Review of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) by Scott A — 31 Mar 2010

Right. Well, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel besides pain. This movie had problems from the very beginning; namely casting a Canadian actress who's only part Chinese. Why they couldn't have found a perfectly good predominantly Chinese actress I do not understand.

She can barely speak the language, and doesn't feature any sort of accent. The movie is filled with a lot of long shots of cities, poor dialogue and plot, and some really cheesy directing techniques.

And why is Michael Clarke Duncan in this movie? I appreciate the inclusion of Balrog and Vega as part of Bison's empire, but Vega is miscast(he's really a blond), and Duncan seems to get shoehorned onto the screen every time after his first appearance, as if to justify his paycheck or something.

Many of the things that occur in this movie are either paper-thin plot points, or completely absurd, or both. For example, as Chun-Li spends time on the Hong Kong streets, she seems to have enough clothes to continue to change and be sexy in that tiny duffel bag she is carrying.

And still, everytime she changes the clothes are more tattered. The "sexual tension" between the detectives is ridiculous. Also, why is there a porcelain stall door in a club bathroom? And why does Bison kidnap Chun-Li's father so long before the main plot kicks in? Couldn't it have been written as a more immediate situation, rather than try to have us believe he's been captive for about fifteen years? Ugh.

I'm surprised Uwe Boll didn't want in on this thing, it looks like his hands are all over it. Do yourself a favor, stay away.