Unlockable Gems - Street Fighter: The Movie

Copyright by Universal Pictures and of course... Capcom

Street Fighter

Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, Ming-na Wen, Wes Studi

Directed by Steven E. de Souza

Concept: Live action film based on the 2D side view one on one fighting franchise that made Capcom ALOT of money.

Era: After the "success" of the Super Mario Bros movie, the rest of the decade was littered with B and C level video game movies. Street Fighter II was a runaway success in the arcades and eventually at home... it also inspired other arcade fighting franchises like: Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Primal Rage, and other Capcom arcade fighters(i.e. X-Men COTA). But did the movie do the same?

Execution

Here we go...

Cast: So, if you read my Unlockable Gems post for Bloodsport, you would see that I made a bold correlation that Bloodsport inspired Capcom to change things up with representation starting in SF2, meaning that Colonel Guile would be inspired by Van Damme's character in that movie. So... for DECADES I laughed at the idea of a Belgian playing VERY American character Guile... but if I'm right... then the casting is based on it's own idea. Making JCVD the perfect Guile. Frustrating... but I have come to terms with that. Now, to what I already knew... Raul Julia. Yes, cast a veritable Latin Legend as the villainous M. Bison... and you know what, it was perfect. And he genuinely looked like he had a lot of fun doing it(reminded me of his work as Gomez Adams). And I enjoyed the casting of Ming-na Wen as Chun-Li. That was a pretty decent casting. Kylie Minogue as Cammy was... okay at best. Some of the other casting, those were decent at best(getting Wes Studi to play a Thai kickboxer was really weird... but... Miguel Nunez? Come on)... but overall, you could see that they tried. Score: 15/20

Presentation: There is nothing memorable about the soundtrack. Nothing memorable about the set pieces. There were no real special effects to speak. Which there should've been. At least something. In a game with fireballs and flaming punches... we got... what? It was subpar. Score: 6/20

Chronicle: This is a double edged blade. The main story of M. Bison's world domination vs Guile recruiting to take him down. That was pretty decent. The side story of Chun-Li infiltrating Shadowloo to kill Bison for killing her father. That was pretty good too. And both of those pretty true to the games...... but... what the hell happened to Ken and Ryu? Why are they grifters? In the games, Ken is a very rich heir... and Ryu is a "live off the land style hermit". Also, the original game, Fighting Street all the way until Street Fighting 5, Ryu(and in effect Ken) are the MAIN characters from the games...... so, yeah... it is a bit personal... but the side story of Ken and Ryu vs Sagat and Vega just felt... out of place(Though Vega kinna worked for me). In a bloated overall Chronicle... it felt very out of place. Same with Carlos Blanka being turned into a monster. It was very... Frankensteinesque. Overall, it was okay. But it could've been much better. Score: 12/20

Legacy: Super Mario Bros came out in 1993. Was the first of the video game movies. This came out in 1994. And was deemed terrible...... but it also inspired two other franchises to try it out. Mortal Kombat and Tekken. Mortal Kombat has spawned 3 movies... two PG-13 & one R. And 1995 Mortal Kombat learned from the mistakes of Street Fighter. MK was more polished story wise, casting was more accurate, and a decent special effects budget. The sequel, however took the Street Fighter movie flaws and triple down on them. Not sure how you want to look at that inspiration... but yeah. That happened. Tekken, which came out much later, did what MK and SF couldn't do: convert the tournament feel completely. Score: 17/20

Nostalgia: This is a movie that I wasn't the biggest fan of. I liked for some parts... I hated it for other. But there are a few things that stuck with me. Raul Julia having fun as M. Bison is epic. The Bison Bucks concept is still funny to me. Guile's rambling speech to get the troops behind him, inspiring. The fight between Zangief and E. Honda through the Shadowloo City mock model with Godzilla vs King Kong sounds is still one of my scenes. But... the ONE thing that has endured for me is Zangief's thumb. It overly dumb Russian stereotype and giving a thumbs up... sideways... and the moment Guile grabs his hand to turn it up, the look on Zangief's face is gold. It really is. It still isn't that... I, to this day, still like to give my thumbs up sideways as for a gag. The ultimate nerd dad joke. That is where the nostalgia ends. Because of anime. There is an animated Street Fighter 2 movie that is 4-5 stars, easily... overall, and for one of the most memorable scenes: Vega breaks into Chun-Li's apartment while she is in the shower(anime boobs in the unrated version), but you see as she is putting her hair up in the iconic buns... and then gets attack. She kickes Vega's ass and kicks him THROUGH the outer wall. Now, I know the MPAA ratings are different, but that movie was more memorable. Score: 13/20

Final Score: 63/100

Final Grade: D-

Conclusion: This was not a good movie, but it had some really good corny moments. Even if you wouldn't like the movie overall, just consider it yet another JCVD flick with gratuitous kicking highlights.

It's all a matter of opinion: I cannot stress enough that THIS is MY opinion, you can either agree with me or not. I don't have to justify my opinion, because *clears throat" that's what this blog is about. Whether I like it or not doesn't mean you have to or not...... I'ts just my justification behind MY recommendation... Which leads me to my FINAL JUDGMENT...

FINAL JUDGMENT: Seriously... I would still recommend watching this horrible horrible movie. Why? Raul Julia. Next to last performance. And not only was Raul Julia a legendary actor, THIS was a legendary performance. It really, truly was. So just like my comment from the list, this performance is enough for me to recommend seeing this trainwreck of a movie.

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So Street Fighter the Movie gets a score of 63!

Fitting that Street Fighter gets 1 point less that Super Mario Bros.

There it is... Street Fighter. Was it an Unlockable Gem? Yes. Funny thing is, I don't consider Mortal Kombat(1995) one. Because it ISN'T underrated. Those that have fond memories of it, love it. Those that don't, hate it. What do you think? Should Mortal Kombat be an Unlockable Gem? Lemme me know down below.

What do you think about Street Fighter the Movie? Did any of you play the tie-in video game?

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