This 1998 anime film is based on the popular video game of the same name. TEKKEN benefits from having a talented group of filmmakers and animators at the helm including Masaaki Hannan (animation director), Hazuaki Yanagisawa (character designs), Ayata Yamaguchi (screenplay), and Hunihisa Sugishima, who directs. ADV Films, chief purveyor of Japanese live action and animated films presents TEKKEN as their first (late) entry onto DVD. To make TEKKEN more attractive to the audience that plays the video game, ADV Films has added American alternative bands to play loud music on the soundtrack. During the action scenes we are "treated" to the likes of The Offspring, The Urge, Stabbing Westward, and the only one with any real talent, Corrosion of Conformity (or C.O.C.). Whether this music is an asset to the home theater experience (or a distraction), we’ll leave it up to the audience to decide. It’s really not fair to refer to TEKKEN as a film or movie, because it’s barely over an hour—hardly a full length film. So we will refer to TEKKEN as a feature.

Years later, Heihachi is now recognized as the supreme martial artist. He has fortune and fame, and uses these assets to host a gladiatorial duel of martial artists on a remote island. Jun is now grown up, and she herself has trained in the martial arts since her emotions were scarred from that fateful day many years ago. Jun has since developed some psychic empathic abilities. The government agency she works for sends her undercover as a fighter to participate in Heihachi’s tournament. She is joined in this mission by a Chinese undercover agent named Lei, and together they depart for the island where the duel takes place. Along the way, they meet a hulking fighter named Jack-2, who travels with a sick little girl.

When they arrive on the island, they meet up with a host of other powerful fighters. Among them is Kazuya Mishima, who survived the plunge off the cliff after all. He is back on the island seeking to end his father’s life. Kazuya is visibly scarred from his childhood ordeal, but he is even more emotionally scarred at his father’s betrayal. The lust for vengeance gave Kazuya the will to survive and endure. Kazuya is now a superhuman fighting machine whose only desire is to take revenge. Jun’s empathic nature senses Kazuya’s torment and his dark side drives her crazy. She confronts him, and asks him to reconsider killing his father. But Kazuya is so driven with hatred that he threatens to kill her if she gets in his way.

Meanwhile, Heihachi has his own secret agenda besides the tournament. He commands a scientific team that operates from a hidden base on the island. He forces these scientists to genetically engineer a breed of savage Velociraptors who kill anything in their path. He also has an army of walking robotic war machines. As the combatants are fighting on the island, the Velociraptors are let loose to hunt the fighters. Most of the fighters are slaughtered except for Kazuya, Jun, Lei, and the huge Jack-2 (who turns out to be a robot himself). The explosion of the research base on the island triggers a chain reaction that causes a volcano to erupt, threatening to consume the island. Jack-2 is destroyed in the onslaught, and before he dies, Jack-2 begs Lei to take care of the little girl who he cares for. Jun fights Kazuya in an attempt to brings him to his senses. But Heihachi has plans of his own for the last two fighters…

TEKKEN turned out to be a real surprise. Not that it is a blockbuster by any means; but it is quality entertainment (but it’s no GHOST IN THE MACHINE). I knew this feature was based on the best-selling MORTAL COMBAT- inspired videogame, so I was expecting a rapid fire combat anime with a flat script and hollow characters. I was surprised to find TEKKEN a rapid-fire action anime with well-defined characters and a script that focuses on the story and characters and less on the fight scenes. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of bloody martial arts sequences, just not as many as I was expecting.

There is a lot of emotion and feeling running through this animated film; from the darkest pits of despair, to the height of human compassion. The character of Kazuya is a fascinating one. Betrayed by his own flesh and blood and left to die, only his hatred of his father kept him alive and gave him the desire to become the most lethal fighter on the planet. His soul is very dark, and because of the aura of despair surrounding him, the audience hinges on his every word. Another dark character is his father Heihachi, a man that stands for everything that is evil: money, power, fame, and yes, even science. Heihachi is a man you love to hate, and TEKKEN portrays what happens to megalomaniac people like this. They are eventually hunted by many and have to watch their backs throughout their life.

The positive emotions are represented mainly by Jun and Jack-2. Jack-2 is a war machine programmed to possess emotions to make better decisions in battle. His emotions take over his intellect, however, and he befriends a young girl who is slowly dying from disease. Jack-2 knows that the advanced scientific research conducted by Heihachi may be the key to saving the girl’s life, and he makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that the girl gets a second chance. Jun is not only a capable female warrior, but she has an empathic nature as well. The trauma of seeing young Kazuya thrown over a cliff has scarred her as bad as it the torment suffered by Kazuya. She unsuccessfully tries to get into Kazuya’s psyche, and convince him that killing his father will not solve his problems.

There is also some solid sci-fi interwoven into the narrative. Heihachi controls his scientific researchers and forces them to develop a host of unbelievable creations. The scientists create humanoid robot soldiers who are programmed to wage war. They also breed a horde of vicious Velociraptors who eat human flesh. These Velociraptors have the ability to turn themselves invisible! This invisibility makes these creatures virtually detectable, so they can sneak up and put the bite on their victims.

Lest you think that TEKKEN is a soap opera, you should know that (besides the martial arts tournament and the hand-to-hand combat), there is boatload of mayhem in TEKKEN. We witness Heihachi’s atrocities as he has his own scientists and employees put to death. He releases the Velociraptor horde free to roam on the island, and the pack proceed to chow down on the unsuspecting fighters. Until they face Kazuya that is; a fighting-mad Kazuya attacks the creatures and manages to rip some them apart in a bloody battle. One of Heihachi’s guards gets his skull crushed in against a cliff wall. There is no shortage of violence and action in TEKKEN, and the narrative doesn’t dwell on it.

TEKKEN is one of the first films to combine computer graphics with traditional animation. This combination is winner, and makes for some truly colorful eye-candy. The battle scenes and character movements are fluid and smooth. The animation successfully generates a life-like appearance. My only complaint about the visuals is the lack of detail. The filmmakers don’t let you forget this is animation by keeping the detail level minimal.

This is a solid Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that does not fail to please. Only the English dub version is presented in DD 5.1; the original Japanese dialog and the French dub are both DD 2.0. Because of this, we are only reviewing the DD 5.1 English track. The soundtrack is superior on all fronts, except the rear soundstage does not have enough separation. The 5.1 effects are not as robust as those on Manga’s NINJA SCROLL, but the mix is still pretty good considering this is ADV Film’s first crack at DD 5.1. The front sound stage has tons of panning activity and superb ambient sound. The front soundstage also gets the trendy alternative rock that plays over some of the fight scenes. This music is the kind that anime fans love to hate. I can’t say I appreciated it, but I have to admit it was well incorporated into the mix. Thankfully, Hazuhiho Toyama symphonic score has not been excised from the film. Toyama’s dramatic score takes center stage when the alternative rock is not blaring over the speakers. Speaking of center stage, the English dub is fairly well done, and delivered with some real emotion. Kazuya especially has a full range of negative emotions attributable to his voice actor (but he sounds like Clark Kent’s voice from the recent WB SUPERMAN show). The English, Japanese, and French dialog comes squarely from the center speaker, without any distortion. The DD 5.1 soundtrack is free from hiss, dropouts, pops, and other anomalies. The bass could be bit higher. Highlight soundfield activity includes the rumbling sound of a volcano erupting, martial artists waging war on the Velociraptors (and each other) on the island, and the surreal flashback sequences.

- Darren Collette

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