Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Blu-ray Review

Based on one of the most successful video game franchises of all-time (#1 all-time coin operated video game according to Guiness Book of World Records), Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is a hard-hitting, action-packed follow up to the original Street Fighter (1994) movie, which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. The film debuted on Blu-ray June 30th, from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment in an Unleashed and Unrated 3-Disc Special Edition cut.

In this Street Fighter saga, Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk) is a young girl when her father is stolen away by the leader (Neal McDonough of Desparate Housewives) of an evil crime organization called the Shadaloo Empire. His plan is to destroy villages in Hong Kong and build them back up with more expensive luxury properties for the wealthy. He is willing to kill and harm whoever gets in his way. Chun-Li’s father is held captive for years and forced to help with the plan.

Trained by her father in the martial arts, Chun-Li tracks down her father and attemps to get hime back. She finds a new friend that teaches her how to balance her anger with her spiritual and physical talents. Chun-Li, along with a team of law enforcement officers, must stop the evil Bison (McDonough) before he destroys everyone and everything in his way.

Like many sequels recycled after a period of time, The Legend of Chun-Li faced an uphill battle and a tough to duplicate standard. Despite the fact that the plot was somewhat weak, the star talent and some nice action helped give the movie reasonable entertainment value to fans of action movies. Kristin Kreuk established herself on the WB in Smallville. Now, she has proven herself as a capable lead in a movie. Though she is a bit raw for the role, her energy and mystery made her believable. Neal McDonough is a classic movie and television villain who presents a challenging adversary.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li has a nice supporting cast as well, though taking former teen flick star Chris Klein seriously as a rugged cop is a bit too much. Other stars include: Robin Shou, Moon Bloodgood, Josie Ho Taboo, and Michael Clarke Duncan. Special features on the Blu-ray include:

• Street Fighter: In-Movie Enlightenment Trivia Pack
• Deleted Scenes
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Sneak Peek
• Becoming a Street Fighter Featurette
• Chun-Li: Bringing the Legend to Life Featurette
• Fox Movie Channel presents Making a Scene
• 3 Galleries: Game-to-Film Comparisons, Storyboards, Production Stills
• Digital Copy of Unrated Cut
• Street Fighter Round One: Fight! Full-Length Animated Origins Comic Movie on DVD

• Actors: Kristin Kreuk, Michael Clarke Duncan, Chris Klein, Neal McDonough, Robin Shou
• Directors: Andrzej Bartkowiak
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 30, 2009
• Run Time: 96 minutes

Blu-ray Review by Neil of Movie Room Reviews