The Legend of Chun Li

[Nathan]

Christ what would happen if they put every detail from source material from Lord of the Rings or Dune

And when did I ever say they should put every detail from the source Material into the Movie? There's a lot of stuff missing from the games that I haven't yet even mentioned.

What I'm saying is that they should have stuck to the original origin of Chun Li. You didn't see the studios turn Peter Parker from a science whizz and nerd, into a skater boy, did you?

I'm all for creative freedom, especially when the changes made are for the better, but at least stick to the basic story of the character.

 

[Red Mask]

True, but the film makers must to it seriously.

Surprisingly, they could put all the fighting special effects into a 45 minute short. Emphasizing just those aspects will draw more fans and you won't have to bother with plot. Why bother with plot? It's a game about fighting.

 

[AndThePickles]

Okay so I finally saw this movie... you know what? Definitely not bad.

Definitely not. I'm not sure how anyone could call this movie remotely as awful as, say, an Uwe Boll film. Or even movies like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation or Dead or Alive.

That having been said, what it is, is... kinda bland. It's boring, because it tries so hard to make the world of Street Fighter be taken seriously and have more realism behind it, and I'm not sure that's the right direction to go.

So yeah, I definitely don't comprehend anyone thinking this movie is "worst of the year" material, or even "utterly awful" material. At its worst, it has a couple scenes that are lame. The worst one is easily the one you can watch on RottenTomatoes and IGN, called "His Name's Bison" - that's the low point of the whole film, but in the actual film, those flashes of Bison are NOT in the movie - just the shots in the office!

But overall, Street Fighter fans will appreciate how much it tries to connect to the stories of the games and offer references to game plotlines. But even those fans are likely to feel a bit blah about this affair - despite some great fights and geek refs, it's just pretty boring and slow. And if you're NOT a fan of the game mythology... well, bring a pillow.

In short - much better than the director's "Doom," and a lot more faithful to the games than the '94 Van Damme film. But it's not gonna break most people's opinions of video game adaptions either.

I'm beginning to wonder how much the audience in my theater affected my fun level. Everyone there was very "into" the movie, and some of the comments from a man behind us had Spoons and I rollin. Seeing it with Spoons also made it more enjoyable, period. I know next to nothing about the game aside from who some of the characters are, but I didn't think the movie was boring. Was it a superb film? Heck no, but still entertaining. I am curious if I would have disliked it more if I'd seen it completely by myself or in a really negative crowd.

I'm glad to see that someone else liked it, though.

 

[Bishop2]

I'm beginning to wonder how much the audience in my theater affected my fun level. Everyone there was very "into" the movie, and some of the comments from a man behind us had Spoons and I rollin. Seeing it with Spoons also made it more enjoyable, period. I know next to nothing about the game aside from who some of the characters are, but I didn't think the movie was boring. Was it a superb film? Heck no, but still entertaining. I am curious if I would have disliked it more if I'd seen it completely by myself or in a really negative crowd.

I'm glad to see that someone else liked it, though.

To be fair, I was probably a little overly harsh given my girlfriend's reaction. She went with me, and what she knows about Street Fighter can be summed up thusly: "Chun-Li wears blue stuff."

And yet, she really liked the movie. Maybe even more than me. So my review probably wasn't fair to people who aren't familiar with the material.

But as an SF geek, I totally got happy when I saw a lot of little touches - yes, the Spinning Bird Kick happens once. The inclusion of Bison's "soul removal" plot was a surprise, and a pleasant one. There's a little nod to the SF2 Animated Movie, and a nod to the '94 film, and on top of that, a number of tiny touches like the fact that you can see Charlie Nash wearing his infamous dog tags in a few scenes.

 

[The Kid]

My God have critics and fans lost their inner gamer?

btw was there a shower scene in this, just asking because I want to know if it's even worth a download...

 

[Bishop2]

btw was there a shower scene in this, just asking because I want to know if it's even worth a download...

Nope, sorry, all you get is Kreuk doing a lesbian seduction routine on one of Bison's female lieutenants.

 

[Warhammer]

A bad movie doesn't break a career.

Sure it can. Let's bring up one of the many examples: Showgirls.

 

[DorkyFresh]

one bad movie doesn't break a career...



...but this one isn't bad, it's disastrous.

 

[anrrd_2]

Sure it can. Let's bring up one of the many examples: Showgirls.

what has jessica biel done since blade 3?


although on the opposite end. some actors/actresses can continue to get jobs regardless of how many bad movies they pump out i.e. jessica alba and michael clark duncan

 

[Warhammer]

Ok, one disastrous movie can break a career.

 

[Bishop2]

My God have critics and fans lost their inner gamer?

There just isn't enough audience to justify this. Street Fighter stopped being popular enough to justify a movie of this size back around '94 or '95 so. I mean, much of the characters and references in this movie are taken from the Street Fighter Alpha series - now ask yourself, how many people even PLAYED those entries in the series? Alas, I believe the answer is "only the hardcore" - most people stopped paying attention after Super Street Fighter II. And it seems they woefully overestimated the publicity generated by Street Fighter IV's release...

...or did they? After all, Fox was the one who decided to bury this movie. They decided not to promote it, not to let critics see it, to cut the theater count dramatically. They made a conscious decision to kill this flick. If they hadn't done that, if they'd thrown some weight behind it, who knows if it could've pulled in decent numbers? But I still say unlikely. Street Fighter is a niche series now - you don't make movies based off of such esoteric fandoms.

 

[Raiden]

There just isn't enough audience to justify this. Street Fighter stopped being popular enough to justify a movie of this size back around '94 or '95 so. I mean, much of the characters and references in this movie are taken from the Street Fighter Alpha series - now ask yourself, how many people even PLAYED those entries in the series? Alas, I believe the answer is "only the hardcore" - most people stopped paying attention after Super Street Fighter II. And it seems they woefully overestimated the publicity generated by Street Fighter IV's release...

...or did they? After all, Fox was the one who decided to bury this movie. They decided not to promote it, not to let critics see it, to cut the theater count dramatically. They made a conscious decision to kill this flick. If they hadn't done that, if they'd thrown some weight behind it, who knows if it could've pulled in decent numbers? But I still say unlikely. Street Fighter is a niche series now - you don't make movies based off of such esoteric fandoms.

You have a point, but I doubt if this movie is indeed good it won't have overcomed those obstacles. Fox is also to blame for this movie's lack of quality and subsequent none-existing promotion.

 

[Timstuff]

I wouldn't be surprised if this movie makes at least some money overseas. Unlike in America, they've actually been promoting this movie in Japan. They actually are releasing it with a new animated short featuring Sakura, made by the same people who did SFIV's cutscenes and the tie-in DVD. Its failure at the US box office was still probably enough to ensure that it won't get a sequel, but Fox is the primary reason why since they pretty much disowned it. No critic screenings, small theater count, and no promotion campaign are pretty much a guaranteed way to give a movie a bad opening. Even a mediocre movie should have a better opening that what SF:LOC had.

 

[zeptron]

Batman & Robin didn't seem to effect Clooney's career.

 

[anrrd_2]

Batman & Robin didn't seem to effect Clooney's career.

because he was already established in other good films....it all but killed the careers of chris o'odonnell and alicia silverstone.

 

[Bishop2]

Regarding the decision not to screen for critics, I read this little essay back in '95, and it still applies. Once you do that, critics are put into a bad mood and feel obligated to eviscerate something. Having seen the movie, it's really hard to imagine how someone could consider it "spectacularly bad." I can see someone finding it bland and boring, easily. But to call it "Uwe Boll bad" or to say it's a top contender for the worst of 2009 is either amazingly detached from reality (in the case of the former) or insanely optimistic about the rest of this year (in the case of the latter).

 

[TNC9852002]

I think this movie deserves no less than a 20% on RT, personally.

A 00% seems pretty exaggerated

-TNC

 

[MAN O STEEL]

I just got through watching this & although I'm not a big fan of SF, I have played the games when i was a kid & the SF movie (94) is one of my fav movies to just relax & enjoy. This movie was far better than ppl here or anywhere are giving it credit for. The only bad acting I saw in this movie came from Chris Klien, everyone else held thier own & surprised me. I enjoyed every second of it, it was good fun all round. I think ppl are expecting far to much from these movies & as a result get dissapointed. I liked that they refferenced

Spoiler

Ryu & the Street Fighter tournament

at the end of the movie. I guess that just shows that the next one, if they end up making it will be more along the lines of what we all know about SF. Overall i give this movie a 6/10. Entertaining, now let's recast Nash & get a better movie goin for next time.




Steve

 

[dark_b]

i say i want bigger legs for chun li and people start talking about bodybuilders or start positing anime pics of muscular girls.
it doesnt matter who this girl is or how her face looks.
look at those legs. they dont look skinny and they dont look like bodybulder legs.
is this so hard to find?


i dont wan this girl for this role. but the funny thing about kreus is that she isnt a good actor. she isnt an actor star. and the story is low. so why not find a girl who looks like chun li and knows some action?

 

[Raiden]

^ Olivia Munn is hot.

 

[The Major]

Surprisingly, they could put all the fighting special effects into a 45 minute short. Emphasizing just those aspects will draw more fans and you won't have to bother with plot. Why bother with plot? It's a game about fighting.

There must be some plot, but I agree the focus should be on the fighting.

 

[The Major]

My God have critics and fans lost their inner gamer?

btw was there a shower scene in this, just asking because I want to know if it's even worth a download...

No, they're going for the little kids with this movie. They should just have made it an R, put in a little nudity with Chun Li, up the violence to 300 levels and make it a good guilty pleasure like DOA was. I'd watch that movie.

 

[The Major]

There just isn't enough audience to justify this. Street Fighter stopped being popular enough to justify a movie of this size back around '94 or '95 so. I mean, much of the characters and references in this movie are taken from the Street Fighter Alpha series - now ask yourself, how many people even PLAYED those entries in the series? Alas, I believe the answer is "only the hardcore" - most people stopped paying attention after Super Street Fighter II. And it seems they woefully overestimated the publicity generated by Street Fighter IV's release...

...or did they? After all, Fox was the one who decided to bury this movie. They decided not to promote it, not to let critics see it, to cut the theater count dramatically. They made a conscious decision to kill this flick. If they hadn't done that, if they'd thrown some weight behind it, who knows if it could've pulled in decent numbers? But I still say unlikely. Street Fighter is a niche series now - you don't make movies based off of such esoteric fandoms.

Movies get made all the time who aren't established properties. Street Fighter has more going for it then they do as a brand. With a good movie and marketing which attract the proper audience like gamers, martial arts movie audiences, the DOA movie audience, the Mortal Kombat movie audience, and action movie audiences it should have some traction with the public done right.

 

[The Major]

so why not find a girl who looks like chun li and knows some action?

Maggie Q is made for this role.

 

[dark_b]

she is more skinny then kreuk.