Musing About the Live-action Tekken Movie

Kinky… and iffy.

How’s it going, I wonder? The last bit I heard from it was from Kotaku, with that article with Japanese actress Chiaki ‘Go-Go Yubari’ Kuriyama denying her participation in the game-turned-movie. Since then… nothing. Looking around online, a bit of digging up will get you some set pics and some random, often blurry shots of some of the cast in costume- usually the Williams Sisters (at least they mostly get the colors and costumes mostly right) and some clear shots of Raven and Dragunov mucking for the camera. I’m pretty sure footage of them will look good, but off-stage pics of the actors sadly look like cosplay pics. Good cosplay pics, at least. Sigh…

Anyway, with 40 days to the release of the console versions of Tekken 6, just when is the Tekken movie coming out? Supposedly it will coincide with the console games, so that points to perhaps a late October or November release. Will any good come of this?

Tekken cosplayers? No, Tekken actors!

If past game-to-movie translations are any indication… probably not. But really, it can go either way. It could be as decent as the original Mortal Kombat film and the Dead or Alive movie, or as horrific as Mortal Kombat Anihilation or that Legend of Chun Li Crap. What are the elements that could possibly make the Tekken movie something gamers will want to see this fall?

Stick to the Core Tekken Plot.

Have a LOT of action.

Characters should act True to the Game.

Don’t be Too Serious. Don’t be Too Silly.

Throw in Lotsa Easter Eggs.

Make characters recognizable. Give Heihachi his trademark hair.

Get the Movie Trailer Voice Guy (at least the one who replaced the old one) to be the Ring Announcer.

I dunno. There’s really little to go on to judge the Tekken movie’s chances. No poster or trailer yet, and it’s getting pretty late in the game. Once the console versions of Tekken 6 come out and make a splash, perhaps gamers will be so pumped they’ll give the film the time of day at least. Maybe, maybe not. Who knows. Who cares? Well, we do. It’s Tekken, after all. We’ll see, later this year.

Silent Hill 2 Confirmed

According to a post at Kotaku, the green light has been given to another Silent Hill movie. The film will be produced by the same writer and producer, Roger Avary and Samuel Hadida, respectively.

To be honest, I didn’t much like the first film- I never found it scary, and badly-paced overall. The presence of the undead nurses and Pyramid Head, while probably expected by fans, seemed too heavy handed. Watching it wasn’t an experience to savour- after one viewing I never needed to see it again. Would I want another visit to the dreary, haunted and damned town? We’ll see. The film is due to start filming next year, after shooting for the fourth Resident Evil film, Afterlife, is done.

Tekken Actors Slummin’ in Another Movie

Tekken the Movie? Nope…

Here’s the trailer to Duel of Legends, an upcoming Fighting Tournament movie that’s eerily similar to some other martial arts titles I’m interested in. However, unlike our Iron-fisted fave, this is more of the real-world, MMA-type of fighting; basically it’s all about big, muscle-bound guys… no babes kick ass here, as they’re mostly just window dressing or damsels in distress that need to be liberated.

Basically the story is about a young fighter who’s out to avenge his parents’ death by infiltrating an underground fighting tournament held by the evil Shin (Cary Hiroyoku-Tagawa). For everyone’s information, Tagawa-san is also slated to play Heihachi Mishima in the also-upcoming Tekken live-action movie. First MK’s Shang Tsung, then this Shin-guy and later Ol’ Hei… how many evil Tournament Masters can one guy play? I guess if you LOOK fierce and sinister like Mr. Tagawa can, why not? Money in the bank. Heheh.
Anyway, also appearing in Duel is Lateef Crowder, who plays Eddy Gordo. I guess they both had time off.

In any case, if anyone’s interested, Duel of Legends is slated for a December 2009 release. As for the Tekken movie… who the heck knows…

District 9

Saw the Peter Jackson-produced sci-fi thriller District 9 finally. This film has been hyped a lot recently by rave reviews, and certainly it is not undeserved. The story is gripping and the production and special effects pretty amazing. Very atmospheric and intense, with some pretty gruesome stuff and splattery death all over by the second half… which is pretty cool. Heheh…

It’s pretty easy to see how this film could have been the now-derailed Halo film, with the alien ‘Prawns’ looking something like the Covenant. Seeing the pretty awesome action at the end, with superweapons and mech suits running wild give a bit of a hint at what a movie based on Master Chief could have been. Maybe in another life.
But in any case, District 9’s a pretty great sci-fi action-thriller- catch it in the theater if you can, dudes.

Tekken 6 Live-action Movie Update: Go-Go a No Go!

In an exclusive tidbit, Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft just revealed that Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama will NOT be appearing as kung-fu kitten Ling Xiaoyu in the upcoming live-action Tekken film. According to Ashcraft, Chiaki herself denied her appearing in the film, in fact saying that she isn’t even aware of the movie’s progress. This pretty much contradicts her Internet Movie Database entry stating her appearance in the fighting game movie adaptation, and is perhaps a bad blow to the movie… I know I was one of the many looking forward to a pigtailed Chiaki kicking butt on the big screen. Oh well.

As for the Tekken movie itself, no word still on the thing- if it’s gonna release this year, if ever, there’s less than three months to market it in time with the console game release. Where are the trailers? The TV spots? Is it still alive or did it go the way of the Soulcalibur Movie, lost in the misty oblivion of game-to-movie limbo? Given the recent, utter shit release of another fighting game adaptation, Streetfighter: The Legend of Chun-Li… perhaps that’s for the best? Hmmm.

Anyway, check out the Kotaku article here.

Drag Me To Azeroth!

A nice bit of news that concerns Blizzard’s mammoth MMO World of Warcraft which should interest even us non-MMOers. The future film based on the best-selling fantasy MMORPG setting will be directed by Spiderman and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi. What does it mean? It means that the film should be freakin’ awesome. Evil Cam, manic action, humor, more action, scares and thrills and awesome special effects. And Blood Elves. Oh My! To put things into more perspective, Uwe Boll reportedly tried to pitch for the WOW movie. So we’re all much better off.

Even though I’m not a WOW fan, I do love a great fantasy flick, and with no big epic sword and sorcery movie on the horizon (well, Prince of Persia is nice and such but…) this could be something special. Filming on WOW will apparently start after Raimi wraps up Spiderman 4. Once again, something to watch out for in the near future.

Prince of Persia Movie Poster

Jake Gyllenhaal looking princely.

Empire Online just posted the first couple of very convincing-looking posters for the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the Prince of Persia. Jake Gyllenhaal (Zodiac, Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead) stars as a ‘Rogue Prince’ named Dastan who must team up with a princess named Tamina (Gemma Aterton) to safeguard a mystical dagger that can unleash the Sands of Time, which can allow it’s wielder to reverse time and rule the world.

Check out the original article (and larger, complete versions of the posters) here.

Well, what can I say? The poster looks nice and slick, and Mr. Gyllenhaal certainly looks the part of the ragged adventurer. The Prince of Persia seems to be a great fit for a movie adaptation, and Disney was able to turn Pirates of the Carribbean into a hit- why not this classic title? I’m just kinda disappointed it’s based on the older games, and not the recent release… I would have liked to see a live-action Elika… Heheh.

Color me interested. The film is due out next year.

Tekken It Easy Over the Weekend

Whew! Sorry for the lack of updates in the past couple of days- working on the Tekken Manga has been taking up quite some time and effort, and as well it’s been a pretty quiet time for T6 updates right after the recent Limited Edition bundle reveal debacle. So far I have been able to stick to my commitment of posting at least one page a day. It’s pretty nice to draw and write a comic myself, and it does seem to help get my mind off the waiting… that’s the ticket, I guess… keeping busy. Heheh.

Anyway, the manga will of course portray the events leading up to Tekken 6, which means I’ll be illustrating events like the Tekken Force’s operations prior to the Zaibatsu declaring a world war, as well as Kazuya’s taking over of G-Corporation. I’ll also focus on other fighters and their storylines, some based on the official plotlines for them, and some original and formulated right in the ol’ Lone Gamer’s noggin. There’ll also be ‘omake’ and some light-hearted fun as we go along though, so don’t worry if things seem a bit too serious.

I’ll try to upload stuff as well over the weekend. In the meantime, I’ll also get back to regular game blogging. Later then!

Onechanbara Vortex Movie Cast Revealed

The actresses set to appear in the upcoming Onechanbara Vortex movie have been revealed. Yuu Tejima stars as Aya (replacing Eri Otoguro from the first movie) while other starlets in the film include Kumi Omura and Akari Ozawa. The new movie is based on the Xbox360 zombie-slasher, and doesn’t seem to be a direct sequel to the first movie seeing as how some characters in the movie are alive again. Vortex also adds to new babes to the mix, the very dangerous megane beauty Reiko and the creepy, bloodstained Misery (who is looking far more fetching than her in-game counterpart). Onechanbara Vortex will be released on DVD in Japan on July 3. Mark your calendars!

Onechanbara Movie Gets Sequel

Last year or so, the cheezy Bikini Samurai Cowgirl game, Oneechanbara from D3, got a movie adaptation in Japan. I haven’t seen the full film, but I got the impression it was heavy mostly on the zombie slashing action and drama between the characters of Aya and Saki (overblown drama, in the typical Japanese fashion) and a bit light on the cheesecake and sexiness, which I found disappointing given how the film is about a girl who fights the undead in her swimsuit.

Well, apparently it still did well enough to warrant a sequel, supposedly entitled Onechanbara Vortex. I assume this means the film will be based on the Xbox360 version of the game with the same name. Which should be cool since the next-gen game added better graphics, Agent Smith-like enemies, a sexy female end boss, a hot lady cop and the ability to dress down your onscreen zombie killer babes in their lingerie. Put all that in the movie and I smell greatness. Heheh.