Street Fighter (1994) Universal/Action RT: 102 minutes Rated PG-13 (non-stop martial arts action and violence) Director: Steven E. de Souza Screenplay: Steven E. de Souza Music: Graeme Revell Cinematography: William A. Fraker Release date: December 23, 1994 (US) Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, Ming-Na Wen, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, Simon Callow, Roshan Seth, Wes Studi, Byron Mann, Grand L. Bush, Peter Tuiasosopo, Jay Tavare, Andrew Bryniarski, Gregg Rainwater, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Robert Mammone, Kenya Sawada, Gerry Day, Adrian Cronauer. Box Office: $33.4M (US)/$99.4M (World)
Rating: ***
There are but two absolute certainties in life and one of them is not bad movies. Oh, there are plenty of those to go around and then some. I’m talking about how opinions can change over time for whatever reasons. I can cite many titles that I came to like or love after initially hating it, but I won’t. I’ll restrict myself to just one.
The most recent example of this remarkable phenomenon is Street Fighter, an adaptation of the popular Capcom video game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia (in his final role). I don’t have much love for movies adapted from video games. They usually suck. This was especially true in the mid 90s with stinkers like Super Mario Bros. (1993), Double Dragon (1994) and Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 (1995-97). I didn’t like any of them. That dislike extended to Street Fighter as well. I saw it at a free studio screening and still felt ripped off. I even admitted to the Universal rep I didn’t like it and he nodded in agreement. You know it’s bad when a company guy doesn’t even try to defend his own product.
That all happened in ’94. I never saw the need to rewatch Street Fighter or buy a DVD copy just to complete my JCVD collection. I was content to let it fade from memory. Cut to 32 years later. I saw a trailer for the new Street Fighter movie (due in October) and the memory of it came flooding back. I didn’t remember much except for the ailing Raul’s gaunt appearance. After semi-careful thought, I decided to throw caution to the wind and gamble a few IQ points on a rewatch. I figured I’d hate it again. Guess what? I was wrong, oh so very wrong.
Street Fighter is still a stupid movie, but I enjoyed it this time. So what changed? It’s hard to say. It certainly has nothing to do with my tastes becoming more or less refined over the years. It might have a little (or a lot) something to do with the pitiful state of today’s big, noisy, effects-driven blockbuster hopefuls that take themselves way too seriously. Nobody can accuse Street Fighter of that. It’s as silly as it can be and makes no apologies for it. It’s even silly by action movie standards of the era.
Steven E. de Souza is something of a titan of 80s and 90s action movies. He wrote (or co-wrote) quite a few of the biggies. His resume includes 48 Hrs. (1982), Commando (1985), The Running Man (1987), Die Hard (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ricochet (1991), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) and Judge Dredd (1995). Street Fighter is his sole directorial effort. He doesn’t do too bad a job of it all things considered. It’s a solid actioner despite its jumble of a plot and shameless overacting by some guests at the party. Then there’s the whole video game thing which, on second thought, shouldn’t even be a consideration on my part. I know nothing about the original VG other than the fact it exists. I’ve never played it so I can’t speak to the film’s faithfulness to the original source.
And now for the moment of truth! Here comes the plot description. In general, it’s no dumber than most action flicks of the time. It’s no smarter either. JCVD plays Col. Guile, the commanding officer of the Allied Nations Armed Forces. He’s currently at war with the forces of the evil warlord General Bison (Julia), drug kingpin and dictator of the fictional Southeast Asian country of Shadaloo. He’s just taken 63 A.N. relief workers hostage and wants a $20B ransom in three days time or else. Guile isn’t about to wait around that long. He plans to rescue the hostages and take down Bison.
Guile recruits a couple of hustlers, Ryu (Mann, The Man with the Iron Fists) and Ken (Chapa, Blood In Blood Out), arrested after attempting to swindle the general’s arms supplier Sagat (Studi, Dances with Wolves). In exchange for their freedom, they’re to help Guile locate Bison by way of a homing device on their person.
The colonel and his team, which also includes Lt. Cammy White (pop singer Minogue), aren’t the only ones after Bison. News reporter Chun-Li Zhang (Wen, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has a bone to pick with him as well. As you can probably guess, it’s personal. Of course, she ends up joining forces with Guile along with her crew, former sumo wrestler Honda (Tuiasosopo, Necessary Roughness) and ex-boxer Balrog (Bush, Die Hard).
All of this sounds like standard action movie stuff and it is. De Souza isn’t content to leave it at that. He takes Street Fighter to the next level of silly with a subplot centering on Bison’s efforts to create an army of scientifically enhanced supersoldiers. His first subject happens to be a friend of Guile’s and one of the hostages. The lead scientist Dr. Dhalsim (Seth, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) isn’t there by choice. He’s being forced to work on the project. As such, he’s secretly sabotaging the process by helping the subject to retain at least some of his humanity.
Raul Julia died in October ’94, two months after filming ended, following a battle with stomach cancer. He bravely fought the disease while filming Street Fighter. You can see that the 54YO actor was ill. As such, it felt a little wrong to cheer for JCVD while he was kicking his butt in the finale. It still bothers me a little, but I take comfort in knowing why Raul subjected himself to it. He took the role of General Bison because his children were big fans of the VG series. He was likely in great pain, but he still looks like he’s having fun devouring the scenery as the villain. Now that’s what I call dedication to one’s family and craft.
The acting in Street Fighter is exactly what you’d expect which is fine since it’s also what the material calls for. JCVD is known more for his skills as a martial artist than a thespian. He turns in his usual wooden performance as Col. Guile. He never changes expression as he delivers lines like these gems:
“This is the collection agency, Bison. Your ass is six months overdue, and it’s mine.”
“I’m going to kick that son of a bitch Bison’s ass so HARD… that the next Bison wannabe is gonna feel it.”
Worthy of Schwarzenegger, no? Raul gets some good ones too. This is my favorite: “All I want to do is rule the world, is that so much to ask?” Then there’s this classic hero-villain exchange:
Bison: “You have made me a very happy man.”
Guile: “And next, I’ll make you a dead one.”
It’s dialogue like this that helps power 80s and 90s action movies. The only weak link is Minogue. I didn’t buy her bad ass act for a minute. I can’t blame this odd bit of miscasting on the makers though. It came about as a result of a last-minute request by the Australian Actor’s Guild to hire at least one Aussie actor. She was the only one available on such short notice and Lt. Cammy was the only role not yet cast. That’s what happened there.
Street Fighter has a decent amount of action. There’s plenty of fighting in the streets and everywhere else. JCVD gets to show off his martial arts skills. It also has gunfights and explosions. These scenes are well done. It’s not too bad for a guy helming his first (and only) feature film.
I still can’t believe I’m giving Street Fighter a positive write-up. It’s a bad movie, but an enjoyably bad one. I found myself laughing at times and not because it’s ever intentionally funny. It’s just so goofy and addle-brained; you can’t help but to get caught up in the fun and mayhem. I can only hope the reboot captures this same spirit.
