You can't walk into a video arcade without seeing a row of martial arts games. They're a popular type of entertainment, and given the outlandish nature of the character designs in them, it's little wonder that the better-known games are eventually spun off into animated movies and TV series.
Tekken:The Motion Picture is one of the latest of this genre to emerge from Japan. From the title (has anyone but me noticed that far too many movie adaptations of Japanese series contain the phrase "The Motion Picture" in their titles?) to the unconvincing redemption of a key character to an out-of-the-blue ripoff of Jurassic Park, this is not a masterpiece of either subtlety or originality. Tekken's violence pales next to the fight scenes in the Dragonball Z series, and the film can't match the hypnotic tension of Fist of the North Star(which itself was not a classic).
What makes Tekken watchable is the plot, straight out of the James Bond school - fast-paced and escapist. The film never betrays its origins as a video game, as the paired-off kickboxing matches are rarely spotlighted. Rather, the film dwells almost monomanically on a revenge plot, placing the video game elements far in the background. Our Hero (who resembles a bushy-eyed version of Akira Toriyama's Vegita) seeks restitution for a particularly traumatic incident suffered from his father, an incident which has shattered his respect for morality and decency. Given the heavy-handed nature of the screenplay, we get to see the incident at least two more times in flashback form. There's a moderately successful attempt to flesh out the supporting characters of the movie, although soon after their introduction, they tend to vanish.
The voice acting is good, though not outstanding. The dubbed dialogue, however, ranges from straightforward action-film lingo to *Kung Fu-style mumbojumbo. The worst offender, aside from the narrator's incomprehensible lecture about violence, is the character named Jun. We are supposed to identify with Jun (who resembles a cross between Tifa Lockheart and Lara Croft), as she represents the most humane presence in the film. But her dialogue is naggingly preachy, and even contains some unintentional hilarity, making her one of the more annoying characters in martial arts anime.
Tekken isn't the best example of anime to hit America in the past few years. Given that the only fresh anime currently airing in the USA is Pokemon, however, makes it likely you'll rent Tekken in the near future. Enjoy it as a throwaway adventure.
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Other Anime Reviews Dragonball Z:The Movie Review* Fushigi Yuugi Review* Galaxy Express 999:Eternal Fantasy Review* My Neighbor Totoro Review* Neon Genesis Evangelion Review |
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