Ready? Not quite...The King of Fighters tournament is one in which participating members are transported to an alternate dimension to engage in a fight. This is made possible due to three ancient artifacts that allow this dimension to exist. The members come under threat when Rugal (Ray Park), a previous member of the tournament, steals the artifacts and begins to manipulate the other dimension to his own liking so as to kill anyone who enters it. It is left to Mai (Maggie Q) and Iori (Will Yun Lee) must enlist the help of Kyo (Sean Farris) to defeat Rugal before too many lives are lost.
The film adaptation of The King of Fighters loosely follows that of the original King of Fighters '94, with some elements from '95, in which Rugal starts the tournament so as to get some excitement into his life. The most notable difference in the adaptation is that the tournament is already established and also that the fighters need to be in an alternate dimension in order to fight in a way which resemble the original game. The science fiction-esque twist on the narrative makes for an intriguing story but the films never really explores the concept. The story is fashioned in a linear manner, with the odd reference to past sequences to help explain certain information. Unfortunately, the plot is fairly thin: it presents opportunities for further development but these avenues are never fully explored.
The acting quality is not exactly great but this is somewhat understandable considering the cast. That said, no actor ever falls prey to evidently poor acting and with more depth to the script a better acting prowess could have been shown. Actors generally take their roles seriously: Park seems to enjoy the eccentric nature of being a villain while the likes of Maggie Q, Lee and Faris portray the motives of their respective characters adequately enough.
The overall filming quality suggests that the film-makers had a low budget to work with. The King of Fighters appears to be filmed more like a television show then an actual movie but that does not stop some fairly enjoyable action sequences, yet these only become common in the latter half. CG becomes present mainly towards the end and looks low-key but nonetheless workable.
Beyond the makings of a possible girl-on-girl scene, there is no nudity or sexual content present. Language is tame and infrequent while violence is frequent throughout the film without ever being gory or bloody.
There is no doubt that The King of Fighters is a missed opportunity. With some obvious reworking to the script and story, and a better budget, the film could easily have been a more commendable entry for videogame-to-cinema adaptations. What really needed to happen was the fleshing out of the characters and the overall narrative to create a more cohesive product. That said the story, actors, and some decent action scenes, are adequate enough to carry The King of Fighters to its conclusion and miss a definitive K.O.
5/10
Screen date: 13 August 2010
Release date: 13 August 2010
1 comment:
It is one of bad movie. The story is a borefest. I would have simply preferred something the lines of a straightforward fighting movie. I will give it 3 rating out of 10. There was no good plot at all....
Post a Comment