Review - Tekken (2009)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, as promised the other day, this is my review of Tekken, the 2009 live-action movie adaptation of the fighting game franchise of the same name. Directed by Dwight H. Little, this movie stars Jon Foo, Kelly Overton, Ian Anthony Dale, Cung Le, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Candice Hillebrand, Luke Goss, Mircea Monroe, Lateef Crowder, Gary Daniels, Tamlyn Tomita, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. 

      So, the movie establishes that after a series of wars, governments around the world collapsed and corporations took over. Eight companies, collectively referred to as Iron Fist, would divide up the various territories across the globe, with the North American territory falling under the strongest of these companies: Tekken. And, once a year, the eight companies hold a martial arts tournament, also known as Iron Fist, where the winner receives wealth and celebrity status, as well as honor and prestige for the company they represent. 

       We meet our main protagonist, Jim Kazama, as he is running through a dangerous part of the slums known as The Anvil, where he grew up raised and trained in martial arts by his mother, Jun Kazama. After evading some thugs chasing him, Jim makes his delivery to underground revolutionary leader Bonner, who is preparing to launch a free underground Internet to subvert Tekken's own. And, despite the danger, Jim making his contraband runs for Bonner makes a ton of money. 

      However, Jin seeks to someday fight in the Iron Fist tournament, but Jun forbids it. After an argument with Jun, and despite her warnings, Jin leaves and meets his girlfriend Kara, and the two spend the night together. That is, unfortunately, until Jin realizes he's being hunted by the Jackhammers, who are Tekken's elite soldiers, who kill Jun. After witnessing the death of his mother, Jin sifts through her belongings, finding an ID card implying Jun once worked for the Tekken corporation. Blaming Tekken CEO Heihachi Mishima for her death, Jin decides to participate in an Open Call for a wild card slot in Iron Fist, with his Open Call opponent being disgraced Iron Fist fighter Marshall Law. Despite being overwhelmed at first, Jin recalls his training from his mother, and overcomes the more seasoned Marshall Law. 

      It's here where Steve Fox, a former Iron Fist fighter himself, offers to help Jin with everything he needs for the upcoming Iron Fist tournament, and takes Jin onto a bus bound for Tekken City, where the tournament is being hosted . Later that night, Kazuya is accosted by his father for his recklessness and ambition, as it's clear that Kazuya wants his father out of the way in order to take control of the Tekken corporation. And, as the various Iron Fist fighters arrive for the tournament, Kazuya runs down the list of participants: Raven, Sergei Dragunov, sisters Anna and Nina Williams, Eddy Gordo, Miguel Rojo, Christie Montero, defending champion Bryan Fury, and the masked samurai Yoshimitsu. 

       In the first round of the tournament, Raven fights and bests Eddy Gordo, while Jin struggles in his match with Miguel Rojo, but overcomes his opponent by recalling his training with Jun. And Jin, representing the everyman, is a ratings sensation for the audience and live crowd, as well as being impressive in the eyes of both Heihachi and Kazuya, the latter of whom meets Jim after the fight. After the first round ends, Jin is approached by Christie, and the two head out to a local club and really hit it off. At the same time, Kazuya runs a DNA match on Jin, matching him to Jun. Realizing what this means, Kazuya orders both Anna and Nina Williams to assassinate Jin in the middle of the night. However, Jin overpowers both of them with help from Christie, and the two seek help from Steve, as Jin was still stunned pretty badly. Initially, Steve believes it's due to the higher ups not wanting an underdog to win the tournament, but Jin hands him Jun's old ID card, and Steve puts it together: someone wants Jin dead because of his connection to Jun, who, like Steve, was a former Iron Fist fighter under the employ of Tekken. 

      In the quarterfinals, Christie defeats Nina, and Kazuya rigs the fight selector to pit Jin against Yoshimitsu. And, despite Heihachi attempting to change the fight selection as a fight between Jin and Yoshimitsu is better for the semifinals, Kazuya interjects and uses this as an opportunity to seize control of Tekken from his father. And, the fight is pretty epic, with Yoshimitsu and Jin having a ton of back and forth, and the fight becomes one of life and death, causing a ratings sensation. And, it's here where Kazuya reveals Jin's full name, Jin Kazama, to Heihachi, and it's revealed that Jin is Kazuya's son. Heihachi causes a distraction, allowing Jim to gain the upper hand and defeat Yoshimitsu. After the fight, all remaining Iron Fist fighters are rounded up, and Kazuya reveals a rule change: going forward, all matches in the Iron Fist tournament will be to the death. 

       Jin, with help from Steve, Christie, and Raven, makes an escape, runs into an imprisoned Heihachi, who offers to help in exchange for freedom. They agree, and Raven stays behind to buy time for the others to escape into the Anvil. And, it's here where Heihachi speaks to Jin privately. Years ago, Jin's mother Jun was beaten and raped by Kazuya, and Heihachi found her and had her smuggled out of Tekken City and into the Anvil. And, as Jin is Kazuya's son, he is also an heir apparent to the Tekken corporation. Unfortunately, Kazuya and the Jackhammers arrive, Steve dies in the scuffle, and Kazuya has his father taken away to be killed. And, the last words we hear from him are "I am Mishima Heihachi. I AM Tekken." 

       The next morning, Kazuya announced that the forthcoming matches in the Iron Fist tournament will be to the death, and the first match pits Bryan Fury against Sergei Dragunov, with Bryan winning the match. In the cells, Kazuya meets Jim and informs him that he will be facing Fury next. And, for good measure, Kazuya takes Christie with him to the control room. Jin struggles against Bryan, but recalls his training with Jun, as well as a few words of encouragement from Raven earlier, and defeats Bryan to the elation of the crown in the arena and watching in the Anvil. 

      Outraged by Jin's victory, Kazuya enters himself into the tournament to fight him. Utilizing two moon axes, Kazuya almost bests his own son, baiting him with a story of what happened that night between himself and Jun, but a distraction by Christie allows Jim to overpower his father, but he refuses to kill the man. Jin is declared the new champion of Iron Fist, and he goes home. As he leaves, Jin receives a salute by the Jackhammers, cementing his new role as CEO of the Tekken corporation, and reunites with his friends in the Anvil, where he is hailed as a hero. In a post-credits scene, we learn that Heihachi survived by ordering the Jackhammer to stand down by saying "I am Mishima Heihachi. I AM Tekken. You will obey!" 

      So, much like with the movie adaptation of Street Fighter, Tekken isn't a perfect adaptation of the game series. However, much like with 1995's Mortal Kombat, Tekken gets pretty close to being a faithful adaptation of the games. However, there were a lot of changes made to the game narrative in this movie, and we're going to go over them. First, the corporation that is run by the Mishima family in the games is called Mishima Zaibatsu. The martial arts tournament, simplified in the movie to just "Iron Fist," was called "King of Iron Fist" in the games. Heck, even the name Tekken is Japanese for "Iron Fist." So, changing the company name, and city it's based in, to Tekken, and having Tekken be part of a corporate collective called Iron Fist, which holds a tournament of the same name, just comes off as redundant. 

      But, that's not to say there was nothing good about the movie Tekken. You see, the martial arts fights in this movie were fantastic. Now, while most of them were focused on Jin, who is the protagonist, there are a few others like Raven vs. Eddy Gordo, Christie Montero vs. Nina Williams, and Bryan Fury vs. Sergei Dragunov. But, as I said, Jin gets the lion's share of martial arts fights in this movie against four different opponents: Marshall Law, Miguel Rojo, Yoshimitsu, Bryan Fury, and finally Kazuya. And, what makes each fight unique is in the choreography. French fight choreographer and parkour sensation Cyril Raffaelli made it so that each fight was unique, and each one utilized different move and skill sets to make them stand out and not bleed together. 

      And, the performances themselves were pretty decent. Jon Foo as Jin was pretty good, and he carries the chip on his shoulder that Jim was famous for in the games. Luke Goss does a great job taking on the mentor role of Steve Fox, and it's neat to see him as a former fighter passing on his knowledge to the next generation. Others in the movie like Darrin Dewitt Henson as Raven, Lateef Crowder as Eddy Gordo, Cung Le as Marshall Law, and Gary Daniels as Bryan Fury were all decent enough, while Kelly Overton as Christie Montero was alright, but felt mostly like eye candy. But, to me, the three big standouts were Ian Anthony Dale as Kazuya, Tamlyn Tomita as Jun, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Heihachi. When I learned that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who is famous for his portrayal of Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat, was playing Heihachi, I lost my mind, as I couldn't think of a better actor for the role. 

        Conversely, I'm a little split on Ian Anthony Dale's portrayal of Kazuya. On one hand, he's an absolutely despicable villain for the movie and Ian Anthony Dale acted the hell out of the.role, but on the other, he lacks the physical attributes that define Kazuya for game fans, such as the extensive scarring and signature hairstyle, nor does the movie showcase how incessantly abusive Heihachi was to Kazuya,. especially in his childhood. But, the dynamic between Kazuya and Jin, especially in the final fight, is pretty on point. 

      Many of the costumes are fairly game accurate, again with the exception of Kazuya. But, one thing different is for Raven, the filmmakers opted to adapt is alternate skin as opposed to his main skin, as Raven's main skin from the games is heavily reminiscent of Wesley Snipes' character Blade. Other than that, they way that Nina Williams, Eddy Gordo, and Jin's signature attire was adapted from the game was pretty good. Also, the look of Yoshimitsu, which has always differed from game to game, looks like the best possible live-action interpretation of the character. 

      Something many fans have noted was the omission of signature game elements such as the "Devil Gene" storyline, which ties in to both Kazuya and Jin, as well as the absence of fan-favorite characters like King, Paul Phoenix, Kuma, and Michelle Chang. But, while Michelle Chang could have been a decent addition, let's be honest, Paul's hair would have been damn near impossible to pull off, King would have looked slightly silly, being a luchador with a Jaguar mask, and Kuma is, literally, a panda. Given the grounded, more realistic approach this movie took to adapt Tekken, these elements, like the Devil Gene, Kuma, and such would have been more difficult to explain. Only with a more fantastical approach could some of these things make sense. Although, the movie did make sure that Bryan Fury was still a cyborg, so there's that. 

     Anyway, while not a fantastic movie, Tekken is far from one of the worst movies to be adapted from a popular fighting game. Do I recommend it? Kinda, if you enjoy the Tekken games or are a fan of martial arts movies overall. If you ask me, while it's not one of the best video game adaptations out there, it's certainly among the better ones. 

     Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and join me next time as we begin the 2025 edition of the annual spook-tacular event: HallowScream.