Reviewed by Johnny McNair

 

Universal Studios Home Entertainment – 102 mins – 1994 – Rated PG-13 – 1080p Widescreen 2.35: 1 – DTS-HD Lossless Master 5.1 Audio

 

 

Super Mario Brothers and Street Fighter were the first videogame-based movies to get the full Hollywood treatment, and it’s easy to see why they both failed. When it came out in 1994, Street Fighter may have sounded like a good idea on paper to cash in on video gamers, especially with Jean-Claude Van Damme attached, who at the time was an A-list action star. Seeing this film when you were a kid was one thing, but watching it now fifteen years later makes you wonder was this intended to be a comedy or were they dead serious. Judge for yourself as Street Fighter comes to Blu-ray from Universal Home Entertainment.

 

THE MOVIE

 

If you’ve never played any of the Capcom Street Fighter videogames, then stop right here, because there’s no need to go any further. For the die-hard fans who played the game religiously and know how to execute everyone of Ryu’s moves, yet can’t find Asia on a map, you may get a chuckle out of the film, but Enter the Dragon it’s not. The story, if you can call it that, centers around Colonel William F. Guile (Van Damme), who is trying to stop a madman dictator named General Bison (Raul Julia), who has taken hostages and plans on killing them one-by-one unless he receives…Twenty Billion Dollars. Along for the adventure is every one of the characters from the Street Fighter game they could toss in. The list includes Chun Li (Ming-Na), Lt. Cammy (Kyle Minogue…yes, the pop singer), Sagat (Wes Studi), Balrog (Grand L. Bush), Vega (Jay Tavare), and a where are they now miscellaneous casts to fill out the rest.

 

Believe it or not this film was written and directed by the screenwriter of Die Hard, Steven De Souza, which is one of the best action films of all time, but what was he thinking when he wrote this one? Everything looks cheap, with costumes that seem like they were made by K-mart, sets that look like leftovers The Power Rangers, and the worst martial arts choreography to date. Most of the actors in the film look embarrassed to, and its ashamed that after a solid resume of films, this had to be the last film Raul Julia did before he passed away.

 

True, how do you make a movie based on a game that had no real storyline in the first place? You play a game like Street Fighter to open a can of whip ass on someone, not for the plot twists. At least the Mortal Kombat movie that followed a few years later learned from the mistakes of Street Fighter and just focused on the fight sequences, which is what people are paying to see. It would have been better if Street Fighter went over the top to fit itself into the camp genre, but instead it just implodes into something that is unwatchable.

 

Hollywood never learns, so with the arrival of Capcom’s new Street Fighter IV game, there is a new movie to go along with it, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li hitting theaters late February. Being that the 1994 version was so bad, this new film can only be a step up, even if it’s a small one. If you’re a collector of cheesy films, then Street Fighter will fill out your collection, but others should just skip this one or rent it for a nostalgic laugh.

 

VIDEO

 

Presented in 1080p in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, Street Fighter is definitely not the high point for high definition Blu-ray. The image quality is mediocre at best, and if you put it side by side with the standard DVD, there probably wouldn’t be that much of a difference. Colors are muted and blacks are not very strong. There is so much grain in some scenes that you’ll think the cast is being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. Universal usually has great transfers, but something went wrong here.

 

AUDIO

 

Street Fighter offers a DTS 5.1 sound mix that is decent, but being that it’s used for bad dialogue and lame action sequences, it doesn’t stand out. There also seems to be more front speaker effects than rear speakers, sounding as if the heart of the mix was funneled through one setting. Overall, there’s nothing that’s worthy of cranking up your speakers.

 

EXTRAS

 

Universal did what they could to fill up this disc with special features, but there’s really nothing that special about what’s offered, and most of it is just hype for the new Street Fighter game.

 

There’s an audio commentary with the film’s writer/director Steven De Souza.

 

Two Deleted scenes featuring Chun Li, that attempt to dive more into her backstory.

 

The Making of Street Fighter is promotional clip from when the film was first released featuring interviews with the cast and crew, and boy does this thing look dated.

 

Storyboards of the film’s prison break and boardroom sequences can be accessed.

 

Cyberwalk is an odd series of posters that promote Bison’s military force.

 

Clips from the original Street Fighter videogames are shown to make comparisons to the film.

 

Trailers for the new Street Fighter game are available in full HD.

 

For some reason there’s no mention of the brand new Street Fighter movie, which should have definitely been tagged on to sell this thing.

 

BOTTOM LINE

 

This Blu-ray is a hard sell, because for those who know nothing about the Street Fighter games, watching this will be torture. Then for fans of the games, other than nostalgia, they’ll be incredible disappointed with the outcome. Unless you know exactly what you’re getting into, Street Fighter is a rental.

 

SCORES (out of 5):

 

The Movie: 2.0

Video: 3.0

Sound: 3.0

Extras: 2.5

Bottom Line: 2.5