OLD NEWS: TEKKEN finds a director

I don't know where I first heard the news that Dwight Little was directing the movie adaptation of the TEKKEN video game but it's something I've known and discussed on this site already. Well, when I say discussed what I really mean is I mentioned it briefly on the same day that a very early teaser poster was released...

So for those who care about TEKKEN, it's going to go into production on February 4th and is being financed by Crystal Sky Pictures from a script by THE MARINE and WRONG TURN scribe Alan McElroy. So don't expect Shakespeare. Little as we've said will be directing. He previously brought us the instantly forgettable ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLACK ORCHID, HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS and the martial arts movie RAPID FIRE in the early 90's with Brandon Lee. He also has extensive television credits which range from 24 all the way to PRISON BREAK. Here's Little, trying to convince us that this will be something more than a yawn fest D.O.A. movie. From Variety...

"The film plays out as a science fiction story set in the near future, about a rebel who rises up against the Tekken Corp. to seize freedom for his people," Little told Daily Variety. "It's a gladiator story, but the videogame has a complicated enough storyline that it provides the template for a martial arts spectacular."

As much as I use to love those fighting games and MORTAL KOMBAT is one of my guilty pleasure movies, I just don't think there is an audience for this type of thing in the 00's and this is kind of a dumb idea. Fighting games were so 90's. STREET FIGHT, MORTAL KOMBAT and the like belonged to a different generation and it's thrillers like SPLINTER CELL, METAL GEAR SOLID and big epics like GEARS OF WAR and HALO that studio's should be looking at making these days. Little can bullshit all he wants about 'complex storylines' but at the end of the day, it's a button bashing game about pressing the 'punch' and 'kick' buttons quicker than your opponent. That just doesn't bode well to me.