Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Review

 

 
 
News of a new Street Fighter-based movie got the audiences and fans wondering how moviemakers will pull this off. Despite being a box office bomb, the very first Street Fighter movie (starred by Van Damme and Raul Julia) gained cult status. The plethora of well-known Street Fighter characters had their share of the spotlight, staying as close to the game’s description as possible. And who could forget Raul Julia’s Oscar-worthy portrayal of M.Bison? The Street Fighter genre returns to the silverscreen in the form of “The Legend of Chun-Li.” Will it live up to the hype?

Street Rep

Chun-Li’s supposed legend is the typical story filled with emotion and usury. As a child, Chun-Li wanted to be a piano player, but also loved learning tai chi from her dad. In a twist of events, she witnessed his father taken away by M.Bison. Strangely enough, no one from the family was smart enough to report the incident and, instead, let it fly until a few years later. Chun-Li, now an accomplished pianist, has seen her mother pass away out of old age and depression. Having left alone, Chun-Li sets out on a journey to find M.Bison and her father. She sidetracks to find Gen, a master of the martial arts. She trains and hones her skills in fighting with Gen, and along the way, eventually acquire more information about M.Bison’s whereabouts. In the end, she finds her father (and dies in the hands of Bison), kills M.Bison and saves a whole country from the evil man’s greed. (By the way, Nash was there too

Fighting Chances

First impressions of the movie had this feeling of being a low-budget flick. Advertising had the lackluster feel. The trailers felt like it was showing a second-rate movie. Fans of the Street Fighter lore were divided, one being cautiously ecstatic, and the other critiquing the lackluster feel of it.

The setting took place in different locations, but for the most part, located in Bangkok. The scenes in the movie were unexpectedly unique. The environment was located in the slum area, which was filmed in an artistic point of view. It portrayed both the bustling and dark side of the slum area with visual flair.

The plot, however, was too simplistic. It felt like an old Steven Seagal direct-to-DVD B-rated movie. The protagonist goes commando on the perpetrators of her father’s abduction, but it took her so many years to take action. It makes you think why the family ignored the one thing they could have done: report the matter to the authorities. Surely, we can go for the “powerful underground organization” plot device, which can explain the authorities unable to take action. But somehow, in the story, the Shadaloo (organization that M.Bison was in) wasn’t convincing enough to be “powerful” and “influential.” What about Interpol’s chase for M.Bison? Although they were on the case, Nash (part of Interpol’s team) could barely do squat to uncover everything about Bison. All Nash and his partner did was talk about the common dialogue: “We have to catch this guy.” The movie gave Interpol a bad name, relying on one outsider to expose M.Bison for who he is and taking him down. Surely, the authorities can do better than that.

What is Street Fighter without fight scenes? The movie has an adequate number of fight scenes to show, but nothing as flamboyant as the game or Van Damme’s flick. The fight scenes, for the most part, looked more choreographed than realistic. Rarely will you find Street Fighter’s popular moves, or be impressed by the “action-packed” scenes.
 

That’s Chun-Li? Really?

It seems that the people behind the movie haven’t seen that much Street Fighter. Nash definitely does not have a continually-expanding forehead, or have a flimsy body and less-than-satisfactory fighting skills. Gen was not that young enough, but his agility was thankfully at par with the game. I don’t recall the old man sporting the kikoken (fireball technique) though. Michael Clarke Duncan proved to be a fitting Balrog, because of his size and sheer strength (also because there’s probably no other celebrity of that size, aside from Mike Tyson). It was, however, disappointing to see how much the movie’s Balrog depended more on weapons than his fists. Vega was probably the most unacceptable character in the movie. He’s supposed to be a “pretty boy,” if you know what I mean. His ladies’ man attitude, charming and flamboyant disposition is what defined Vega in the series. Taboo (from the Black-Eyes Peas) is definitely the exact opposite of that description, making Vega completely off-canon.

The team also added unwanted unknown characters, Cantana and Maya, although there have been posters equating Cantana to C. Viper. Perhaps the only thing similar between Cantana and C. Viper would be their assumed sexuality issues. Instead of adding unknown faces, the movie makers should’ve focused on the current Street Fighter lineup.

What about M. Bison and Chun-Li? Guys have a reason to drool at, since Kristin Kreuk is Chun-Li. I had hoped for a different actress to carry Chun-Li’s name. The actress still looks “babyface,” compared to the fierce Chun-Li we all know and love. Don’t expect much of the pantyshot moments though. M.Bison, portrayed by Neal McDonough, was unique, but also completely off-canon. The movie portrays Bison as a powerful businessman dealing in underground operations, rather than a criminal military organization leader. Oh, and on a sidenote, Rose was there too… as Bison’s daughter (hello non-canon Rose!).  

Legendary Disappointment

It takes a lot of guts to carry the Street Fighter name, especially for a movie adaptation. Sadly, it needs more than guts to maintain the name and glory that is Street Fighter. Chun-Li’s game story is partially consistent with the movie (regarding his father being killed by Bison), props for that. However, everything else is just a bloody mess. Most of the actors were out of character, the story was dull and uninspired, and the fight scenes (the most important part of the movie) felt exceptionally lifeless and staged. This movie gives Van Damme’s Street Fighter a bad name. This movie proves that the legend does not live up to the hype.


 

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