Director: Wych Kaos
Notable Cast: Kane Kosugi, Gary Daniels, Cary-Hiroyuki
Tagawa, Rade Serbedzija, Kelly Wenham, Paige Lindquist
When it comes to video game adaptations, fighting games seem
to be the most popular to be translated over and, generally speaking, most of
them suck. For my favorite fighting game franchise, Tekken, the first
live action film was a massive let down. The cheese and terrible acting
hindered a potentially fun and action packed film and lead me thinking that it
killed any potential for a film franchise from one of my favorite game series.
I was wrong. Out of the blue comes Tekken 2: Kazuya’s Revenge (also
known as Tekken: A Man Called X – whatever the hell that means) and I
was actually excited again. Kane Kosugi as Kazuya? Gary Daniels? A less is more
kind of plot synopsis? I was stoked to see what they low budget actioner could
bring to this franchise. As it turns out, this film is actually worse than the
first one. Worse. Way worse. Enough that I have to say it’s the worst action
film I’ve seen this year and that’s saying something.
Kazuya (Kosugi) wakes up in a hotel room. His memory is
wiped and a police unit is after him…on top of that he’s “saved” by Rhona
(Wenham) and taken to The Minister (Serbedzija). The Minister enlists his
service as an assassin in the city, but Kazuya is just starting to unravel his
past…to discover what his future holds.
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| I'd pretend to have amnesia too if I signed on to do this movie. |
I’m guessing that this film wasn’t written to be a Tekken
film initially. The premise of a man suffering from amnesia being used as an
assassin isn’t all that original…and the way that Tekken 2 goes about
using it is about as generic as possible. So what if they named a few of the
characters after the game fighters? It’s still a very basic story. The terrible
storytelling doesn’t sell the entire concept either. We are introduced to a
pseudo-post apocalyptic world with ‘districts’ and…stuff. Kosugi is given an amnesiac
assassin where he rarely is given much to get emotional over outside of some
awkward flashbacks and an ill conceived romantic subplot that features one of
the worst performances from an actress all year. He sort of wanders around
confused and gets involved with other characters that we don’t give two shits
about. Gary Daniels returns as his character Bryan Fury from the first Tekken,
not that you would recognize him as he doesn’t even look like the same guy, and
he shows up for a paycheck and disappears after a couple of minutes of
worthless story. Even at its basic foundations, Tekken 2 is a terrible
film: uninspired and lazy.
It’s not like every straight to DVD action flick needs a
great story and great acting to pull off an entertaining film though. Most of
them don’t. Even in the execution though, Tekken 2 feels utterly tired
and insipid. Director Wych Kaos (whom you might know as the director of the
eye-gouging bad Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever) has no idea how to pace the
film or give it the depth needed to even begin to sell its terrible script. The
fight choreography might be just a tad better than the first film, but the
lacking action in the finale, the disappointing match between Daniels and
Kosugi, and the super serious tone of the film make sure that none of the
action is enjoyable. I didn’t even have fun during this movie.
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| He's fighting in a generic set with generic baddies. Yawn. |
As an avid Tekken and action film fan, I can’t
recommend Tekken 2 to ANYONE. At least the first film had the sad ability
to be unintentionally entertaining with its ridiculous concepts and silly fight
sequences. Tekken 2 is a sad excuse for an action film that has no
character work, a nonsensical and poorly structured script, and action that has
no meaning or depth. Even if you remotely liked the first film, I will just
throw it out there to skip this one. It’s not worth the time or effort.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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