Also I don't think the game itself was very good. It had an incredibly steep learning curve. If you couldn't memorise the button sequence for your special move, then you were mincemeat by the 4th stage. Which led to another problem, instead of learning the sequence which was laborious, you actually just ended up mashing ALL the buttons in the vain attempt that you could perform the move. I could not be bothered to learn these stupid moves, so my game of Street Fighter would sound something like this:
'Round 1. Fight! Har new kin, har new kin, right upper cut, har new kin. You Lose!'
(I was recently given Street Fighter for the Xbox 360 and I have grown to love it, although probably more in a retro way that a strict convert to the genre.)
Back to my original point and the fact is, whether or not I actually like a video game, I've nearly always hated movies based on video games. From the awful Super Mario Bros. (1993), to the ok but disappointing Resident Evil (2002),movie studios seem unable to recapture the atmosphere, excitement and enjoyment from the original games.
By far the worse is Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (2001), which was a CGI film supposedly based on the Final Fantasy series, but looked nothing like any of the games. It was dull, tedious, slow and within a year looked dated. A miraculous feat considering the 1997 FF7 game for the PS1 looks fresh, spectacular and remains as entertaining and gripping as back then!
So as I didn't really like the game and movies based on games are usually disappointing, I avoided this movie for nearly 20 years. However, it made it onto the list, so, I had no choice. Therefore I dusted off my 6 button D-Pad, inserted my cartridge and began.....
The Street Fighter games, for me, never really had a plot, but I'm shocked to find they actually did! As far as I was aware it was just an elimination game until you faced your final 'boss' opponent, defeat him and win. Regardless, Street Fighter the film has a plot which is not based on any from the games and elaborates, expands and adds depth to the characters. I'm using the word depth here, in it's broadest possible term.
All round bad egg, M. Bison, (Raul Julia), kidnaps and holds hostage humanatarian workers near the fictitious town of Shadaloo, (push pineapple shake the tree), in Eastern Asia. He demands a ransom of $20 billion, all the time avoiding the temptation of holding his little finger to his mouth. The Alliance Nations, a multinational military group led by Guile, (Jean-Claude Van Damme), attempt to locate and free the hostages. Guile enlists the help of two con men, Ryu (Byron Mann, (no relation)) and Ken (Damian Chapa), to track down Bison's hideout.
The movie then focuses on Ryu and Ken's attempt to locate Bison. Along the way we meet all the characters from the Street Fighter games in a series of interlinked plots and sub plots.
For example, news reporter Chun Li (Ming-Na Wen), seeks Bison for revenge over the death of her father. She is accompanied by E. Honda (Peter Navy Tuiasosppo), a sumo wrestler and Balrog (Grand L. Bush (FNARR FNARR)) a boxer who both seek revenge against a chap called Sagat (Wes Studi), who ruined their reputation and so on.
It all ends with a big boss battle fight between Bison and Guile, in what is probably the only part of the movie which actually feels like the game. Guile eventually triumphs, the hostages are freed and the $20 billion is safe and well. Hurrah!
This film is incredibly camp, cheesy, the dialogue is threadbare, the plot thinning so much it has a comb over and everyone really hams up their roles. I bloody loved it!
Yes, for the second time in three movies, I completely disagree with the critics. In my blog for Ecks vs Sever, I mentioned how I believed the critics were being almost snobbish with the film as it was not a subtitled thought provoking cinematic masterpiece. Ecks vs Sever was entertainment, that's all. Street Fighter is similar, it doesn't take itself too seriously, so why should we? I think the reasons for the critical bashing are similar to Ecks vs Sever, but unfortunately for Street Fighter, it comes from two sides.
The gamers criticised the movie because it was not like the game. Well, thank fuck for that as I personally did not want to see an hour and a half of 3 rounds x 75 second fights in which all characters essentially have the same moves. I can understand gamers criticising a movie such as Resident Evil, whose storyline and feel are already very strong within the game, but I'm sorry, a movie about a 2D fighting game has to elaborate and branch out or it'll be dull and repetitive.
Some criticism I can understand. Guile, the all American hero, who has in both game and film a large American flag tatoo on his upper arm, speaks with a broad Belgian accent! Unfortunately it appears Van Damme has gone to the Sean Connery school of accents.
Also the complete absence of any of the character's special moves from the game is a bit disappointing and could have made for more colourful and entertaining fight scenes, but I suppose it made it more plausible as they are not super humans. Bison does have his special ability of lighting bolts and levitation and this is explained away as it's his suit that has these powers rather than him. This does make the end battle more interesting as Guile has to battle with this 'super boss' without any powers himself.
The film critic's derision of the movie is no surprise as it's clumsy and not very deep, but sometimes I think critics have had a humour by-pass. The main reason for their bile, i think, is because this film was based on a video game, a medium still looked down upon by critics as somewhat lesser than Hollywood, (I would dispute this). I think they were pre-programmed to hate it.
One point critics constantly make is that this was Julia's last film and how tragic it is that it was Street Fighter. Julia's performance is brilliant, he stays just on the right side of hamming it up, is entertaining, looks the part, (despite being ill during filming) and brings the character to life. Also, Julia took the part after being encouraged by his children, who were fans of the video game. He knew there was a possibility he would not survive the stomach cancer and so took the role for them. I have a lot of respect for that.
Van Damme's Guile, apart from his 'American' accent, is not bad. I'm a bit unclear as to whether he is just a really bad actor or he was told to ham it up on purpose. It really is borderline but against Kylie Minogue's Lieutenant Cammy, he is Sir Ian McKellen. I am so pleased she stopped pursuing an acting career, as she really is not good in this film or others. She cites Bio-Dome as her only bad film, I suggest it's her back catalogue.
The 2 young actors who play Ryu and Ken work well together. They bounce gags off each other and whilst they do borderline on being as annoying as Ridley and Snails from Dungeons and Dragons, they do come through as likeable and dare I say, 'cheeky chaps'. One scene in which they are trying to escape after being imprisioned did make me laugh as one says, 'give me a hand' and is met with the response, 'we've only been in jail for 5 minutes'. There's nothing quite like a wank gag to lighten the mood!
All in all, this is a fun movie. Sometimes unintentionally funny, but there is enough silliness, explosions and martial arts to keep you watching. It's not a masterpiece, but doesn't claim to be. I grew to like Street Fighter the game, I think if people just watched it whilst taking a huge pinch of salt, they may grow to like Street Fighter the film.
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