
I could break that girl over my knee.....easy.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, the same director who brought us "Doom" which should be a good indication of how this movie was going to go. The story follows young Chun Li as her father is kidnapped by big bad guy, Bison and his stooges, Balrog and Vega. She grows into a lovely concert pianist. After receiving a mysterious scroll, she leaves behind her cushy life to experience the streets and tries to be a Robin Hood do-gooder with her martial arts skills. Mentor, Gen (not "Ken", just sounds the same while you do a double-take) tries to teach her some new tricks in a montage of training so she can go up against Bison's empire. There is a subplot with some detectives also trying to bring Bison down unsuccessfully. Bison is expecting a delivery called the White Rose and others try to intercept it, but when you find out what the White Rose is, you don't understand why anyone made a big deal of it and it could have been taken out of the movie. Just let Chun-Li pursue Bison because he's a bad guy and getting revenge for her dad, it's really enough of a motive there without bringing the other part in.
Kristin Kreuk brought to fame by the TV series "Smallville" stars as older Chun-Li. She is a pretty girl, but seems to have lost weight since being on that show and looks emaciated in this movie. For a Street Fighter, she has no muscle on her body and is not representing those strong thighs that Chun-Li sports in the game. I do not deny her commitment to emotion in this role, but she never appears to have any fun. She is always mourning the loss of someone or getting injured and her smiles are few and far between. Bison is played by Neal McDonough who has appeared in military roles for "Flags of our Fathers" and "Band of Brothers" on HBO and more recently in the TV series "Desperate Housewives". He is very believable as a villain with his cold eyes. The physicality of the character was good and he could break a neck with the best of them. They throw in some background about him having removed his conscience and putting it in his daughter but it's completely unnecessary. If you tell me he is a bad guy, I will believe. I do not think you needed anything magical to make that point. The best casting in this movie is Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog because he is one of the biggest guys out there with a wonderfully distinct deep voice and you never doubt he can kick anyone's butt. Vega is disappointingly played by Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas and is in a mask 90% of the time and is beat up by scrawny little Kristin Kreuk in less than three minutes which is sad considering an earlier scene where he supposedly took out half a dozen businessmen with his claws....but we do not see it, we just get to hear it while Bison enjoys some wine. Don't let a massacre stop you from enjoying a drink, right? I wish we could have seen more of Vega fighting because I enjoy that player in the game. A few good fight scenes. *Shrug* And that is where the Street Fighter fun stops. Where are the other characters? The way the ending was left indicated that the story was not over and a new character could be introduced in the next one ("His name is 'Ryu Something"), but the plot of this movie felt so weak to me that I do not know where they can go from here. Chris Klein plays Charlie Nash and is so over the top.....just read my whole review at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/user/708725/reviews/view.php?type=2&id=1198646
Review ID: 10000000012997745

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