Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D (Movie Review)

Caught the one night showing for the CGI movie Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D which was presented by Fathom Events on July 26, 2011.

First reaction..."It was good, but not great."

However, I do believe that I enjoyed this film a little bit more than the live-action movie (Click Here for that review).

Ok so for those that have no idea what Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D is here's the trailer to give you a little taste...



SYNOPSIS

Several years ago an entire class disappeared from Mishima Polytechnical School; where they went and what happened to them no one is quite sure. However one student named Shin has resurfaced, and now Jin and Kazuya are in a race to retrieve him.

To help locate and gain Shin's trust, Jin has Nina Williams send in Alisa; while Kazuya has his right-hand "man" Anna Williams force Ling Xiaoyu into assisting them.

Ling and Alisa end up becoming friends, just believing that they are competing for Shin's love.

But when Shin is mysteriously kidnapped, that friendship dissipates momentarily and Ling and Alisa will battle each other after they realize they are actually spies for Jin and Kazuya respectively.

When all the players finally catch up to Shin, there is an interesting surprise waiting for them. Heihachi Mishima, father to Kazuya, and grandfather of Jin, has nicely laid a trap for his bloodline, and now they are to fight; a fight that could spell disaster for the world depending on who is victorious.

CHARACTERS

There are actually fewer characters appearing in this movie than the live action one, but for the most part the most important characters of Tekken are represented; Jin, Kazuya, Heihachi, Nina, and Anna.

The actual lead characters for this film though are fighters that didn't appear in the games until Tekken 3 (Ling) and Tekken 6 (Alisa).

Also making appearances are Lee (Tekken 1) and Panda (Tekken 3).

Of course again I say it would be nice to see a movie that featured KING and PAUL PHOENIX!!!

ACTION

Being that this movie was completely done in CGI, we got to see all the fantastic moves and combos that we see on a regular basis from the video game franchise.

This movie is also missing one thing that you would think had to be in a movie based off a fighting game...there is no tournament! The removal of a tournament from the film was planned all along though, Namco was hoping to put more substance and more emotion into characters and they believed that was best accomplished without a tournament.

DID I MISS SOMETHING???

So mentioned in the synopsis was the fact that Jin was hunting down Shin, but yet there is a scene with Shin in the shower, and Ling and Alisa are watching him through the door. After they run off, Shin turns around and walks into Jin who says "You're playing them off one another, good."

Well it seems to be Jin anyways. In the shot all we get to see are Shin's bare legs and another pair of legs in jeans and boots. But the voice sounds like Jin's.

So if Jin is with Shin in the shower (yes that's weird) then why are they so shocked to see each other later in the film just before the final showdown?

Unless I was supposed to believe that that was Heihachi, which makes a little bit more sense but not a lot since Shin wanted to kill Heihachi for what he had done to him.

CONCLUSION

Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D was not bad in the end. The story was good; there was a good mix of humor and action throughout, and the most important thing, the writers kept to the characters' storylines and characteristics that were already in place.

Were there cheesy moments? Yes. Were there times when you wanted to smack Ling and Alisa for being over emotional teen girls? Yes. Did you enjoy watching Panda fly? Heck YEAH!

If you missed the opportunity to see Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D in theaters on July 26, 2011, then the only thing we can suggest is to pickup a copy of Tekken: Hybrid when it comes out. Tekken: Hybrid will not only feature the movie but the newly redone in HD Tekken Tag Tournament 1.

For those that caught the film, what did you think?

-GJ

Tekken (Movie Review)

Finally got around to purchasing and then watching the live action Tekken movie; my impression "eh it's not fantastic, but it's not awful either."

To get your juices flowing here's the film's trailer...



SYNOPSIS

The synopsis for this one is pretty simple; years in the future the world has seen a great devastating war which leads to seven major corporations taking over the divided territories from the world's governments. Tekken, the largest and more powerful of the corporations, holds an annual Iron Fist tournament that invites the other corporations best fighters to participate. The fighter that wins awards their corporation with more control over the others.

Enter the people's champion, Jin Kazama (Jon Foo). Jin lives just outside of Tekken City and is basically a thief. After stealing some important piece of hardware from Tekken, Tekken's chief security officer Kazuya (Ian Anthony Dale) takes extreme measures to make sure the thief is brought to justice. This action however leads to the death of Jun Kazama (Tamlyn Tomita), Jin's mother, which causes Jin to decide that he will enter the Iron Fist tournament and kill Tekken president Heihachi Mishima (Cary-Hiroyki Tagawa) whom he believes is responsible for his mother's death.

ACTION

The fight scenes were well choreographed and the story seemed to move smoothly from scene to scene. The one disappointment in this area was the fact that the rounds seemed to move without all the fighters participating in each round, which got us to the championship round rather quickly.

CHARACTER APPEARANCE

Many had complained online that the actors chosen to play their respective roles didn't look anything like the video game character they were chosen to represent.

In my opinion I believe that casting did a respectable job. Now I don't think they got everyone right but a good job nonetheless.

The biggest complaint was over Kazuya, because he never appeared in any of the games with a goatee, but yet Ian Anthony Dale's portrayal did. Not a big deal, things get adapted of course when going to the silver screen, but in my opinion the goatee is just a small problem for me; my issue lies with the fact that Ian Anthony Dale doesn't look like Kazuya facially at all.

The rest of the appearance complaints lie mainly on hair styles not being accurate with the game as well; mainly Jin's.

But if you can get past these minor flaws, you can see casting did well.

Twisted Sisters

Appearing in the movie are sisters Nina Williams (Candice Hillebrand) and Anna Williams (Marian Zapico), who in every video game version absolutely hate each other and are often attempting to kill one another.

Yet in movie form the sisters work together in an attempt to remove Jin from the tournament. It appears that they have no animosity towards each other whatsoever.

Now Nina Williams is a main stay from the beginning of the Tekken video game franchise so of course any movie would have to of included Nina, but Anna didn't come in until Tekken 3 and as far as the movie was concerned, she didn't do anything all that important. Anna was not essential to helping Nina attack Jin, and she never participated in a single round, so ultimately this character was just wasted space.

Who Should Have Appeared

So some of the bigger hitters from the games did make casting, however there were several big franchise names that were missing.

• Paul Phoenix - Paul was briefly mentioned by the Iron Fist announcers during one of the pre-fight commentaries, but never seen. Paul has been one of the mainstays since the first Tekken game and a fan favorite.

• King - Like Paul, King has been around since game one and is another fan favorite. King being a wrestler would have brought a different fighting style to the Iron Fist tournament as well.

• Hwoarang - Makes his appearance in Tekken 3, Hwoarang became a very popular character because of his fighting style. Hwoarang's back story would have allowed for him to be a unique asset to this film; he could have been Jin's best friend, or one of Tekken Corp's prized fighters.

All in all, if you can get past the minor changes from video game to film, the few missing fan favorites, and the fact that there have been many of these types of movies of late, then you will really enjoy Tekken.

Seen Tekken? Let us know your thoughts and opinions.

To learn more about the Tekken movie, Click Here.

-GJ

Special Report: To The Mailbox

So I don't actually go often to my mailbox, because frankly I only usually get one of two things; junk mail and bills.

However knowing that I had an eBay package due to arrive I made sure to go out and check it on a daily basis.

Today (7/22/2011), I finally received the package I was waiting for. Unfortunately, it wasn't alone.

One of these things I was excited to have in my hands; the other, well not so much. On the plus side, my violation is for only $3.50.

Oh well, welcome to Life.

-GJ

Captain America II (TV Movie, 1979)

Wow, this movie was bad, I mean really really bad. Okay, I'll be fair, in 1979, this might have been an awesome movie.



The outfit appears to be a nothing more than a blue muscle suit, a motorcycle helmet with these weird wings painted on and a blue tinted visor, and a shield that was less than par.

Do you see the shield; it's red, blue, and clear. Clear? Really?

Oh and the even better part, there's a scene where Captain America starts running down some stairs but then decides to do that cheesy sliding down the rail thing, yeah it was bad.

In 1979 this movie may have been awesome; in 2011, well not so much.

As a Star Wars fan though I have to admit I was a tad bit giddy when I realized that the Villain, Miguel, was played by none other than Christopher Lee (Count Dooku).

Has anyone seen and liked the TV movie Captain America II?

-GJ

Spider-Man (2002) Trailer Feat. Twin Towers

In early 2001 this was the teaser trailer to the first Sam Rami Spiderman film; for obvious reasons, it was pulled from theaters in late 2001.

It's still a kick@$$ trailer though.



Thoughts?

-GJ

To The Comic Book Store #36

Can you believe that it's Wednesday already?

So the trip to the local comic book store was yet again rather uneventful. There was nobody at the free bins so I was able to go right up and find my comics rather quickly.

Of course this week we did actually have to spend some money and buy a comic book. I know, I know, it's sad right?

Then of course stupid me had to go walking around the store and managed to find something else to drool over. I of course resisted cracking the wallet open again but man I really want this...

Come on you can't tell me that isn't cool.

Anyways, here's what we did come away with...

FREE

WildCats #32	WildCats #33

PAID FOR

So what do you guys think? Have you read any of these comics?

Thoughts?

-GJ

Where In The World Is Batman - Europa?

Back in early 2010 there was this big hoopla over a new 4 issue Batman mini-series entitled Europa.

Synopsis here from DC Universe: The Source...

In the pages of BATMAN: EUROPA, the impossible has happened – the Batman is on the brink of defeat, at the hands of a virus with no cure. Surely there’s someone that can help him? Well, there is – the Joker. Who infected Batman with the virus? What does the Joker have to do to save him? And how can it all happen before the Dark Knight collapses? Together, the unlikely teammates and arch-foes travel through Europe cobbling together clues while the clock ticks down.

Originally scheduled for release in January, it was then pushed back to February, then to March, July, and then completely off the DC schedule altogether.

It was starting to look like DC had pulled a fast one over us, but then there was hope...

After repeated requests via Twitter to Jim Lee (@jimlee00) he finally gave us a response. Now it's only the words "of course" but that's good enough for us.

So there is still hope in seeing Batman - Europa, and that's a good thing, because there is nothing better in life than having one of your favorite characters being done by one of your favorite artists (that'd be Jim Lee in case you're just joining in).

Now of course we don't expect to see Europa anytime soon, in fact we have a feeling we won't see this title until at least next January; in case you missed it, DC is doing this whole reboot thing in August, so they're a tad bit on the busy side at the moment.

Still exciting just to know that we will get to see Batman - Europa at some point.

Thoughts?

-GJ

Batman: Dark Knight Rises - Trailer

Thoughts?

-GJ

To The Comic Book Store #35

Now don't get me wrong, I can't wait to see the new Captain America movie, but seriously there are other things to talk about; though no other topics were discussed tonight.

Main point of CA discussion was a woman's dislike of her husband's CA / Dallas Cowboys crossover t-shirt. It went on the full twenty minutes I was there.

Had to stay within budget this week and since there wasn't anything that tickled my fancy, it wasn't too hard to stay with the free comics this week.

So check'em out...

FREE


-GJ

General Maximilian Veers (Squidoo Lens)

Check out my new Squidoo lens dedicated to Star Wars' General Maximilian Veers

-GJ

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Squidoo Lens

After many many many weeks, I've finally finished my Squidoo lens dedicated to The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

-GJ

How To Make Robin Cool

See it's that simple. Check out the new Robin in the upcoming video game ARKHAM ASYLUM.

To The Comic Book Store #34

I don't know where all the fun people have disappeared too but ya'll need to start coming back to Coliseum of Comics on Wednesday evenings, the place is just dead without ya'll.

So since there is nothing new to share, here's this week's take...

FREE

PAID FOR

-GJ

Happy 4th of July!!!

-GJ

A.F.A.

Action Figures Anonymous

I do think that I have a problem; Everytime I go out now it seems that I can't help myself but to buy a new action figure.

Oh who am I kidding I don't even have to go out to buy action figures; I spend a lot and I mean a lot of time on this little known website called eBay (ever heard of it?).

Sometimes it's just too hard to lay off when you find a figure for just $3.

(Could you resist at $3?)

I'm also not biased into what kind of action figures I'm buying, I'll collect anything that looks awesome to me. I have a lot of Star Wars (over 300 figures), a couple of video game figures (Halo, Gears of War), and some from Japanese anime (Gundams mainly).

There was a time when I use to display my Star Wars figures around the house, but then I realized that this is just getting a little too out of hand...

(I have since boxed all of these)

Can one ever have too many action figures? I'm going with no, fore I still want...


And there are probably hundreds more on eBay.

I just can't seem to help myself, but as long as the bills are paid at the end of the month, I think it's alright to indulge one's self from time to time.

-GJ