By Adrian Pascua
By Adrian Pascua
The money spent to watch this movie could’ve been used to buy the original “Street Fighter” instead. In its opening weekend, “Street Fighter: the Legend of Chun Li,” did worse than any other video game turned movie in recent years, only making over $4 million dollars, while “Max Payne,” which came out October 2008, made $17 million.
Sadly, “Max Payne” didn’t even have a video game coming out following the release. While on the other hand “Street Fighter IV” had come a week prior to the release of the “Street Fighter” movie. Even that fact didn’t motivate people to see the movie.
The only ones who went to see the movie were die-hard fans of the game who just wanted to see if Kristin Kreuk could pull off a decent Chun Li. In that aspect, Kristin Kreuk conveyed a half decent Chun Li, but apparently not enough to satisfy those die-hard fans in the audience.
To much disappointment, the movie barely followed the video game’s story line and did not use many of the original characters that most “Street fighter” fans are extremely familiar with. The story was hard to follow, but easy to predict. The ones most confused were, again, the avid “Street Fighter” followers who know the story of every character, and were left thinking, “That’s not how it goes.”
Neal McDonough’s role as Bison, the leader of the evil organization known as Shadaloo who is determined to take over the world, didn’t seem to suit him. The “real Bison” is supposed to be ruthless and seen as a power hungry mad man. At first glance, McDonough just feels too well mannered and proper to be seen as the type of Bison most people imagine.
Simply, he just didn’t feel that evil.
Chris Klein’s role as Charlie Nash, an Interpol agent that has been chasing Bison, also didn’t seem to fit him. The previous roles he’s played as a pretty boy didn’t prepare him to portray the spy persona. He was just there to create sexual tension with Detective Maya Sunee played by Moon Bloodgood.
Bloodgood did a fairly good job as a sultry Bangkok Gangland police detective that played the part of Charlie Nash’s partner.
If nothing else, she brought even more sex appeal to a cast already decked out in it, but not even that could’ve saved this movie.
Josie Ho’s part as Cantana, a business woman who is supposedly in charge of taking care of Bison’s business affairs, looked hot, but failed in terms of acting.
Her only “good” moment was when she danced with Chun Li in a seedy Bangkok club, but that scene alone only made most people raise an eyebrow in interest.
“Street Fighter: the Legend of Chun Li,” could have probably been a really good movie, if only a little bit more time was spent researching the characters and creating a better plot.
The film wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t very good.