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Reviews
Sutorîto faitâ II gekijô-ban (1994)
THE street fighter movie!
With the release of SSFIV, Street Fighter sure has been on my mind a lot! So I noticed there was a Street Fighter Zero anime movie on netflix instant queue... and it was complete and utter garbage that I had to watch this Street Fighter II movie again to calm down.
Now, I can't speak to whether or not non-Street Fighter fans will enjoy this movie, but I think this is pretty much the best video game movie I've ever seen. It does what I wish more video game movies did: stick to the source material, which means, include the characters people already care a lot about, rather than introducing half-baked new ones. SFII: The Animated Movie did a wonderful job of doing just that. The entire SFII cast is in here, and in a more or less meaningful way -- which isn't to say, for example, we find out why Blanka is the way he is, but rather that he does get worked in to the story naturally and we get to see him fight.
And boy, are there fights! This movie is action packed, and in particular Chun Li's battle against a particular Shadaloo villain is epic. Don't miss it!
Street Fighter Zero (1999)
don't bother!
Street Fighter is a video game series that's very near and dear to my heart. It is a series that's not exactly known for its deep and profound story, but the characters are iconic, from Ryu's dusty old white martial arts uniform and red headband, Ken's bushy eyebrows, to Chun Li's buns and thunder thighs.
Where this movie went very wrong, I think, was that they chose to create new characters rather than try to incorporate the rest of the Street Fighter cast in any meaningful fashion. I feel that this is a great disservice to the fan base. Even putting aside the lack of characters from the game (but where was Cammy?!), it was very hard (for me at least) to care about any of the new characters or the overall plot. And it didn't have to be that way. I don't think we have ever seen in the Street Fighter games or movies any hint as to Ryu's past: we take him for what he is now, a stoic world warrior whose greatest struggle is within. This could have been an interesting fresh look at this character, but in its execution it just fell flat.
If you haven't already, I would strongly recommend Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (listed on IMDb as "Sutorîto Faitâ II gekijô-ban"), which does a much better job of putting together a coherent story and weaving in all of the characters.
Shanghai Kiss (2007)
the catcher in shanghai?
I'm somewhat surprised to see such high praise for this film in other reviews here. In a nutshell, while I feel that the movie is decent, it didn't blow me away and it's not something I'll really recommend to friends.
I took a certain delight in many of the scenes in the movie: the opening scene where the title character fights through Asian stereotypes while trying to audition for a commercial, the awe and wonder he feels seeing Shanghai for the first time, and his helplessness with the Chinese language as he tries to get back to his hotel. There are a few good laughs in the movie, and sure enough an emotional edge to it which some people will relate to -- in a way, you can call the title character an Asian American "Holden Caufield," if you will, as we watch him feeling empty and going through the motions, struggling with a difficult emotional past and present.
However, I felt no love at all for Hayden's character or frankly any interest in their relationship. She sure is nice to look at, but the whole premise of a hot blonde sixteen year old Beverly Hills chick flirting with a much older Asian man on the bus seemed a wee bit implausible, if not outright painful once you throw in her baby talking and bizarre instantaneous attachment and clinginess.
Overall, the laughs were a bit too few and far between and the story was a bit lackluster, feeling to me like an awkward and somewhat mediocre mixture of "Garden State" and "Lost in Translation." As an Asian American, I really wanted to love the film -- but I just didn't find it entertaining or profound.