Street Fighter Movie Review
After my viewing of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, I am convinced that movies and video games just do not mix well together. This was a lazy effort all around to make it even look like it was taking place in the world of Street Fighter. In an already controversial move to not feature Ryu or Ken in the movie the producers had to deliver a film that would silence the doubters. This is not that film.
The film begins with narration from Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk) about her life. Her father is a successful businessman and they are always moving around. Then one night Balrog (Michael Clark Duncan) & Bison (Neil McDonugh) break into their home and kidnap Chun-Li’s father. Bison spares Chun-Li’s life (unfortunately this means we still have about 85 minutes to go in the picture) and burns the house down. Years later, Chun-Li is a pianist playing at concert halls and at some point Bison kills off the other founding members of Shadaloo.
The plot (or the weak attempt at one) revolves around Bison’s desire to infuse crime into slum areas and then buy them up real cheap (This is supposed to be the same Bison from the games, that is bent on worldwide domination, apparently). This core story felt like a knock-off of Batman Begins. Chun-Li, naturally wants revenge for her father, but the movie doesn’t even get this right. Her father was killed in the real pretend Street Fighter universe by Bison and that’s what makes her go after him, not just a mere kidnapping. Someone sends her some mysterious letters and she has a tough time figuring them out at first. She takes them to an interpreter and it’s revealed that she must go to Thailand. Chun-Li goes, to find Gen (Robin Shou) who will train her as a member of the Order of the the Web and teach her how to harness her anger (Stop me if you think you’ve heard this in another recent hit adaptation). Interpol is also hot on Bison’s trail being headed by Charlie Nash (Chris Klein).
The only character who gets any real kind of exposition at all is Bison. This is told in a flashback, and even then it is just random generic bad guy stuff. The characters all felt as three-dimensional as cardboard cutouts. Klein gave a performance that I am sure will win an award – and by that I mean a Razzie. Nobody in this movie has any kind of personality whatsoever. When watching the uninspired fight scenes I found myself not caring who won or lost, whereas in films made with intelligent effort I can’t wait to see the hero take down the villain once and for all (any “007″ movie would be an example of this).
The second half of the movie kicks off with Chun-Li finishing her training with Gen and beginning her generic quest for revenge – er, I mean search for Bison. Nash and his partner Maya (Moon Bloodgood) are staking out a club where one of Bison’s female assistants is hanging out. Chun-Li of course shows up, fights with the assistant, and makes a name for herself. I mean come on, it isn’t an action movie until the protagonist gets the villains attention right? Next she starts interrogating the Interpol agents for info on Bison. (Realistic, huh?) The search goes on until we learn Bison is going to bring in something called the “White Rose”. They do tell us what this is but never once tell us why Bison wants it (well, they do, sort of, but the explanation they provide is even out of character for their muddy interpretation of Bison). The final act is pretty much pulled straight out of a Lethal Weapon movie, and leaves a build up also stolen, from that hit movie mentioned above as the source of its plot.
In short this film fails in the same way the ’94 version with Jean Claude Van Damme did. At least that one you could laugh at the silliness of it. Legend of Chun-Li is just utterly boring and full of hack cliches you probably have seen a dozen times before and always executed better. The set design and costumes of the characters aren’t very Street Fighter at all. The dialogue is on par if not worse than the 1994 movie and that might be the only true accomplishment this film pulls off. I only hope if they decide to make a Devil May Cry movie that they don’t let Bartkowiak anywhere near it.
Rating: 
