???For some unknown reason, the folks over at 20th Century Fox decided that the first live-action, Jean-Claude Van "Dammed" Street Fighter movie released back in '94 was such a diamond in the rough that they needed to dig up the franchise and give it another go.
???For those who haven't seen the original Street Fighter, there's not much to be missed. Luckily, Andrzej Bartkowiak's (Cradle 2 The Grave) current re-imagination has nothing to do with the original box office flop.
???Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is a complete remake, not a sequel. In an attempt to take a good video game and translate it to the silver screen, Bartkowiak started from scratch.
???Along with first-time feature writer Justin Marks, Bartkowiak appeared to follow the basic filmmaking outline: acquire a cast, set, director and writer. Unfortunately, the outcome is nothing more than a cheaply made and poorly produced film.
???The plot leads viewers to believe that there was a storyline mixing all of the characters together, but this is not so; each fighter has his or her own story, joining together only at the Street Fighter tournament.
???In Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Chun-Li (Kristen Kreuk, Smallville) is a half-Chinese pianist whose father, played by Edmund Chen (Police & Thief), was kidnapped years ago by the evil Bison (Neal McDonough, 88 Minutes), a businessman who has all of the organized crime in Bangkok in the palm of his hand.
???Up to this point in the film, it seems as if Bartkowiak rehashed the plot outline from Walking Tall, but we get the petite spitfire Kreuk instead of the 6-foot-4-inch, 225-pound Dwayne Johnson.
???Chun-Li eventually stumbles across a scroll that sets her path in motion. As she seeks out a mysterious man named Gen (Robin Shou, Death Race), who must teach her the Order of the Web, she must track down and stop the Order and Li's arch-nemesis, Bison.
???Never in the history of Street Fighter has General M. Bison been a classy guy. He has always been portrayed as a crazed military commander with plans to mass-produce super soldiers to take over the world. However, in The Legend of Chun-Li, he is the type of high-class movie villain that drinks fine wine and eats caviar while his enemies are disposed of in the foyer.
???Bison isn't one to fly under the radar. After his latest stunt, killing off all of his crime-syndicate competitors, he grabs the attention of local cop Maya (Moon Bloodgood, Terminator Salvation) and Interpol agent Charlie Nash (Chris Klein, Just Friends). This unnecessary storyline brings nothing to the movie, other than letting viewers witness the terrible acting of Chris Klein.
???By the way, Michael Clarke Duncan is in this movie as well. His role as Balrog, Bison's bulky henchman, is decent at best. It's painfully obvious that his scenes are sloppily written filler trying desperately to capitalize off of the loveable large-man. ???Taboo, of Black Eyed Peas fame, also makes a blade-wielding appearance, but his minute of significance is only worth mentioning in a filmography.
???By film's end, Chun-Li finds a flier advertising an underground tournament for street fighters. Some fellow out of Japan named Ryu is rumored to be joining. Obviously they are setting up for a sequel that will never happen.
???Had Bartkowiak kept the movie basic and fan-friendly (involving more of the street-fighting tournament), there may have been a chance for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li to win fans over in a rugged, battle-lined adventure, instead of bowing out in the first round courtesy of a cheesy, illogical and poorly written KO.
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Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
