The Street Fighter franchise has been a wonderful video game series that captured our attention, most importantly with the release of CAPCOM's "Street Fighter 2" in the early 1990's when it was first released in the arcades. Since its release in 1991, there have been many "Street Fighter" related games that have been released in the arcades but also on the consoles with "Street Fighter IV" being released in 2009.
One of the iconic characters of "Street Fighter" has always been Chun Li. The Interpol agent who has been desperately looking for her father and uses the "Street Fighter" tournaments as a way to get closer to the crime syndicate known as Shadaloo run by M. Bison. (Balrog in Japan).
With a film released back in 1994 featuring on a large cast of characters which included Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Ming-Na as Chun-Li, Raul Julia as M. Bison and Kylie Minogue as Cammy but receiving a lot of criticism for its convoluted story and too many characters, the film remained on the list of a staple of films based on video games that were not that good.
In 2009, CAPCOM with Hyde Park Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox decided not to repeat that mistake and focus on their character Chun-Li.
"Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" was directed by Adrzej Bartkowiak ("Cradle 2 the Grave", "Romeo Must Die" and cinematographer for many films which include "U.S. Marshalls", "The Devil's Advocate" and "Lethal Weapon 4'), a screenplay by Justin Marks ("Unbroken", "The Stranger" and "Fast Forward"), music composed by Stephen Endelman ("Samurai Girl", "The Net 2.0' and "Now and Again") and cinematography by Geoff Boyle ("Mutant Chronicles" and "About a Girl"). Producing the film were Patrick Aiello ("The Other End of the Line") and Hyde Park Entertainment Chairman and CEO Ashok Amritraj ("The Other End of the Line", "Traitor", "Virus" and "Double Impact" ).
The film would bring together a diverse cast with Kristin Kreuk ("Smallville") as Chun-Li, Chris Klein ("American Pie", "American Dad!" and "Election") as Charlie Nash, Neal McDonough ("Desperate Housewives", "Walking Tall" and "Traitor") as Bison, Robin Shou ("Mortal Kombat", "Death Race" and "DOA: Dead or Alive") as Gen, Moon Bloodgood ("Day Break" and "Terminator Salvation) as Det. Maya Sunee aka to "Street Fighter IV" fans as "C. Viper", the US debut of Hong Kong actress Josie Ho ("The Twins Effect", "For Bad Boys Only" and "Purple Storm") as Cantana, the US debut for Singapore actor Edmund Chen ("The Eye)" as Chun Li's father Xiang, the Black Eyed Peas member Taboo as Vega and Michael Clark Duncan ("The Green Mile", "Sin City" and "Daredevil") as Balrog.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" is featured in 1080p with an aspect ratio of 2:35:1 and AVC@28MBPS. For the most part, the film receives an awesome transfer on Blu-ray. Outdoor scenes of Bangkok are vibrant and a lot of detail can be seen with the characters and their surroundings. Flesh tones are natural, blacks are nice and deep and I spotted no sign of compression artifacts. The picture quality is quite solid!
As for the audio, the film is presented in 5.1 DTS HD-Master Audio and action scenes sound great as you can hear the sounds panning from your left surround to your right. LFE is utilized quite well throughout the film and you can expect your subwoofer(s) to be utilized while watching this film. From the bass of the music, the booms of the thunderstorms and the many gunshots heard throughout the film. Audio is well-utilized throughout the film. Dialog and music are quite clear through the front channels. Overall, a solid lossless soundtrack.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH, Spanish and French.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - Unleashed and Unrated" features a good number of special features. The Blu-ray release comes in three discs. The theatrical and unrated feature on disc one, disc two contains the digital copy and disc three contains the full-length animated Origins comic movie "Street Fighter Round One: Fight!". Included are:
DISC 1:
# Unrated Cut Audio Commentary by Producers Patrick Aiello and Ashok Amritaj and Actors Neal McDonough and Chris Klein - For the most part, the commentary was on the positive side. About working with the various talent and fight choreographer Dion Lam. Also, the experience of filming in Bangkok. And a hint for a "next one". Could that mean a Ryu, Ken or Guile film on the horizon?
# Street Fighter In-Movie Enlightenment - Optional factoid while watching the film. You can learn about the character Chun-Li and her video game history and power moves and also behind-the-scenes of the film and more.
# Deleted Scenes - (15:31) Around ten or so deleted scenes (no individual selections, just play all) which is actually quite interesting because the deleted scenes had interesting background on why the Bangkok neighborhoods were protective over Chun-Li and more character development between Chun-Li and Charlie Nash. Also, an alternate ending was included.
# Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Sneak Peak - (1:13) I'm guessing this is the XBOX Live HD version of the popular fighting game. Even more interesting is how the "Transformers" (animated film) theme song "You Go the Touch" is used as the background theme for the sneak peak.
# Becoming a Street Fighter - (17:41) Interviews with the cast and producers and CAPCOM staff of the popularity of "Street Fighter" and brief summary on the history of the video game franchise. Chun-Li's character and how Kristin Kreuk had to undergo five weeks of intense training, filming in Bangkok and having an international crew/cast involved in the film.
# Chun-Li: Bringing the Legend to Life - (6:38) Writer Justin Marks talks about the prequel to "Street Fighter 2" and what they wanted to accomplish in this film. Also, the wirework and training and working with fighting choreographer Dion Lam ("Spider-Man 2", "The Matrix", "Romeo Must Die" and "Young and Dangerous").
# Fox Movie Channel presents Making a Scene - (9:26) The alley scene and the importance of the fighting scenes of the film. Interviews with Dion Lam and his first impression of Kristin Kreuk and how she was serious with her training and worked with him in making sure that credibility is important with the fight scenes.
# Recreating the Scene: Arcade to Film - Using the remote of your Blu-ray player to show side by side comparisons of the actual characters from the video game and the talents.
# The Fight in Black and White - Storyboard Gallery - Using your Blu-ray remote, you can view many of the storyboards of the film.
# Behind the Fight - Production Gallery - Using your remote, you can view the production gallery images.
DISC 3:
Street Fighter Round One: Fight! - This is a full-length animated origins comic movie from Eagle One Media features a total of six chapters. Each chapter is around 15 minutes long. There have been quite a good number of comic releases on DVD and Blu-ray featuring voice acting and the animated comic panels with or without word balloons (this is optional in the menu). But overall, I felt the inclusion of this DVD with a Blu-ray release was a great addition.
The main special feature on this disc are the trailers for "Dragonblade" and "Voltron" but also a cover gallery.
JUDGMENT CALL:
The "Street Fighter" franchise has its dedicated fans. With each version released at the arcades and on consoles, casual and competitive video gamers are always anticipating something big with "Street Fighter". And as there have been critical responses to the Japanese animated versions of the series, the same can be said with the two live action films.
Suffice to say, that with Kristin Kreuk as the lead actress to play with Chun-Li, many fans of the series were a bit mystified because Chun-Li was a woman that had muscular characteristics (known for her muscular thighs) and typically her storyline centered as an Interpol agent working alongside with Guile to find her father and put a stop to M. Bison and Shadaloo.
So, when there is a change, especially a major change to the characters, the film is going to cause its fans to cry foul.
Needless to say, having grown up with "Street Fighter", going to the arcades and spending a massive amount of quarters on the machines and even covering EVO tournaments on various "Street Fighter" related video games and the people who compete, as a reviewer I had to let my love and knowledge of the video game off-the-hook and just pretty much watch and see what changes the producers and writer needed to change in order to make "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" a commercial film.
With that being said, after watching the film, I was entertained. By no means is this the worst video game to film adaptation. There is actually an entertaining story behind the film but its loosely based on the video game series. The film has its flaws and I can see clearly, hardcore "Street Fighter" fans are not going to enjoy how the story of this film differs greatly from the video game. If anything, its just the names and certain fight moves that retain its "Street Fighter" video game correlation but it's as roughly based on the video game series as the HK martial arts film "Avenging Fist" was to "Tekken".
Kristin Kreuk brought her talent to the film as we have watched her do for years on "Smallville" and it was great to see that she underwent the five week intense martial arts training to get her prepared for the film.
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