FINALLY! A DECENT SF MOVIE!
Even if it was fanmade, for three minutes, that was glorious. For Street Fighter fans, live-action movie adaptations of Capcom's fighting franchise have been the subject of remorse and ridicule for years. Attempts were made at creating a film which stayed true to the series roots and spirit, but instead of capitalizing on the name of brawler, it only resulted in lackluster films that failed to use the license effectively. To that end, many fans decided to take matters into their own hands and create their own spin-off movies based on the fighter we all know and love. Before we take a look at what is probably the best looking fanfilm yet, let's take a trip down memory lane and see the evolution of SF on film
Back in 1994, Jean-Claude Van Damme was tapped to star in a live action film adaptation of Street Fighter. Instead of giving us something glorious like Mortal Kombat, everybody found out first hand that Hollywood had no idea how to handle the franchise, turning it into a G.I.Joe styled action flick full of inconsistencies and campy humor. However, what the movie lacked in content, it swiftly made up with some serious star power, and in addition to JCVD's action presence as Col. William Guile and singer Kylie Minogue's sexiness as the beautiful Cammy White, the late and great Raul Julia graced viewers with his last role as General M.Bison, would be dictator and leader of Shadaloo. This film had B-Movie written all over it and the characterizations were more than off the mark, but it still managed to leave an impression in its own unique way, all thanks to the campy dialogue and humor it succeeded in delivering. It's not Street Fighter at its best, but it's got JCVD and Raul Julia, and it's damn funny.
In 2009, Capcom once again dipped their hands into movie making by creating a spin-off flick based on one of Street Fighter's most prominent female protagonist. Of course, I'm talking about Chun-Li, but this movie hardly personifies the self-proclaimed strongest woman in her best. Entitled "Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li", this film really threw whatever hope we had for the movie franchise to redeem itself out of the window. Sure, it had Smallville's Kristin Kreuk in it, but the characterization was absolutely off the mark, and everything else seemed so misplaced that it actually made the first Street Fighter film ten times better! Believe or not, I actually got so hyped to see this movie back when it premiered in theaters. The look in my face after the movie ended just said it all.Now that a decent Street Fighter film has been made by fans, can we actually expect a major project to be done in this caliber and use the concept properly this time around? Only time can tell for sure. Right now, it's only Legacy and Street Fighter The Later Years that made a big impression on me, and speaking of the latter, it's a production by Collegehumor.com a couple of years ago that takes a look at the world warriors years after the end of SFII. Hilarious comedy ensues, and you can view the first part of this awesome series in You Tube, via this link.
