Tekken: Blood Vengeance Review

This picture actually sums up the movie quite nicely

Recently Namco-Bandai has taken a step into the movie department and make a CGI movie based off their Tekken franchise. Now obviously, going in, there are various thoughts in my head like 'Iknow this won't be a great movie, but I at least expect pretty visuals and some good fights. That's what Tekken is all about!' Well once the credits began rolling, I find myself partially right in those thoughts. Is this game-based movie enjoyable?

The logical place to begin would be the general plot, which is simple enough. The Mishima Zaibatsu, led by Jin Kazama, and G-Corp, an anti-Mishima organization, led by Jin's father Kazuya, are racing to find and obtain a particular person named Shin Kamiya, who is located in a well-secured school and can't just be raided for some reason. Enter Ling Xiaoyu, chinese martial artist and school girl, whom G-Corp gets ahold of in order to covertly enter this school and locate their target. While there, she meets a strange pink-haired girl named Alisa, which the two become friends, rivals, enemies, and then friends again in the course of the first half. Okay, actually typing that out it doesn't sound so simple but....

To make a summary short, the story is boring, slow, and doesn't feel like something out of Tekken for a while. It almost feels like the creators wanted to make a school drama for a good while and then realized they're dealing with Tekken, one of the biggest fighting games in modern day gaming. That said, the movie begins to feel more and more like the game we know.

The bore one feels is frequently alleviated with the occasional fights between the cast that appear, and yet, I feel like they didn't go far enough. Towards the end the movie becomes one big brawl between the main characters and is ultimately a very enjoyable fight, though it starts to get a little cheesy as it goes on. I actually feel like this scene was the first scene made and afterwards, the writers were wondering 'How can we get this three together at once?'

Another thing done right is cameos, but granted they're not too many, most of the cast isn't mentioned at all and it's just missed opportunities. Who wouldn't want to see school ground fight between but even those that do appear, I feel more could've been done with the character and demonstrate why the character is in the movie in the first place.

Visually, the movie tends to alternate. I saw the movie in 3D (mainly because that was the only option), which wasn't necessary. There were a few cool looking effects every now and again, involving broken glass or specks of water, but it doesn't make or break the movie. And for the most part, the scenes look well done, but then there are other scenes that really take you out of the experience that this is a semi-serious kung ku film, such as Xiayou riding Panda. It looks cartoonish. In fact, any of the running scenes look weird to watch, like they're going much faster than they really are. It's kind of weird to see happen.

Overall, if you're looking for a good movie going experience, you'll be disappointed, not that you could see this in the theatre's anyway. One night only deal. But as for the movie itself, it has some fun fights and humorous dialogue and cameos, but it just seems to disappoint at so many turns. It's not the worst movie I've ever seen, but it's still pretty bad with mainly the fights being the main high light of the film. If you're a die hard Tekken fan, check it out. Otherwise, just check out a possible friend to have it, or wait for it to get in the bargain bin.