Today’s quick review: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Years after her father (Edmund Chen) was kidnapped, Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk) has grown up into a talented martial artist. Following an anonymous lead to Bangkok, Chun-Li meets Gan (Robin Shou), a reclusive martial arts master who trains her further. When she is ready, he reveals the identity of her father’s kidnapper: Bison (Neal McDonough), the head of the criminal organization Shadaloo.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is a martial arts action movie based on the Street Fighter series of video games. The Legend of Chun-Li pits a fledgling martial artist against the crime lord who kidnapped her father. The movie takes a more focused approach than the previous adaptation of Street Fighter, letting Chun-Li take center stage and trimming the cast to a reasonable size. However, it suffers from weak writing and a bland tone.
The Legend of Chun-Li’s chief problem is that it lacks personality. Chun-Li makes for a lukewarm protagonist, talented in a generic way without any character-defining moments. None of the characters adapted from the games leave much of an impression, including Balrog (Michael Clarke Duncan), Vega (Taboo), and Charlie Nash (Chris Klein). Even Bison is a missed opportunity, a villain who has neither a master plan nor a flair for the dramatic.
The lack of personality extneds to the story as well. The Legend of Chun-Li follows the same pattern as any number of other martial arts and superhero films. The film does a poor job of motivating the key elements of its plot. Chun-Li’s journey to Bangkok, her training under Gan, Bison’s orign story, his criminal ambitions, and Charlie Nash’s entire subplot are all slotted in out of a sense of obligation, not because they follow from the plot logic.
The Legend of Chun-Li scores its biggest hit with its fight choreography. Competent wire stunts, frequent action scenes, and a touch of fantasy tied to the characters’ in-game powers give the movie all the raw material it needs to be an enjoyable action flick. But even here, The Legend of Chun-Li never rises above the crowd. None of the fights are memorable, several of them are mismanaged, and overall the stunts aren’t sharp enough to carry the film.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is an indifferent watch, with just enough going on to occupy action fans but not enough to please them. Though its story is more focused and realistic than the previous Street Fighter adaptation, it sacrifices nearly all of the franchise’s personality in the process. What’s left over is a paint-by-the-numbers action flick with decent stunt work and a story that’s lacking. Most viewers should steer clear.
For a more colorful adaptation of the same source material, try Street Fighter. For a more successful take on a similar premise, try the Alicia Vikander version of Tomb Raider. For a fantasy action movie that has a similar setup and suffers from similar flaws, try Elektra. For a crime-oriented superhero movie that uses similar plot elements to better effect, try Batman Begins.
3.7 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 5.0 for passable action coupled with a generic plot and weak character work.