Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009/Fox Blu-ray)

 

Picture: A-     Sound: B     Extras: B     Feature: B-

 

 

A blast from the past, full of martial arts and evil bad guys Street Fighter the popular video/arcade game is back and with a new movie, The Legend of Chun-li.  This movie tells the tale of Chun-li and her origins, after the murder of her father, Chun-li vows to stop Bison, the power hungry leader of Shadowloo, an evil organization that rules the underworld. But as young Chun-li trains for her coming battles will she have the strength to avenge her father?  Who is friend, who is foe and who will win...?  Round one... FIGHT!
 
For those who like action and martial arts, get ready for an explosion.  Based on popular video game from the ‘90s, Street Fighter is about the fighting (and winning) to get the evil boss at the end, simple but very entertaining plot.  The Legend of Chun-li tells the tail of how Bison kills her father and sets her down the path of vengeance.  As Chun-li grows from schoolgirl to a young woman, she learns through martial arts how to channel and control her energies.  Along the way she is joined by her master and the Hong Kong police to bring Bison to justice.  She learns how Bison controls his vast empire and rise to power, but with fighters dropping in left and right will she be ready?
 
This movie was better than I thought it would be, it has a feasible plot (and kept it simple), beautiful scenery and background, and decent martial arts.  Like most action/martial arts movie what makes it cool is if it doesn't look cheesy, and this movie definitely didn't hold back for it's special effects.  Most of the movies takes place in Hong Kong and it gave a very Asian feel to the place (which is also important) that all the minor actors spoke fluent Chinese.  While they didn't adapt the video game characters costumes, they did take some of the patented moves from the video game and placed them into the movie, and movie leaves you wondering if they will make more.

 

The 1080p AVC @ 28 MBPS 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in Super 35mm film by Director of Photography Geoff Boyle and looks better than the Jean-Claude Van Damme film from this franchise, while the DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix is pretty good for a new film, if not always demo quality.  On this 50GB Blu-ray, it delivers what you would expect in high performance in general.  The animated bonus DVD also looks good with good color and detail.
 
With Blu-ray quality this movie also includes tons of extras, and so much more, from making of the movie to multiple galleries with more information and history of piece, we also get multiple cuts of the film, feature length audio commentary track and, about 15 minutes of deleted scenes.  You also get Digital Copy for PC and PC portable devices and a trivia track that are Blu-ray exclusive, plus a bonus DVD of the animated Round One: Fight program.  Fans will not be bored here either.

 

 

-   Ricky Chiang