Tekken Blood Vengeance - Review

Um... it's a little embarrassing to admit, but I really enjoyed this movie. A lot. More than a lot. I walked in with zero expectations. I walked out of the theater giggling because I liked it so much. And I'm not even sure why.

Yesterday I attended the Tekken Blood Vengeance 3D one night movie premiere. I've been a fan of the franchise for over ten years now, so when I heard about the movie, I knew I had to see it.  Two-thirds through the movie, I needed to pee - really bad. But I held it in because I was so entranced. Yes, I was that into it. So for 30 minutes I practiced clutching my uh, bladder muscles, as I glared on in pure fangirl joy.

Video game movies and others in that genre usually spell bad terrible. I tend to walk away feeling like it wasted my time (I'm looking at you Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: The Pyramid of Light, which had zero relevance to anything). Admittedly, Tekken Blood Vengeance had its plot holes as well (Shin Kamiya was rather useless, other than as eye candy) and the 3D felt unnecessary. What I did appreciate about Tekken Blood Vengeance was that it helped flush out some of the characters in ways that the game could not, and I couldn't help but smile every time I recognized a fighting stance or move. Sigh. I know, this is probably one of the most ridiculous confessions I have ever made.

Anyways, I thought I'd write a review to justify my pure adoration for this movie amongst all the negative reviews its gotten. Three paragraphs later and I still don't have a solid reason. A number of hardcore fans of Tekken have voiced their dissatisfaction with the movie, namely because of its shortage of fighting scenes and a lack of full character coverage and for being non-canon. If you haven't seen it and you can't decide if you should...

How to know if you should watch Tekken Blood Vengeance:

1) You are a fan of Tekken. Obviously.
2) You are not a hardcore fan of Tekken.
3) You have no expectations for this movie. It appears the consensus is that if you walk in with high expectations, you will likely find yourself disappointed.
4) You like eye candy. CG'd eye candy. There are multiple shower scenes. Seriously.



At the end of the day, I love this movie for what it is: a 90 minute visual hailstorm of one of my favorite video games of all time. It was funny, beautifully created and it thrilled my inner child like no other to watch something I've loved so long on the big screen for—well, 90 minutes straight.