This cheesy movie is based on a video game and is often unintentionally hilarious. A totally wooden cast battle heroically with absurd dialogue to often amusing effect. The budget here has been totally blown on the scenery, special effects, and costumes (which admittedly look very nice, especially the natty blue soldier uniforms which Van Damme and his cohorts wear), so it 's all very colourful and visually stimulating. Unfortunately those expecting a serious film will be extremely disappointed as this movie is aimed squarely at children, never for once engaging the brain. The loose plot simply has loads of different characters moving from one situation to another and fighting a lot of the time. Sounds confusing? It is. We're talking bombastic here, not subtle.
I actually like Van Damme's performance in this film. It's obvious that it's supposed to be a light, fluffy film yet he never once breaks into a grin, instead being commendably straight-faced. The only thing I didn't like was his red hair! Here he gets lots of tacky one-liners which even Schwarzenegger would refuse to speak, and they're often funny because they're so cheesy ("Only somebody out of their mind could attack Bison's island by boat." "That's good, because General Bison has driven me insane").
There are a few familiar (and sometimes out-of-place) faces in an otherwise unfamiliar cast (picked solely for their physiques more than anything else, it seems, especially the lame Bruce Lee wannabe and the Marc Singer-lookalike who play Ken and Ryu). Raul Julia has a ball playing the evil dictator, and it was the actor's last film, as you can tell by the star's gaunt, pale appearance. The film is actually dedicated to him as well. A lot of people have commented on what a bad film it was to bow out on, but as I said, Julia looks like he's having fun in his over the top, overtly villainous role so kudos to him. Simon Callow pops up as a stuffy official for no particular reason and Kylie Minogue's role is still a mystery: her acting abilities are non existent, she has about two expressions and thankfully she's hardly in it.
The action when it comes is supremely stylised and over the top, as you would expect. Characters battle it out for ages and do all sorts of quick, physically-impossible moves. The film loses some credibility when introducing the Blanka character - in the computer game a fearsome green monster, in the film a laughably poor and shoddy rubber suit which looks worse than the Incredible Hulk did. They do make up for things by having a hilarious ending battle between Van Damme and Julia, where dictator Bison gets hover boots and shoots Van Damme with lightning from his hands, RETURN OF THE JEDI style. Movie buffs will also notice a high number of references and in-jokes, some surprisingly subtle, some blatant (Godzilla-like fighting as two men flatten a model city). STREET FIGHTER is a really bad film, yes, but it's entertaining with it, and never boring. All right if you're in a silly, affable mood.
I actually like Van Damme's performance in this film. It's obvious that it's supposed to be a light, fluffy film yet he never once breaks into a grin, instead being commendably straight-faced. The only thing I didn't like was his red hair! Here he gets lots of tacky one-liners which even Schwarzenegger would refuse to speak, and they're often funny because they're so cheesy ("Only somebody out of their mind could attack Bison's island by boat." "That's good, because General Bison has driven me insane").
There are a few familiar (and sometimes out-of-place) faces in an otherwise unfamiliar cast (picked solely for their physiques more than anything else, it seems, especially the lame Bruce Lee wannabe and the Marc Singer-lookalike who play Ken and Ryu). Raul Julia has a ball playing the evil dictator, and it was the actor's last film, as you can tell by the star's gaunt, pale appearance. The film is actually dedicated to him as well. A lot of people have commented on what a bad film it was to bow out on, but as I said, Julia looks like he's having fun in his over the top, overtly villainous role so kudos to him. Simon Callow pops up as a stuffy official for no particular reason and Kylie Minogue's role is still a mystery: her acting abilities are non existent, she has about two expressions and thankfully she's hardly in it.
The action when it comes is supremely stylised and over the top, as you would expect. Characters battle it out for ages and do all sorts of quick, physically-impossible moves. The film loses some credibility when introducing the Blanka character - in the computer game a fearsome green monster, in the film a laughably poor and shoddy rubber suit which looks worse than the Incredible Hulk did. They do make up for things by having a hilarious ending battle between Van Damme and Julia, where dictator Bison gets hover boots and shoots Van Damme with lightning from his hands, RETURN OF THE JEDI style. Movie buffs will also notice a high number of references and in-jokes, some surprisingly subtle, some blatant (Godzilla-like fighting as two men flatten a model city). STREET FIGHTER is a really bad film, yes, but it's entertaining with it, and never boring. All right if you're in a silly, affable mood.