Ranking the feature films based on fighting games

[mark187]

first, I will rank my familiarity with each of these 5 series, so as to give some insight on how that may influence my enjoyment of said movies.

Mortal Kombat (10/10) -although I can't call myself a hardcore player, I'm definitely a hardcore fan. I've played all the main fighting titles, some of the various port versions, and all of the adventure games as well. I am very familiar with all of the characters from the main fighting game series in terms of name and appearance, and quite familiar with the backstory for the majority of them as well. Not only is it my favorite fighting game series, MK is my favorite videogame series of all time to boot.

Street Fighter (8/10) -definitely my second favorite fighting game series, I feel I'm quite familiar with SF, but not always up on the story aspects of it (MK has a much more interesting story). I've played the majority of the games, including all versions of SFII, 1 version of III and 2 versions of IV, all Alpha titles, as well as SFxTekken, never played the original though. I'm quite familiar with the majority of the characters, but I can't name and describe all of them off the top of my head like I could with MK's.

Tekken (6/10) -played the majority of the titles, and could tell you a little about the more well known characters, but I don't know much about the story or several of the less prominent characters.

Dead or Alive (2/10) -haven't really played many of these games at all, but I remember at least playing a demo of one of them on the Xbox a bit. can't even remember any of the characters' names, but I remember it was heavily focused on female characters.

The King of Fighters (1/10) -I've never played any of the games as far as I remember, so only after seeing the movie was I familiar with any character names, or any potential story elements (I understand the movie changed a lot of details).

Street Fighter (1994) -6/10, colorful and somewhat entertaining, although very cheesy. some characters were portrayed OK, but some were not. overall, far from being a great film, but not quite as bad as the average review paints it to be.

Mortal Kombat (1995) -10/10, now I'll admit to being a bit biased since MK is my favorite videogame series of all time, let alone fighting game series, but this film was perfect to me. everything about it, the actors, character designs, cinematography, special effects (for the time), and of course the excellent soundtrack! even though the games were known for the gore, the PG-13 rating didn't hurt this one bit. I'm sure the nostalgia helps, but this is definitely the pinnacle of videogame to movie transitions; the best one of all time!

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) 7/10, OK so it was nowhere near as good as the first, but it did have its moments. could have done without the animalities though, as they looked horrible. the fight choreography was nowhere near as good as in the first film either, and some of the character costumes (Shao Kahn) and new actors (Nightwolf) could have been much better, but overall as a fan of the series, I have to say I liked it but it was very flawed.

DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) -6.5/10, unlike MK and Street Fighter, not familair with the characters very much at all. the fight choreography was OK, and overall the movie was very cheesy, but also reasonably entertaining, but not very good for repeat viewings.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) -5/10, this just wasn't very good, the original was a little better. some major deviations in terms of character (M. Bison) and Chun Li just didn't have a convincing enough actress in Kristin Kreuk. the fight choreography was nothing special either, and the incorporation of the "spinning bird kick" would have been wise to leave on the cutting room floor. maybe I'll give the unrated version a chance someday though.

The King of Fighters (2010) -5/10, with zero familiarity with the characters or story, I can't say much about this one. the fight choreography was probably the worst out of all of these films mentioned, and I wasn't hyped about the sci-fi element or some of the cast choices. nevertheless, it did provide 90 minutes of at least some slightly dumb fun. Maggie Q looked terrific, and it was great seeing Francoise Yip again. worth a look, but mainly for the trio of beautiful women (Bernice Liu was cute in this as well).

Tekken (2010) -7/10, pretty decent overall, the fight choreography was pretty good, but a few moments of less than desirable editing. good to have another tournament-based movie, and director Dwight H. Little is good with action