Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

It's a little glib to say that nothing is useless, because it can be used as a bad example. But it's also true, and that's what I thought watching Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, the second stab at bringing the popular fighting video-game to the screen. TO provide a little context, the last effort, in 1994, stared Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia (in his last role, depressingly enough) and it was so directly inspired by the look of the game that Julia was clad in a crimson cape so large that it looked like one of those big building communist countries put up seemingly overnight when they host the Olympics.

The people behind the new version of Street Fighter took a different tack with this version -- keeping it real, as the kids say. And so you have a plot where Chun-Li (Smallville's Kristin Kreuk) chases down the international crime boss, Bison (Neal McDonough) who's abducted her father, while driven cops Nash (Chris Klein) and Maya (Moon Bloodgood) are tracking Bison's latest criminal conspiracy to punish the poor on the streets of Bangkok. And this raises an interesting question: Who, exactly, looks for gritty social realism in a movie based on a videogame? Say what you will about Dragonball: Evolution (another videogame adaptation this year, from the same studio) but it was fun; this version of Street Fighter is like if someone had the movie rights to Pac-Man and made a gritty drama about eating disorders.

So, that would be mistake number one -- make a movie based on a game that has no sense of play whatsoever, no joy or exuberance and tries to turn two-dimensional punching, kicking pixels into complex human beings; the level of effort contrasted to the level of achievement is like watching my cat trying to do algebra. But I've enjoyed sillier movies if they were well-shot, or had great action sequences, or a performance worth caring about or some kind of maniac spirit.

And yet, Street Fighter has none of these things, most of whichcan be blamed on director Andrej Bartikowiak. The cinematography is barley above the camera shooting style of a Chamber of commerce promotional video, washed out colors and too-wide longshots. The action is cut too close and too fast, which is how directors try to hide the fact the actors they've hired to do martial arts can't actually, uh, do martial arts. The performances are cardboard (Klein is especially hilarious as a Keanau Reeves-esque cop on the edge) and the movie itself drags and downs on its own self-importance.

There are an incredible number of extras on Street Fighter -- an unrated cut, deleted scenes, storyboard demonstrations, making-of material, comparisons between the characters from the videogame and the film (Which seems counter-productive; aren't they trying to make the movie's characters not evoke the game's cartoony bruisers?) and a commentary track by producers Patrick Aiello and Ashok Amritraj alongside actors Neal McDonough and Chris Klein that's a masterpiece of unintentional comedy you have to hear to believe as McDonough and Klein delve into the deep acting choices that shaped their snarling, stalking performances.

Street Fighter seems curiously crafted to completely dissatisfy two wholly different audiences, as fans of the game will wonder where the bright, bold characters they've come to appreciate are in this drab, dreary Scorsese-styled revenge drama; people who don't know the game will wonder what the deal is with all the high-kicking and crazy outfits and shallow performances. It's a heck of a thing to watch -- how can one film go awry in so many ways -- and kind of a marvel of masochism you have to see to appreciate, but Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li ultimately knocks itself out.

Comments

[Trevor]

Those were my exact thoughts. Although I think the first Street Fighter was a movie that was so bad it was good (well worth the watch imo), the new one was just so bad. Movies based on fighting games always need a little camp, and this movie tried to be campless.

[Scott]

"like if someone had the movie rights to Pac-Man and made a gritty drama about eating disorders." Nice.

[Spaz]

Yeah, I love that line too Scott. Also this one:

"the level of effort contrasted to the level of achievement is like watching my cat trying to do algebra."

Good review. I watched the movie recently and was just bored. Yes, it was bad, but there's worse out there (I think). I don't like Chris Klein to begin with and especially in this role. There was pretty much no reason for him to be in this movie. Or Moon Bloodgood, for that matter. (Really loved her in Journeyman, wish it had lasted.)

Kristen Kreuk was okay, though not outstanding. This film required nothing new from her acting-wise, nothing above what she did on Smallville. But she's still nice to look at.

The movie was just, eh...

A couple months from now, I won't even remember seeing it.

[warcraft gold]

Not bad as I've thought if you were to compare it with world of warcraft the movie if ever. For sure it'd be worst as ever, I can't imagine producers making a MMORPG movie.

[Vital1]

not a great flick by any means, i thought that kristen's acting was very good though, i was impressed with the intensity she portrayed on the screen. But, the cliche story,terrible casting(chris klien as a cop?,another flick with clarke duncan as the bully?!,taboo as vega-yeesh),and poorly shot scenes left much to be desired. Wasted opportunity for such a iconic gaming character