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is a 2009 American
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...
directed by
Dwight Little Dwight Hubbard Little (born January 13, 1956) is an American film and television director, known for directing the films ''Marked for Death'', '' Rapid Fire'', '' Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home'', '' Murder at 1600'' and '' Halloween 4: The Ret ...
and distributed by
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and
Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...
. It was written by
Alan B. McElroy Alan B. McElroy is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film, television, comic books, and video games. He is best known for his collaborations with Todd McFarlane on the ''Spawn'' franchise, and for penning horror films such as ...
and is loosely based on the
fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
series of the same name. Its story follows
Jin Kazama is a fictional character of the ''Tekken'' fighting game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment. He was introduced as the protagonist in the 1997 game ''Tekken 3'' and has been the central character of the series from that game onwards. T ...
in his attempts to enter the Iron Fist Tournament in order to avenge the loss of his mother,
Jun Kazama is a fictional character from the '' Tekken'' fighting game series, who made her debut in ''Tekken 2'', her first and only canonical appearance until the confirmation of her return in ''Tekken 8'' when she was revealed as a character during a ga ...
, by confronting the forces of the city that are also holding the competition. It stars
Jon Foo Jonathan Patrick Foo (born 30 October 1982) is a Singaporean–English actor, martial artist and stunt performer known for his role as Jin Kazama in the 2009 live action film ''Tekken''. . Early life Foo was born in London to a Chinese Singapo ...
,
Kelly Overton Kelly Overton is an American actress. She is known for portraying Vanessa Van Helsing in the 2016 Syfy fantasy drama series ''Van Helsing''. Early life Overton grew up in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and studied at the American Academy of Drama ...
,
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Japanese: 田川 洋行, ''Tagawa Hiroyuki''; born September 27, 1950) is a Japanese-born American actor, film producer, and martial artist. Often cast as villains, he is known for his film roles in ''The Last Emperor'' ...
,
Ian Anthony Dale Ian Anthony Dale (born July 3, 1978) is an American actor. His notable roles include Adam Noshimuri on ''Hawaii Five-0'', Harris Edwards on ''Salvation'', Simon Lee on ''The Event'', Davis Lee on ''Surface'', Avatar Gamma on ''Charmed'' and Kazu ...
,
Cung Le Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of ...
,
Darrin Dewitt Henson Darrin Dewitt Henson (born May 5, 1973) is an American choreographer, dancer, actor, director and producer. Hensen was a brief member of freestyle music group Trilogy and was featured on their single "Good Time".Luke Goss Luke Damon Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English actor, and drummer of the 1980s band Bros. He has appeared in numerous films including ''Blade II'' (2002) as Jared Nomak, ''One Night with the King'' (2006) as King Xerxes, '' Hellboy II ...
, Marian Zapico,
Lateef Crowder Lateef Crowder dos Santos (born November 23, 1977) is a Brazilian-American actor, martial artist, and stuntman. As a member of the ZeroGravity stunt team since 2000, he has been featured in multiple internet short videos and demo reels, such ...
, Candîce Hillebrand, Anton Kasabov, and
Roger Huerta Roger Huerta (born May 20, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting in the lightweight division. He initially gained exposure by competing in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator Fighting Cha ...
. The film was originally announced by the ''Tekken'' publisher of games,
Namco Bandai is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...
in 2002 but did not start development until 2007 due to two directors wanting to handle the movie. Experienced in sports movies, Little decided to make ''Tekken'' focused on realism resulting in the removal of supernatural elements from the franchise as well as comic relief characters. This also led to the inclusion of martial artists as the main cast to produce well-choreographed battles. The movie was produced by
Crystal Sky Pictures Crystal Sky Pictures is an American independent film production company founded in 1991 and owned by producer Steven Paul, chairman and CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator ...
and premiered on November 5, 2009, at the
AFI Film Festival The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...
and was released in Japan on March 20, 2010. It grossed $1.7 million worldwide. The film was generally praised for its fighting scenes but criticized for its unfaithful narrative and poor acting within the main cast. The criticism also came from the games' director
Katsuhiro Harada is a Japanese game producer, director, and general manager from Bandai Namco Entertainment, best known as the former producer (now Michael Murray ) and current director of the popular fighting game series ''Tekken.'' Biography Harada was born ...
too and the desire to produce a more accessible movie with '' Tekken: Blood Vengeance'' two years later. Nevertheless, ''Tekken'' spawned the 2014 prequel '' Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge''.


Plot

In the late 2010s, 8 megacorporations divide up the world around them; the biggest being Tekken Corporation, which controls North America. In order to placate the masses, the corporation's Chairman,
Heihachi Mishima is a Character (arts), fictional character of Bandai Namco Studios, Bandai Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series, serving as its main antagonist. Introduced as the boss character from the first ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' video game from 1 ...
, sponsors the King of Iron Fist Tournament, or ''Iron Fist'' - in which fighters from the 8 corporations battle until one is left standing and receives a lifetime of stardom and wealth. In a slum area surrounding Tekken City called the Anvil, lives the rebellious young man
Jin Kazama is a fictional character of the ''Tekken'' fighting game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment. He was introduced as the protagonist in the 1997 game ''Tekken 3'' and has been the central character of the series from that game onwards. T ...
, who makes money as a contraband runner for resistance groups that fight against the Tekken Corporation. Jin has been raised and trained by his mother, Jun, who never speaks of Jin's father, claiming he is dead. One night, Jin is targeted by the Jackhammers, the elite specs group that patrols the Anvil and ensures the safety of Tekken City. Jun is killed by the Jackhammers instead and Jin swears revenge against Heihachi. In the ruins of his former home, he finds a ''Tekken'' Fighter I.D. belonging to Jun, revealing she was once an Iron Fist fighter. After defeating the disgraced
Marshall Law ''Marshall Law'' is an Australian television series, which aired on the Seven Network in 2002, starring Lisa McCune and Alison Whyte as lawyers and sisters. History The show was originally conceived as a legal drama mixed with '' Ally McBea ...
, Jin goes to Tekken City, sponsored by former boxer Steve Fox. Upon entering Tekken City, Jin befriends mixed martial artist
Christie Monteiro is a fictional character in the '' Tekken'' video game series of 3D fighting games. A fighter of Afro-Brazilian nationality, Christie uses the Brazilian fighting style of capoeira. She is the granddaughter of a legendary capoeira master who tau ...
. He wins the match against Miguel Caballero Rojo, nearly killing him in a fit of rage. Heihachi's son,
Kazuya Mishima is a fictional character in Bandai Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series, first featured as the protagonist in the original 1994 game and later became one of the major antagonists and antihero of the series. The son of worldwide conglomerate ...
, is impressed and offers Jin a place in Tekken Corporation, but Jin refuses. Later that night, Jin is attacked by Nina Williams, at Kazuya's request. Jin survives the assassination attempt, thanks to Christie's interference. Jin vows to win Iron Fist and to kill both Heihachi and Kazuya. When he gives Fox Jun's ID, he realizes he is her son, telling him that he knew her. During the quarter-finals, Christie defeats Nina. Kazuya then has Heihachi imprisoned, effectively seizing control of Tekken. Jin narrowly defeats the elite swordsman
Yoshimitsu is a name used by three different characters who appear in the ''Tekken'' and ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games by Namco. The first version of Yoshimitsu made his debut in the original ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' in 1994. The second ...
. Kazuya says rules have changed, and so they must now fight to the death. Jin, Christie, and Steve try to escape, along with Raven, leaving Nina and Anna Williams, and Sergei Dragunov behind. Kazuya brings down some guards, causing a firefight. Steve, Christie, and Raven cover Jin but he walks across Heihachi's cell. Angry, Jin tries to taunt Heihachi, saying he is responsible for killing Jin's mother. However, since Heihachi is their only mean of escaping Tekken, Steve frees Heihachi and joins the group. In the gunfight, Raven is wounded and recaptured. In the warehouse that Jin uses as protection, Heihachi reveals to Jin that Kazuya raped his mother, making him Jin's father, and left her for dead. Heihachi took her out of Tekken City to the Anvil to keep her alive. Heihachi states the corporation's true purpose is to restore order to the world. Later on, the group is located by Jackhammers, who kill Steve Fox in a firefight and recapture the rest of the escapees. Before taking them back to Iron Fist, Kazuya orders the Jackhammers to execute Heihachi. Back in Tekken City, Kazuya changes the rules of the tournament and now wants the fighters to fight to the death. In the Finals, Jin is forced to fight against Bryan Fury, who had already killed Sergei Dragunov in a death match, while Kazuya holds Christie in the control room. At first, he is outmatched, but remembering his mother's teachings, Jin defeats Bryan. Angered about Jin's victory, Kazuya enters the tournament himself armed with two moon axes. The weaponless Jin is saved by Christie, and pins Kazuya, who baits Jin by claiming that he remembers how Jun "put up quite a fight". Jin defeats Kazuya but refuses to kill his father. Jin walks out of Tekken City's gate and is saluted by the Jackhammers, symbolizing his new role as CEO of Tekken Corporation. After the credits, Kazuya realizes that he lost control of the Jackhammers who spared Heihachi following his command.


Cast

The cast of the movie includes: *
Jon Foo Jonathan Patrick Foo (born 30 October 1982) is a Singaporean–English actor, martial artist and stunt performer known for his role as Jin Kazama in the 2009 live action film ''Tekken''. . Early life Foo was born in London to a Chinese Singapo ...
as
Jin Kazama is a fictional character of the ''Tekken'' fighting game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment. He was introduced as the protagonist in the 1997 game ''Tekken 3'' and has been the central character of the series from that game onwards. T ...
**Jason Del Rosario as Young Jin Kazama ** Dallas James Liu as Jin Kazama (age 6) *
Kelly Overton Kelly Overton is an American actress. She is known for portraying Vanessa Van Helsing in the 2016 Syfy fantasy drama series ''Van Helsing''. Early life Overton grew up in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and studied at the American Academy of Drama ...
as
Christie Monteiro is a fictional character in the '' Tekken'' video game series of 3D fighting games. A fighter of Afro-Brazilian nationality, Christie uses the Brazilian fighting style of capoeira. She is the granddaughter of a legendary capoeira master who tau ...
*
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Japanese: 田川 洋行, ''Tagawa Hiroyuki''; born September 27, 1950) is a Japanese-born American actor, film producer, and martial artist. Often cast as villains, he is known for his film roles in ''The Last Emperor'' ...
as
Heihachi Mishima is a Character (arts), fictional character of Bandai Namco Studios, Bandai Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series, serving as its main antagonist. Introduced as the boss character from the first ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' video game from 1 ...
*
Ian Anthony Dale Ian Anthony Dale (born July 3, 1978) is an American actor. His notable roles include Adam Noshimuri on ''Hawaii Five-0'', Harris Edwards on ''Salvation'', Simon Lee on ''The Event'', Davis Lee on ''Surface'', Avatar Gamma on ''Charmed'' and Kazu ...
as
Kazuya Mishima is a fictional character in Bandai Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series, first featured as the protagonist in the original 1994 game and later became one of the major antagonists and antihero of the series. The son of worldwide conglomerate ...
*
Cung Le Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of ...
as
Marshall Law ''Marshall Law'' is an Australian television series, which aired on the Seven Network in 2002, starring Lisa McCune and Alison Whyte as lawyers and sisters. History The show was originally conceived as a legal drama mixed with '' Ally McBea ...
*
Darrin Dewitt Henson Darrin Dewitt Henson (born May 5, 1973) is an American choreographer, dancer, actor, director and producer. Hensen was a brief member of freestyle music group Trilogy and was featured on their single "Good Time".Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...
*
Luke Goss Luke Damon Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English actor, and drummer of the 1980s band Bros. He has appeared in numerous films including ''Blade II'' (2002) as Jared Nomak, ''One Night with the King'' (2006) as King Xerxes, '' Hellboy II ...
as Steve Fox *
Tamlyn Tomita Tamlyn Naomi Tomita (born January 27, 1966) is a Japanese-American actress and singer. She made her screen debut as Kumiko in ''The Karate Kid Part II'' (1986) and reprised the character for the streaming series ''Cobra Kai'' (2021). She is also ...
as
Jun Kazama is a fictional character from the '' Tekken'' fighting game series, who made her debut in ''Tekken 2'', her first and only canonical appearance until the confirmation of her return in ''Tekken 8'' when she was revealed as a character during a ga ...
* Candice Hillebrand as
Nina Williams is a fictional character from Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series. A cold-blooded Irish professional assassin, Nina made her first appearance in ''Tekken'', the original game in the series. She also starred in her own spin-off game, '' Dea ...
*Marian Zapico as
Anna Williams Anna Williams may refer to: * Anna Williams (poet) (1706–1783), writer and friend of Samuel Johnson * Anna Maria Williams (1839–1929), New Zealand teacher and school principal * Anna Wessels Williams (1863–1954), pioneering female doctor an ...
*
Gary Daniels Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor, producer, martial artist, fight coordinator and former world light heavyweight kickboxing champion. Born and raised in London, England, Daniels started to take martial arts lessons at th ...
as
Bryan Fury is a player character from the '' Tekken'' fighting game franchise by Namco Bandai Games, and has been a mainstay in the series since his debut in ''Tekken 3'' (1997). A power-hungry kickboxer, Bryan was once an Interpol officer until he was k ...
*Gary Stearns as
Yoshimitsu is a name used by three different characters who appear in the ''Tekken'' and ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games by Namco. The first version of Yoshimitsu made his debut in the original ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' in 1994. The second ...
*
Roger Huerta Roger Huerta (born May 20, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting in the lightweight division. He initially gained exposure by competing in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator Fighting Cha ...
as Miguel Rojo *
Lateef Crowder Lateef Crowder dos Santos (born November 23, 1977) is a Brazilian-American actor, martial artist, and stuntman. As a member of the ZeroGravity stunt team since 2000, he has been featured in multiple internet short videos and demo reels, such ...
as
Eddy Gordo is a video game character from the ''Tekken'' series by Namco Bandai Games. The character is a Brazilian capoeira fighter. Introduced in ''Tekken 3'' in 1997, Eddy has since appeared in every game thereafter (albeit he is not a participant in th ...
*Anton Kasabov as
Sergei Dragunov The following is a list of characters from the fighting game series '' Tekken''. Characters are listed in alphabetical order. Characters Main series Players can choose from a diverse cast that hails from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and ...
*
Mircea Monroe Mircea Monroe (born March 11, 1982) is an American model and actress, known for her roles on the TV series ''Episodes'' as Morning Randolph (2011–2017), ''Hart of Dixie'' as Tansy Truitt (2011–2015), ''Impastor'' as Alexa Cummings (2015–201 ...
as Kara * John Pyper Ferguson as Bonner *Kiko Ellsworth as Denslow * Blake Shields as Hansu * Jason Richter as Bonner's Associate


Production

Talks about making ''Tekken'' into a movie have been underway since June 2002 with
Namco Bandai is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...
stating production would start in 2003. The film was meant to be released in 2005. It was reported that the production company,
Crystal Sky Pictures Crystal Sky Pictures is an American independent film production company founded in 1991 and owned by producer Steven Paul, chairman and CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator ...
, had acquired the film rights for $60 million. After several years of hiatus, the project resurfaced after a teaser poster appeared on the web in October 2008. This was mostly due to the global success of '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' as well as the long-lasting popularity of the ''Tekken'' franchise. Originally,
Charles Stone III Charles Stone III (born 1966) is an American film director. He is best known for ''Drumline'' starring Nick Cannon, '' Mr. 3000'' starring Bernie Mac, and '' Paid in Full''. Stone directed the video to " What They Do" by The Roots, featuring t ...
was going to be film's director who teased in 2004 it would different from other adaptations like ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'' or ''
Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, th ...
''; He claimed the narrative would heavily focus on the characters to provoke a more dramatic style. He aimed to get famous actors like
Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
and
Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, Chinese martial arts, martial artist, and retired wushu (sport), Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singapo ...
believing the budget would be enough to get such skilled actors. The production of the movie was set to start during 2005. However, the project saw a major change in staff members. Stone was investigating K-1 in during the making of the movie while taking notes from ''
Enter the Dragon ''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It was Lee's final completed film appearance before his death o ...
'' (1973) with the objective of the making the final product both accessible and realistic. In 2007,
Dwight H. Little Dwight Hubbard Little (born January 13, 1956) is an Americans, American film director, film and television director, known for directing the films ''Marked for Death'', ''Rapid Fire (1992 film), Rapid Fire'', ''Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home'', ...
signed to become the film's new director. The film originated from the next director's experience with martial arts-based films including ''
Marked for Death ''Marked for Death'' is a 1990 American action film directed by Dwight H. Little. The film stars Steven Seagal as John Hatcher, a former DEA troubleshooter who returns to his Illinois hometown to find it taken over by a posse of vicious Jamaica ...
'' (1990) and '' Rapid Fire'' (1992); Dwight H. Little was called by the producer to direct another martial art movie, ''Tekken'', which he had only knowledge due to his two children being gamers of the fighting game franchise. Little requested help from writer
Alan B. McElroy Alan B. McElroy is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film, television, comic books, and video games. He is best known for his collaborations with Todd McFarlane on the ''Spawn'' franchise, and for penning horror films such as ...
, who had done '' Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers'' and ''Rapid Fire'' while doing research for the movie. The director and writer agreed to remove the supernatural elements from the film, most notably Jin Kazama's devil mutation as well as the campy elements from the franchise, the animal fighter, once the film was being created. They wanted to focus more on the sports-like story like ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...
'' which is associated with family bonds as well as multiple cultures. The characters used in the narrative were chosen since they came across as the most realistic ones in contrast to the supernatural Devil Jin which they felt was more fitting for a more
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
film.
Luke Goss Luke Damon Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English actor, and drummer of the 1980s band Bros. He has appeared in numerous films including ''Blade II'' (2002) as Jared Nomak, ''One Night with the King'' (2006) as King Xerxes, '' Hellboy II ...
said that the team intended to make the film R rated. The main stuntman was
Cyril Raffaelli Cyril Raffaelli (born 1 April 1974), sometimes credited as Cyril Xavier Cuenel Raffaelli and Cyril Quenel-Raffaelli, is a French traceur, martial artist and stuntman. Biography Utilizing shotokan karate and wushu, Raffaelli has been a regular ...
who revealed the movie has a total of 9 fights with each containing nearly 50 moves. The film finished shooting in May 2009. In order to bring more realism to the fights, the team used real fighters including
Lateef Crowder Lateef Crowder dos Santos (born November 23, 1977) is a Brazilian-American actor, martial artist, and stuntman. As a member of the ZeroGravity stunt team since 2000, he has been featured in multiple internet short videos and demo reels, such ...
,
Roger Huerta Roger Huerta (born May 20, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting in the lightweight division. He initially gained exposure by competing in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Bellator Fighting Cha ...
and
Cung Le Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of ...
. In order to have more supporting fighters, the team also got
Gary Daniels Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor, producer, martial artist, fight coordinator and former world light heavyweight kickboxing champion. Born and raised in London, England, Daniels started to take martial arts lessons at th ...
which gave them the need of the main character requiring to be played as a real fighter too rather than use two actors for the stunts. Finding Jon Foo as Jin proved to be a difficult task due to how they needed somebody who was young, skilled, and handsome. They met the actor in Thailand. Among other actors include
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Japanese: 田川 洋行, ''Tagawa Hiroyuki''; born September 27, 1950) is a Japanese-born American actor, film producer, and martial artist. Often cast as villains, he is known for his film roles in ''The Last Emperor'' ...
whom they found fitting for Heihachi Mishima as well as the skilled
Ian Anthony Dale Ian Anthony Dale (born July 3, 1978) is an American actor. His notable roles include Adam Noshimuri on ''Hawaii Five-0'', Harris Edwards on ''Salvation'', Simon Lee on ''The Event'', Davis Lee on ''Surface'', Avatar Gamma on ''Charmed'' and Kazu ...
. Little attempted to cast
Danielle Harris Danielle Andrea Harris (born June 1, 1977) is an American actress and film director. She is known as a " scream queen" for her roles in multiple horror films, including four entries in the ''Halloween'' franchise ('' Halloween 4'' and '' 5''; 19 ...
based on her experience with ''Marked For Death'' but she did not appear. Nevertheless, he was surprised by
Gary Daniels Gary Edward Daniels (born 9 May 1963) is an English actor, producer, martial artist, fight coordinator and former world light heavyweight kickboxing champion. Born and raised in London, England, Daniels started to take martial arts lessons at th ...
's performance as Brian Fury. Though the narrative appears to explore political events due to how the Tekken tournament has changed the world, there were no intentions to provide such context. Instead, the main conflict of the story involves Jin Kazama's relationship with his family, most notably the villain, Kazuya Mishima. While the film does not offer a proper closure to the family struggle, Little claimed they added scenes about him and Heihachi to provide content for a sequel, should it be approved. Though Jin has two love interests in the movie, Little claims the first one Jin has never become serious, citing the character's young age as the cause. Little describes the film's story as that of a rebel who wishes to give freedom to his people following their restricted lives in their hometown. Jon Foo felt honored to play Jin's character in the live-action film based on the series. He says he is a fan of the ''Tekken'' games. Still, he found it difficult to play Jin as he spent three months on a diet in order to do the fighting moves for the live-action film. In recording for the movie, Thailand to do a screen test. He also flew to America to do another screen test. Foo was glad he was chosen for the role of Jin because it was the first he played the lead in his career. Among several scenes, Foo favorited Jin's and Brain's battle. In shooting the film, the team originally wanted to use Europe but ended up in North America in the need of arenas. They ended in Shreveport, Louisiana, because they had built a new public arena down the road. While the team used CGI visuals for the arenas, there was a mix of real buildings as well as crowds that viewed the battles, which was especially helpful since they did not have a big budget. In regards to battles, the staff aimed to make homages to the video games with Little specifying the faithful recreation of
Eddy Gordo is a video game character from the ''Tekken'' series by Namco Bandai Games. The character is a Brazilian capoeira fighter. Introduced in ''Tekken 3'' in 1997, Eddy has since appeared in every game thereafter (albeit he is not a participant in th ...
's moves. They compared the fighting styles they used with ''
Gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'' (2000) when dealing with the Yoshimitsu and


Release

The film was screened at the Mann's Criterion Theatre in Santa Monica on November 5, 2009, as part of the AFM Film Festival to find a solid distributor. It was released in Japan on March 20, 2010 through
Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
(Japan). The film also premiered on July 27, 2010 in Singapore and August 4 in the Philippines (via Pioneer Films). One week before the Philippine premiere, Jon Foo visited
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
to promote the film. Due to its poor reception, the film never saw a wide theatrical release in the United States, and was released
direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
instead. They had a theatrical distributor, and we had a deal for theatrical, and, just because of the new economic times and the way business is done with DVD, that company went out of business. Then we were left as orphans and Anchor Bay made the release which the director found helpful. The film was released on DVD and
Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
in Japan on August 11, 2010. In the United Kingdom, Optimum Released and distributed the film on May 2, 2011.
Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...
released the film in the United States on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 19, 2011.


Reception

''Tekken'' holds a critical score of 0%, based on 6 reviews, and has a 31%
approval rating An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...
by audiences on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
with an average rating of 2.68/10. Brian Orndorf of
DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
gave the film two stars out of five, writing: "''Tekken'' is a failure on many levels, but it does make a plucky attempt to replicate the flippy-floppy nature of the fighting elements, creating a limb-snapping effort of escapism surrounded by bland writing and sleepy performances". He opined that director Dwight H. Little "show off an impressive spectrum of fighting styles and intensity, though he goes a little crazy with trendy cinematographic choices and hyperactive editing". Rating it "Guilty", DVD Verdict enjoyed how faithful are most of the character's designs to the games alongside the mutuals but with criticism aimed towards battles which employ weaponry. However, he felt that the protagonist's quest to seek revenge lacks focus. Martial Arts Action Movies claimed while the film seems universally hated due to how unfaithful is to the source material and "bland" storyline, he still liked thanks to the visuals and fight choreography. Roobia said that most of the budget went to the visuals as he felt that the cast had poor performance acting but still found it accessible to all audiences. Critics enjoyed Jon Foo's appearance and movies but criticized some traits of Jin's portrayal. BeyondHollywood thought Jon Foo's appearance might appeal to viewers based on his similarities with Jin. Rating it B, The Fandom Post disliked the love interests presented to Jin as well as his fights in the Iron Fist Tournament where Jin ends up joining the finals without focus on the previous ones. Nevertheless, the writer felt the film was enjoyable.
DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...
criticized how Jin was lacking most of his important traits, most notably his Devil Gene. Although ''Martial Arts and Action Movies'' criticized Foo's acting to the point of making Jin emotionless, his fight sequences were praised. Roobla also praised the fight sequences, most notably Jin's fight against Eddie Gordo. Paul Pritchard of DVD Verdict compared ''Tekken'' to other video game film adaptations: "In the grand scheme of things, ''Tekken'' bests both '' Street Fighter: The Ultimate Battle'' (1994) and '' Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li'' (2009) movies with ease, but lacks the goofy charms of ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
''. Had it embraced its roots more openly, the film may well have offered more excitement. As it is, ''Tekken'' is just an average action flick, with nothing to distinguish it from the rest of the crowd". MovieHole was also negative, thanking the lack theatrical release in North America as viewers would not waste money on it, comparing it to
Uwe Boll Uwe Boll (; born June 22, 1965) is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises which often starred international stars like Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Christian Slater, E ...
's movies but still noted that the only appeal of the movie were its fighting scenbes.


Response by Katsuhiro Harada

Katsuhiro Harada is a Japanese game producer, director, and general manager from Bandai Namco Entertainment, best known as the former producer (now Michael Murray ) and current director of the popular fighting game series ''Tekken.'' Biography Harada was born ...
, director of the ''Tekken'' video game series, criticized the film: "That Hollywood movie is terrible. We were not able to supervise that movie; it was a cruel contract. I'm not interested in that movie". Reacting to Harada's comments, Nick Chester of
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...
said the film is "not great, but 'terrible' is a stretch", saying that it "does a decent job of trying to stay true to the look and feel of the
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and that "the fight scenes weren't bad". When the CGI film '' Tekken: Blood Vengeance'' (2011) was announced, Harada said that he wanted to stop people from remembering the live-action film and instead focus on the CGI one as it would be more faithful to the franchise. However, he also said "That doesn't have anything to do with it this time," Harada insisted. "We're not trying to rewrite those wrongs. Fans are always asking us for a 3D movie. This is our response to them... We want to make a movie that everyone can enjoy, though. Not just Tekken fans."


Prequel

Crystal Sky Pictures Crystal Sky Pictures is an American independent film production company founded in 1991 and owned by producer Steven Paul, chairman and CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator ...
later produced a prequel to ''Tekken'', named '' Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge'', directed by Wych Kaos and starring
Kane Kosugi Kane or KANE may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Fictional entities *Kane (comics), the main character of the eponymous comic book series by Paul Grist * Kane (''Command & Conquer''), character in the ''Command & Conquer'' video game series ...
. The film was released on August 6, 2014 and focuses on Kazuya Mishima's story years before the film's beginning.


See also

*
List of films based on video games This page is a list of film adaptations of video games. These include local, national, international, direct-to-video and TV releases, and (in certain cases) online releases. They include their scores on Rotten Tomatoes, the region in which they ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tekken 2009 films American science fiction action films Crystal Sky Pictures films Cyborg films American dystopian films Live-action films based on video games Films directed by Dwight H. Little Films set in 2039 Films set in the future Films set in the United States Films shot in Louisiana Martial arts science fiction films Martial arts tournament films American science fantasy films Tekken films 2009 martial arts films Warner Bros. films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films