Tekken

I remember watching the trailers for this movie about a year ago and thinking to myself that we were going to have another failed movie adaptation from a popular video game franchise. While Tekken wasn't a masterpiece by any means, it was still pretty entertaining. Having played the games and understanding the general concept of the story, I had no extensive knowledge of the relationship that there characters shared so it was difficult to determine the accuracy in the writer's plot for this film.

The plot is very simple, in that it explains how and why Tekken City was formed and the mass suffering that surrounds its outer walls. Jin Kazama is the main character, who enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament to kill Heihachi Mishima, believing that he is responsible for the death of his mother. Along the way, Jin develops relationships with various fighters who are present in the game, with the ultimate goal of avenging his mother.

From the knowledge that I do have of the game series, there were some inconsistencies between the game and the movie. The first of which being the dynamic between Heihachi and Kazuya. The second being the relationship in general of all the characters. This second area is very much the same thing that the Street Fighter movies suffered from. The reality is, how do you write an accurate story about a game where all of the characters are expected to fight each other.

Overall, this movie was entertaining. I try not to focus too much on comparing these types of films with their video game counterparts, primarily because this will almost always lead me to disappointment. Taken on it's own, this is worth checking out and should provide you with plenty of fights and action, with a little reminiscence from the games.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Movie

I've spent the last couple of days racking my brain trying to figure out what I would post on next. I have lots of anime shows and games that I could discuss, but I like to watch things close to when I bring them up on Silent Divergence so that they are relatively fresh in my mind. While flipping through the channels today and getting a little frustrated that I didn't have anything "new" that felt I could talk about, I stumbled across a classic movie that I grew up on.

 As I checked through the channels, YTV had a familiar classic that was just starting. It has been a while since I last watched a movie on television as oppose to popping in a DVD or BluRay. While TMNT is not an anime per se, it has had some anime spin-off renditions in some of its later incarnations.

For those who haven't seen this movie. the story outlines how the Turtles came to be...Ninja Turtles. As the crime in New York City increases due to local gang activity established by the Shredder, it is up to April, Casey Jones, and the Turtles to rescue a captured Splinter and stop the thefts caused by the Foot Clan.

I personally loved this movie growing up. Even now, almost 20 years after the release, I still enjoy watching this movie and the two sequels very much. As I look back on older films such as this one, I can't help but notice that the story lines and sequences tend to be more entertaining than some of the newer films that focus more on higher grade special effects and enhanced picture and sound quality. As a whole, this film is fun for the whole family and is certainly one that is worth checking out for  first timers and veterans of the series.

Genghis Khan: To The Ends of Earth and Sea

To start, this movie made it into our live action section because it has been released in North America by Funimation. I had been back and forth for about a month when I decided get this movie last winter. I finally caved one weekend and splurged for the BluRay special edition. It was expensive ($35 for any movie is a lot IMO), but well worth the money. This film was amazing to say the least. It was one of the few movies that I wished wouldn't end.

I have always been drawn to Asian films about feudal times. The telling of the story left no holes for confusion. I won't go so far as to say that it was completely accurate historically (mostly because I have no clue if it is), but it was very entertaining. 

I have found it very difficult to find good films such as this being released on North America with English dubbing. If a film is good enough I will venture into subtitles (I'm sure that people are cursing me now that I am not a "True" anime fan for watching dubs); but lets be real, I'm Canadian, I speak English, so you can't blame me for being a little lazy and wanting to listen to my show and understand all of the words :P

Anyway, I would recommend taking a look at this movie to anyone who has enjoyed films such as Red Cliff or The Myth. I can promise that you won't be disappointed.

Dragon Tiger Gate

Dragon Tiger Gate is a film based on a comic by the same name. The plot revolves around to brothers who are separated when they are young and must return to the Gate (their training place) in order to protect it and its students. Basically the story is the typical good versus evil. In this case, one of the good guys isn't sure if he is a bad person or not, but eventually finds his way by the end of the movie. The plot in itself was very good actually. It made for a very entertaining viewing to say the least. I found myself wanting to watch more and there were lots of areas where the story could have been further developed. The action sequences were very well choreographed and showed quite a bit of innovation. As usual in films such as this, everyone knows Kung-Fu. The fights in the film had substance to them and lasted for a good amount of time; long enough to feel that it was a fight I just watched, but also not too long to the point of it getting old.

The character development in the film was extremely good. As the film progressed the characters and the relationships that they form with each other continually changed. I find that character development is key in making a film such as this a success. If the characters are unchanging bruisers, the film can get very dry very fast. By showing the paradoxes that characters continually find themselves in, it is easy to relate to them as the viewer.

The costumes were also interesting. Most of the characters looked like they were out of a videogame. There was a very interesting design style here.

My overall opinion of this movie is that it is well worth watching if you are a martial arts fan and want to see a good story tied in with relevant fights.

Fist of the North Star (Live Action Movie)

After having picked up Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage on PS3 last week, I've been on a bit of a Fist of the North Star kick. During one of my nights of being bored late I decided to check out Fist of the North Star on Wikipedia (don't judge, you know we all read Wikipedia when we're bored). So anyway, somehow I managed to stumble upon a link that took me to a DVD cover for a live action Fist of the North Star movie. I was immediately excited and completely let down at the exact same time.

The idea of a live action Fist of the North Star was something I thought I would enjoy for sure. I always enjoy watching live action versions of many popular anime shows and movies. The part that let me down was the cast. I'll be honest, I did judge the book by the cover so to speak. The film looks as cheesy as something could get.

After a few days of deliberation, I finally decided that tonight was the night I was going to give this movie its opportunity to impress me. I can honestly say that I was surprised. The film was not great by any standards, but it did not completely suck either. I'm still not a huge fan of the cast, but the story was interesting. Having watched the Fist of the North Star movie (anime version) 7 or 8 years ago, I was a little vague on the details of the story. This film follows the first arc in the series where Shin and Kenshiro battle.

The film tells the story of how Kenshiro received his 7 scars, and how he came to be the Fist of the North Star. The story boils down to Kenshiro and Shin battling to balance the power between the Southern Cross and the North Star. Obviously since there was an entire series that continues well after this arc, it is pretty obvious that Kenshiro wins.

I really can't say how accurate this is with the original movie and the series because it has been a while since I watched the movie and I haven't seen the series yet. As a person who has a little knowledge on this show, many elements in the story felt familiar.

The quality of the  filming was average, but considering the film was made in 1995 I don't expect much in the way of picture quality. The music was almost non-existent. As I write this not one song from the film really comes into my head. The fights were a 50/50 between good and cheesy. Every time Kenshiro did his Hokuto 100 Crack Fist technique it looked like he was dusting dirt off of his opponent. It reminded me of someone having a spaz while swatting at flies.

As a whole, the movie was entertaining. I would recommend it as something to watch if you have interest in the Fist of the North Star franchise. Speaking as a person who doesn't know the ins and outs of the story, I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore fan and it was still a decent film to watch. FYI there was also a Japanese release that came out shortly after the North American dub. The box art below shows how the Japanese can take a cheesy looking film and make it seem much cooler.

Mortal Kombat

So I have been actually under the weather for awhile and what do you when you're not feeling well? The logical and obvious answer would be rest a lot and drink a lot of fluids. However, if I was a doctor, (speaking of which, I'll be doing a post on Black Jack in the near future) I would prescribe you with the same two thing in conjunction WITH watch movies and play games.

Mortal Kombat is no stranger to those who were around in the early 90s. This was the time period that followed the success of the popular Street Fighter (the game series) and spawn many other fighting games such as Killer Instinct and King of Fighters to name two.

So naturally with the success of games, you would have people turning them into movies. The Street Fighter franchise has two live-action movies to date that I can recall but someone can correct me on this if this is not true. Mortal Kombat has also come out with two but I've only watched the first one recently.

There was a lot of potential in this but some of the stuff didn't work out. The characters and the general storyline made some sense. However, there are many minor scenes logically. First example: at the very beginning, who was Shang Tsung talking to? I mean does he know there are people watching him? Another example would the dinner fest scene. Why did Shang Tsung bothered with setting up a fest when before anyone really started. Also, why didn’t anyone stop those two weirdoes fighting at dinner? If you watch it with an analytical mindset like that, you won’t get far into the movie before you have a list of those questions. Instead, you should just watch it like Rambo, The Expendables or even Hangover. That being said, there are a lot of entertainment values actually to be offered.

1) If you have never played the game, this will get you curious about it. It sort of gives you some background info. However, one may find it easier to watch the movie by playing the game first. Either way, it would get you curious about the game.
2) There are actually some good and decent fight sequences/ scenes. So if you like fighting, you would enjoy this.
3) The music. Mortal Kombat is known for its awesome 90s techno music.
4) Funny dialogues. “Fatalities!” “Flawless victory!” Yes, some of those lines from the game were actually integrated into the movie such as this clip.


I’m not going to go into the visual because it’s a movie from 1995, so taking that into consideration, it is acceptable. Overall it’s not the greatest movie but it is not a terrible movie either. So, give it a shot.

The Last Airbender

Don't you hate it when you have a huge selection of things to do for entertainment, but can't seem to find anything to do? I tend to have this issue a lot when choosing a new movie of show to watch. Always trying to find a new anime to watch can sometimes get monotonous (even for an enthusiast like me), so I decided I would dip into the realm of live action for a bit for some change. Now I know there are many out there who would argue that The Last Airbender is not a "true" live action film, but since it is based off of an anime it's fair game for discussion at Silent Divergence.

Now I won't go into the comparisons of whether the anime or the movie was better. I'm sick of hearing the constant battery of live action films in relation to their animated counterparts. I will be the first to admit that we have compared a number of live action films to the animated versions and picked a number of areas to critique. The main reason I won't be doing it this time is because this film was actually good. Naysayers can argue all they want, but the truth is I was entertained by this one.

For those who are familiar with the Avatar anime series, there are currently 3 seasons, each depicting an elemental book (Water, Earth, and Fire). The Last Airbender is based off of the story from the first season or The Book of Water.

The film did a great job of depicting all of the major events from the original story. It has been a few years since I watched the first season of Avatar, but I did recall many aspects of the story as I watched the film. Something that I did find separated this film from many other live actions that I have seen was the story. The writers did a good job creating as few holes in the plot as possible.

The Last Airbender has stunning graphics. The effects used to demonstrate the use of the elements when bending was phenomenal. It was very clear that a great deal of time and money went into the graphical production of this film.

Something that was also appealing was the diversity of the cast. I will be the first to admit that I was very hell bent that having such a diverse cast was going to have the same effect on Avatar that Dragon Ball Evolution had on the Dragon Ball series. The truth is, having watched the film, I think the cast selected lent a great deal of strength in showing how the events in the movie really were global in nature.

I have to highly recommend this film when it is released on BluRay. It really is phenomenal. Speaking from my own experience watching it, I was really hoping that a second one was in the works. From what I have read elsewhere, it looks like there is an intention to create a second film, but it hasn't been started yet. If you are a fan of the Avatar series, I don't think you will be disappointed with this movie. Just give it a fair chance and I am sure you will be very happy with it!

Devilman

Before I start, for anyone who chooses to watch this movie REMEMBER this pose. By the end of the movie, you'll be annoyed by it.

As a pretty big Devilman fan, I have to say this is a disappointment. The director tries too hard to make this into something that it is not.

The film loosely follows the manga/ anime with the core standard Devilman elements – the violence, some monsters, the killing of key characters, the missing of some characters, and the senseless violence with a tad of dark and depressing atmosphere. Aside from those elements, it does not actually fit into the Devilman universe at all what so ever. This is fine as long as there is a decent plot, convincing acting, or amazing action sequence, which it does not have either. Not only is the story all over the place, there is a problem with the flow of it as well. Unless you have some background knowledge, you will be lost.

Visually, it is pretty good but it can be done so much better, especially in the major fight scenes. I'm guessing this may be the result of filming on a limited budget they had?

As for the actors, unless you’re blind most people would notice that Akira and Ryo look some what alike. The reason being these two “actors” are actually brothers and they are in a band together called Flame.

The two seems to reflect the emo era; they don't have much emotions throughout the film. Disapproving, this face - Angry, this face - I don’t know but the two look the same to me. Miki and her parents seem to be slightly better but may be a little more dramatic. Not sure if this is due to the lack of emotions from the main actors or they were actually over dramatic.

Getting famous musicians to act even though they may not be good as actors seems to be a very common practice in the Asian entertainment industry. That being said, there are individuals who excel in music and still be good at acting. With this movie, the director did not get the two Isakis to give the audience a better performance.

There are some interesting moments. 1) Akira being a complete idot in the beginning of the movie when he saw Miki. You will laugh your head off. 2) The search for the missing classmate. There are many other illogical ones, which makes this like a game of finding what doesn't make sense in this scene. Feel free to list your findings in our comment section below.

Those who have enjoyed the anime or the manga, which I have not been able to obtain copies of them yet, would agree with me on this, this live action is missing a real good concrete story and it pains me to watch it more than twice, which I did.

If the director was to convey any message, I believe he had achieved it by making Nagai's world into complete chaos with people turning extremely prejudice against "monsters" or worst against other humans. So, who's the real monster?

Other than that, there really isn't much to say. It’s unfortunate that when they finally go for a live action, they screwed it up.

If you watch until the end, I would ACTUALLY recommend you to listen to the closing credit theme song because it's really good. Alternatively, you can just skip to the very end and listen to it OR just find the song online. Your choice.

I can only say, unless you’re a hardcore fan, as in you must see every single thing they put out or someone/ Izaki fan who just want to look at pretty Japanese guys as in the Izaki brothers with one of them who walks around shirtless, be my guest and watch this. For regular anime viewers, you may want to scroll through it. For hardcore fans, this will be a love hate relationship and prepared to be disappointed and feel a little like...

Street Fighter The Movie

Even though it is a far stretch to classify this movie as a live action, I figured since it is based on a great game, it has a place here on Zeta Pulse. We all know that pretty much every movie based on games and Anime series tend to have little to no accuracy when it comes to following the story line. This film is no exception. Nontheless, it is still a good movie IMO. There is a large cast of characters (considering at the time the alpha series hadn't been released) from the Street Fighter II games. The actors selected are also good physical representations of the characters in the games. I could have stood to see Ryu and Ken with a little more size, to be honest, they didn't look like the powerhouses we all grew up with in the games. But there remaining characters were well selected. The story basically follows the whole Shadowloo versus the U.N. Forces being lead by Guile.

The story again ends with the whole good guys win as usual, however, the character development and the attempt to explain the relationships between the characters was interesting. When you think about it, how to you really write a script based on a game where each character kicks the others ass. I can see the challenge in trying to incorporate a decent sized roster in the movie and still have them develop relationships to determine which sides they are one. It was also good to see that the moves given tot he charcters like Ryu's Hadouken and Bison's Psycho Crusher were incorporated into the film.

As cheesy as this movie has been called by so many, I still recommend it to anyone who likes a good action movie and has had the chance to enjoy any of the street fighter games. It really was one of the few that didn't completely butcher the game franchise after its production. And really, who wouldn't want to see Jean-Claude Van Guile kick Bisons ass with a spin kick.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li

I have spent a lot of time priding myself on the fact that I have seen pretty much every Street Fighter game, movie, and comic that's out there. To be honest, I had really low expectations of this movie when I saw it and as a result have been putting it on the bottom of my long list of things to do when I get there. I finally decided to sit down and take the hour and half of my life and have a gamble. To tell you the truth, having little to no expectations of this movie made it pretty bearable. For the most part, the story isn't completely awful, granted it is a pretty far stretch from the story that we all grew up with in the original games. The cast of character from the game was sparse, basically making up only Chun Li (duh), Bison, Nash, Gen, Balrog, and Vega. The selection o factors for the characters could have been better, primarily for Bison. I just wasn't feeling the actor in this role. For the most part, He wasn't scary but kinda looked more like a stressed out businessman.

I mean, look at the comparison between the version selected for this movie on the left and the Bison used for the original Street Fighter Movie. The guy they chose here just didn't have the look and demeanor for the M. Bison we all knew and grew up to fear. I won't draw any further comparisons to this movie in relation to the original or slam it any harder. There were some noteworthy points that give this Street Fighter movie some highlights. For example, how could you not love the fact that they got Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat to play Gen. When you think about it, Gen was always a character in the series who didn't get a lot of hype. I'll be the first to admit that I'd even consider using him in the games now because of the turn around on his character in the movie.

The story was nothing to jump out of your seat over. It was the basic good guys versus bad guys, good guys win. There wasn't a great deal of story development for the whole good versus bad, however, there was some great development in Chun Li's character, even if it does deviate from the story we received in the games.

For the most part, I would recommend checking this movie out if you are a fan of movies based on games, but don't expect a miracle. Its a tolerable watch and for the most part a nice way to kill some time. But nothing ground breaking.

Wangan Midnight Movie

I have to start out by saying that I have been on a driving movie kick lately, which has made it hard to come by good movies. I normally shy away from subbed shows and movies (mostly due to my laziness), but this movie looked good enough that I decided I would endure the subs. Needless to say I am extremely happy I decided to take the time and watch Wangan Midnight The Movie. This live action adaptation to the anime resonates very much with that of Initial D (which I also loved). Wangan took a different approach which made for an excellent story. The entire movie was based around a main character who wanted a 1970 Nissan S30Z (or 300Z for those who don't know Japanese car models). The Z that he found at a wrecker was the same Z that a boy who died racing it prior had owned and coincidently they share the same name.

The whole movie is predicated around the idea of fate and this haunted car. The character and story development was very well done and kept me wanting to watch more. I liked how this film didn't glorify the whole street racing scene like Fast and the Furious did. The film made real the fact that people can and do get hurt and even die racing. As a person who loves cars, it was nice to see for a change the characters who own these amazing machines show respect and appreciation for them.

I was impressed enough with the movie that I am planning to watch the series (subbed) in the near future. I definitely recommend this film for any car enthusiast. You won't be disappointed. Stay tuned for my review on the Wangan Midnight anime.

DragonBall Evolution

I have been spending a lot more time watching some of the Live Action movies over the last little bit. I needed a bit of a change but still wanted something that I could write about so I thought I would give some of these films a chance. I have not been a huge fan of Live Action until recently. I think up until now there hasn't been a lot that has caught my interest.

I heard some really bad things about DragonBall Evolution but being the fair person that I am I thought it would only be right to give this film its day to try and impress me. While I don't think the movie was  a complete piece of crap, it came pretty close. There were some elements that I thoroughly enjoyed and others I wish they would have forgone altogether. I think for the most part that the hand to hand combat was not too bad. The battle Ki and "special moves" were a little over the top with the CG but battles were not too bad for the most part. You have to love that they made Chow Yun Fat as Master Roshi, that left for some entertainment as well.

I was a little disappointed with the selection for Goku's character. I have not idea who this kid is that they chose, but he was not convincing. In some scenes, it almost seemed as though it was a spoof on a comedy show. I get that they were trying to set the whole scene in this modern style city like what we would experience day to day, but the reality is that Goku was Japanese in the show. Goku also didn't have this split personality in the TV series where sometimes he was humble then extremely arrogant.

The character for Yamcha was actually a pretty goof match for the most part. He had the personality and voice down pretty good.

Overall, I didn't completely hate the movie, but it won't be getting a second view for me. As for my recommendation, I can only suggest not going into this one with any expectations. Pretend that the series doesn't exist and it won't be so bad.

Initial D Live Action Movie

I have to start off by saying that I loved the Initial D anime series (and I will write a review on it soon I promise). I remember a few years back when the live action movie was released, I was excited to see it but lost interest after Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift. I thought that this movie would be another attempt to break into the whole North American fan crazed street racer market. I finally managed to get my hands on an English dub of this film and decided I would give it a shot since the anime was so interesting to watch.

This film had a lot of very strong elements in the way that it was developed. To begin with, the racing scenes were awesome. It was also good to see the cars from the show done in the movie exactly as they appear in the cartoon series. But cool graphics and music aside, the story telling of the film was the strongest aspect that was delivered. I really liked the fact that the events in the movie followed the first two seasons of the show accurately.

I tend to find in the North American film market that our movies end up sucking huge when it comes to films based on games or cartoon series (Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros., Dragon Ball Z; to name a few). I like the Japanese approach to creating films off of already successful franchises of keeping things consistent with the original stories. When you look at films such as the original Dragon Ball Live Action or Yatterman Live Action, they are a lot more like the shows that won us over as fans, as oppose to the bastardized North American Holllywood style films that get shoved in our faces week after week.

Anyone who is a fan of drift racing, or the Initial D anime or manga should definitely check this film out. It covers all of the main events of the first couple of seasons very nicely in a 2 hour time window. I only wish that they would release a second movie because the first ended on such a good note. And if anyone does know if they are making or have made a second movie please comment and let me know.