Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)

When a teenager, Chun-Li witnesses the kidnapping of her father by wealthy crime lord M. Bison. When she grows up, she goes into a quest for vengeance and becomes the famous crime-fighter of the Street Fighter universe.

Director:

Andrzej Bartkowiak

Writer:

Justin Marks (screenplay)

Stars:

Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein, Neal McDonough

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kristin Kreuk	...	Chun-Li
Chris Klein	...	Charlie Nash
Neal McDonough	...	Bison / Vega (Japan)
Robin Shou	...	Gen
Moon Bloodgood	...	Det. Maya Sunee
Josie Ho	...	Cantana
Taboo	...	Vega / Balrog (Japan)
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Balrog / Bison (Japan)
Pei-pei Cheng	...	Zhilan (as Pei Pei Cheng)
Edmund Chen	...	Xiang
Inez Yan	...	Chun-Li (5 yrs)
Elizaveta Kiryukhina	...	Rose
Emilze Junqueira	...	Jeanne Xiang
Katherine Pemberton	...	Chun-Li (10 yrs)
Siri Sirijane	...	Liu

Storyline

Chun-Li lives a calm life with her father, when one day, the local mobster Bison kidnaps her father. After her mother's death, she embarks into a quest to rescue her kidnapped father from the clutches of powerful criminal lord Bison.

---

Plot Keywords:

chun li | mobster | street fighter | kidnapping | crime lord | 

---

Taglines:

Some fight for power. Some fight for us.

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Fantasy | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and martial arts action, and some sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Movie Blog Official site

Country:

Canada India USA Japan

Language:

English Hindi Japanese

Release Date:

27 February 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Street Fighter: La leyenda

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$4,721,110 (USA) (27 February 2009)

Gross:

$8,742,261 (USA) (8 May 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hyde Park Entertainment, Capcom Company, Adlabs Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

M. Bison's alternate name for Shadaloo was the Shadow Empire, like in the video games.

---

Goofs

In the funeral scene of Chun-Li's mother, Chun-Li is wearing black. It's customary in Chinese funerals for the family members to wear white since white is symbolic of death.

---

Quotes

Charlie Nash: I love my job.

---

Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Rotten Tomatoes Show Year Endies (2009)

---

Soundtracks

"Street Fighter"
Written by Antonie McColister and Jean Borges
Performed by Ace Hood
Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group

User Reviews

Somewhat misses the mark

We now have Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, a story about the First Lady of Fighting Games herself. Yes, Chun Li was featured in the previous movie (played less than adequately by Ming Na), but she was only a supporting character in that flick, and aside from knocking a few heads and spewing some lame dialogue, she didn't have much to do. So it's nice to see her finally in the spotlight, portrayed by an actress who actually bothers to put some effort into her performance: Kristin Kreuk.

The previous Street Fighter film pretty much failed to give its characters any good development or reason to show any real emotions, making it rather hard to connect with them. This new film at least tries, and even succeeds in some places; when Chun Li sheds tears in this movie, we know precisely why, and we understand her sorrow. She is endeared far more to us this time around. It would not be spoiling anything to say this movie is much better than its predecessor. But is it really a good movie? Well...

Now, obviously director Andrzej Bartkowiak and screenwriter Justin Marks had a daunting task before them. They not only had to please Street Fighter and Chun Li fans around the world, but somehow try to make a good movie in the process. And, of course, you can't tell a story about street fighters without the proper pacing. Pacing, in fact, is where the movie's first failure falls into our laps, as it's tragically rushed in all the wrong places. Events that should be treated delicately and given sufficient screen time to allow us to appreciate their significance are whizzed right by us, drastically reducing their impact. Instead of thoughtful remarks, we're given more passing comments on things that are supposed to tell us more about the characters we're watching. And, aside from Chun Li, Bison and, to a lesser degree, Chun Li's father and Gen, none of the characters receives much by the way of development, thus causing this film to fail in the same general area the previous one did. And Interpol Officer Charile Nash (yes, the same Charlie Nash whom Guile was so eager to avenge in the games) is on the scene as well; he's determined to bring Bison down. If only we learned why. Actor Chris Klein and actress Moon Bloodgood (who plays his partner Maya) aren't given much to do, and what they are given to do isn't very engaging or exciting. Much of their contributions to the story are tossed out as quickly as they're flung in, leaving us very little time to appreciate any of it. And Nash's one-liners, which are, of course, meant to be witty, are not really that witty. Or all that funny.

On the whole, the movie doesn't quite work. It has some good ideas and an interesting story, but it really doesn't handle them properly. For every strong moment the film has, there is a weak one to bring things down again, and of course there's an open ending, though if they actually make a sequel to this I'll be amazed. I likely won't be the first in line to see it, though. I probably won't see the movie again, either... well, not in the theater, anyway. I may buy the soundtrack, however; the music wasn't half bad. If you like solid electronic dances tunes, the soundtrack may be worth your while. The movie, on the other hand, won't really entertain general audiences, and I imagine fans of the games will be pretty divided on it.

Oh, and they mispronounced Ryu's name. AGAIN.

Final score: 6/10. Nice try, but try harder next time, guys.