Shenmue (film)

Shenmue is an 2009 American / Japanese live-action action/adventure film based on the video game franchise of the same name. Shenmue is the second instalment in the Sega Cinematic Universe, after the first film. Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, Sega, and its film division Sega Movies, the film is directed by James Gunn and written by Mike Bike. It stars Takeru Satoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ken Watanabe, and Wei Zongwan. The film follows the same plot of the game, Ryo Hazuki, a teenage martial artist, seeks revenge on the death of his father and tries to track down the man who killed him, Lan Di.

Announced in 2008 after the success of Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie, the film follows the plot of the game. James Gunn was announced as director in late 2008 and filming underwent way in December. Shenmue has both a Japanese dub and an English dub. Bryce Papenbrook plays Ryo in the English dub. The film had a very significantly smaller budget then the Sonic movie, this was because of Sega not wanting to waste their money on the film, due to the risk of it flopping at the box-office. Production on the movie was wrapped up in July 2009.

Shenmue was released in the United States on December 29, 2009, ten years after the original game released. It received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences for its faithfulness to the source material, acting, and writing. It grossed $302 million on a budget of $75 million, making it a success.

Plot
In Yokosuka, Japan, 1986, the teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki returns to his family dojo to witness a confrontation between his father Iwao and a Chinese man, Lan Di. Lan Di easily incapacitates Ryo, and threatens to kill him unless Iwao gives him a mysterious stone artifact known as the dragon mirror. Iwao tells him the mirror is buried under the cherry blossom tree outside. As his men recover the mirror, Lan Di mentions a man he claims Iwao killed in China. He delivers a finishing blow and Iwao dies in Ryo's arms, leaving Ryo devastated.

A day after the event, Ryo is still traumatized by the event. So, he starts his mission to avenge Iwao. Swearing revenge on Lan Di, Ryo begins his investigation by asking locals about what they witnessed. As he is about to run out of leads, a letter addressed to Ryo's father arrives from a Chinese man named Zhu Yuanda suggesting he seek the aid of Master Chen, who works at Yokosuka Harbor. Through Chen and his son Guizhang, Ryo learns that the mirror taken by Lan Di is one of two. He locates the second, the phoenix mirror, in a hidden basement beneath his father's dojo.

Chen reveals that Lan Di has left Japan for Hong Kong. Ryo borrows money to buy a plane ticket from a disreputable travel agency; when he goes to collect the ticket, he is ambushed by Chai, a member of Lan Di's criminal organization, the Chi You Men, who destroys his ticket. Ryo learns that the Chi You Men is connected to the local harbor gang, the Mad Angels, and takes a job at the harbor as a forklift driver to investigate. After he causes trouble, the Mad Angels kidnap his schoolfriend Nozomi. Ryo rescues her and makes a deal with the Mad Angels leader to beat up Guizhang in exchange for a meeting with Lan Di. Ryo realizes the deal is a trap and teams up with Guizhang to defeat the Mad Angels. Ryo arranges to take a boat to Hong Kong with Guizhang. On the day of departure, they are attacked by Chai. Ryo defeats him, but Guizhang is injured and urges Ryo to go without him, saying he will meet him in China later. Chen advises Ryo to seek the help of a martial artist in Hong Kong named Lishao Tao. Ryo boards the boat and leaves for Hong Kong.

Ryo arrives in Hong Kong and searches for Master Lishao Tao, the only link to the whereabouts of Yuanda Zhu, a martial arts expert who sent Ryo's father a letter warning him of Lan Di's intentions. When Ryo finds Tao, whose real name is Xiuying Hong, she refuses to help, considering his quest for vengeance reckless. The two part ways, but Xiuying continues to monitor Ryo's progress. Ryo encounters Wuying Ren, the wily leader of a street gang. Ren decides to help Ryo after deciding there may be money to be made in Ryo's mysterious phoenix mirror; Lan Di took the second mirror, the dragon mirror, when he killed Ryo's father. Wong, a street boy who admires Ren, and Joy, a free-spirited motorcyclist, assist Ryo in his journey.

Ren informs Ryo that Zhu is hiding from the Chi You Men in Kowloon Walled City, a densely populated, crime-ridden enclave of Hong Kong. They locate Zhu there but are ambushed by the criminal Yellow Head organization and Zhu is kidnapped. Ryo and his allies infiltrate the Yellow Head headquarters, but Wong and Joy are captured. Ryo defeats a powerful martial artist and rescues Joy. On the rooftop of the Yellow Head building, Ryo rescues Wong and Zhu from the Yellow Head leader, Dou Niu, as Lan Di departs by helicopter. At Ren's hideout, Zhu reveals that Lan Di killed Ryo's father because he believes Iwao killed his own father. He also reveals that the mirrors will lead to the resurrection of the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. Zhu advises Ryo to continue his search in Bailu Village in Guilin, where he says Lan Di is also heading.

In the mountains of Guilin, Ryo rescues a girl, Shenhua Ling, after she dives into a river to rescue a deer. Shenhua's family is connected to the legacy of the mirrors, and she seems to have magical abilities. They walk through the mountains to her village. At Shenhua's family home, a tree named Shenmue (Chinese for "sedge tree") is in bloom; she explains that her name means "flower of the Shenmue tree". The pair go to a stone quarry on the village outskirts to meet Shenhua's father, but find he is missing. They discover a cryptic note and sword; Ryo combines the sword with the phoenix mirror, triggering a device that reveals a large mural of the dragon and phoenix mirrors.

Japanese cast

 * Takeru Satoh as Ryo Hazuki: a teenage martial artist who witnesses the death of his father, and seeks revenge on his father's killer.
 * Hiroyuki Sanada as Lan Di: A chinese man who was responsible for killing Ryo's father.
 * Wei Zongwan as Master Yaowen Chen: A wealthy chinese magnate living abroad in Japan, who assists Ryo in getting to Hong Kong.
 * Saki Fukuda as Nozomi Harasaki: A schoolgirl and a friend of Ryo. Nozomi is later kidnapped by Lan Di, but is later saved by Ryo.
 * Lu Yi as Guizhang Chen: The son of Yaowen Chen who is trained by his father in his training business.
 * Ken Watanabe as Iwao Hazuki: Ryo’s father who died after getting shot by Lan Di.
 * Tian Chengren as Zhu Yanada: The man who sends the letter to Ryo about Master Yaowen Chen.
 * Sarah Chlen as Xiuying Hong: A Tai Chi martial arts trainer who befriends Ryo and trains him.
 * Hayo Ken as Chai: A member of Lan Di's criminal organization, the Chi You Men.

English dub

 * Bryce Papenbrook as Ryo Hazuki
 * Dan Green as Lan Di
 * Patrick Seitz as Master Yaowen Chen
 * Cherami Leigh as Nozomi Harasaki
 * Steve Blum as Guizhang Chen
 * Ken Watanabe reprises his role as Iwao Hazuki
 * Benjamin Diskin as Zhu Yanada
 * Wendee Lee as Xiuying Hong
 * Frank Welker as Chai

Development
After the massive box-office success of Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie, released on June 23, 2008, Sega announced their plans to make more feature length films based off their video games. Their new film division, Sega Movies, announced that they were adapting Shenmue as their next feature film. For Shenmue, James Gunn was bought on to direct the film. Gunn wanted to make the film as faithful to the source material as possible, so he decided to use the same plot from the game, except for a "few changes." Mike Bike and Gunn wrote two drafts of the film, before finally settling on the final draft, following the game plot closely. Production of the film underwent quickly on August 1 of that same year with plans to release in late 2009.

For Shenmue being a relatively simple film, it had a way less budget then Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie. The film underwent filming on November 8 on a reported budget of $75 million. By that time, Takeru Satoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Wei Zongwan, and Ken Watanabe were announced as being apart of the movie. It was announced that the film would have an english dub, and auditions for the dub were already started. Bryce Papenbrook and Takeru Satoh's roles were finally revealed to be Ryo Hazuki, in the English dub and Japanese dub, respectively.

Music
Michael Giacchino was announced to compose the film, having already composed 1/3 of the film. Giacchino got inspiration from many famous Japanese composers, including using some inspiration from Akira Ifukube. Goacchino spent a month composing the film's music. Giacchino used several music pieces from the original 1999 Shenmue game, and incorporated Chinese elements into the score. As a joke, near the end of finishing the music, Giacchino included a extended version of the Sega Dreamcast opening screen for the Sega Movies logo. Despite being a joke, Sega loved the title screen so much, they used it for their other films.

Release
Shenmue released in Japan on December 20, 2009 and China on December 27. In the United States and other regions, the film was released on December 29 as to celebrate the original Shenmue’s 10th anniversary at the time.

Marketing
Sega marketed the Shenmue movie mainly by re-releasing the original game on the Nintendo Wii on December 25 Christmas Day. For the movie, there were several marketable plushies and toys sold for the film, including from McDonalds, Burger King, and Toys R Us. A marketing tool for the movie was showing the world premiere on live TV. In total, Sega made around $1 million from the merchandising and toy sales.

Box-office
On opening day, Shenmue grossed $9 million globally in its first ten hours in theatres. In its first week, it managed to gross $102 million in eight days and two hours, proving the film to be a major success and all. In its two months in theaters from December 29 - March 1, it grossed $301.7 million. It did not gross as much as the first Sonic movie, but still proved to be a major success for Sega.

Reception
On critical aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Shenmue has an approval rating of 84% based on 169 professional reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. Its critical consenus reads: "Shenmue is a perfectly servicable film adaption of a great game from the 2000s." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Shenmue a score of 65 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

IGN editor Geoff Chapman rated the film a 7/10 and wrote "a fun and enjoyable film for almost all ages. It has its dark moments and sad moments, its very faithful to the source material especially with the direction from James Gunn himself, and an amazing score from Michael Giacchino like always. So, yes. Shenmue is definitely worth a watch."