I don't get on this website as often as I want to, because quite frankly I don't have the time to visit this place and post reviews of movies I think are lame and should be doomed to the shelf for all eternity in video hell. However, as a fan of fighting video games as a whole I simply came to this one because I had to; to not review this movie after trying to survive a three-part Orochi saga and flamboyant french man named after the dude from Evil Dead, would be a crime against humanity. So, after probably what seemed like a year or two since my last review, I figured it was time to suck in the gut and get the ball rolling on a little critique on this movie based on SNK's 'King of Fighters' series.
For those who think this is an original movie based on an original idea, reconsider that thought: it isn't. Your stereotypical band of misfits follow a kooky weirdo hooked on Japanese mythology decide to jack into a video game system to engage in a battle of epic wits, heart and soul, gaining EXP with extreme PVP to kick a very thin man's butt in a virtual reality world. If anything else I could have sworn this movie might have been the 'Lost Matrix Sequel' that time forgot, or maybe just an extended trailer for Matrix Online that had been recut, dismantled, reassembled and put together for the viewing audience. No, this was a movie that had my favorite game's title in it, had some folks loosely based on characters I've grown to admire in terms of actual gameplay, and some of the weirdest action I've ever seen.
First off let me ask you, how difficult is it to really make a movie out of this? The original game was simple an open invitation by a mysterious hostee and his mistresses, to find the best fighters in the world. The catch was that this wasn't going to be your atypical one-on-one, you now had two partners to join you. You had your choice of various known-names, ranging from street fighters to karate nuts to goofballs and some military men. Unlike Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, they're not just doing one-dude-against-the-masses, no, it's teams of three. People with distinct personalities clashing with others and lifestyles.
That my friends should be more than enough to use for the basis of this movie. Had I done it, I would have taken four teams from the original list and modified them as such: a kooky team of so-called karate experts in a rugged part of L.A trying to make a living., mixed in with some homebrew fighters from the mean streets of Chicago, renowned and respected professional brawlers who travel the world, and then maybe add some retired Rambo/Ah-nulled/John McClane ruffians from the US Army going in to seize the event. Make Rugal simply a one-man army go out and kick all of their asses until the final moment, and that would have been it. Maybe toss in some villainous gangsters or something to make up for Geese Howard or Kain R. Heinlein in the mix.
However this is simple a combination of things we have all seen before, if not in a good long while. A suspicious looking thin-man who hardly looks like the game boss and two scantily clad fetishists fighting a CIA agent, some Japanese dork, another scantily-clad woman, as they look around for a sword.
C'mon people, where is the life to these characters? Terry Bogard was a homeless dude (a clean-shaven one and well-taken care of one, at that), not a CIA agent. If people want undercover agents, that's what shows like 24 or even the Legend of Chun-Li movie is all about (I question the casting for Charlie/Nash). They're all models of repeats.
The story is a borefest. I would have simply preferred something the lines of a straightforward fighting movie: no plot other than the conflicts and tough times fueled by different fighters who don't get along or don't like each other. Here, we're just looking at the same movie of years past with a different title and 'A PLOT TWIST!' If anything else, this is a movie that's more of a rental.
Strangely, I've been following this movie for some time now and I didn't even know it was released until right -now-... I wonder if they were intending to do that for sake of not getting something like my Secret of NIMH II review, under the guise of MR. KARATE. But alas.
For those who think this is an original movie based on an original idea, reconsider that thought: it isn't. Your stereotypical band of misfits follow a kooky weirdo hooked on Japanese mythology decide to jack into a video game system to engage in a battle of epic wits, heart and soul, gaining EXP with extreme PVP to kick a very thin man's butt in a virtual reality world. If anything else I could have sworn this movie might have been the 'Lost Matrix Sequel' that time forgot, or maybe just an extended trailer for Matrix Online that had been recut, dismantled, reassembled and put together for the viewing audience. No, this was a movie that had my favorite game's title in it, had some folks loosely based on characters I've grown to admire in terms of actual gameplay, and some of the weirdest action I've ever seen.
First off let me ask you, how difficult is it to really make a movie out of this? The original game was simple an open invitation by a mysterious hostee and his mistresses, to find the best fighters in the world. The catch was that this wasn't going to be your atypical one-on-one, you now had two partners to join you. You had your choice of various known-names, ranging from street fighters to karate nuts to goofballs and some military men. Unlike Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, they're not just doing one-dude-against-the-masses, no, it's teams of three. People with distinct personalities clashing with others and lifestyles.
That my friends should be more than enough to use for the basis of this movie. Had I done it, I would have taken four teams from the original list and modified them as such: a kooky team of so-called karate experts in a rugged part of L.A trying to make a living., mixed in with some homebrew fighters from the mean streets of Chicago, renowned and respected professional brawlers who travel the world, and then maybe add some retired Rambo/Ah-nulled/John McClane ruffians from the US Army going in to seize the event. Make Rugal simply a one-man army go out and kick all of their asses until the final moment, and that would have been it. Maybe toss in some villainous gangsters or something to make up for Geese Howard or Kain R. Heinlein in the mix.
However this is simple a combination of things we have all seen before, if not in a good long while. A suspicious looking thin-man who hardly looks like the game boss and two scantily clad fetishists fighting a CIA agent, some Japanese dork, another scantily-clad woman, as they look around for a sword.
C'mon people, where is the life to these characters? Terry Bogard was a homeless dude (a clean-shaven one and well-taken care of one, at that), not a CIA agent. If people want undercover agents, that's what shows like 24 or even the Legend of Chun-Li movie is all about (I question the casting for Charlie/Nash). They're all models of repeats.
The story is a borefest. I would have simply preferred something the lines of a straightforward fighting movie: no plot other than the conflicts and tough times fueled by different fighters who don't get along or don't like each other. Here, we're just looking at the same movie of years past with a different title and 'A PLOT TWIST!' If anything else, this is a movie that's more of a rental.
Strangely, I've been following this movie for some time now and I didn't even know it was released until right -now-... I wonder if they were intending to do that for sake of not getting something like my Secret of NIMH II review, under the guise of MR. KARATE. But alas.