Tekken: The Motion Picture

Tekken
Directed by	Kunihisa Sugishima
Written by	Ryōta Yamaguchi
Starring	Yumi Tōma Daisuke Gōri Minami Takayama Kazuhiro Yamaji
Production company	ASCII Corporation Sony Music Entertainment Japan Namco
Distributed by	ADV Films
Release dates	January 21, 1998 (1998-01-21)
Running time	60 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Tekken: The Motion Picture (鉄拳 -TEKKEN-) is an anime adaptation of the Tekken video games by Namco produced in 1998 by ASCII Corporation and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Originally released in Japan as a two-episode OVA, an English adaptation was produced by ADV Films, which edited both episodes into a single hour-long film and featured a new Americanized soundtrack. The film's story is loosely based on the first game, where Kazuya is the main character and Heihachi is the Head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, and Tekken 2, which features Jun and Lei's investigation of the Zaibatsu's illegal activities.

Plot

The film opens with a young girl named Jun Kazama crying over a rabbit killed by a bobcat. Kazuya Mishima, a kind boy around her age, appears and offers to kill the 'bobcat' to cheer Jun up, but Kazuya's abusive father, Heihachi, suddenly appears and berates Kazuya for his compassion, which he considers a weakness. In order to make Kazuya stronger and prove his worth, Heihachi throws Kazuya off a cliff to his apparent death right in front of Jun's eyes.

Sixteen years later, Jun is an agent within Interpol, and is sent to investigate the upcoming King of Iron Fist Tournament, hosted by none other than Heihachi Mishima, the owner of the multinational Mishima Conglomerate, which has been suspect to unethical and illegal biological experiments. Jun meets up with Lei Wulong, a detective from Hong Kong, and they are assigned to infiltrate the tournament together. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Kazuya somehow survived the fall and is now a cold, bitter man bent on revenge on Heihachi. Heihachi himself is aware that Kazuya is alive and apparently plans to bestow the Mishima Conglomerate to him when the time is right, but Heihachi's adopted son Lee Chaolan is unhappy with this decision, as he desires the company for himself. To this end, he seduces Nina and Anna Williams, two Irish assassins, and hires them to kill Kazuya. While Lee does not care for either Nina nor Anna, each believe he genuinely loves them and is merely using the other.

Jun and Lei board a boat to take them to an island in Singapore for the tournament, in the process meeting a large man named Jack, who fought his way onto the boat by beating Lee's bodyguard, Bruce Irvin, and who is with an ailing little girl, Jane. Kazuya himself sneaks aboard from a bridge once the boat has left the port. While Kazuya is training, Jun confronts him about the past, and Kazuya reveals how he survived: he gashed his chest badly during the fall and was on the brink of death when the Devil approached him with an offer to help him survive with superhuman powers in exchange for his soul, and Kazuya accepted. Nina again tries to kill Kazuya, but Kazuya beats her just as Anna appears with a bazooka and blows the gym up. Jun and Kazuya escape in time, but Kazuya warns Jun not to interfere with him again on the threat of death.

The day of the tournament arrives, and Lee explains to the fighters (Paul Phoenix, King, Jack, Marshall Law, Michelle Chang, Baek Doo San, Yoshimitsu, Ganryu and Armour King) that they are to fight their way through a forest until they reach the central tower where Heihachi will be waiting for them. Michelle, who holds a grudge against Heihachi, tries to kill Heihachi there and then, but Heihachi foils her. However, to ensure that nobody will win the tournament, Lee secretly has his scientists release a special experiment into the field to stop the fighters. Meanwhile, Lei heads underground with Jack, who tells him that he is only looking for Dr. Boskonovitch, the only man who can save Jane from her illness. Eventually, they fight their way past some P. Jacks and reach Boskonovitch. In the process, Jack's arm is gashed and leaks black oil, revealing that he is not human, but a robot. Boskonovitch begins treating Jane, and they also meet his pet kangaroo, Roger, who has been biologically (but illegally) enhanced to fight like a boxer.

Kazuya defeats Baek and runs into Michelle who has defeated Ganryu, who proves to be no match for him but too stubborn to give up despite Kazuya's pleas. Michelle pours out her tragic story to Kazuya about how Heihachi burned down her village and indirectly killed both her parents. Though Kazuya is sympathetic to Michelle's plight, she refuses to back down. Kazuya knocks her out and almost kills her but is narrowly stopped by Jun, who vows to fight Kazuya and expel the Devil from him. Elsewhere, Nina and Anna decide to have their own battle to settle their rivalry once and for all, but during the fight, a biologically enhanced dinosaur-like being appears and devours Anna from behind. The creatures then round on Kazuya and Jun, but are defeated when Kazuya taps into his dark power. The last one runs away, leaving Kazuya's path open. Lee appears at the door and challenges Kazuya but is beaten just as Heihachi emerges and engages Kazuya in combat.

Lee enters the facility in a crazed state. Now fully aware that he will never inherit the company, Lee massacres the entire security personnel and sets off the self-destruction sequence. Lei, Jack, Jane and Boskonovitch hear the countdown and evacuate along with countless soldiers. Jack sacrifices himself to hold a door open long enough for Lei and Boskonovitch to escape with Jane. The tower explodes with Lee still inside, and begins a chain reaction which turns the resort into a volcanic inferno. Kazuya seems to be losing against Heihachi, but he gives into his power again and overpowers his father brutally. Just as Kazuya prepares to throw his broken father into a river of lava, Jun appears and implores him to stop. Kazuya almost kills Jun, but when he notices her crying for him, he remembers the only person he ever loved and who ever cried for him: his mother. Kazuya sheds a tear and manages to expel the Devil's influence from within him, reverting to his kind, compassionate self once again. Infuriated, Heihachi tries to punch Kazuya off the cliff, but Jun takes the blow and the three fall as the island begins exploding. Lei arrives in a submarine and picks up the remaining fighters, along with Kazuya and Jun. Heihachi escapes in a jet just before the island finally explodes, overseen by Kazuya on top of the submarine.

Sometime later, Jun is seen knitting in a wood. Her young son, Jin appears and asks her to tell him a story. Before she can begin, she looks up and senses a strange presence in the distance (possibly the coming appearance of Ogre), but when Jin asks her what is wrong, she tells him everything is fine and they walk home together.

Characters

Main

Secondary

Cameos in opening sequence

As Tekken 3 had only recently been released to arcades at the time of the film's release, several characters of that game appeared in the opening scene but do not appear in the actual film.

Soundtrack

For the English-language release, the soundtrack was replaced with alternative rock, punk rock and sludge metal music consisting of the following songs:

• "The Meaning of Life" by The Offspring
• "Save Yourself" by Stabbing Westward
• "Clean My Wounds" by Corrosion of Conformity
• "Straight to Hell" by The Urge
• "Bonecrusher" by Soulhat

Reception

Tekken: The Motion Picture received a 46% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and was seen by many as an unsuccessful attempt to replicate the previous success of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. Entertainment Weekly called it "a punch-drunk, derivative Saturday-morning cartoon" that "saps every atom of magic from its source". Anime News Network gave the anime a C+, calling it "oddly mediocre in a genre filled with utter crap."^[1]

References

External links

• Tekken: The Motion Picture at the Internet Movie Database
• Tekken: The Motion Picture at Anime News Network's encyclopedia