I was expecting something of the level of stupidity like the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies, so I was pleasantly surprised when the movie had a consistent script and some decent action. I was already fantasizing about my IMDb review, saying how I was expecting crap and found a gem.
Of course, that only lasted for the first half of the movie. Afterwards, attempts to make the movie follow a script, budget concerns and other movie politics made it all fall into the gutter of action movies when the cardboard villain must come into focus and be honorably defeated by the hero. I call bullshit. If the movie would have continued in the same style as the first half of the movie, where heroes meet on the battlefield of the arena and wither win or lose, it would have been a decent, even good film. Instead, hair gel and bad villain lines polluted the ending and turned it into another crappy video game movie. Why?!?!?
Summary: Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa should have asked for a fortune in payment for the silly hair style of his character, probably something taken from the video game Tekken, that I have never played. The main character looked like a combination of Jean Claud van Damme and the vampire from Twilight. The hot chick that is the focus of his male desire gives him a kiss after being totally easy, but she denies him any... ahem... action. He returns to his slum where a girlfriend that actually wants and accepts sex awaits him. That part was artfully realistic. Tamlyn Tomita is still hot as hell, even if she keeps playing roles of moms that have to die. Kelly Overton mimics some decent fight moves, even if her only purpose in the movie is to look good.
After thoughts: I wonder what would have happened if the hot girl would have actually had to participate in the tournament and fight Jin, and then the father grandfather angle actually been used in a royal politics manner... a good script maybe? Why did Raven (a black guy with white clothes and white hair?! An albino raven, maybe? What hair gel company sponsor this movie?
Bottom line: watch 45 minutes of the movie. Stop. Fantasize about what cool movie this could have been. That is the only way to enjoy this film.
