Street Fighter : L'Ultime Combat

I first saw "Street Fighter" in theaters with my older brother and a few of his friends, and, as a four year old, I was upset by the lack of hadokens, yoga fires, hundred hand slaps, and sonic booms. Now older and (slightly) more mature, I can point out some of these movie's flaws accurately. First off, the campy style, as funny as it may be, takes away from the gritty and dark attitude that video game of Street Fighter II conveyed. Too many one liners, and predictable reactions are present. POSSIBLE SPOILER ---When Bison tells orders Chun-Li be taken into his personal quarters, E Honda and Balrog struggle harder in the same cliché way most heroes do when a villain is taking a female member of the team---- Some of the choices for actors were also under par, like Van Damme being Guile. I understand he's a kick@$$ action hero, but the guy is not all American, which is what Guile was all about. The portrayal of Sagat was disappointing; he's supposed to be a terrifying 7 foot tall menace, not some weak looking failed businessman. Removing Fei Long altogether was understandable, but Blanka should've been more prominent, rather than some odd rehash of Charlie and the Brazillian beast. Making Dhalsim a doctor, with NO powers at all, does not do justice to the real Dhalsim. I liked this doctor, but I want to see Dhalsim! Some of the characters were okay though; Dee Jay made a surprisingly good villain, Bison was well chosen, and Zangief was hilarious, but that's about as good as it gets. This movie also lacked any special moves at all, I mean understand they were on a low budget, and it was nearly 12 years ago, but come on, you can have a corny movie with cool colors, a cool movie with no colors, but you can't have a corny movie with no colors and expect people to love it (colors means ha-do-kens by the way). The only move they tried to portray was Bison's psycho crusher, and that kind of failed. Although the game was amazing, this movie should only be watched if you're not expecting the glory of the game, and can take this crap lightly. I feel like a teacher who has failed a student...

Oh dear... I completely forgot that I watched this movie when it came out on theaters! I was a HUGE "Street Fighter II" fan and this movie was like a dream come true despite the fact that Guile was the main character; overshadowing Ryu and Ken. Still, I bought the idea and went to the theater with high expectations.

To be honest, the movie is not a disaster but it just didn't catch the vibe of the video game; it just didn't feel like "Street Fighter". The kung-fuesque action sequences were very interesting but didn't follow the greatness of the game. Mortal Kombat worked because it's characters were "real" persons while it was extremely complicated to get on the big screen real persons that were originally cartoons.

Also, the plot was very complex when the video game makes it very simple. Still I enjoyed the cheese factor of it. The producers and Director tried too hard to make it feel like the video game but they couldn't reach the objective. Sadly, this movie is remembered as one of the worst of it's kind. I'd say give it the chance to witness cheese at it's maximum.

R.I.P. Raul Julia.

STREET FIGHTER (1994)

This movie has aged surprisingly well. It's always been bad but now it's so bad that it's kind of amazing. Based on the kick ass video game the makers do a crappy job of trying to string together a plausible storyline. But it does manage to have some over the top action sequences and some truly cringeworthy moments like Ming Na Wen delivering her best Chun Li speech before fly kicking a charismatic Raul Julia as Bison. Van Damme is also pretty hot and fun as "super american" Guile. The movie is overly fun and best of all there's never a dull moment.

Budget: $35m Box Office: $99m

7.5/10

The late, great Raul Julia plays an insane dictator named M. Bison who rules the roost in "Shadaloo", a fictional South Asian country. Currently he's holding a bunch of hostages for a staggering 20 billion dollars, and is at work on a process of turning ordinary soldiers into inhuman fighting beasts. Fortunately, he is opposed by the dedicated heroes of the "Allied Nations", led by Colonel Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Other characters caught up in the melee include hustlers Ken (Damian Chapa) & Ryu (Byron Mann), and a reporter named Chun-Li (eternally gorgeous Ming-Na Wen) who can't be taken at face value.

Big budget adaptation of the popular Capcom video game throws in everything but the kitchen sink for the sake of an entertaining show. Don't even bother attempting to watch it if you want to be intellectually stimulated or want anything resembling "high art". It's purely for action fans who want to be dazzled by spectacle (although not necessarily fans of the game). It's got plenty to keep it lively: hilariously tacky sets, an over the top nature, tons of explosions, vibrant widescreen photography, and some colourful characters. Subtle it ain't, but it is amusing, even if lacking the real wit one would expect from debuting director Steven E. de Souza, whose credits as a screenwriter include "48 Hrs." and "Commando". As you can see, de Souza gives it some semblance of a story, instead of just having one fight after another, which is what you might expect of a video game adaptation.

The international cast features some classy thespians like Julia, Simon Callow, and Roshan Seth, in addition to familiar faces like Australian songbird Kylie Minogue, Grand L. Bush of "Die Hard", Miguel A. Nunez Jr. of "The Return of the Living Dead", and Andrew Bryniarski (Leatherface in two of the more recent "Texas Chain Saw" pictures). Ordinarily it would be depressing to watch an esteemed actor like Julia in their cinematic swan song (especially since Julia clearly looks ill), but he definitely seemed determined to go out in a blaze of glory, and he makes M. Bison a wonderfully grandiose, scenery devouring bad guy. Van Damme is good, and charismatic, as usual, but he can't help but look bland in comparison. Ms. Wen is a delight.

Is this a "good" movie? This viewer is not going to go out of his way to make a case for it being one, but it's damn entertaining. Sometimes that's all that matters.

Eight out of 10.

"There can be only one".....film that is, which is worse than all others and THIS is it folks!

A movie for adolescent pea-brains. Not a solitary video-game has transferred to the big screen with even a modicum of success. Is money THAT available to make movies, that such an embarrassment as this could reach the point of actual RELEASE? Maybe no video distributor would touch it and they had no choice?

By far Van Dumb's worst flick. Playing Colonel William Guile, he leads his commandos against the seriously insane General Bison, dictator and megalomaniac of the fictitious Shadaloo. Filmed on the cheap, up on Australia's Gold Coast amidst the worst plasticised sets you ever saw. Phony explosions fill the sky, make-up is at the level of Grade 2 face-painting and a script to match. The acting beggars belief, Kylie Minogue's just about topping the list! This is seriously heavy-duty garbage! Much was made of the "singing budgie's" martial arts training for the film. From memory, she gets to perform a total of three high kicks which would be unlikely to cause distress to an elderly pensioner.

As for Raul Julia as General Bison? It was to be his last screen role, completed just before his death (maybe he saw the rushes?) It is a sad epitaph he would never have wished for. No-one comes out of this mess looking good, not even the paying audience - ESPECIALLY them! In hindsight, the very last scene sums up the cringe-factor..watch it!