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| 5/08/01 |
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture |
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First of all... who HASN'T seen this movie?
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture is an interesting mixture of martial arts anime, video games, and an actual plot. Unlike many other fighting animes that don't pack much bang (does Toshinden ring a bell?), Fatal Fury goes the extra mile by combining a love story and suspenseful elements in a martial arts shell. There are serious moments and humorous ones, well balanced throughout the film. The animation is at its best in the fight sequences, but doesn't lack much in the slower paced settings. Perhaps most gratifying is the constant change of scenery and surroundings, giving them the opportunity to provide cameos of popular characters from the game without discrediting the plot. All in all, the archeological settings, the legendary myths, and the pure action give Fatal Fury a wonderfully adventurous feeling.
The basic story of FF: The Motion Picture is one man's searh for the Armor of Mars in his quest to become a God. Thousands of years past, the Armor of Mars gave its wearer the power of the God of War himself - the last wearer, Goddamis, was defeated by four brave warriors, and the armor was dispersed. In the present day and age, there exists two children who are the direct descendants of Goddamis - Laocorn and Sulia Goddamis. Laocorn reacts with a piece of the Armor that his father had discovered and was murdered over, his intense emotional outburst catalyzing the transformation. We are introduced to Sulia and her need for Terry Bogard's skills after Laocorn has apparently claimed 3 of the 6 pieces of the Armor. After Sulia's explanation, Terry and company begin their quest to beat Laocorn out and restore him to his former self; at the very end the quest culminates and we're given one helluva showdown (a wee bit short, though).
As the characters travel across the world for the Armor of Mars, the character relationships are expanded to some degree, even though some of the gag relationship comedy isn't exactly top calibur. I rather liked how the makers managed to casually introduce other characters from the Fatal Fury series during the quest for the Armor of Mars. Fortunately, those who haven't played Fatal Fury will lose nothing of the experience for not having played it - the appearances are merely gratuitous fan service, and fairly well done at that. The music is amazingly erratic - from rockin' guitar riffs to symphonal pieces to almost techno j-pop, it rarely seems as if a musical theme was implemented for continuity. Even if lacking the aforementioned musical theme, the music does fit the scenes accordingly. The sound effects are excellent, and the voice acting in the japanese version is superb in my opinion. The dub features a number of well done voices as well, yet those of Sulia and Laocorn both seem somehow off to me. Sulia is timid and Laocorn is haughty, but Laocorn is not quite convincing enough and Sulia switches from confident to mouse-like far too frequently. It would have been nice to see a few more fight sequences in the film, and the ones there are a little too short to satisfy. Fatal Fury is nothing spectacular; it is, however, a very well made film that is pleasing to watch and is certainly entertaining.
My one and biggest complaint with the film is the same beef that many others share - a certain occurrence in the ending that wasn't even hinted at through the entire film. If you've seen it you know what I'm talking about... what's even more disappointing is that this seems to be the last Fatal Fury flick, and even then, the writers just couldn't leave poor Terry be. Ah well, c'est la vie.
Though the critic in me speaks for 7 stars, the neo geo fanboy in me says 8. I might have gone as high as 9 if not for the ending, but this is still a must see movie.
Running time: Approximately 90 minutes.
Aaron Post
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