Almost everyone has heard of the early 90s phenomenon that was Street fighter II, and those in the know have all seen just how embarrassing the Jean Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue live action film of it was. Us faithful fans determined to put the film in the forgotten area at the back of our minds, alongside most of Guy Ritchie’s works (note: I saw Sherlock Holmes the other day and it was actually pretty good… well played Mr. Ritchie… well played).
Feature length adaptations of video games has always been a bit of a balls-up. The difficulty of transfering a video-gaming audience to the big screen has proven to be immensely tricky as video games have a very personal feel about them, something that makes you want to sit and play regardless of what is going on around you. In many ways they have a private relationship with the gamer, a relationship which doesn’t transfer over to a wider audience no matter how widespread the success of the game was. Just look at Van Damme’s live action Street Fighter movie.. or worse yet Dwanye Johnson’s DOOM.
Luckily the other day my housemate dug up his old copy of Gisaburo Sugii‘s 1994 animated movie Street Fighter II.
Now imagine this DVD cover with 3D glasses on...
The beauty of this adaptation is that it doesn’t try to be anything other than an on-screen representation of the video game. What it offers is the dream match ups that you want to see (Ken-Ryu, Chun li-Vega, Bison-Ryu), but not only that, it gives you tremendously in-depth fighting sequences littered with all the trademark moves from the game that will have the fanboys (such as myself) squeaming in their seats.
Animé vs live action (Round 1: Fight!)
Ok, admitably the whole film is strung together by a just about bearable storyline, but in a strange way that’s why it is such a stand out reworking of the idea. We didn’t play the video game for its complex storylines and sense of fulfilment after flying to Thailand to have a three-round battle with M. Bison that mostly involved jump kicking him to death whilst pinned in the corner. This is the problem that the live action version of Street Fighter fell down, and why an animated adaptation of it is the only true way to do the game and its fan base justice.
What I found most surprising was just how violent the movie was. Don’t get me wrong, I was under no illusion that I was going to watch a film that centres around violence (the title gives it away somewhat), but with the ability of computers to leave out blood if required, I was a little shocked. I also caught myself laughing out loud at the swearing on the English-dubbed track.. genuinely surprised to hear Guile calling Bison a “b*****d”, but it just makes this film more endearing. I think the film is quite rightly given a 15 rating in UK and a PG-13 in the US.
The film also has an absolutely rocking soundtrack that accompanies the animation in a brilliantly stereotypical way. Every shot of Ryu training in solitude up in the mountains (and yes, there are alot of them) is accompanied with a traditional Japanese sounding pan flute. While in contrast every scene in America is backed with blaring rock music.
Verdict
This movie is everything that Street Fighter should be.
