Watch This Space: 9 Reasons Why I Enjoyed the Street Fighter Movie. Yes. Really.
- Jonathan Eilbeck
- Jul 29, 2020
- 4 min read
I've been watching way too many films during this lockdown, and I thought why not I watch one of the bad movie essentials. The 1994 Jean Claude Van Dame Street Fighter movie. A film that is always brought up when talking about movies based on video games and mostly in a not flattering sense, but I finally watched it and I found it to be the most funniest films I've seen. I would like to reiterate it is not a good movie. The production design is lacking, some of the acting isn't great, it has too many characters and they left out some important scenes, but I did enjoy it with one of them being...
9. A DIVERSE CAST
One problem with the film is that there are too many characters. This was put in by Capcom and it doesn't help the film with some characters not serving the story, why did we need Blanka? Does Cammie and T. Hawk serve anything to the plot? Some characters were just planted there, but the film's cast are of different nationalities and races. The film uses the roster from Street Fighter II which had a global cast of characters from many countries like Japan, Russia, Brazil, Thailand, China, India, England, and America and the cast of the film is also diverse as well. The lead character is played by Belgium Jean Claude Van Damme, the villain, M. Bison is played by Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia, Australian Kylie Minogue plays the British Cammie, Chinese-American actress Ming-Na Wen plays Chung-Li, Native American Wes Studi plays Vega and Samoan actor Peter Tuiasosopo along with other various actors of various races all show up with prominent roles. There some cases where they have did change the nationality due to the actors casted in the role, which is a subject I do not feel I have enough knowledge to comment on, but still it is impressive to see a lot of prominent roles are giving to POC actors and actress and have substantial screen time devoted to them.
8. GREAT COSTUMES
The costume in the films look great. They look like they are lifted from straight from the video game and a nice little touch is that they have alternate costumes like other fighting games. Guile has a uniform and vest, M. Bison has his normal wear and his dressing gown and Cammie also has a uniform and vest costume as well.
7. ZANGIEF
Andrew Bryniarski as Zangief is fun. He's great comic relief, he has a great prescense as the heavy and is really good at comedic line delivery in some scenes. He also gets a great character arc where he redeems himself when he realises he isn't getting paid.
6. COOL LINES
Speaking of line delivery, the movie has some cool lines. So here is a few...
Sagat: Vega is the greatest cage fighter since Iron Fist.
Ken: What happened to him?
Sagat: He retired... and became me.
Bison: You've made me a happy man.
Guile: Next, I'll make you a dead man.
(A truck is remotely being controlled heading towards M. Bison's camp)
Zangief: Quick! Change the channel!
Bison: Of course!
Bison: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me it was Tuesday.
5. GAS CHAMBER SHOT
There's a really cool shot where the heroes are knocked out by gas and the scene transitions from where the gas comes from, a skull looking device, to M. Bison's face. It's a pretty cool transition, it looks cool and is in line with the tone of the film.
4. GAME CONTROLLER
At one point M. Bison launches missiles at the Allied Nations by using a game controller. A game controller. Look if it worked for Superman III, then it will work for this film.
3. JCVD LAUNCHES HIMSELF
There's a scene in the movie where Bison is threatening to unleash Blanka on a couple of henchmen, but at the same time, Guile discovers Blanka is actually his old friend. Both scenes play concurrently and you know that the lab where Blanka is made is below Bison's lair. You'd except Guile to just reveal himself by standing in the chamber, but nope. He launches himself and kicking M. Bison. I wasn't expecting it and was a awesome.
2. GODZILLA SOUND EFFECT
There's a scene where M. Bison gives a speech near a miniature city called Bisonopolis. Great scene, Julia gives a damn good speech and Zangief helps with a fun response. Later Zangief fights Honda and they fight in the miniature city and they use the Godzilla roar.
It's a good use of setup, as it establishes the mini city and that it's in the base and the added Godzilla sound effect is a nice little touch.
1. RAUL JULIA
In 1994 actor Raul Julia died after complications from a stroke. He was suffering from cancer and he knew he wasn't going to make and thus chose be in this film so his children can watch. Knowing this before watching this can put his performance is perspective. Mostly you can see a man who loves his job as an actor, as a performer trying to make sure every scene is entertaining. Julia also has a great demanding presence, you can see him as the head of a terrorist organisation, but we also see the charming manipulator as well. It's not just a enjoyable energetic performance. If you had to have a movie to go out on, then this would be a great swan song for a long and acclaimed career.
And those were the reasons I really got a lot out of the Street Fighter movie, it's not good, but it is still an enjoyable watch. If you have the chance check it out, especially if your into video games, you will not regret it.
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