The new flick centers on one character: Chun-Li. Thats it. No Ryu, no Ken, no Guile, no eight million characters. Now if you are going to get up-in-arms about this why not rent the original Street Fighter to see how you can do it wrong. However we do get a bunch of Street Fighter bad guys.
The movie is a revenge flick. Chun-Lis father works for Bison. Chun-Li is just a child when Bison comes to her house and takes her father away. Papa never returns and Chun-Li grows up to still be a good person, helping people on the street when she sees them in trouble in her home town of Hong Kong. While Chun-Li was growing up Bison was growing his organization. Taking on the Triads, Bison and his Shadow Law Organization take over the Kowloon district of Hong Kong.
Chun-Lis mother dies and now she has no one. She searches out a man called Gen and it is he who tells her that her father is actually still alive in the hands of Bison. Chun-Li then trains with Gen. She becomes faster! Stronger! She is
THE STREET FIGHTER!
The movie is a revenge flick plain and simple. Theres some awesome kung-fu action in the script but theres no fireballs. No sonic booms. No flash kicks. Pure and simple Chun-Li is on a mission to find her father and take down Bison.
She has help along the way. Mostly in a fellow named Nash who has come in from Interpol and is teamed with Detective Chu with the Hong Kong gangland homicide division.
Bison has a few baddies with him. His right hand man is Balrog who had those boxing gloves on in the videogame. Here hes in his thirties and massive. Monster massive. Vega is here as well, described as talking in a Spanish accent. Yes he has his expressionless mask, his steel claw on his arm, and hes also someone who even a man like Balrog fears.
The script moves pretty fluidly. We move from scene after scene mostly following Chun-Li taking down Bison piece by piece. It intersects with Bisons storyline himself and that of Nash before him and Chun-Li meet up.
Theres a lot of emphasis here on actual story. On great kung-fu sequences. And violence. The violence is here in the script though Im sure itll be shot differently to get a PG-13 rating.
Script does get a bit corny when we are introduced to Bisons private army, tanks and all. However this is a lone gripe and therefore, thinking back to Raul Julia shouting GAME OVER! it is easily forgiven.
So the fight scenes are big and grandiose, the kind that spring right off the page at you. Mostly it is Chun-Li and her mentor Gen Vs. Bison, Balrog, Vega, and the little nameless minions.
This is a Hong Kong flick through-and-through. No travels to the States or some wildlife retreat. Its an Eastern made by the West.
Now if they choose to go with this script they could have the potential of breaking the mold of the videogame movie and actually have a franchise. Whoever plays Chun-Li will have a monster role in her hands. The script could have had a few more recognizable good or bad guys but, once again thinking back to the original Street Fighter movie, maybe its not a good idea.
You have your characters and Chun-Li is the Street Fighter. And she attacks people with her thighs. Thats always good for a film.
http://www.latinoreview.com/news.php?id=2293