Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture |
 | Summary:Byzantine-contrived, martial arts fantasy follows a group of adept fighters in a quest to uncover antediluvian powers. Despite the often lackluster anecdotes, this pleases game/action seekers of action-laden fantasy; not bothered by the lymphatic narrative. |
| Title Aka: | Fatal Fury III |
| Company/Distributors: | Fuji Animation;Viz Video |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Length: | 100 Minutes |
| Rating: |  |
| Genres: | Action, Martial Arts |
| Format: | OAV Series |
| Content Level: |
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| Comments: | N/A |
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Synopsis:
Several centuries ago, a powerful warrior and ruler "Godimus" and his legions of followers had placed within their ancient civilization "The Armor Of Mars". Six pieces of armor which would bestow upon the one strong enough to bear it, the power equivalent to that of a God. To this day, many researchers as well as several archeologists attempt to uncover the mysteries behind the ancient peaces of armor (And perhaps wear it themselves to serve their own motives). One of these visionary men, is a young man named Laocorn (Whom is actually the last desendant of the Godimus). The six pieces of armor however, are not all placed within a single place on the Earth. Each was carefully hidden away in secret, so that no mortal man could ever unlock the mysteries of the power of Godimus. Legend has it that once each piece of armor is gathered and worn by the one to uncover it, they themselves would be possessed by the armor; making them only a tool for the evil power to be unleashed from within. Laocorn wishes to obtain the armor in order to become the most powerful man on the planet, and there is little that can put a halt to his evil schemes. Laocorn's sister Sulia is also a desendant of Godimus, and contains within her special powers like that of her older brother. Fearing for her brother's well-being, Sulia seeks the help of some of the greatest martial arts masters in the world. Of course, they are none other than "Terry Bogard", "Joe Higashi", Terry's brother "Andy" and "Mai". Together, the team sets out to halt Laocorn's evil intensions and the many dangers of encountering the "Armor Of Mars". But they will soon have to face Laocorn's powerful martial arts warriors, as well as the power of the legend of "Godimus".
Review:
"Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture" is based upon the hugely popular fighting game of the same name, and is also the first full-length feature film. Like the other two OAVs, it follows directly much of the storyline from the game. Featuring the main characters, some interesting twists and some martial arts action for good measure. But what makes this film so different from the other two, is that it doesn't actually follow the storyline of the other movies. Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture develops a world all it's own, featuring none of the original storyline concepts from the game; (rather than the characters themselves) but instead a completely different plot. This time around, the characters face a new villian "Laocorn" and the "Armor Of Mars". Wait a second... The "Armor Of Mars"? Indeed, this is certainly a completely different way of throwing the characters into the mix of things. The characters themselves in the Fatal Fury movies I find to be interesting enough. Terry Bogard contains a grim past, one of love and loss; which certainly could add to some in-depth drama when he meets Sulia for the first time in the film. Along with him are Joe and Andy, always there to help in his quest; like in the other films. I find while watching an anime like Fatal Fury, is that it attempts to save itself by offering the audience a unique approach to the world of Fatal Fury. The characters are thrown into the mix of an unfamiliar storyline, and it's often hard to adjust after seeing the other two films. There is always the potential of the presence of flaws in the storyline, which is something (I'm afraid to say) the "Fatal Fury" films cannot avoid. The main problem with Fatal Fury is that it cannot succeed in presenting the audience with a more in-depth storyline for these unmistakable good characters. The film just ends up being boring. While the story about the revenge and redemption of Laocorn drags on, we get a sense of extreme cliche nature as we witness the often melo-dramatic dialouge of characters like Terry and Sulia. Fatal Fury surprisingly looses all it's energy with the presence of the often out-of-place, poorly executed martial arts sequences. Indeed, Street Fighter this is not. Instead of escaping the flawed fights of the other films, the anime continues to rely heavily of stock, worn camera techniques and choppy effects. The characters in Fatal Fury rely mostly of "special techniques" and powers to lay down evil foes. These fights are hardly well presented, as they come without cause in the array of melo-drama and vauge dialouge seen throughout. This is too bad, since this really could have been a decent action film if the animators haven't wasted all there time on under-developed characters. Whom we all are tired of anyway. I really don't view this as a quality action-film, more or less an on-going story full of characters aimed toward some kind of redemption or climax. This is of course, what all fighting-game anime characters are supposed to do. We don't really get a sense of depth for these characters. Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture doesn't even do that right. After the highly over-the-top ending, it once again leaves anime fans in the dust; nearly hinting a potential sequel. I have seen this many times again and again in anime, and the Fatal Fury movies in general. Frankly, I do not wish to see them try again. If you want really good action, get "Street Fighter". Fatal Fury as a whole probably offers the best storyline for that of only "fighting-game" based animes. Though it isn't great for much else than that. All in all, a pretty average to low-grade flick. Don't expect too much, even if your a huge "FF" fan.
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