I love kung-fu movies. Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li. There is something about a well done martial arts movie that just draws in fans by the boatloads. I mean Jean Claude Van Damme is anything but Oscar material, yet one good movie (Bloodsport) made him a star.
But that's when a martial arts movie is done well. Then there are those movies that stand out for being different (by American standards) with stars we are just dying to see more of. Movies of this type include the well done Ong Bak (and Ong Bak 2) and Chocolate (Thai film).
King of Fighters doesn't fall into any of those categories. It is in the realm of films like Mortal Kombat: Annilhation, Street Fighter, and all the other video game to movie conversions. In other words this is a movie not worth seeing.
The first thing I know will shock you is that this is a $12 million film. That wouldn't be so bad except it looks like a low budget quickie film. I would sooner expect this quality to come from a SyFy Channel "original" film than a major motion picture.
Obviously most of the money probably wasn't spent on the look of the film. And the writing appears to be equally as thin. This style of conversion film rarely cares about plot, or logic. They just need to get from one fight to another, which can still be worth watching if the fighting is good. It's not.
Ray Park is hands down a respected martial artist. His name may not be the most familiar, but his most famous role is. Darth Maul. Yep, this is him (he also was Toad in the first X-Men movie).
Will Yun Lee has respectable martial arts movie skill. He's been in Elektra (the lead bad guy), the short lived televison show Thief (which was quite good), and several other films and movies. He will also be the in the upcoming Red Dawn remake.
Maggie Q is perhaps easiest of the films stars to recognize. She was featured as part of the IMF team in Mission Impossible III. She was the "crazy kicking chick" that beat the crap out of Bruce Willis (till he dropped a SUV on her) in Live Free or Die Hard. She is indeed interesting to watch.
Given the talent of this film you might expect that the movie would be good. But then there are the minor issues of plot, scenery, lot's of CGI and special effects. Put a diamond into crap and you won't notice it shine.
Either the director, movie studio, and whatever other exec involved wanted to lower the expectations (which the movie trailer does in spades) or the film is what I believe it is. It's a shame because I like the cast. But I won't spend $20 to have a bad time. I suggest you don't either.
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