Street Fighter (Film Review)

Director(s): Steven E. de Souza
Date Released: December 23, 1994 (United States)

Street Fighter released a little over one month after Double Dragon’s poorly received debut.  Like Double Dragon, Street Fighter was most likely created as a cash in on the rising video game craze.  The films even share similarities as video game adaptations, such as both having a wise-cracking, martial arts duo—one of Asian descent and the other Caucasian (though, unlike Double Dragon, Street Fighter's ethnicities are more accurate to their video game counterparts).  Now, I’m not too familiar with Street Fighter’s video game lore, but from what little I do know it’s apparent Street Fighter the film doesn’t stay faithful to its source material aside from names thrown on similar—or not so similar—character designs.  It didn’t come as much surprise then to learn Street Fighter was poorly received by fans of the game, as well as being panned by critics just like Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros. before.

Yet unlike its adapted predecessors, Street Fighter did surprisingly well at the box office—raking in nearly three times its production cost.  This marked the first time a video game film adaptation made a box office profit, but why was that?  Was it because the then popular Jean-Claude Van Damme had a starring role?  Perhaps it was because the film’s action-adventure war setting appealed to a wider audience, as opposed to Double Dragon’s teen-focused angle or Super Mario Bros’ fantasy setting?  These possibilities may have played a part in Street Fighter’s profits, but I like to believe there was another reason for its commercial success—one critics missed and fans were blinded to notice.

Street Fighter is a whole lotta campy fun.

As a faithful video game adaptation, the film fails, there’s no uncertainty there—but as a piece of fiction with no other goal than to entertain, Street Fighter succeeds.  The film refuses to take itself seriously.  It’s out to have as much over-the-top fun as possible.  Watching Street Fighter is like watching the 1960s Batman TV series—it’s ridiculous and little like its source material, but genuinely funny and entertaining as a result.  That’s not to say the film doesn’t have its fair share of stupid, facepalm moments, but there’s something wholly charming about Street Fighter’s cheesy approach to its adaptation—something Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros. couldn’t quite capture.

The plot is simple enough to follow.  In a fictional country, a war rages between the Allied Nations and the residing dictatorship.  The Allied forces are led by Colonel William Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme), opposing the ruthless General M. Bison (Raúl Juliá).  Bison has taken multiple A.N. relief workers as hostages and demands a ransom of twenty billion US dollars in exchange for them—giving the Allied Nations three days to pay the ransom or the hostages die.  Meanwhile, American con artists Ryu (Byron Mann) and Ken (Damian Chapa) are visiting said country to sell phony weaponry to a local arms dealer Sagat (Wes Studi).  The pair is captured and arrested by Guile, who offers them a deal: their freedom for infiltrating Bison’s ranks and revealing his location.  The duo accepts the deal and stages a prison break, “killing” Guile to gain Sagat’s trust (who is Bison’s arms dealer).  All the while, the duo is being tracked by reporter Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen) and her crew members E. Honda (Peter Tuiasosopo) and Balrog (Grand L. Bush), who all seek revenge against Bison for past grievances.

Minor Spoilers from this Point Onward:

So, what makes Street Fighter work better than the previous video game adaptations?  For starters, the plot is easy to follow.  Nothing overly complicated involving alternate dimensions, just good guys trying to save hostages from bad guys within three days.  Street Fighter immediately establishes that it’s not taking itself seriously, doing so with its main antagonist, aka the film’s shining gem.  Raúl Juliá’s performance as M. Bison is worth seeing the film alone.  I believe “magical” is the right way to define what Juliá does here, with passion being the key.  I enjoy Dennis Hopper’s hammy performance as King Koopa, and Robert Patrick makes Shuko a more entertaining villain than he may have been, yet these are still uninspired (and in Hopper’s case, downright confused) performances for a silly video game film.  With Juliá, however, there is animation in his performance as Bison—essentially becoming a live-action cartoon character.  The actor almost certainly knew what a ridiculous story he was in, but rather than phone it in, he owns the role.

Better yet, the actor is clearly enjoying every moment playing the General.  The story goes that Juliá was eager to play the role of Bison as his children were fans of the Street Fighter series—helping him prepare for the villainous role.  Juliá's passion and enjoyment for this strange hybrid of Snidely Whiplash and Hitler pays off with one of the most beautifully entertaining, over-the-top performances cinema has ever seen.  Take the scene where Bison learns that Guile has been killed;

Subordinate: (puts on a big smile) That’s great news general, congratulations!

Bison: On the contrary, I morn.

Subordinate: (immediately dejected) Ok….

The opening bit itself is a great bit of comedy gold—particularly the hilarious timing of Bison’s subordinate Dee Jay (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) at unsuccessfully trying to brown-nose the boss—yet the scene continues with Bison delivering a fiery, overdramatic speech about wishing to face Guile as a warrior (before snapping his spine) and how the media unfairly call him a mad warlord when all he wants to do is create an army of super soldiers to sweep away every nation “until the very planet is in (his) loving grip”.  Bison claims he wants to do this not out of evil, but for good so peace can reign…all the while unironically wearing a cap with a skull on it.  The speech is so delightfully campy with Juliá giving his all to the Bison’s delivery and posture—turning what should have been a cringe-inducing scene into an incredibly entertaining spectacle.

But I’m not done talking about Bison yet.  No, this character is simply too much fun to stop discussing.  There’s a scene where Bison takes Chun-Li to his room for a “private interview”.  The room is rich with campy gems, such as a portrait of Bison copying Napoleon Crossing the Alps, Bison’s silk bathrobe and a hat rack with variations of the same skull cap (for different occasions I presume).  Chun-Li tells Bison her backstory about how he invaded her homeland and killed her father after he and a group of farmers bravely fought against Bison’s assault.  Here, Bison says his infamous line to Chun-Li about how he doesn’t remember such event; “For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday.”  Everything about this scene is gold, from Juliá’s regal yet nonchalant delivery to Wen’s flabbergasted reaction.

I could go on and on talking about Bison’s delicious brand of card-carrying villainy—from how he keeps Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li's groups alive after capture so they can watch his plan unfold, to his weapons control system designed like an arcade game panel, to his other infamous line “Of Course!” when discovering Guile is alive (followed by his mocking “I guess you didn’t see that did you” remark to the one-eyed Sagat).  Yet, believe it or not, there are other characters here that deserve some discussion and, dare I say, actually give likable performances.

If Bison is the villainous milkshake, then his subordinates Dee-Jay and Zangief (Andrew Bryniarski) are the cherries on top.  Dee-Jay’s more grounded, sarcastic personality effectively bounces off Bison’s zany dramatics, providing great chemistry and comedy between them.  Zangief is the delightfully dumb brute whose idiocy provides some good laughs, such as when he believes changing a monitor’s channel will stop a surveyed truck from crashing into them.  Ryu and Ken are less obnoxious versions of their Double Dragon counterparts, though it’s most likely because they aren’t the film’s stars and get far less screen time.  Chun-Li has the talented actress Ming-Na-Wen behind the wheels, who helps give the character personality outside of being a badass fighter (which the film does do an effective job showcasing).  There’s this one standout scene for me where Chun-Li changes from her reporter’s outfit into a stealth suit.  No, the scene isn’t a gratuitous skin show (the film surprisingly avoids exhibiting its females for the most part), but it has some solid editing timed with the soundtrack that I really enjoy.

Jean-Claude Van Damme is both one of the best and worst parts of Street Fighter.  It’s with his character Guile that the film can get its most generic and cliché.  There’s an obnoxious scene where the Allied Nations decide to pay Bison’s ransom and Guile disobeys orders by giving this big, overly-patriotic speech about freedom and justice and fighting anyway.  Unlike Juliá, Van Damme doesn’t have the acting chops, nor passion to pull off an over-the-top speech effectively, leading to a really dumb scene that feels way too serious for such a goofy story.  Guile disobeying orders never plays a role again in the story (aside from a single cutaway joke) and could have been cut out from the film entirely without any disruption—having clearly been put in as the cliché patriotic scene all war movies (even fictional wars) apparently require.  Nonetheless, when Van Damme’s isn’t trying to be serious his performance as Guile can be entertaining—such as when he tries taking on an entire squadron of armed goons with a small knife, or when he fakes his death and apparently waits hours in the morgue until Chun-Li shows up to surprise her.

The final point on the board for Street Fighter is its action.  Whereas the action in Super Mario Bros. is muddled and Double Dragon’s is monotonous, Street Fighter’s fighting is amusing and fun.  Such feeling first hit me during the staged prison break scene where I began chuckling at the ongoing silly yet engaging skirmish.  The story builds up to an over-the-top half hour finale with a bit of everything.  An exaggerated battle between E. Honda and Zangief—complete (and I s#!% you not) with Godzilla soundeffects—a grudge match between Ryu and Ken vs Sagat and his underling Vega (Jay Tavare), Balrog putting on boxing gloves to beat up goons (wind-up effects included), and a battle between Guile and Bison where the latter uses “superconductor electromagnetism” to soar around the room and shoot freaking lightning.  It’s funny, it’s entertaining, it’s engaging, and it’s a lot of fun.  Street Fighter even ends with all the surviving characters suddenly doing a big group pose towards the camera while the film’s title appears onscreen.  It’s so extremely campy and I love it.

Despite its box office success, Street Fighter found itself in a similar position as Super Mario Bros. and Double Dragon—setting up for a sequel that would never see the light of film.  The film’s unpopularity with fans and critics alike, in addition to Raúl Juliá’s tragic death from stomach cancer two months before release (yes, the man gave this incredible performance while battling cancer) most likely ceased any chances of a continuum.  Yet, if one can look past Street Fighter’s unfaithfulness to its video game series (or that it’s a video game adaptation at all for some critics) and accept its campy nature, they will find a genuinely entertaining popcorn flick.  I like to believe general audiences saw such in the film and recommended it to others (hence it’s box office success).  Compared to its predecessors, Street Fighter has better humor, better action, more likable characters, and an antagonist that completely steals the show.