Movie Review: The Legend of Chun-Li

I just caught this movie on TV and was thankful for the outrageous amounts of commercial breaks it had.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li was more of a bad movie with some Street Fighter references thrown in than it was a good movie about anything. Chun-Li witnesses her father being kidnapped by bad guys, run by M. Bison. She grows up pissed off and eventually decides to kick ass.

She goes on to beat the crap out of a lot of guys in some decent enough fighting scenes, although in some parts you can damn near see the ropes holding her up while she does her flips.

Bison is using her dad to run his business, and he uses his daughter’s (Chun-Li) well-being to get his services. As long as her dad cooperates, she’ll be fine. Naturally she has other plans.

Eventually she runs into Liu Kang, ahem, I mean Gen, a dude who teaches her how to be a better fighter. Much like the plot, the story and the character development, little time is given to show the process.

Eventually she finds M. Bison and kicks his ass and then kills him in a very anti-climatic fight. She doesn’t get her father back, though, as Bison had already killed him right in front of her.

The only acting I can say was worth a damn came from Michael Clarke Duncan who plays Balrog, whom you might remember from the second Street Fighter game. Another notable appearance was made by Vega, who seemed to be badass but was easily beaten by Chun-Li. Once again, not enough time in character development.

The rest of the cast was sub-par, although they did well enough, except for Chris Klein who played a cop named Nash, who sucked hard. Klein deserved to be in the movie, though, because it was a direct to video low budget movie and that’s exactly where he belongs.

To make his part better they could have used a much better actor, like Steven Weber, or Shaq. Instead they got what they paid for.

All in all it was a decent movie, but it told nothing of any legend, let alone Chun-Li’s. It was just a back story. The girl they got to play Chun-Li, Kristin Kreuk, wasn’t even right for the part. Chun-Li, as far as the video game is concerned, was a fit, but sexy chick with a chip on her shoulder and some nice thick legs. In the movie, they couldn’t have got a skinnier girl to play the role. Compare.

They don’t even look alike. Kristin Kreuk is hot enough even though I really can’t stand bean pole women, but look at her. She doesn’t even look like Chun-Li, who is quite obviously a cartoon. But damn, couldn’t they have gotten someone with a better set of legs? Like her?

Now THAT’S a Chun-Li I could get behind. Speaking of Chun-Li’s thick legs, I saw this and thought it was funny.

Hell, I could even go with that chick. At least she’s in the proper garb.

All in all, I didn’t mind watching the movie and I’ve seen a lot worse, but as far as recommending it, I really don’t think I can. So if you decide to watch it, do so at your own risk. Just make sure you have absolutely nothing, and I really mean nothing, better to do.

I give this movie 4 stars out of 10.