Derivative to the max, the live action flick Tekken arrives in stores July 19, distributed by Anchor Bay Films and Manga Entertainment.  For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Tekken is based on Namco's arcade video game that debuted in 1994.  The story of the movie trots out many – if not most – of the tropes of post-apocalyptic genre fiction: world destroyed by war, corporations rise to ultimate power and control everything and everyone with an iron grip, arena-style death matches played out for the masses to keep them docile, hero out to avenge killing of his family, throbbing techno soundtrack, etc. etc.

Tekken adds nothing new to these clichés nor does it portray them in an interesting manner.  We are told by the characters what is about to happen, and then it happens with no twist to the formula.  Lead hero Jin is among a motley band of fighters who are paired up in cage matches with the ultimate goal of becoming the winner of the Iron Fist tournament that is sponsored by the world's most powerful corporation, the titular Tekken. 

As Jin is repeatedly pummeled to the point of almost certain death, a well-placed flashback of his childhood training sessions with his tigermom – who offers such Yoda-like pearls of wisdom as "Defeat is a choice!" – gives him the reserve of strength he needs to win the battle – until the next battle when the same thing happens all over again.  Finally, Jin faces off with the main villain of the piece who, to use another Star Wars analogy, turns out to be his father.  Does Jin defeat him, win the day, and give hope to the masses that they can one day be free of the jackbooted tyranny of the Tekken corporation?  What do you think?

There really are no big stars in the movie, but perhaps the most recognizable name would be Ian Anthony Dale, one of the leads of the recently-canceled NBC series The Event.  Dale is cast as the main bad guy Kazuya Mishima, father to our hero Jin Kazama, portrayed in a competent yet by-the-numbers

performance by Jon Foo.  Kelly Overton rounds out the main cast as mixed martial arts fighter Christie Monteiro, a hot babe in a belly shirt who befriends Jin and serves as a friend and requisite girl hostage as the story demands.

With the script never rising above formulaic tripe, Tekken will likely only be of interest to fans of the video game or action genre fans.  On that level, Tekken is worth a rental as its brisk 90-minute run time glides by quickly and its fight sequences do deliver some kinetic kick.  Still, with a $35 million budget, much, much more could have been done in terms of deepening the script and staging more variety in the action sequences to lift Tekken out of the confines of its genre.

As for the DVD itself, both the regular format DVD and the Blu-Ray version are crisp, clean prints, which is to be expected on a film of such recent vintage.  Audio is 5.1 Dolby Digital and delivers a satisfying roundhouse kick to the profuse gunfire and many punches, chops, and well, roundhouse kicks contained within.  Extras include a 50-minute behind-the-scenes feature, "Stunt Stars," detailing the stunts and spotlighting the people who performed them.  Tekken is available now in both standard DVD and Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital copy combo packages.