TEKKEN BLOOD VENGEANCE vs. TEKKEN MOVIE 2010 Comparison

This has been a long time coming.

Back in my Tekken Tag 2 Endings post, I fleetingly mentioned my disdain for the animated Blood Vengeance movie, something which - after rewatching it - I feel should not need explanation.  However, there are still many, too many, ostensible Tekken fans out there who not only cling to BV as a good interpretation of the series' themes and values, but also as a superior feature to the much-maligned live action Tekken film produced by Crystal Sky, which I'm here referring to as Tekken 2010 even though I'm fairly sure I first saw it in '09...and it didn't reach the US 'til 2011...but, y'know, IMDB says 2010 so we'll just go with that.

Anyways, this pisses me off for a whole mess of reasons, not the least of which is that I legitimately LIKE Tekken 2010 despite some issues with it, and consider it one of the few acceptable game-to-film adaptations yet made (the others are Silent Hill, DOA and Resident Evil Extinction, fyi).  So to explain and hopefully settle things, I'm going to break down both films into their constituent parts before comparing and contrasting their performances.  Some of these factors will pertain to how faithful they are to the source material, others are based more on simple filmmaking qualities/decisions, but all are important.

And I'm not covering Tekken: The Motion Picture because it is a movie based on a fighting game that does not contain any worthwhile fighting so its failure should be obvious to everyone.

Just Finished: 007 LEGENDS

Wow, Jaws looks way more realistic than Bond here...

...oh, right.

Released October 2012.

Published by Activision.

Developed by Eurocom.

Version played: PlayStation 3.

As you might have noticed, 2012 represents the 50th anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise (not the books, they're older).  To be honest, I've felt the festivities to be a little lacking on MGM's part - sure, we got Skyfall and the full series Blu-Ray set (on the Christmas list!) but those could have come out any year.  Hell, the BRs should've been out sooner, I've been waiting far too damn long for 'em.  Still, at least other groups tried to do something a little special to mark the occasion.  Some of them were great fun, like the Top Gear special with Richard Hammond squeeing over all the old cars of the series.  Others, however...

...that would be 007 Legends.

Please Make BEWARE THE BATMAN Not Happen Again

Now, after my Smallville comics post, you may think that I am not someone who has any business getting up in arms over some change to the Batman status quo - and honestly, I'm with you there.  I am very much in favour of new approaches where this character is concerned, especially if they take us in as un-Nolan a direction as possible.

Even so, there is a line that shouldn't be crossed.  And with the upcoming animated series Beware the Batman, someone at DC or Warner Bros. has just skipped merrily over that line without a care.  For evidence, I summon forth a recently-debuted character focus sheet, found in a recent issue of a DC Nation kids' magazine by the folks behind the DC Women Kicking Ass Tumblr:

Can't see the problem yet?  Let me take a page out of CSI here.  ZOOM.  ENHANCE.

Alfred's preferred weapon is a f***ing pulse rifle.

A pulse rifle.  Which, let's be clear, is a gun.  A gun being used by Batman's butler/assistant/best friend.

Remember how Batman's parents died?  Remember how awful that was for him?  Remember how it basically made him vehemently opposed to the very idea of ever using a firearm?

And boy I really hate it when I have to use Frank Miller as

an example of Batman done 'right'...

And yet, here he's totally okay with letting Alfred tote an automatic rifle.

No.  No.  That isn't 'interesting new take', it's a violation of the character's foundations and it's utterly pointless.  You want to have an Alfred who's more action-oriented, who helps Batman out of tough scrapes by throwing down with the bad guys?  Sure, you can have that, but there's no reason he has to do it with a gun.  Just have him wail on guys with a golf club - or, given that here he looks the spitting image of The Goon, his enormous ham-fists of justice.  But not a gun.  Never a gun.

And yes, I'm sure that (this being a kid's show etc.) the rifle will be some sort of non-lethal tazer thing rather than a Colonial Marines-endorsed murder machine, but it's still providing all the wrong sort of imagery for a Batman ally.  And I really have no clue why it's happening here.

I just don't want it to ever happen again.

TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2: Character Endings in Review (UPDATED)

Okay, so Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has been out for long enough now that I don't feel like an asshole for talking about the endings.  All (well, nearly) of the game's gargantuan roster have received their own individual CG ending cutscene this time around - no more all-in-one film for ChrEddy and other clones! - and, on average, the running time for each has expanded.  More importantly, IMO, they're a much more varied bunch tonally and artistically than the disappointing haul from Tekken 6.  So, I'm gonna go over them one at a time and offer my thoughts on the content, style and general quality of each and every single one.

Two things in advance, though.  One, I'm not posting the actual vids here - it'd clog up the post.  If you want to look them up without bothering to play the game yourself, you lazy so-and-so, I recommend the YouTube channels of Robert Cram or Bloodburger1.  Two, there are still several characters yet to be unlocked on my version of the game; my pre-order codes got me Kunimitsu and Ancient Ogre but not Michelle Chang or Angel, plus there's Violet, Dr. B and Unknown who have yet to be added in.  When they appear, I'll update this post accordingly.  (UPDATE: Got them added now!)

GET READY FOR THE NEXT BATTLE!

Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Nina Williams IS Captain Marvel!

As I first mentioned on mah Twittah machine, I finally managed to actually make a custom design in a computer game that I feel proud of - in this case, turning my beloved Nina into (also my beloved, as it happens) Carol Danvers in her new Captain Marvel togs.  This was done with the Superhero Top and Leather Pants & Boots items, with their colours correspondingly switched, and three separate  decal applications on the upper body to add some more red and also simulate Carol's eight-pointed star emblem.

Comparison shot - from comic (left) to my TV (right)

More pics after the jump - apologies in advance for stuttering quality, I don't currently have any video-capture hardware so I've basically just been photographing my TV with a camera.

Film Reaction: SKYFALL

Good work on the poster, guys.

It...really doesn't have anything on it, does it?

James Bond.  You can't really start talking about a new Bond movie without addressing basically ALL the old Bond movies, and frankly I'm surprised I haven't spoken on the series here before now, as they're some of my favourite movies.  That said, I don't have the polarized view a lot of fans do towards the various actors who have played Bond himself; to date, I like all of them, and appreciate the ways their films tried to capitalise on the strengths of how each chose to personify Bond.

When it comes to Daniel Craig, I like the rough-and-tumble physicality he brings to the table, not to mention the uncouth,cocky edge he employs for his humour.  His Bond is basically a gorilla in a sharp suit pretending to be a gentleman, and his films have been at their best when they've been putting him in high society locations full of extremely posh people, and letting him bounce off them.  There's also been an increased focus on 'humanising' Bond recently, which mostly means ripping away a lot of the elements fans were used to and rebuilding the character from the ground up.  Casino Royale was a great 'year one' film, where the small scope of the villain's operation and aims mirrored the limited scope of Bond as an agent with a lot to learn about accountability and his role in the grander MI6 scheme.  Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace just didn't know where to take Bond next, and its lack of focus soured virtually everything else in the film (does anyone even remember what the bad guy was up to?).  Now comes Skyfall, coinciding with the film series' 50th anniversary, with a lot to live up to, thanks to both the occasion and the failings of its predecessor.  And hoo boy, it doesn't just live up to expectations, it blows them right outta the water.

WARNING: I'll try to be gentle, but even so, potential spoilers follow.

Comic Musing: 'SMALLVILLE Season 11'

Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?

Is it some sort of title-seeking missile?

To say that I was a fan of Smallville when it was still a TV show is, I suppose, half-right.  Much like the rest of the world, I ignored it for the majority of its run; however, thanks to Comics Alliance and their sterling work reviewing each episode of the final (10th) season, I got interested in seeing what it was they found so confusing.  Picking up the BR set of season 10 on its first week of release, I devoted an entire weekend to watching it from start to finish - and oh, I got my answers, and then some.  Navel-gazing introspection, naff music cues and mawkish sentimentality was being made to share the screen with Hawkman, a transparent rip-off of The Matrix (in the year 2011?), and Darkseid - Lord of Apolokips, most foul of the New Gods, one of Jack Kirby's most enduring villains - redesigned as a malignant cloud of smoke.  And that's before we consider this as a retelling of the origins of Superman, which meant that it spent 10 years with a superpowered Clark Kent running around Metropolis not actually being a superhero.  It was, is and may always be the ultimate example of car-crash TV.

And yet, it had viewers.  A shade over a million per episode, in fact, even into the later seasons.  So I suppose it wasn't much of a surprise for DC Comics to greenlight a new ongoing series picking up where the show left off - if even half as many people who watched the show could be persuaded to buy the comics, they'd be the best-selling Superman books since, well, since the absolute WORST Superman books ever.  Makes sense from a business perspective.

From a storytelling perspective?  Hmmm...