Blu-ray Review: ‘Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li’

In the long list of Worst Movies Ever Made, or Movies That Should Never Have Been Made, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li can easily fight it’s way to Top 10.

From comic books to Anime series to live-action feature films, fans of the Street Fighter series have seen numerous incarnations of Street Fighter origin tales over the past two decades. Street Fighter II V (Victory) and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie were the most well received. The 1994 Street Fighter film, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia, had a less warm reception and was all together a combination of bad acting and poor scripting. The latest incarnation of Street Fighter, The Legend of Chun-Li, easily trumps the 1994 movie on both accounts. Fans of the Street Fighter mythos will watch as one of their favorite characters embarks on a loosely thrown together and all together unappealing search to avenge her family.

Not only is the story appalling, but the casting was horrendous. For starters, Kristin Kreuk should not have been cast as Chun-Li. It was a calamity to see Chun-Li start out as a very visibly Asian child, then turn into Kristin Kreuk when she grew up. Sorry, there is no forgiveness for that. Kreuk also feels like she’s playing her whiny role as Lana Lang in Smallville for entire film. Secondly, Chris Klein as Charlie Nash was an abomination. Not for one second does anyone believe Klein to be a military soldier, especially one that would have the admiration of someone like Guile. Watching him felt like watching American Pie the Street Fighter edition. I actually enjoy watching both Neal McDonough and Michael Clarke Duncan act. But as Bison and Balrog respectively, they just didn’t fit the roles. Honestly, Balrog should always just be left out of any Street Fighter story.

The saving grace of this Blu-ray release is Disc 3. You get ‘Street Fighter Round One: FIGHT! Animated comic movie.’ This is a great watch, and any fan of Street Fighter will definitely enjoy watching this origin story. I was slightly upset with some of the choices they made for Charlie and Ken, but I can live with them. Unfortunately, you’ll have to bite the bullet and buy the Legend of Chun-Li to see the Animated comic movie. But, if you are a fan, it’s worth it. Just find a deal on the Internet so you don’t get caught paying full price.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li deserved a lower score, but had to be given something for packaging the awesome animated comic movie along with this Blu-ray release.

Bonus features include:
Disc One
- Theatrical and Unrated feature
- Audio Commentary by Patrick Aiello, Ashok Amritraj, Neal McDonough and Chris Klein
- Street Fighter: In Movie Enlightenment
- 14 Deleted Scenes
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Sneak Peek
- Becoming a Street Fighter
- Chun Li: Bringing the Legend to Life
- Fox Movie Channel Presents Making A Scene
- Recreating the Game: Arcade to Film Comparisons
- The Fight in Black and White: Storyboard Gallery
- Behind the Fight: Production Gallery

Disc Two
- Unrated Digital Copy

Disc Three
- Street Fighter Round One: FIGHT! Animated comic movie