Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
Brad Sturdivant
February 26th, 2010
Chris Klein. After this film was over, I just kept repeating his name and shaking my head. What a horrible, horrible performance. There has been a lot of bad acting over the years, but I think Chris Klein may have turned in one of the worst performances in acting history. What makes it so bad is that everyone in the film was horrible, the script was laughable, the effects were amateurish and the movie was an overall complete joke. Despite all of that, the one thing that sticks out to me more than anything else is how horrible Chris Klein was. The competition was stiff, but Chris Klein managed to rise above (or below) it and set himself apart.
This is a B-movie, through and through. I know it was released at theaters, but nothing about this film is on par with even the lesser theatrical releases. Even the story itself is a little off. Obviously, it’s basically Chun-Li’s origin story as she copes with her dad’s kidnapping and then somehow gets “called” on this weird spiritual journey. That’s where she meets up with Gen, who helps guide her and helps prepare her for a battle with Bison, the man responsible for kidnapping her father.
As for Street Fighter characters you recognize, there’s Chun-Li, Bison and then they throw in a half-hearted attempt to add Vega, who comes and goes with barely a whimper. So there are three characters from the video game, none of which bare much resemblance to their gaming counterparts. This has little to nothing to do with Street Fighter universe and is nothing more than a sloppy movie using the name to sell some tickets. Bison was the worst; at least give the guy a general’s uniform.
The story reminded me of a little kid trying to tell you what a movie is about. You know how kids say things like “and there was this girl…and then she was in a fight…and then this older guy beat up someone…”? That’s exactly what this movie was like. One scene ran into the next with no explanation and there was seemingly no plot or point to any character’s actions. Couple that with some homemade special effects and you have an instant so-bad-it’s-good movie on your hands.
Kristin Kreuk gave up Smallville for this and she gives an intense, dramatic performance that’s obvious she’s taking it seriously. That’s kind of the problem with her and her character; she takes it way too seriously. It’s as if no one told her that they were making a cheesy, campy movie, which makes me think that no one believed they were making a cheesy, campy movie. Neal McDonough was the only one that appeared to know what kind of film he was in and he piled on the over-the-top acting to a point it was funny.
I feel a little bad for ripping a film that everyone already knew was going to be bad, but I just can’t help myself. With all of the struggling filmmakers and actors out there, movies like this shouldn’t be made. Anyone with a Best Buy digital camera and an ounce of creativity can make something better and more interesting than this.
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