SYNOPSIS:
If
you're lucky enough to be invited to the secret King of Fighters
tournament you get an earpiece. When it rings, you answer.
When you answer, you're gone - you step out of time and space
and into another place: the Tournament Dimension. Everything
is heightened there, the colors, the textures, your own abilities
- not to mention those of your challenger. The first fighter
in chooses the setting, so you better be ready because he'll
always choose to his advantage. If you win, you move to the
next round. And if you're skilled enough to be the last one
standing, you become "The King of Fighters." But beware. Because
something else also lurks in the Tournament Dimension: the
Orochi - an evil force trapped centuries ago by three ancient
Japanese clans. All you need to do is touch it to become far
more powerful than any other fighter. But this power comes
with a price. Once the Orochi gets a hold of you it never
lets go, and given sufficient time, it will drive you mad
and use you as an anchor back to this dimension to destroy
life as we know it on earth.
MOVIE REVIEW:
In ought to be one of the greatest mysteries of all, the movie industry continues to churn out feature-length movies based on arcade fighting games. Let’s get this straight; we are definitely not biased against this genre, it’s just that over the years, there’s practically not one of them that can be classified as fit for decent viewing. Sounds strong? Wait till you finished reading this review.
In a feeble attempt to come up with a fantasy flick, we are supposed to believe that you can step into another dimension through the use of an earpiece, yes you got it right, an ordinary looking bluetooth earpiece you see those property and insurance agents on the streets are wearing. Give the props department a round of applause. Oh and did I mentioned about the King of Fighters tournament happening in the other dimension and the Orochi aka evil force that will controlled you to destroy our earth if you touch it.
I shan’t bother you with all the details that will put you to sleep. The story by Chris Chow (Blood the last Vampire) and newcomers Rita Augustine and Matthew Ryan Fischer is almost as flat as the characters on the arcade machine. We don’t even know much about the protagonist Mai (Maggie Q) who is investigating the killing despite the fact she appeared right after the opening logos. Who the heck is the villain, Rugal (Ray Park) who just tout his opponents and snare whenever he appears. And why is Kyo Kusanagi (Sean Faris) offspring of the supposedly powerful Kusanagi clan knows nothing about his father.
This is really a pathetic way of telling a coherent story and no the action choreography doesn’t impress either. If you think Michael Bay’s films are all about visual, "The King of Fighters" unfortunately lacks even the fluffy action bits to entertain. The wire-fu works are clumsy at best and the sparring matches are enhanced with visual effects that possessed the looks of using store-purchased software liked Adobe After Effects and we are talking about a movie based on a popular arcade fighting game. Well the only fun thing is seeing TVB actress Bernice Liu hamming it up as a villainess, Vice (very creative naming isn’t it?) and what-happened-to-her-career, Francoise Yip (Rumble in the Bronx).
It’s apparent a shock to see Gordon Chan (Fist of Legend, King of Beggars) helming this piece of junk. We are confident he can do better with the US$12 million budget given another dimension. Unless you are Maggie Q’s number one fan or Ray Park aka Darth Maul’s followers, perhaps "The King of Fighters" will be on your rental list otherwise please skip this, there are many ways of spending 93 minutes, like taking your dog for a walk or do a brisk run round your estate.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer is good enough. Dialogue is crisp and clear though the Dolby Digital 5.1 didn’t act much punch to the flat story.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Posted on 11 December 2010
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