Street Fighter (DVD, 1998, Collector's Edition Widescreen)

If you are a hardcore fan of the Streetfighter games then you may find something to complain about with regard to this movie, if only because you don't get a full backstory of the characters represented; barring that, however, there is little to complain about as there are exciting fight sequences and mayhem and the characters all pretty much correspond with their video game counterparts. Van Damme does a pretty good turn as Colonel Guile, as does Kylie Minogue as Cammy - for what little you see of her. The least fitting of all the actors is arguably the most talented of them all, as Raul Julia performs as M. Bison- Mr. Julia brings a subtlety to the character that fans may not necessarily agree with as he is not as cruel or as invincible as he is made out to be in the game, but Hollywood will take its liberties with just about anything so...there you have it.

Because this is a movie based on a videogame franchise, you'll have to allow certain elements in order to move the movie along, but overall, I found it to be a fun, action-packed film that was worth the time it took to watch it. I bought this movie because I had seen it when it first came out and remembered it to be entertaining; plus, having been a fan of the game series I had to check it out for myself to see if it could be as good as the later animated cartoons that preceded and followed it. In my opinion, it was- in some ways better because I prefer live action over animated presentations.

In short, I would recommend this as the perfect popcorn Saturday matinee movie for kids as well as adults. Enjoy!