alexanderdavies-99382 What in God's name was JCVD thinking when he signed up to make this load of piffle?? Everything about this film reeks of ineptitude and on a fairly grand scale. The acting, script, plot, direction (what there is of it) and special effects are woeful. Even the fight choreography isn't as good as it should be. The whole production bears no relation to the computer game whatsoever and is an insult to its legacy. The attempts at injecting some humour are about as cringeworthy as it gets and only causes acute irritation. With Van Damme, his expression usually reads something like: "OK I'm here to save the world, nothing to worry about." Superman he isn't! Too many characters have nothing to do and they are supposed to be involved in the action. Why a classically trained actor like Simon Callow would agree to appear in this, heaven only knows (reminds me of Laurence Olivier being cast in "The Jazz Singer" and "Wild Geese 2"). In a way, I was glad that "Street Fighter" is the first Van Damme film I ever saw - simply because I knew there had to be better ones out there......

garyfletcher-10536 This is without doubt one of the best 'worst' movies of all time, or is the worst 'best' movie? Its a movie based on the video game Street Fighter, with John Claude Van Damme portraying Colonel William F. Guile. The majority of the films budget was spent of Van Damme, which is why the other cast members are little known actors, barring the odd one or two. Despite Van Damme's brilliant performance as Guile (yes he was good), in the video game Street Fighter Guile is actually American! So its a little strange seeing him in his US Military gear with a Belgium accent. The same goes for Kylie Minogue, who is supposed to be English, but at least she puts the accent on. Honda looks more Samoan than Japanese, and Sagat is about 5'9, whereas in the video game he is a giant of a man! Despite these (minor) niggles, the film and its cast actually work, with the characters proving to be quite likable. The one character i wasn't keen on however was Ken Masters (Damien Chapa) who wasn't a very convincing Ken to the one i'm used to in the games, and he was actually quite annoying. After getting through the first few scenes and his chemistry with the brilliant Byron Mann, who plays perhaps the most iconic character in the games at least, Ryu. Byron is a very talented actor who has gone on to work on some great things, such as DC's Arrow. Ken was played very poorly in my opinion, and he was more goofy then bad-ass, which would of suited him better. Again, this is down to the low budget cast. Ming-Na Wen plays the hugely popular Chun-Li, probably the most famous female fighting video game character. She does a decent enough job, and pulls off her trademark moves from the games (like the fast kicks), and looks especially gorgeous in her battle dress. Her calibration with on screen characters Honda and Balrog was unusual to say the least, but it worked for the most part. They somehow managed to drag poor old Simon Callow into this film, albeit briefly for some comedic scenes with Van Damme. I feel he brings the credentials of any film up with his presence alone, however long the duration. I can't talk about this film without mentioning the brilliant Raul Julia however, and his extraordinary performance. This was to be his final appearance in film, as he sadly passed away shortly after the films release. I do feel that the success of this film is largely down his portrayal of M. Bison, and boy did he nail it. Raul is absolutely amazing in Street Fighter, and without question the best actor in the film. Van Damme may have been the star and the highest paid, but Raul Julia steals the show with his performance. Getting down to the film itself, it is without question a cheese-fest from start to finish, and everything a 90's action movie should be. So many films from this era followed the same pattern, bad guy takes hostages and has a list of demands, and hero saves the day, but it nearly always worked, at least in terms of entertainment. If you've never played the video games, you will still like this film, as its pretty self explanatory and easy to follow. If you do like the games, you will easily recognize the characters and their trademark moves which are taken straight from the games. Give the film a chance, it may surprise you, and its worth watching for Raul Julia alone, and his screen time with Van Damme is priceless. My only gripe is that they could of done more with the plot, and introduced a few more characters, but that aside the film is actually fun, just don't take it too serious.

Leofwine_draca This cheesy movie is based on a video game and is often unintentionally hilarious. A totally wooden cast battle heroically with absurd dialogue to often amusing effect. The budget here has been totally blown on the scenery, special effects, and costumes (which admittedly look very nice, especially the natty blue soldier uniforms which Van Damme and his cohorts wear), so it 's all very colourful and visually stimulating. Unfortunately those expecting a serious film will be extremely disappointed as this movie is aimed squarely at children, never for once engaging the brain. The loose plot simply has loads of different characters moving from one situation to another and fighting a lot of the time. Sounds confusing? It is. We're talking bombastic here, not subtle.I actually like Van Damme's performance in this film. It's obvious that it's supposed to be a light, fluffy film yet he never once breaks into a grin, instead being commendably straight-faced. The only thing I didn't like was his red hair! Here he gets lots of tacky one-liners which even Schwarzenegger would refuse to speak, and they're often funny because they're so cheesy ("Only somebody out of their mind could attack Bison's island by boat." "That's good, because General Bison has driven me insane").There are a few familiar (and sometimes out-of-place) faces in an otherwise unfamiliar cast (picked solely for their physiques more than anything else, it seems, especially the lame Bruce Lee wannabe and the Marc Singer-lookalike who play Ken and Ryu). Raul Julia has a ball playing the evil dictator, and it was the actor's last film, as you can tell by the star's gaunt, pale appearance. The film is actually dedicated to him as well. A lot of people have commented on what a bad film it was to bow out on, but as I said, Julia looks like he's having fun in his over the top, overtly villainous role so kudos to him. Simon Callow pops up as a stuffy official for no particular reason and Kylie Minogue's role is still a mystery: her acting abilities are non existent, she has about two expressions and thankfully she's hardly in it.The action when it comes is supremely stylised and over the top, as you would expect. Characters battle it out for ages and do all sorts of quick, physically-impossible moves. The film loses some credibility when introducing the Blanka character - in the computer game a fearsome green monster, in the film a laughably poor and shoddy rubber suit which looks worse than the Incredible Hulk did. They do make up for things by having a hilarious ending battle between Van Damme and Julia, where dictator Bison gets hover boots and shoots Van Damme with lightning from his hands, RETURN OF THE JEDI style. Movie buffs will also notice a high number of references and in-jokes, some surprisingly subtle, some blatant (Godzilla-like fighting as two men flatten a model city). STREET FIGHTER is a really bad film, yes, but it's entertaining with it, and never boring. All right if you're in a silly, affable mood.

lewiskendell Video game movies are still more often disappointments than successes, but at least we've moved on from the era of crud like Street Fighter. Movies like this were made in such a way that they didn't appeal to the fans of the games or the casual movie audience.My primary complaint is the laughable casting. It's like the makers of the movie knew absolutely nothing about the games except for the sex, names, and races of the various characters. They make a huge effort to work the names of every character into the movie, just so the audience will (presumably) think it's cool to see their favorites on the big screen. But, Van Damme as an American soldier? Kylie Minogue as Cammy? Oh, and let's briefly mention the story. Balrog is a cameraman and Ryu and Ken (with brown hair!!) are some type of lovable con-men? Shadaloo City? Ugh. Actual street fighting wouldn't give me enough brain damage to want to ever see this again.