Completely Ripped Off
I saw “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li” on Friday night and as you can tell from the title of this blog…I was not very pleased. What I thought was going to be an awesome kickass martial arts/video game inspired movie fell completely, and totally, flat. I wanted to like this movie…no, I take that back…I wanted to love this movie. As a kid, I used to love Street Fighter. I, myself, consider Chun-Li to be my character…well hey, I’m Chinese and well, shit…she rocks. So this movie was supposed to be completely awesome…I didn’t know how completely wrong I was going to be until after I wasted an hour and a half of my life…feeling like I could have written a better screenplay myself. My biggest complaints with the movie are listed below:
5. The story line was just terrible. Bison’s motivation during this entire movie was his daughter…because he passes off his conscious onto her…really? I mean, seriously? What the heck was that about?? And there was this weird scene with Chun-Li and some crazy Asian lady dancing in a club…the most random and useless scene ever. It really made no sense in the movie. And at the very end of the movie, it’s brought up that there might be a fight tournament coming up in the (heaven forbid) sequel. If there is any humanity in this world, there will not be a sequel to this movie. And in terms of a fight tournament…hello, that’s what Street Fighter is all about…why wasn’t that the basis for the movie to begin with?!?!?
4. The characters in this movie were way off base. How come Bison has blond hair and blue eyes? Isn’t Gen suppose to have grey hair and a purple uniform? How come Balrog uses a tiny gun and doesn’t use his boxing gloves? And Vega…isn’t he suppose to be Hispanic…why was he portrayed as half-Asian? Plus, he only made a brief appearance with a few lines in the movie. And hello, the majority of the movie took place in Thailand, where was Saggot? And Chris Klein as Charlie Nash…oh my goodness, please don’t insult my intelligence by calling him an actor…Chris Klein should be kicked in the balls for an hour and 37 minutes for his part in this movie (that’s what it felt like to watch him). And finally, you can’t have a Street Fighter movie without Ryu and Ken…where the heck were they?!?
3. The martial arts in this movie was completely laughable. There were fight scenes that were just downright funny because the action sequences were so disjointed…and why was Chun-Li’s signature kick move not even showcased properly? I mean, the signature moves Chun-Li performed were terrible with no explanation of how she could do it. Each move has a story behind them…anyone ever heard of Hadou? In this case, apparently no one. And what was with her training with Gen for like ten minutes and all of a sudden she’s a ninja who magically flies through the air, destroys her captors with nothing but her skill, and becomes fucking invincible? You know, it’s been awhile since I’ve done any martial arts…but, shit, the “martial arts” performed in this movie…is not martial arts...it’s just bad cinematography.
2. The Chinese was poorly translated. I’m not a linguistic expert of the Chinese language, by any means…but the stuff that I did understand, was definitely not translated properly. Seriously, that’s not cool considering how much Chinese was spoken in the movie (more than just a few lines) and considering the entire opening sequence of the movie was based in Hong Kong. And more specifically, there was a scene when Chun-Li was talking to her dad during the beginning of the movie, she leans in for a hug and says “xie xie (谢谢),” which everyone knows means “thank you” but why was it translated as “I love you”??? That’s not even close…
5. The story line was just terrible. Bison’s motivation during this entire movie was his daughter…because he passes off his conscious onto her…really? I mean, seriously? What the heck was that about?? And there was this weird scene with Chun-Li and some crazy Asian lady dancing in a club…the most random and useless scene ever. It really made no sense in the movie. And at the very end of the movie, it’s brought up that there might be a fight tournament coming up in the (heaven forbid) sequel. If there is any humanity in this world, there will not be a sequel to this movie. And in terms of a fight tournament…hello, that’s what Street Fighter is all about…why wasn’t that the basis for the movie to begin with?!?!?
4. The characters in this movie were way off base. How come Bison has blond hair and blue eyes? Isn’t Gen suppose to have grey hair and a purple uniform? How come Balrog uses a tiny gun and doesn’t use his boxing gloves? And Vega…isn’t he suppose to be Hispanic…why was he portrayed as half-Asian? Plus, he only made a brief appearance with a few lines in the movie. And hello, the majority of the movie took place in Thailand, where was Saggot? And Chris Klein as Charlie Nash…oh my goodness, please don’t insult my intelligence by calling him an actor…Chris Klein should be kicked in the balls for an hour and 37 minutes for his part in this movie (that’s what it felt like to watch him). And finally, you can’t have a Street Fighter movie without Ryu and Ken…where the heck were they?!?
3. The martial arts in this movie was completely laughable. There were fight scenes that were just downright funny because the action sequences were so disjointed…and why was Chun-Li’s signature kick move not even showcased properly? I mean, the signature moves Chun-Li performed were terrible with no explanation of how she could do it. Each move has a story behind them…anyone ever heard of Hadou? In this case, apparently no one. And what was with her training with Gen for like ten minutes and all of a sudden she’s a ninja who magically flies through the air, destroys her captors with nothing but her skill, and becomes fucking invincible? You know, it’s been awhile since I’ve done any martial arts…but, shit, the “martial arts” performed in this movie…is not martial arts...it’s just bad cinematography.
2. The Chinese was poorly translated. I’m not a linguistic expert of the Chinese language, by any means…but the stuff that I did understand, was definitely not translated properly. Seriously, that’s not cool considering how much Chinese was spoken in the movie (more than just a few lines) and considering the entire opening sequence of the movie was based in Hong Kong. And more specifically, there was a scene when Chun-Li was talking to her dad during the beginning of the movie, she leans in for a hug and says “xie xie (谢谢),” which everyone knows means “thank you” but why was it translated as “I love you”??? That’s not even close…
1. Why was Chun-Li not portrayed as Chinese?!?!? During flashbacks of her childhood, she was fucking Filipino!!! And Kristin Kreuk to play Chun-Li…really? Are you serious?? She barely looks Asian, much less, Chinese. Chun-Li is suppose to be Chinese!!! Um…hello, Mr. Casting Director…not all Asian people look the same…
My final recommendation for “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”… pass on the movie and just play the game. Capcom should sue the makers of this movie for defamation of character on behalf of Chun-Li. It was really that bad.
Posted by kristina
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