Jin is a contraband runner and a street fighter who lived in the slum of Anvil, outside Tekken City. His mother, Jun, who also taught him to fight, is killed by Jackhammers. Jin investigated his ruined house and found a Tekken ID that belonged to his mother. He entered the Open Call for the Iron Fist so he can enter Tekken City and avenge his mother's death.
I have no idea where to start with this... Let's see, I have to be honest here, I only played Tekken games only a handfull of times, I'm more of a RPG girl more than anything. So I only know what the character looks like and some of background of the characters.
The story is totally different from the games. With a little bit of consultation with my brother I saw a lot of differences, some character design, fighting style and definitely story of each character. But from a non-player point of view, the story is pretty decent but the ending is a little weird... seriously... second movie hint much!
The movie's fight scene and packour stunts are AWESOME! It was good to watch and definitely make you hold your breath (ok maybe not =P). The sets are cool though, they created at least 4 different battle arenas for the movie. It is not like the videogame but since the videogame features different locations as arena I think it's a cute addition. There are also special effects to make it look like they are fighting in a different environment but it's just one scene, it would be cool though if they continued that throughout the whole movie...
The music is good too especially the opening song... (sorry I couldn't find the title of the song).
The actor choice is okay, it's a little weird to watch Jon Foo play Jin Kazama though. I mean he looks like a kid and he's acting just like Jin, all serious and matured. Well that's great acting though, but the accent? I get it he has Chinese blood but he looks English (according to Wiki he grew up in London). He should have tried to sound at least Japanese. I also read that he's a practitioner of Wushu, so if he did his stunts himself then 2 thumbs up from me!!!
And lastly that I have to somehow praise are the costumes of the actors. I may not know all the character designs by heart but they did really well with the costumes (and they should, cause there are a lot of good cosplayers out there). Raven played by Darrin Dewitt Henson looked like the character himself. Nina Williams played Candice Hillebrand looked super sexy so much like the game!
There are 15 characters from the game that is featured in the movie so I won't be reviewing them one by one. So I'll focus on the main 3 characters.
~ Jin Kazama played by Jon Foo, he looks too young and somewhat innocent comapared to the game design. They should have made his hair a little bigger, I mean Jin's character design in the game has this signature hair cut. Jon Foo did have that hair cut but not that noticable.
~ Kazuya Mishima played by Ian Anthony Dale, I'm quite impressed though his facial features were hidden under all that make-up but he looks evil just like the game design. Hair style is different but his make-up and costume looks great on him.
~ Heihachi Mishima played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, he looks prefect but his hair is a little too short compared to the game design. I loved him though he's perfect for the role but the hair, longer please?
Funny stuff on the movie, everytime Jin fights he'll win in the beginning of the bout then he would start losing. Then a flashback on his mother teaching him stuff then he'll win the fight. Seriously!?!? And why aren't there any explosions? Come on! Dead or Alive and Street Fighter had explosions in the end of the film! He just walked out, complete with salutation from the Jacks and a little parade... geez... really weird ending, I think the only explosions worth looking at was when Heihachi died. Oh talking about Heihachi it's funny that they had to put that line there... "Heihachi Mishima is dead" I mean seriously they just have to put it there.
A little bit of hate... when this movie was announced last year, I wanted to see so bad that I don't care what the story would look like. Because Chiaki Kuriyama, one of my favorite Japanese actress, is reported to play, one of my favorite videogame character, Ling Xiao Yu. But then before this movie is released, Ling Xiao Yu's character is cut from the movie and also Hwarang is gone too. I was like "why the heck did they cut two of my favorite videogame characters!?!? argg..."
Also my brother hated that Paul Pheonix is not on the film, since Paul has been in all Tekken games so far...
Overall, I liked this film but if I didn't know Tekken games existed I'll probably love it. The story is alright but the ending left questions... Did Heihachi really die? Who inherited Tekken Corp? ...really squeal hint much?
originally posted: August 16, 2010
