Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li [2009]

June 23, 2009

You already know what kind of movie this is. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is a dumb martial arts movie trying to capitalize on the popularity of the video game Street Fighter. The story has almost nothing to do with the popular franchise and I guess this angered some of the fans. If, however, you’re looking for a visually alluring, exotic, and entertaining time-killer, you’ve just found it. We will be visiting some pretty cool locations and enjoying decently choreographed fights. And, also, having a laugh or two at the expense of the stereotypical characters.

I really don’t understand why people hate this movie so much. Was the original Street Fighter starring Jean-Claude Van Damme that much better? Or there’s something else at work here? All of that really does not matter as it won’t prevent you from enjoying Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. As you can probably guess, we will be following Chun-Li, a dangerous and beautiful young woman on a path of vengeance. And yes, in case you’re wondering, you can watch this movie as a movie so bad that it’s good.

This means there will be a lot of unintentionally funny scenes. And the dialogue is sometimes so bad that you can’t help but laugh. What surprised me the most was learning that the director is none other than Andrzej Bartkowiak. His filmography includes such hits as Romeo Must Die and one of my favorites Doom, also based on a video game franchise. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li features some pretty sleek visual effects thanks to its $50 million budget. Yes, the budget for this movie was a whopping $50 million!

Meet Chun-Li, a very talented pianist, living in San Francisco with her family. After her father Xiang decides to move to Hong Kong, she decides to learn the ancient Chinese martial art called wushu. Everything seems to be great for young Chun-Li, but then her father gets kidnapped by a ruthless criminal Bison. Years have passed and Chun-Li is now a successful pianist, traveling around the world. Her mother died and with her father still being held by Bison, she still feels that there is some unfinished business…

Starring Kristin Kreuk (EuroTrip, Smallville), Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is one of those movies that you can watch with half a brain. Scratch that, you don’t need brains for this. Just follow the simplistic story and cardboard cutouts that are characters and you will be mildly entertained. This mild entertainment thing is not actually half-bad, because if they tried to make this into something grandiose they would have failed majestically. This way, they knew their limitations and did the best they could.

Refreshingly vivid cinematography and exotic locations really helped with the atmosphere which was pretty stagnant at times. So, lower your expectations, forget all about that Van Damme extravaganza from the nineties, and check out The Legend of Chun-Li. And if that’s not enough for you, there’s Moon Bloodgood wearing leather and driving fast bikes. And if you want even more, Chris Klein is also here with longish hair and that look just to cover all the bases.