Street Fighter

Street Fighter, Bad movie,

bad with a capital B.
What could have been mindless entertainment à la Mortal Kombat turned out to be an almost complete waste of time, yes, I said almost. Raul Julia in the probably worst role of his career is the movie's saving grace, he delivers a artful depiction of game villain General Bison.
That was the old Street Fighter movie.

Expectations for further adaptations of the game ran consequently low, and yet despite my better knowledge when I stumbled over the poster motive for the new Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li it instantly managed to stir my interest. I like the style they use here. The earthen colour palette and the use of structured backdrop lend it an air of dignity, a gravity the movie most probably doesn’t possess.

As it stands, this is the motive I prefer out of those I came across, it is to me reminiscent of The Tailor of Panama, another motive I always kind of liked although I thought the execution could have been better. With it’s column like build-up The Tailor of Panama never quite spoke to me as much as I thought it could have, as much as Legend of Chun-Li does.
I find it interesting how two so different movies can connect with each other via artistic style.

The motive that probably gives us the fairest idea of the movie is the Japanese version, it perfectly captures the feel of an arcade game adaptation, and makes it look still worthwhile. In style this is a more accomplished version of the rather lacklustre US pendant where the use of the actors faces needlessly confuses what otherwise might have made for a passable teaser motive.