There have been many attempts to make movies and TV shows out of fighting games, and the Tekken series is no exception. To date there have been four movies based on the popular franchise, both animated and live action. Since Namco recently announced the latest fighter to enter the fray in Tekken 7, it seems like the perfect time to go over the Tekken films and figure out which one is the best.
Tekken the Motion: Picture is the oldest adaptation on the list. Released in 1998, this anime movie is a mish-mash of the plot of the first two games, and it does a fairly decent job of sticking to them. Heihachi Mishima is hosting a martial arts tournament, and his son (Kazuya), is entering so that he can kill Heihachi in revenge for something that the elder Mishima did to him as a child. Tekken: The Motion Picture contains a little bit of everything the video games were at the time. There’s a giant muscular android, a boxing kangaroo, some genetically modified dinosaur like things, and even Devil makes something of an appearance. Everything from the characters, to the style of this movie is very true to the source material. Unfortunately, it can also take itself a bit too seriously at times. It opens with a pseudo-philosophical nature on the meaning of fighting, and the themes mentioned in that opening play a part in its ending message. The film also stumbles occasionally when it comes to characterization; perhaps an unfortunate side effect of attempting to juggle so many characters from a somewhat cheesy fighting game from the 90s.
Tekken was the first live action Tekken movie, and unlike its predecessor, it has very little in common with its source in terms of plot and character. The basics are there, the world has been ravaged by war, and corporations have come to dominate the globe, but the details have been mushed around so that the end result is very different from the plot of the games. Main character Jin Kazama enters the latest in a series of tournaments held by the Mishima Corporation in order to get revenge for his murdered mother. Essentially it’s a combination of Tekken 3, and Tekken 6. While the details of the what and the why may be different, Tekken feels very true to the games in how it presents itself. The fighting is fast paced, and well choreographed, and while the most of the characters don’t feel like the ones they are based on, they are stronger as characters than in the technically more accurate offerings in the anime. The world is wonderfully bizarre, and grimy without being grim. It isn’t faithful, but it is fun. More fun, perhaps, than the other adaptations. Most importantly, it never tries to take itself too seriously; it knows exactly what sort of film it wants to be.
Tekken: Blood Vengeance is its own beast. Unlike Tekken: The Motion Picture, or Tekken, Blood Vengeance is closer to being an entry into the Tekken series (albeit through a different medium) than a straight up adaptation of it. Being a CGI movie, it even looks like the games. Some of the characters have been altered slightly, but it’s all very fitting with what the Tekken series has gone on to become since it started off in the nineties. Tekken: Blood Vengeance is also the Tekken movie that best shows off just how bonkers the series can be. One of the main characters has a panda taht zooms along as fast as a race car. The other main character is a robot, and the climax involves a fight between a demon and a giant mech made out of possessed fighting dolls. There are some impressive set pieces on offer, even if they don’t always gel as cohesively as they could. The plot, involving two girls sent to uncover the mystery surrounding a fellow student, also feels like it belongs with the direction the franchise’s stories have taken since Tekken 4. Whereas Tekken: The Motion Picture had several main characters, Tekken: Blood Vengeance is much more centered around two characters in particular (Xiayou and Alisa). The downside to this approach is that is features fewer characters from Tekken’s impressive roster. While it does do a great job of showing just how over the top the Tekken games can be, it fails to come together as well as it could, which is a shame because all the right ingredients are there.
The most recent movie, Tekken 2: Kazuya’s Revenge is the least like the others, so it doesn’t fee quite fair to judge it in the same way as those movies. Unlike every other Tekken film, it isn’t based on the series of the same name, rather it is a prequel to the other live action film. Instead of adapting the source material, the plot serves to flesh out the world established by the 2009 film, giving the audience some notion of what it’s like to live in that world. It doesn’t have the same goals in mind, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s also hard to judge it as a Tekken film, per se.
Each of the movies listed so far has brought something different to the table, but which one is the best Tekken movie? The answer to that question lies in figuring out if it is more important to replicate the games in a new medium, or create something entertaining using them as a basis. If it’s the former, then the winner is clearly Tekken: The Motion Picture. Everything about it perfectly embodies the state of the series at the time it was made. If it’s the latter, then the best Tekken movie has to be Tekken. While it does its own thing, it does that thing with great energy and flare. The question any viewer has to ask themselves is what do they want more? A time capsule into a popular franchise’s past, or a fun dumb action movie?
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