The King of Fighters

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Cast & Crew

Maggie Q
Mai Shiranui

Sean Faris
Kyo Kusanagi

Will Yun Lee
Iori Yagami

Ray Park
Rugal

David Leitch
Terry Bogard

Françoise Yip
Chizuru Kagura

Hiro Kanagawa
Saisyu Kusanagi

Bernice Liu
Vice

Monique Ganderton
Mature

Gordon Chan
Director

Rita Augustine
Screenwriter

Matthew Ryan Fischer
Screenwriter

Arthur Wong
Cinematographer

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Critic Reviews for The King of Fighters

Audience Reviews for The King of Fighters

• Apr 27, 2012

  You can't expect this to be really closely based on the popular SNK fighter as we all know how these type of films fare and this is no different frankly. With a small selection of characters from the game and an overly convoluted plot this film feels way too bogged down with mindless dialog and not much fighting. Game franchises like this tend to have rather silly overblown stories behind their characters which tend not to make much sense or have any proper continuity, I give you 'Street Fighter'. This film is a let down as the creators have tried to encompass as much back story as possible but all that ends up doing is boring and confusing you with endless Japanese sounding names, places and objects which mean nothing unless you are a fanboy. The fighting is pretty limp really and that's the killer blow, Ray Park growls and snarls his way through the film as the main bad guy and to be honest he looks the part..but that's it. The rest of the cast are nobodies accept for the overrated Maggie Q and there isn't really anything of interest to comment on. Unoriginal fights, dull costumes, uninspired effects (what little there was) and some bad looking sets all make this a poor waste of your time. Its not horrific as was 'Street Fighter', much better than 'Double Dragon' (not hard) but nowhere near as fun as 'MK' and even 'Tekken' had some reasonably fun fights with the pretty boy cheese meister Luke Goss. Main problem here is they tried to make it way too seriously and it just doesn't work basically.
  Phil H Super Reviewer
• Jan 12, 2011

  It is based on SNK's 'King of Fighters' series and I'm sad to say it sucks all kinds of you know!! overall it is a very bad movie, special effects are lousy, the storyline in this movie pales in comparison to the storyline from the game and is so bad it insults the game. "The King of Fighters" suffers horribly from an very weak and basically non-existent storyline. And whatever little was there just didn't work. Come on, putting in an ear piece and then press a button and you go to an alternate dimension to fight? Yeah, that was perhaps the most epic fail of the entire movie. Also, the movie suffered from a lack of acting talents. Surely there were some scenes that were alright, but in general the acting performances in this movie was painful to behold. And also the actors/actresses didn't really have much of a solid dialogue script to work with. And also the characters portrayed in the movie never grasped you, they were shallow and had no personalities, so it was hard to relate to any of them or get any kind of emotion for any of them. The story was idiotic and the script was pointless. The movie runs at a snail's pace and all the action scenes were bland, at best, because just when you think that it's going to be better, it just disappoints. The King of Fighters was shredded of all it's dignity as soon as it entered post-production in my opinion. It was doomed to fail from the start. Despite what you may think, it features some promising talent, but it's certainly not displayed here in any way. The fight scenes feel cartoonish, the production values feel cheap, and I felt like I was watching a boring video-game that had no pride in itself. It doesn't help that most of the characters are corny and unlikable. Maggie Q is the only thing watchable about this movie. What hurts this movie the most though, is the cheesy storyline. I didn't find it to be believable what-so-ever, nor did it provide any entertainment value. Performances. Maggie Q is decent as the lead, and manages to come out of this crap alive somehow. She is much better then the film deserves, and it shows. Sean Farris has promise as an actor, but here his arrogance is his downfall. Unlike Forever Strong where he balanced it with charisma, that is nowhere to be seen here. Will Yun Lee has intensity but that's about it. Ray Park is much too comical and OTT to be effective. He basically threw it away to ham it up like a buffoon as the villain. David Leitch is OK as the agent but nothing more. Francoise Yip is pretty bland in her role, spurting some atrocious dialogue. Bottom line. This deserves its bad reputation. You are wasting 90 minutes of your life that you could easily be doing something with, much more worthwhile. People call Street Fighter bad? At least it knew it was, and managed to make the movie fun. This has none of that. Avoid in every way possible. If you all had noticed, all the top Japanese fighting games that turn into a movie all failed to have a sequel... Why? I am gonna list it out in the context of KOF 1. Poor Cast - Face it! This is a Japanese based game, if the character is Japanese, I.E Kyo, use a Japanese or at least an Asian. When i first saw the poster i was like WTH~~ Who is Who? Rugal stands at least 2.5 meter tall and he have longer hair. Mai is fair,voluptuous and wears a sexy red kimono alike costume. In the movie, NONE of the character matched...ZERO. If you cant find the right cast at least make the right costumes for goodness sake...Even the moves are wrong... 2. Poor Plot - To create a plot out for a fighting game is not easy. But they aren't putting in any effort at all. Headsets? 3rd dimension? Relics? *slap forehead* They could have done a simple background story for each major character and they come together for a tournament organized by Rugal. Which lies a bigger plot behind the tournament, to revive Orochi. But Orochi needs a strong body to possess on and thus the tournament. 3. Poor Fighting Choreography - The very first fight scene between Mai and Mr.Big is a joke. If you noticed.. their moves are slow.. they are both anticipating each others move... The camera angles... Speechless Iori got owned by Rugal when Rugal is running away with the Relics. He didn't even use any of his flame moves 4. Audio & Visual Effects - The music in the movie are easily forgettable comparing to Mortal Kombat. The visual effects are OK, but too little. So please, producers there... Do us fans a favor. Seek our opinion, do your own research and do not deviate too much from the game. You will earn your Box Office, we will earn our eye-candy. Win win situation. Live-action feature based on the video game "King of Fighters".
  Sergio E Super Reviewer
• Dec 15, 2010

  Gordan Chan screws up and creates a disaster of a movie in <i>The King of Fighters</i>.<p>The king of boredom is a better description for this movie or even the king of f******* bull****! The 90 minutes doesn't go by quick enough. The story unravels at a lackadaisical pace, and what doesn't help is the plot details aren't interesting or entertaining enough in the first place.</p><p>For a film titled <i>The King of Fighters</i> there isn't enough action and what does exist is unimpressive. The choreography has some small shining points, but nowhere near anything to recommend a viewing for. The CG effects are a mixed bag and once again they are nothing to feel bad about missing.</p><p>The cast sounds fitting for this type of film, but this is just a blemish on their resume. Maggie Q, Sean Faris, and Ray Park aren't good enough to step forward and take control of this picture. Francoise Yip is the only person that felt capable of getting the job done, but her serious lack of airtime was a hurting point.</p><p><i>The King of Fighters</i> is a disappointment after disappointment and all that is left to say is to skip this sorry excuse of a movie.</p>
  JY S Super Reviewer
• Aug 02, 2010

  I'm giving this movie a 10% only based on the trailer, plot, & cast. Hell, the movie already looks like absolute garbage. NO ONE but Mature's actress looks like the original character. Mai is a G cup hottie played by some A or B cup hottie with a really long face. And another thing that pisses me off about this soon to come movie other than the miscast & not adding Athena, is the Kyo focus. I HATE Kyo. Why does KOF always focus on Kyo?! Iori deserves much more focus & attention than him! So far, this movie looks nothing like the games. Why is it that directors making a movie based on a video game never seem make the movie similar to the game & choose actors who look LEAST like the characters?! If they would have added Athena, Chris, Shermie & Yashiro, & made the plot similar to KOF 97's, then I'd have a little more hope for the movie. But no, instead we get tons of miscasts, & outfits that barely resemble anything of the source, & a plot that looks nothing like the video game. Rugal is a 6'5" villain played by some actor who is probably half his height. Vice & Mature's characters have outfits barely similar to their original characters, & plus, they have weapons. Vice & Mature use their own fighting skills/powers to fight, which is what made those characters amazing. Terry, the outfit is similar, but he lost the ponytail, & the actor doesn't look like Terry Bogart much. I have been a fan of the KOF games for a very long time, & I've always wondered about a movie. When I saw what became of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, I began to think differently about a movie adaption of KOF. Then I hear it IS gonna become a movie, My hopes for this movie went down the drain instantly when I saw the cast, & read the plot. Why can't the directors ask fans of the video game to give their suggestions on what actors look more like the characters they're using? Hell, Winona Ryder with her boyish short hair looks more like Vice than Bernice Liu does! Hands down, I'm 95% sure this movie will suck. And I'm only basing this off the trailer, cast, & plot.
  Frisby 2 Super Reviewer

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