Street Fighter

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, Ming-Na, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, Wes Studi, Byron Mann, Grand L. Bush, Jay Tavare
Directed by: Steven E. de Souza
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure
1994

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Col. Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and a group of warriors combine efforts to take down the dictator M. Bison (Raul Julia) and his plans for world domination.

Review:

Tim: Street Fighter is awful on nearly every level. I remember watching this in the mid 90s, and even then, I knew that this film pretty much sucked. It is just a stunning failure, further proving that it is nearly impossible to make a great movie based on a video game. I will mention a few positives for this film, but the negatives far outweigh everything else. The script is an absolute mess of ridiculous events and awful dialogue. There are so many cringe-worthy moments in this film that it nearly made me sick.

This movie tried very hard to stay true to the video game- so much of this film is spent winking at the fans of the video game, putting in little Easter eggs that hardcore gamers will immediately pick up on. That's fine to do, but not at the expense of the quality of the overall film. By trying to make this movie like a video game, the movie itself suffered horribly.

I want to quote two lines from this film that pretty much sum it all up to me:

Ken actually utters this line- "This sucks! Those guys are good guys, like us!"
That is one of the stupidest, worst lines of dialogue I have ever heard. I am stunned that more than one human being actually thought a line like that would work.

Later in the film, Guile says to another character- "I'm okay. I'm just half dead."
Again, the sheer stupidity of that statement is stunning.

I will admit that the one positive from this film is that it is kind of cool to see all those characters from the video game come to life on screen. I remember watching this movie while still playing the game, and it was very fun to see so many characters in fairly honest adaptations on the big screen. The movie even manages to get most of the characters in the very costumes they wear in the game. I wasn't the biggest fan of the video game, but I do remember playing it. It was legitimately fun seeing these characters on screen. The movie does a very good job of displaying the characters on screen in a fashion that will immediately makes viewers think of the video game. To achieve all this; however, the film had to sacrifice any realism or logic, but hey, trade offs do occur.

The cast is extensive, but not very strong. Jean-Claude Van Damme has the lead role, but he's not very strong. He's boring, has atrocious dialogue, and doesn't make a very good leading man. Raul Julia gives the best performance of the film, simply because it is so over the top and ridiculous that you have to give him credit for committing to that level of insanity. This was his final theatrical film before his untimely death. That's a shame, as he is a talented actor. He does give a memorable performance here, though.

The rest of the cast of mostly unknowns isn't very good. Their acting ability was probably hampered by the ridiculous dialogue, but no one in the cast really does much to set themselves apart. The performances are all forgettable.

I could talk more about this film, but I'm tired and my mind hurts from watching such a giant piece of trash. I remember being disappointed in this film when I was 13 or so, and now that I am a more experienced movie watcher, that disappointment has turned into disgust. I thought this film tried hard to weave all these characters into a coherent plot. It didn't exactly work, but the effort was there. I appreciate that effort, even if the end result was a massive failure.

Street Fighter is a massive failure of a movie. There's really not much to enjoy in this film. I really think the characters are interesting and could work on the big screen, but not like this. Not like this...

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Mortal Kombat