Spring Break
'Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li' has no fighting spirit
1 out of 5 stars
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Focus
You would think that a movie based on Capcom's historic fighting series would have more, you know, fighting. Sadly though, "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li," the latest in awful video game adaptations, is a tired, watered down action film with a terrible plot, bad dialogue and genre clichés.
Unlike its 1994 predecessor starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, this adaptation lacks the appeal to make it a cult favorite. Where the first was so-bad-it's-good and chock full of campy entertainment, "Legend of Chun-Li" is just a dumb, dumb movie.
The story follows Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk), a concert pianist who learned martial arts from her father while growing up. When Chun-Li is a teenager, her father is kidnapped by Bison (Neal McDonough), the leader of an evil corporation called Shadowlaw. The rest of the film is her quest for justice through the streets of Bangkok.
Throughout the movie, some familiar "Street Fighter" characters show up, but in their jump from the arcade to the big screen, they lose the details that make them who they are. In the games, Chun-Li is an Interpol officer - why the filmmakers couldn't keep her one in a run-of-the-mill revenge story is beyond me. She does, however, make it work, and is one of the film's bright spots. The other comes in Gen, played by Robin Shou (if you're a fan of video game movies, you might recognize him as Liu Kang from "Mortal Kombat").
Balrog, played here by Michael Clarke Duncan, plays Bison's loyal guard dog, which was a decent choice, but if he wasn't called by name, he'd be just another flat character. Chris Klein plays a laughable Charlie Nash, but shines thanks to his awful dialogue that calls back to the first film's characters.
McDonough is a terrible Bison (but then again, so was Raul Julia), and his origin story is completely unnecessary. And the decision to cast the Black Eyed Peas' Taboo as Vega? Come on.
The few fight scenes that there are are decent, but it's mostly wire-fu, and the film begs you to believe its incredulous plot (you know, all that destiny crap and scrolls and whatnot). Even the special effects aren't good. When Chun-Li hits Bison with what appears to be a knockoff Hadouken, the blast doesn't even really hit him, it just kind of fades away.
It's understandable for the director to change things in the transition so it's not so over the top or so the characters don't look ridiculous in an attempt to draw in more viewers, but let's face it - these movies are made for the gamers, so why not throw in a familiar costume or fighting move that would make them want to see it? This is just another terrible video game movie in the lineage of terrible video game movies.
Unlike its 1994 predecessor starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, this adaptation lacks the appeal to make it a cult favorite. Where the first was so-bad-it's-good and chock full of campy entertainment, "Legend of Chun-Li" is just a dumb, dumb movie.
The story follows Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk), a concert pianist who learned martial arts from her father while growing up. When Chun-Li is a teenager, her father is kidnapped by Bison (Neal McDonough), the leader of an evil corporation called Shadowlaw. The rest of the film is her quest for justice through the streets of Bangkok.
Throughout the movie, some familiar "Street Fighter" characters show up, but in their jump from the arcade to the big screen, they lose the details that make them who they are. In the games, Chun-Li is an Interpol officer - why the filmmakers couldn't keep her one in a run-of-the-mill revenge story is beyond me. She does, however, make it work, and is one of the film's bright spots. The other comes in Gen, played by Robin Shou (if you're a fan of video game movies, you might recognize him as Liu Kang from "Mortal Kombat").
Balrog, played here by Michael Clarke Duncan, plays Bison's loyal guard dog, which was a decent choice, but if he wasn't called by name, he'd be just another flat character. Chris Klein plays a laughable Charlie Nash, but shines thanks to his awful dialogue that calls back to the first film's characters.
McDonough is a terrible Bison (but then again, so was Raul Julia), and his origin story is completely unnecessary. And the decision to cast the Black Eyed Peas' Taboo as Vega? Come on.
The few fight scenes that there are are decent, but it's mostly wire-fu, and the film begs you to believe its incredulous plot (you know, all that destiny crap and scrolls and whatnot). Even the special effects aren't good. When Chun-Li hits Bison with what appears to be a knockoff Hadouken, the blast doesn't even really hit him, it just kind of fades away.
It's understandable for the director to change things in the transition so it's not so over the top or so the characters don't look ridiculous in an attempt to draw in more viewers, but let's face it - these movies are made for the gamers, so why not throw in a familiar costume or fighting move that would make them want to see it? This is just another terrible video game movie in the lineage of terrible video game movies.
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