Sonic Boom: ‘Street Fighter: The Movie’ Turns 25!

Street Fighter The Movie | Universal Pictures

“For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life… but for me, it was Tuesday.”

Street Fighter: The Movie was released 25 years ago to the day of this article’s publishing. Let’s first address the elephant in the room by recognizing that the film does not have a great reputation. Nearly universally-panned, the 1994 film has a paltry 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has been included in many “worst video game adaptations” lists you can find on the internet. And yet, a quarter-century past the film’s initial release, we still can’t help but look back at Street Fighter: The Movie with a fond nostalgia, and if you ask me, the fun film has gotten far more hate than it deserves.

Based on the Street Fighter video game series, many ’80s-born gamers (like me) were absolutely stoked to see a Street Fighter movie make its way into theaters. I personally had a great time when I went to see it at the age of 10, and as the internet wouldn’t come around for me for several more years, I really wasn’t aware at the time of the level of vitriol the film had been getting. For me, I just didn’t quite understand it, as the film had its fair share of viewings as a part of my VHS collection for the rest of the decade.

Thinking back on some of the brightest aspects of the film, you have to acknowledge its cast right away. Some characters like Dhalsim and E. Honda had pretty noticeable changes made to their characters, but most everyone made for fantastic representations of the video game characters they were based on. This notably includes Jean-Claude Van Damme as Colonel Guile, Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li, Kylie Minogue as Cammy, Byron Mann as Ryu, Damian Chapa as Ken, and Friday the 13th Part V and The Return of the Living Dead star Miguel A. Nunez Jr. as the Jamaican fighter Dee Jay.

Of course, the one who totally steals the show here is the legendary Raúl Juliá, who portrays the villainous M. Bison. Although he was battling stomach cancer, Juliá was eager to work on the film as it allowed him to spend more time with his children, who were fans of the games and helped him prepare for the part. When watching the film, you’d have no idea Juliá was even sick, as he plays the part so expertly well in a way no other actor ever could. Sadly, Juliá died two months before the film’s release, and Street Fighter: The Movie would turn out to be the actor’s final theatrical performance. The Film was dedicated to his honor.

It’s also fun how Street Fighter: The Movie is filled with action scenes and includes many special moves inspired by those the characters use in the video games. It’s especially cheesy to watch by today’s standards, but Street Fighter: The Movie is certainly a product of its time and a lot of us have come to miss that trademark ’90s cheese. The comical nature of the film is also more in line with the cartoonish visuals of the video games. Street Fighter isn’t Mortal Kombat — we don’t need blood and guts, we just need some really fun fight sequences.

As we also saw with the attempted reboot The Legend of Chun-Li, creating a darker and more “serious” take on Street Fighter isn’t going to necessarily result in a better movie. With that film, the tone was very different compared to the games and the characters weren’t as familiar. This may have turned off many hardcore fans of the series in addition to many of the mainstream critics who were going to hate it no matter what. Basically, a Street Fighter movie needs to be fun while staying faithful to the games, and Street Fighter: The Movie certainly accomplishes that.

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Another way Street Fighter: The Movie stands out from other video game adaptations is that it had its own video game. Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game was released in the fall of 1995 for the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation consoles, using digitized versions of the movie’s characters in a fighting game similar to the original Street Fighter games. Like the film which inspired it, the game wasn’t exactly met with the warmest critical reception, but as is also the case with the movie, the Street Fighter: The Movie game is fun to revisit after so many years.

Looking back at the film, Street Fighter: The Movie delivers as a video game adaptation and doesn’t seem to get the credit that it should. Maybe it wasn’t an amusing watch for the film critics of 1994, but for fans of Street Fighter II and the other classic games in the series, the classic movie is still rather entertaining. Perhaps that’s why it has maintained its cult following for 25 years and going, and will always have a special place for many fans of the franchise.


Related Article: 10 Things You May Not Know About the ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie

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