Japanese promotional poster
The King of Fighters 2009 (ザ・キング・オブ・ファイターズ・2009) is a live-action adaptation loosely based on The King of Fighters series. The movie is directed by action director Gordon Chan ("The Medallion", "Fist of Legend") and the new face screenwriter, Rita Augustine, replaces "Fearless" scriptor Chris Chow. Joseph Chou, Siew-Loong Tim Kwok, Bobby Sheng act as the movie's producers.
The film's budget was $12 million. The film was first released August 2009 in the United States and later 2010-2011 in Singapore and Canada.
Plot[]
The King of Fighters is a tournament held in an alternate dimension. When contestants are issued challenges, they enter the tournament via a special bluetooth headset.
At a museum in Boston, Mai Shiranui and her boyfriend Iori Yagami attend a private unveiling of three relics: The Kagura Mirror, the Yagami Necklace and the Kusanagi Sword. All three relics are believed to have the capability to open a portal into another dimension, where the mystical entity known as the Orochi resides. Legend says that whoever controls the Orochi will be granted limitless powers.
Suddenly, Rugal Bernstein storms into the exhibit, shooting at everyone in sight and slashing Chizuru Kagura in the stomach with the Kusanagi Sword before running off with all three relics. He uses his blood and that of Chizuru to open a portal and disappear before he is captured. However, the sword does not vanish with him. It is revealed to Mai by Chizuru that the sword is a fake, and only Saisyu Kusanagi knows the whereabouts of the real sword. Chizuru also warns Mai that she alone must defeat Rugal and that Iori should not be involved.
Mai heads to a mental institution, where Saisyu has resided for the past 10 years and remains in a catatonic state. There, she meets his son, Kyo Kusanagi, who is unfamiliar with Chizuru or the stolen relics. She leaves the room and heads to her car, while Kyo puts his father to bed and reads him a book of proverbs. Mai decides to stay in her car in front of the institution until the next morning, when Iori meets her there. When they return to Saisyu's room, Iori's presence suddenly breaks Saisyu's catatonic state, and the elder Kusanagi threatens to kill Iori before losing consciousness and dying.
Meanwhile, at another hospital where Chizuru is recovering from her injury, she is informed by her colleague Scott that Rugal has altered the King of Fighters database and issued challenges to all fighters around the world. Mature and Vice are lured in and defeated by Rugal, who makes them his servants.
CIA agent Terry Bogard enters Chizuru's room, demanding information on Rugal's whereabouts and the tournament. She tells him of the different dimensions that exist, but he does not believe a word. Chizuru then tells Terry to go to Seattle and ask Mai, who is actually an undercover operative sent by the CIA to infiltrate Chizuru's organization a year ago.
At a cemetery in Seattle, where Saisyu is buried, Kyo and Iori confront each other once again. Iori explains that both Kusanagi and Yagami clans were destined to be enemies. Mai hitches a ride with Kyo to his home, where she explains to him that she is looking for the Kusanagi Sword. Kyo tells her that centuries ago, according to family folklore, a Yagami ancestor attempted to release the Orochi, but it consumed him with murderous rage. Kyo's ancestor killed the Yagami and returned the Orochi into its world. Mai tells Kyo that Rugal is out to unleash the Orochi once again. Kyo, meanwhile, wants to confront Rugal, who destroyed his father's mental state.
At a hotel, Mai and Kyo meet up with Iori and Terry. It is revealed that Rugal is using the tournament dimension to merge it with the real world. After Mai blows her cover in front of Kyo, Iori puts on his Bluetooth headset and enters the tournament dimension to confront Rugal. There, he defeats Mature and Vice in combat, only to have his mind consumed by the Orochi.
The next day, Kyo is lured into the tournament dimension, where he first fights Rugal and loses, but is allowed to live as a warning. This prompts him to bring out his ancestral sword and join Chizuru and Terry into the tournament after Mai is dragged in by Rugal. When the four meet up, they are separated into different dimensions, with Kyo fighting Rugal and Mai and Terry facing Mature and Vice. In the middle of a sword fight, Rugal is about to decapitate Kyo when Iori suddenly appears and intervenes. Here, Rugal reveals to Kyo that several years back, he battled Saisyu, Chizuru and Iori over control of the Orochi. During that fight, Iori allowed the Orochi to take over his body, defeating Rugal, but also destroying Saisyu's mental state by bashing his head against a wooden barrier several times. This leads to a fight between Kyo and Iori. Kyo slashes Iori in the back, releasing the Orochi from his body.
Disappointed by the outcome of the fight, Rugal sends Kyo, Iori and Mai into another dimension to face them with his full potential. Chizuru and her multiple clones appear, revealing that she has found the mirror and the necklace. The heroes fail in their first attempt to combine the relics and trap Rugal, with Chizuru mortally wounded. Mai takes her place as the mirror holder, but as she, Kyo and Iori corner Rugal, they are once again overcome by his powers. Rugal destroys Kyo's sword, but as he is about to finish him off with a fireball, Kyo magically generates a new sword to block it. He then throws the sword and destroys Rugal.
Back in the real world, Scott places a lantern on the ocean in memory of Chizuru. Kyo decides to keep the family tradition by continuing with the tournament. He reflects on his late father's teachings while Iori stares at him from the other side of the pier.
Production[]
Initially, Production was by Axis Entertainment's Joseph Chou (who produced "Appleseed: Ex Machina") and Tim Kwok of L.A.-based Convergence Entertainment ("Wicked City".) and would have been jointly financed by Japanese production and rights management group Micott & Basara and Australian-U.S. sales agent Arclight/Easternlight.
After several setbacks, the film was then backed by Inferno Entertainment as an English language, Taiwanese co-production between Double Edge Entertainment, China's Enlight Media, Japan's Micott & Basara, the U.S.' Convergence Entertainment and Axis Entertainment. A news article posted on December 17, 2008 states that this movie was additionally backed by the US Inferno Entertainment, the U.K.'s Scion Films, and Singapore's Innoform Media.
Micott has rights in Japan and South Korea, Innoform has rights in Singapore and Malaysia, and Inferno takes the rest of the world. Sony has a first-look deal with Inferno for North America. Filming was scheduled to begin in September 2008 in Vancouver, Canada, but began on November 27, 2008.
According to Sean Faris's official website, the actor finished filming his role January 19, 2009.
Cast[]
Savior Team[]
- Sean Faris as Kyo Kusanagi: A Japanese American motorcycle enthusiast and the son of Japanese martial artist Saisyu Kusanagi. He is also a descendant of the Kusanagi clan. for his role and took up basic Karate.[1] Faris spent a month learning how to use a katana in preparing for his role and took up basic Karate.[1]
- Keanu Lam also portrays Kyo in his teen years.[2]
- Maggie Q as Mai Shiranui: An undercover CIA operative, MMA fighter, and the girlfriend of Iori.
- Will Yun Lee as Iori Yagami: a King of Fighters participant, a descendant of the Yagami clan, and the boyfriend of Mai.
Rugal Team[]
- Ray Park as Rugal Bernstein: A mysterious tyrannical fighter and leader of his own namesake K.O.F. team, the criminal from Europe takes over the King of Fighters dimension.
- Monique Ganderton as Mature: A femme fatale KOF participant and Vice's lover, who is lured into the tournament dimension and brainwashed by Rugal, her weapon of choice is a tonfa.[3]
- Bernice Liu as Vice: She is the second femme fatale KOF participant and Mature's lover. Alongside Mature, she also becomes the enslaved servitress of Rugal.
Other fighters[]
- Françoise Yip as Chizuru Kagura: Descendant of the Kagura clan and host of the King of Fighters tournament. Due to a bullet injury, Mai takes Chizuru's place on the Savior Team with Iori and Kyo in the KOF tournament.
- Hiro Kanagawa as Saisyu Kusanagi: Descendant of the Kusanagi clan, the father of Kyo, and the keeper of the Kusanagi Sword. His appearance resembles that of Takuma Sakazaki from Art of Fighting.
- David Leitch as Terry Bogard: A skeptical CIA agent and amateur street fighter who investigates on the activities of the KOF tournament by being the assist fighter of the Savior Team.
- Leitch was also the film's fight choreographer.
- Sam Hargrave as Mr. Big: a wealthy crime boss and Eskrima master from Australia who challenges Mai during her first match, he is the only fighter in the film to not appear on the original KOF '98 roster from the game.
Non-canon characters[]
- Mike Dopud as CIA Agent
- Doug Abrahams as Mick O'Meara
- Candus Churchill as Berta
- Robin Nielsen as Junior Agent
- Scott Patey as Scott Hana
- Toshi Haraguchi as Takao Iwata
Game differences[]
- This loose adaptation has only 9 canon fighters from the roster of The King of Fighters '98: The Slugfest, which originally had a total of 38 fighters. The fighters who made their appearances in this movie are Kyo Kusanagi, Mai Shiranui, Iori Yagami, Chizuru Kagura, Saisyu Kusanagi, Terry Bogard, Mature, Vice, and Rugal Bernstein (counting out Mr. Big). The other 29 fighters who are absent in this movie are Benimaru Nikaido, Goro Daimon, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi, Ryo Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, King, Yuri Sakazaki, Ralf Jones, Leona Heidern, Clark Still, Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou, Chin Gentsai, Yashiro Nanakase, Shermie, Chris, Chang Koehan, Kim Kaphwan, Choi Bounge, Ryuji Yamazaki, Blue Mary, Billy Kane, Heidern, Takuma Sakazaki, Heavy-D!, Lucky Glauber, Brian Battler, and Shingo Yabuki.
- In the movie, the King of Fighters is a tournament held in an alternate dimension; when the contestants are issued challenges, they teleport to the tournament via a special bluetooth headset. In the games, the King of Fighters is an annual martial arts championship tournament that was originally held in the fictitious South Town of USA, but fighters from all over the world were invited to participate. The tournament was not limited to any specific martial arts, and any kind of fighter is welcome to join the fray. Also, there are no limitations to weapon use and super powers, with the King of Fighters having a history of fighters who use both elemental energy and melee weapons.
- In the movie, Mai Shinarui is depicted as an undercover CIA operative and a girlfriend of Iori Yagami; wears a blue frilly-but-sleeveless low-cut dress, and black lingerie with thigh-high leather boots; her measurements are a petite 30A-22-32 / 78A-56-81 in cm; and teams up with men instead of women. Mai's canon depiction in the games however: she is a Kunoichi of the Shiranui clan and the self-proclaimed "fiancée" to fellow Shiranui-ryuu Ninja student Andy Bogard (who happens to be Terry's younger brother); she wears a sleeveless red uwagi with a decorative waistband—sometimes with long, decorative tails, a red loincloth with a bikini-bottom underneath, completed with a pair of soft-soled tabi; her measurements were originally 34F-22-36 / 88F-55-91 in cm, Mai is also a frequent member of the Women's Fighting Team after once getting rejected by Terry Bogard's Fatal Fury team during the Orochi Saga.
- Kyo Kusanagi strongly resembles both Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting and Kaede from The Last Blade, this is because he fights hand-to-hand using Karate and has Kenjutsu skills with a kitana. To further this: Kyo's own father Saisyu Kusanagi during flashback scenes resembles Ryo's father Takuma Sakazaki in terms of attire and appearance.
- Vice and Mature are depicted as being similar to Marian Kelly and Rebecca Brille from Double Dragon '95, they are also shown to be somewhat close lesbian-lovers. But in the games, Mature is bisexual, while Vice is rather sadistic, they act as professional accomplices with no close relationship whatsoever. Rugal on the other hand fights like both K' (K-Dash) and Geese Howardfrom Fatal Fury, even dressing like both fighters.
- Though not shown in the movie, Vice goes onto the contact list of her mobile, and there are familiar collar ID names that she dialed onto her phone which are three playable characters from each different KOF saga, such as Shermie from the Orochi Saga, Ramón from the NESTS Saga, and Duo Lon from the Tales of Ash Saga.
- Heidern and the Ikari Warriors are not involved or even mentioned in the story at all, but instead the role goes to Terry Bogard (played by David Leitch) and his Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) operatives.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This film was released on 2009 during the 15th anniversary of The King of Fighters '94 and after the release of The King of Fighters XII which was SNK Playmore's latest KOF installment at the time.
- Gordon Chan's The King of Fighters 2009 was released during the same year as Dwight Little's Tekken: Iron Fist Hegemony, both movies were panned by fans and critics alike for being low-budget films, with bad casting, and are weak adaptations of popular arcade fighting-games from Japan.
- American actor Will Yun Lee has similarities to Kim Kaphwan unlike his character Iori Yagami. Similarities such as Kim and Lee both being Korean, they are both taekwondo experts, and they are both at the billed height of 5 ft 9 in (175 cm).
- Bernice Liu is fan of the King of Fighters video game series.
- Abigail Mavity as Yuri Sakazaki, Emma Lahana as King, Kane Kosugi as K' and Roger Fan as Alba Meira were all rumor to appear in the film as characters from 2004 games such as The King of Fighters Neowave and The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact.
- Sam Hargrave, the American stunt coordinator, stuntman, actor and director makes a brief appearance in the movie where he is portraying a loosely based boss character from Art of Fighting (1992) known as Mr. Big, he performs a fight scene with Maggie Q (Mai Shiranui) at the beginning of the movie. He would also later re-team with director David Leitch (Terry Bogard) for another brief appearance in the movie Atomic Blonde (2017).
External Links[]
- Official website - link broken, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter
- Official Japanese website
- News from MovieSet Blog
- News from Variety
- May 2007 Article
- Behind the scenes commentary
- Promotional trailer
- IMDb Profile
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kit Yan, Seto (September 1, 2010). "Leaping into action". The Star. Star Media Group Berhad. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ↑ Brian Ashcraft, "King of Fighters Movie Promotional Images," Kotaku (June 11, 2009).
- ↑ Behind-the-Scenes Video for King of FightersTemplate:Dead link