. He\u2019s certainly a heck lot better than Dong-gun Jang in The Warrior\u2019s Way<\/em>, though I guess that\u2019s not saying a whole lot. The supporting cast are fine between Luke Goss taking the coveted \u201cand\u201d credit along with the beautiful Kelly Overton filling in the love interest gap during the Iron Fist scenes. Then you have the other fighters who I don\u2019t care to name and honestly, they\u2019re dispensed with fairly quickly so no real point anyway and that goes for the actors who played them. Then you have Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and I can only say that he fills the part well enough as does Ian Anthony Dale (The Hangover<\/em>) though he is completely forgettable as the primary villain.<\/p>\n

Tekken<\/em><\/strong> was directed by Dwight Little who helmed the 2004 classic, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid<\/em> as well as several television series like \u201cBones\u201d and… Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers <\/em>and the Steven Seagal epic, Marked for Death<\/em>. The man behind the screenplay is Alan McElroy who has some fantastic flicks in his own right like Wrong Turn<\/em>, Spawn<\/em> and The Marine<\/em> (along with Halloween 4<\/em>). So you see we got some genuine talent behind the camera and on the page, how could it go so wrong with Tekken<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Well, anytime you do a game-to-film adaptation, you\u2019re already starting from behind. You often have rabid fans that have certain expectations often not met and then you have to put together a thematic story suitable for a major motion picture. Thinking back, I can\u2019t recall a great game adaptation with two craptacular Mortal Kombat<\/em> flicks; Super Mario Bros.<\/em> which was utter nonsense; Resident Evil<\/em> which has a following but the films have been at best underwhelming; and finally Tomb Raider<\/em> which had potential with Jolie looking pitch-perfect for Lara Croft but the story was utter crap (and need I even mention the BloodRayne<\/em> movies?). There are many others but those are the ones that came in mind. That said, Silent Hill<\/em> was alright and although I\u2019m in the minority, Hitman<\/em> is a bit of a guilty pleasure.<\/p>\n

In the end, Tekken<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t a terrible film… just terribly average. The fights are often pretty standard and the characters are bland despite some OK performances. The story also is run-of-the-mill drivel and although I don\u2019t mind a good revenge plotline, you at least have to make it suspenseful which this had none of. If you have nothing better to watch, you might give this a rental down the line, otherwise you can pass this one on by.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This release comes with an embossed slip cover but on my copy, there was a UPC sticker over the original UPC and it was hell to get off (I needed to just to get the BD case out). Inside is a DVD\/Digital Copy<\/span><\/strong> combo disc for those who want to watch this in another room without a Blu-ray player or on a portable device. It should be noted that Anchor Bay has provided the features on the DVD.<\/p>\n

As far as features goes, we get a Stunt Stars: Tekken<\/em> (51:02; SD)<\/span><\/strong> featurette, a long-running feature about the origins of the story and the stunt work done on the film along with interviews and the Theatrical Trailer (2:25; HD)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tekken<\/em><\/strong> kicks its way onto Blu-ray high-def in its original 2.35 aspect ratio presentation. The 1080p high-def transfer isn\u2019t the greatest as it does contain some of the most amount of film noise I\u2019ve noticed in a Blu-ray disc but even so, the detail levels are still good and despite it being a primarily dark movie \u2013 since most of it takes place at night \u2013, the color distribution is nice. It might not have the \u2018pop\u2019 other high-def features do, but it\u2019s still a solid transfer.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Anchor Bay remains as one of the last major distributors to still use Dolby TrueHD tracks and although there\u2019s little to no difference between TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, it\u2019s still odd that they use it in one title yet will use DTS-HD for another movie. In any case, the track is fine allowing for clear dialogue, a little depth to the punches and kicks and the generic score comes through the other channels quite well.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a><\/p>\n

OVERALL \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Tekken<\/em><\/strong> is just the next in a long line of failed game to film adaptations. I didn\u2019t feel this was a bad movie, just an average one. It held some entertainment value but not nearly enough to recommend this. The Blu-ray itself has an OK featurette and good audio\/video transfers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>07\/14\/2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tekken is just the next in a long line of failed game to film adaptations. I didn\u2019t feel this was a bad movie, just an average one. It held some entertainment value but not nearly enough to recommend this.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[933,934,932],"class_list":["post-2411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-jon-foo","tag-luke-goss","tag-tekken"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25834,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions\/25834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}