TEKKEN 2: KAZUYA'S REVENGE (2014)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Wych Kaos
Cast: Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Rade Serbedzija, Gary Daniels, Kane Kosugi, Kelly Wenham
RunTime: 1 hr 29 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 21 August 2014

Synopsis: A young man, Kazuya Mishima, wakes up alone in an unfamiliar hotel room without any recollection of who he is or how he got there. He is tormented by flashes of his past and by the face of an ominous stranger. The next thing he knows, Kazuya is ambushed and kidnapped by an underground crime organization and, soon after, turned into a ruthless assassin. During a mission to assassinate a man named Brian Fury, Kazuya finds that his target harbors clues to his true identity. With the help of Fury and a female assassin, Kazuya follows the clues, leading him to the lab of his reoccurring flashbacks. Here, he will finally confront his past and the ominous man of his nightmares – Heihachi Mishima, face the ultimate betrayal, and learn the truth about who, and what, he really is.

Movie Review: 

We do not blame you if you can’t quite remember anything about the first ‘Tekken’ movie; like many of its ilk, it was a forgettable attempt at translating the Namco video game for the big screen. Given how cold a reception it had gotten, it’s no surprise that this sequel is arriving with so little fanfare, given a theatrical release in some territories and dropped straight to video in many others. Not to worry though, if you haven’t caught the first movie, this is an in-name only sequel, and in fact is meant as a prequel to its predecessor.

Whereas the earlier film chose Jin Kazama as its protagonist, this one makes Kazuya Mishima its lead character. Fans of the game will know that Kazuya was only a good guy for the first instalment, thereafter turning into one of its main antagonists from the second one onwards. Fans will also know that Kazuya is in fact the son of Heihachi Mishima, the head honcho behind the infamous Iron Fist tournament of Tekken City where fighters from the eight mega-corporations ruling the world battle it out for survival and glory – and for those who are interested, the only continuity ‘Tekken 2‘ has with the earlier film is that Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa returns, albeit for no more than a glorified cameo, as Heihachi.

This is a story which ultimately culminates in Kazuya learning that he is the son of Heihachi, but before we get to that big reveal, writers Nicole Jones and Steven Paul introduce us to Kazuya as a man with superb fighting skills who wakes up one morning in a room not knowing who he is or where he comes from. As he tries to escape from a gang of heavily-armed militia, he is knocked unconscious and brought before a questionable character known as the Minister (Rade Serbedzija). Though he says that he is running a reformation school for ‘sinners’, the Minister turns out to be no saint himself, wanting Kazuya only to do his bidding by acting as his assassin for hire.

Long story short (because there isn’t much plot to begin with anyways), Kazuya discovers that the Minister isn’t the man he says himself to be thanks to a former compatriot named Bryan Fury (Gary Daniels) who defected from the Minister’s ranks and whom Kazuya was sent to kill. His only ally? Rhona Anders (Kelly Wenham), a British chick who tries to emote very hard in order to project a sense of conscience.  Rhona who? Yeah, you’re right. She isn’t in the Tekken universe to begin with, nor for that matter is the Minister. There is a more interesting backstory here about how the film began as a project known as ‘Agent X’, and was only revealed later on as a Tekken prequel – hence the blatant use of character names which don’t even belong to ‘Tekken’.

But perhaps the most disappointing element about ‘Tekken 2’ is that the action just doesn’t cut it. Unlike ‘Tekken’, this origin story for Kazuya doesn’t boast of any grand tournament to speak of, relegating the fights instead to the first act where he is made to show off his fighting skills in the Minister’s training camp and in the third and last act where he confronts Bryan and later on comes face to face with his estranged father Heihachi. Unfortunately, the choreography is utterly disappointing for a movie which should thrive on its mano-a-mano fighting; there is no distinction in Kazuya’s technique and for that matter between any of the fights to make them stand out against each other.

What we get is a series of poorly edited shots (thankfully not shot in the jerky close-up style) stitched together with little sense of continuity between them. That is even more upsetting for fans of Kane Kosugi, whose role in ‘Tekken 2’ marks the first leading man break for the talented American martial artist of Japanese descent. Kosugi executes some beautiful moves, but they are lost amidst the unremarkable choreography and some dismal editing. It suffices to say that neither Kazuya nor his opponents get to express any sort of personality through their moves, and as a result none of the fights are actually memorable.

The title alone may draw those who have played the game before and may be excited to see a real-life incarnation of their avatars, but not even nostalgia can rescue this abysmal martial arts-based movie which only bears the ‘Tekken’ name for familiarity and to ring up more coin. The clearest indication of just how thin this movie is lies in director Wynch Kaos’ (who directed the equally abysmal ‘Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever’) habit of replaying shots from earlier scenes under the guise of Kazuya’s own flashbacks. Indeed, ‘Tekken 2’ is an embarrassment to the ‘Tekken’ franchise and an outrage to fans of the game, so you’ll be wise to avoid it whether in theatres or on home video. 

Movie Rating:

(A terrible cash-grab attempt that will understandably outrage fans of ‘Tekken')

Review by Gabriel Chong