Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li - 1/5

Man oh man. Seriously, if Capcom wanted to reboot the Street Fighter franchise they could have done better. It was a good choice in story (Chun-Li's story is a pretty straight forward one and would transfer to film well) but then they decided to change the story and as a fan of the series that just irks me. She's a professional pianist now instead of an Interpol agent? But that's just the tip of the iceburg on this one. There are plenty of things I disagree with on the story front including how Bison is portrayed and how the fight between Chun-Li and Vega lasts a whopping 30 seconds (that was a rivalry that was massively built upon and Vega is supposed to be this massive kick ass assassin whom is beaten fairly easily). It was a disappointment to fans of the series I'm sure.

I also thought that the fact that Klein and Bloodgood were essentially useless subplot. Yeah, it shows that Bison is being followed by police forces but their characters as shallow and the odd sexual tension between the two was rather poorly developed and displayed. Not to mention, that anytime they were onscreen I wanted to kick in my TV screen. Their characters and performances were just annoying. Plain and simple.

I was impressed with Kreuk though I must say. I can't say I've ever seen "Smallville" and I know many people were unable to see past her role from that, but as a person that has never seen that show I thought she was a good casting choice for Chun-Li. I just wish that her character was a bit more deep then it was. As a title character of the film, one would think she should be focused on a bit more and allowed to develop. But no. That doesn't happen. To top it off, she also has one of the worst voice over tracks I've seen since "Blade Runner". The narrator parts are just awful. Poorly scripted and for some reason they just stop about half way through the film. Good idea to keep the flow of the film going but just really poorly used I thought.

"The Legend Of Chun-Li" suffered from a lot of bad choices. The directing is pretty bottom of the barrel, the casting is very hit or miss, and the editing is pure shit. This film probably sounded good at the board meeting but once it went into actual production it feels as though they might as well forgot about it. There are far too many flaws with script, behind the scenes, and on camera. Yikes!! Even a boom mic makes an appearance in the film! This is 2009! That should never happen anymore in theatrically released films! Seriously this is one of the worst films of the year in my book. Some decent fights (not the one with Vega) and Robin Shou (in a comeback role since "Mortal Kombat!!!) couldn't save this sinking ship. Only watch for a good laugh. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider