Movie Watch: Street Fighter, Legend of Chun-Li (Unrated and Unleashed)

I have this tradition when I travel. I try to find movies that are so horrible, The Girl can't be annoyed that I'm watching them without her.

In the most recent Street Fighter movie, I may have gone to far to that side of the spectrum. One would think that any follow up to the previous dreadful Van Damme vehicle of the same name wouldn't have to work too hard to move the franchise forward, but Legend Of Chun-Li has hopefully buried the concept of making a film from Capcom's game series forever.

The problem isn't that it's one bad movie - the problem is that it is in actuality about three bad movies tossed together with bubble gum and chicken wire. You have the "I'm a martial arts girl who has to save her father" plot, and the "I'm a badass Interpol agent who drives a BMW" plot, and the "I must avenge my mystical master" plot and ... they all suck and they all work against each other. The last bits feel forced into the narrative just to prove it is, in fact, a Street Fighter movie. Basically the movie plays out like someone took a bad Hong Kong script, tried to edit it, failed and sold it to Capcom to add in a couple of character names and the ability to toss in fireballs. Produce it cheap and hope the fans come in droves.

Heartily recommend - avoiding it. Unless you simply must dissect the badness. But wear gloves.