Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li lacks heart. It injects a handful of the player characters from the Street Fighter game into the most standard action-adventure plot this side of Star Wars. Yes, cue “Story” by Robert McKee and Joseph Campbell’s twelve steps of the hero. Although in this case it’s a heroine (go action gals!). I sat there in the theater, predicting exactly what would happen in the next scene, with great success. Then, three-quarters of the way through the movie, the well-worn but nevertheless effective motivator for the Chun Li’s actions gets taken out of the picture, and there is no satisfactory replacement. We could have gone along with a grim desire to see the thing through, or some urgency regarding the potential destructive powers of the mysterious “White Rose,” or even a dose of classic revenge. But all I got from the climactic fight was the satisfaction of seeing Chun Li show off her moves – which, granted, is probably giving the moviegoer a more gamer-like experience – but without the thrill of executing the moves yourself, it falls rather flat. It’s not just Chun Li pulling her motivations out of thin air once the ball gets rolling. Bison’s evil preparations (which were suitably dispicable) are revealed as leading to an end that is markedly non-evil. Fluffy bunny kittens compared to what I was expecting. And the secondary romance plot seems to have left all the interesting decisions off-screen. Maybe that’s what we were missing – everyone was afraid to show the moments of decision, of personal choice and sacrifice, of romance and resolve. Maybe that’s why this movie hasn’t got heart. I would write more about Street Fighter, but there’s not much more to say. The first part is predictable and boring and the last part is emotionally and logically disjointed. But, while it’s a bad movie, Chun Li kicks very prettily. Might be worth it to the fanboys (and girls?) to see their favorite characters fleshed out by Kristin Kreuk, Neil McDonough, and Robin Shou. Finishing move. -Sharon Campbell
