User reviews

Oh dear... I completely forgot that I watched this movie when it came out on theaters! I was a HUGE "Street Fighter II" fan and this movie was like a dream come true despite the fact that Guile was the main character; overshadowing Ryu and Ken. Still, I bought the idea and went to the theater with high expectations.

To be honest, the movie is not a disaster but it just didn't catch the vibe of the video game; it just didn't feel like "Street Fighter". The kung-fuesque action sequences were very interesting but didn't follow the greatness of the game. Mortal Kombat worked because it's characters were "real" persons while it was extremely complicated to get on the big screen real persons that were originally cartoons.

Also, the plot was very complex when the video game makes it very simple. Still I enjoyed the cheese factor of it. The producers and Director tried too hard to make it feel like the video game but they couldn't reach the objective. Sadly, this movie is remembered as one of the worst of it's kind. I'd say give it the chance to witness cheese at it's maximum.

R.I.P. Raul Julia.

I have always been a huge fan of the Street Fighter series in video games. So when this movie came out I was really excited, of course I was way too young to appreciate a movie, but I can tell that back then I thought it was horrible.

A few years ago it was aired on TV and (I don't why) I saw it again. And I found it kind of funny. The story is all twisted if it gets compared with the video games story; I mean, in the video game, Ryu is the most important character and in the movie it is hardly seen. Cammy is a creation of Bison (in the video game), so she is part of the bad guys, while in the movie she is friend of Guile. A lot of intentional mistakes were made in order to transform what could be a good story into a useless-action-movie.

I hoped to see hadoukens and spinning kicks when I first saw the movie, but there is nothing of that. In other words, the movie sucks.

PS: Kylie Minogue, who played Cammy in the movie, declared later that she was completely sorry of shooting such a bad movie.

Some people claim this is a bad movie... true. Some people claim this movie is a bad translation of the video game it's supposed to be based on... true. Some people claim it's the worst ever... trust me, I've seen worse.

While it does have its Christmas list of bad things (poor script, ugly sets, subpar acting), it's good for a laugh or two because of the negatives... at the same time however, any dedicated fan of the Street Fighter games will find this as an insult because it does not properly adapt the video game...

Is it a bad movie? Sure it is... but I've seen my share of bad movies and I can tell that this isn't the absolute worst!

i am pretty sure that no one will read this but man was this movie almost the exact opposite of what street fighter is.For instance Sagat is not 85 and Ryu is not 46,Balrog is not a good guy and E.Honda is not Hawaiian.The only character that was almost right was Vega (thats the only reason this movie get a 2) and i don't even like Vega.Now I'm starting to sound like a street fighter nerd but come on this was bad. This is what happened when they were thinking about this movie. note:The boss is John and all of the other people are Bob John:Now everyone to make this movie complete i need everyone to gather all the information about "Street Fighter" (Moments later) John:Now everyone did you get and study everything about street fighter Bob:Of course we did so now we can make a great street fighter movie John:exactly now i need all of you to throw everything out and keep only the bare minimum of street fighter

Just from that little story you can get the gist of how this movie was made i would say more but i have other things to do at the moment so see all of you movie lovers later 1

I remember the day I went to go see this movie. I was a high school sophomore who just loved the video game. I was excited at the idea that this film was being made, even with Van Damme in it's starring role. I thought it made no sense that he'd be playing Guile the American, but oh well. I was so pumped and excited to finally see this movie. It was almost that feeling that Star Wars geeks get at new Star Wars premiers and then.....the movie started. Ha ha, oh man this movie was just so terrible in it's live action format. The characters were poorly embodied by their actors. They weren't dead on either. Doctor Dhalsim? Gimme a break! This movie is just awful. I remember the theater being packed and as the movie kept going I just started to slouch and hide in my seat. I was just embarrassed to be watching this fiasco of a movie. The acting is terrible, the plot is terrible, everything is a mess. I just couldn't wait for it to end. When it did, I just wanted to get the hell out of the theater as soon as possible so that no one I knew would know I just sat through that movie. Avoid this movie at all costs. Mortal Kombat 1 is a far superior movie to this garbage and takes it's approach a lot more serious. Street Fighter doesn't amuse or entertain or even make you laugh, it just deserves to get flushed down the toilet. Street Fighter 2 the Animated Movie is a lot better and their characters are identical to those of the video game. No ridiculous flipping kicks by Van Damme either. A 1 out of 10. Just hated this movie and it just doesn't do justice to the video game.

This movie suffers from the same problem as most video game or comic book adaptations in the '90s. The people making it just don't take the source material seriously so the whole thing comes across as one big garish cartoon with no attempt at characterizations or an intelligent plot. It's supposedly for teenagers and adults but it's intellectually on a level only pre-teen children can enjoy. There is some entertainment here, but only in that disreputable "so bad it's good" guilty pleasure way. Most of the actors ham it up, particularly a slumming Raul Julia in his last film. Jean-Claude Van Damme is about what you expect, only with ridiculous dyed blonde hair. I did enjoy Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li but the rest are lame. This is also the disappointing film directorial debut of Steven E. de Souza, who had written the screenplays of some of the '80s best actioners. He also wrote this mess but unfortunately it's missing much of the wit that Die Hard, Commando, or Running Man had.

Street Fighter is a strange video game movie. The game is an amazing 2D fighter with a wide array of characters from different continents who battle it out for...something.

The Movie, surprisingly, has more plot than you would think. M. Bison (Raul Julia, in his final performance) is now portrayed as a megalomanical super villain who has dreams of causing collapse to the entire world, such as killing a large number of hostages unless paid a ransom worthy of Dr. Evil standards, creating a breed of super soldiers and kidnapping the Queen of England and create his own world based off of his image. Trust me, it is as silly as it sounds.

Lt. Guile (Jean Claude Van Damme) approaches the situation in that he has to save the hostages and hopefully put Bison on ice, once and for all, thus stopping his plans for world domination.

From there on in, the movie is basically an almost two hour fan service with various subplots with almost all the characters from the Street Fighter universe. Zangief and Dee Jay work for M. Bison as Muscle and Computer Technician, respectively. Chun-Li, Balrog and E. Honda are all out for get revenge and Ken and Ryu are professional fighters hoping to score a battle against the vain Vega and evil Sagat.

Like I said, the rest of the movie is nothing short of fan service, since all the actors deliver some truly awful one liners aside, Van Damme's Guile almost sounds like Tommy Wiseau ("The Room") when you close your eyes, and the whole plot itself is actually quite boring.

Well, why in the world would someone defend this movie then? I'll give you three reasons, two are part of the movie, and one is a personal thing.

1. Raul Julia's M. Bison. A villain who looks rather powerful should be given a great performance. While Raul Julia did die after this movie was over, there is no denying that he went out with a bang rather than whimper. His performance is laughably over the top, but at no point do you look at his face and see a man who seems to think he's in a movie, and as a result, he makes the movie quite amazing. If anything, he gives us a theatrical villain which, for his character, works very well.

2. There was a lot of room for potential here. Let's be honest, writing a movie is easy, but writing a good movie is hard. The director (Who is also the writer) took a fighting video game and crafted a movie out of it, and a fairly well done one at that. Sure, not in execution, but in originality, it works.

3. It was a movie from my childhood. I was a child of the 90's, and as such, I can remember my parents letting me watch this at a very young age, and it was awesome. Damn the Nostalgia factor, but it's what makes this movie really good. I can remember how intimidated I was in the final battle scenes, and how cool M. Bison was to me (in that over the top Saturday Morning Cartoon style of cool).

This movie is a very easy one to attack for just not being good, but understand from my point of view, even knowing how bad it is, having no character development, some truly cheesy one liners and awful performances, including Van Damme giving a performance that makes him sound like Tommy Wiseau if he smoked cigarettes for ten years and you closed your eyes real tight, I still like it.

It's cheesy, terrible and ridiculous, but all you need to know is that Raul Julia delivers some of the best lines for years to come, and you know you are dealing with a kind of cult classic when one of the film's greatest lines is, "This is merely superconductor electromagnetism. Surely, you've heard of it." In other words, go see this movie if you haven't already.

7/10.

I love all the Street Fighter games but why make a live action movie? The anime and anime show were awesome but this movie was so wrong. Everyone was miscast, the characters were scripted wrong. Deejay the upbeat Jamaican kick boxer is (in the movie) a servant of the evil M Bison. Balrog the thuggish boxer is working for the TV news with cameraman E Honda? Charlie (Guile's best bud) is turned into Blanka? Ken and Ryu are thrill seeking punks and try to con Sagat out of money instead being serious martial artists dedicating their lives to become the greatest warriors to ever live. I could go on but let's leave it at that. This movie doesn't have a single redeeming quality, just rent the Mortal Kombat movie and have fun.

STREET FIGHTER (1994)

This movie has aged surprisingly well. It's always been bad but now it's so bad that it's kind of amazing. Based on the kick ass video game the makers do a crappy job of trying to string together a plausible storyline. But it does manage to have some over the top action sequences and some truly cringeworthy moments like Ming Na Wen delivering her best Chun Li speech before fly kicking a charismatic Raul Julia as Bison. Van Damme is also pretty hot and fun as "super american" Guile. The movie is overly fun and best of all there's never a dull moment.

Budget: $35m Box Office: $99m

7.5/10

I can't believe all the negative comments I've been reading here about this movie. Really, people, what were you expecting from a Van Damme movie? Citizen Kane? Yes it's silly, Van Damme's acting is atrocious and Raul Julia looks very ill (and is miscast) in his last theatrical film. Still, the movie is not overly violent (hence the PG-13 rating), the script and the actors never take things seriously for one moment, everybody (except for Julia and Van Damme) give out good performances and some of the jokes are actually pretty funny. Also there's a STRONG gay subtext between the Asian and American "friends". Maybe I'm seeing something that's not there, but the looks those two exchange at times... It's loud, it's VERY fast-paced...it's a HUGE amount of fun! It's not classic cinema...heck, it's not even good cinema, just fun! Turn off your brain and enjoy!

Alright, when I first saw the trailers as a kid, I was expecting a good movie, I've played the old SNES Street Fighter games, and thought it would be great to see a movie based on the game. But instead I get this, it didn't seem to have the feel of the game, but I was a kid back then, I watched it. Man, this is another one, a game to movie that didn't work, just like that Super Mario Bros. movie. It was a mistake to put Van Damme in it, it probably was embarrassing for him to be in this. Maybe we're better off playing the game instead, because this, this is just plain awful. Avoid this at all cost. This deserves this quote from the game. YOU LOSE

It's really dangerous to make a movie out of a video game, especially when the characters in the video game are cartoony. STREET FIGHTER is a terrible movie. The characters are a joke, and ACT like it's all a joke. The movie looks cheesy (study Bison's "hovering" command pod - it's obviously hooked to some kind of crane), and committing the famous Street Fighter martial arts movies into live action just looks stupid. What do you expect from DeSouza when the only things he directed before were a "Tales From The Crypt" episode and some shows of "Bowling For Dollars"? (No joke) Even the few Van Damme fans that are still left (after he's made countless bombs like this) will be embarrassed for their onscreen hero.

Movies based on video games are usually pretty bad, but few sink this low, and it's incredibly sad that this was Raul Julia's last film. The script is ludicrous and the acting mostly awful, though this may be because of some terrible miscasting. There are a few mildly funny moments, some of them intentional, but the martial arts scenes are unconvincing and not very exciting.

The film is awful, from start to finish. If you've ever played the game (even once) you will be disgusted by the terrible use of such a great story. The characters are wrong, the setting is wrong and the film is just WRONG. I feel sorry for Jean Claude van Damme and Kylie Minogue whenever I pass this film by. As for Raul Julia, this was a horrible end for such a great actor.

The first time I saw this movie was in a theater in the fourth (!) grade. Of course back then I had no idea that there is such a thing as criticism when it comes to movies. But I still didn't find it entertaining(about a 100 times less than the video game).

About ten years later I found out why I didn't find it entertaining. It's because hands down the movie sucks like a hungry calf sucks a teat. Anyone who has seen it and who is over the age of twelve can tell you that.

The last time I saw it is now over a year ago. I thought the acting was god awful, even the representation itself of the characters from the video game (!) was horrible. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous "plot".

What's also sad is that this was the late Raul Julia's last performance on the big screen. I don't mean to be offensive but that would be a crappy way EVEN for Van Damme to end his appearance on the big screens.

Because I was a huge fan of the video game, I will generously give this mess of a film a 2 out of 10 and also because it's one of those movies that make you laugh because they are so bad.

.. 1/5 ..

It's a shame that they turned the world's best fighting game into one of the worst movies ever. Well, when you think about it there has never been one good or even a decent movie based on any video game. "Mortal Kombat" sucked. "Resident Evil" stank. And "Tomb Raider" bored the hell out of me. All those movies were bad, but "Street Fighter" is in a class of its own. Crappy fighting, crappy acting, an Oscar worthy plot and ensemble cast (ha ha) and Van Damme as Guile. What a joke. And if you thought that was hilarious, check out Gomez Addams himself as the sinister M. Bison. Then there is Blanka (played here by the Incredible Hulk...I think) who looks utterly laughable. The movie has absolutely no continuity with the game showing a true lack of any knowledge about the source material. Bottomline: avoid this movie.

One could say simply this: at least it's not Paul Anderson's Resident Evil, right? The 1994 Street Fighter is a movie anyone who grew up in the 80s (or maybe even the 70s) have seen at least once, either against their will kicking and screaming or with a bunch of friends laughing and yucking it up - or maybe even legitimate die-hard fans of the video-game, one of the definitive fighting games. It may have been impossible for there to ever be a good Street Fighter movie (and lets not kid ourselves, this is far from the Sonny Chiba Street Fighter in terms of just the fights themselves let alone the story), but perhaps we got the Street Fighter we deserved. It's colorful, crazy, a little random and even a little epic thanks to the BIG if inferior-to-Schwarzenegger presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Also very good is the decidedly one-note Raul Julia who did this as his last movie as one for his kids.

So, what to criticize then if I'm trying to be fair? How about the completely non-sensical and basically militaristic plot, the weird blue camouflage gear made up as if the soldiers are fighting in the sea, the ill-attempts at comedy and the overwhelming bits of unintentional comedy, or just the cheesy make-up done for that guy in green with the orange hair? There's no limit to what to criticize, but at the same time Street Fighter is non-threatening in that way that sometimes bad movies can be. It arrives with a thud, and does some damage, but you can't say that you didn't have a little fun... unless, of course, you're looking for a really good video game movie, which is almost redundant at this point of modern cinematic history.

I think "Street Fighter" is a better movie than the abysmal 4/10 IMDB rating suggests. I rated it a 7/10 because I enjoyed it that much even though it is kind of corny and silly, but that is the point, it is just intended to be that kind of film and I think it succeeds at that. Look how Bison uses buttons and a joystick to set off river mines, obviously a nod to the gaming console; it celebrates all of this more than poking fun at it or succumbing to it. I thought that the filmmakers did a fine job of achieving what they set out to do. The sets were cool, cinematography good, acting adequate, the script was not real deep but what do you expect. I thought that Raul Julia and Ming-Na Wen were terrific in their parts.

The only change I would have made was excise the Blanka storyline as I thought that it was too dark and cruel in the context of such a silly fun fatuous movie. So, all in all, I rate it a 7/10, though I am somewhat biased as I played the Street Fighter II video game before and was familiar with the characters.

This film entirely fails. It fails to engage, it fails to entertain, it even fails to amuse.

Based on a video game, with some attempt to create a "comic book" style, but there's no meat on the bones, and the bones are rickety. VanDamme is VanDamme. When it comes time to kick someone, he's your man. Up until then, he looks pretty. Why has someone tattooed a US flag on his shoulder? Minogue is very easy on the eye, especially in the blue vest. And she isn't singing. But there's any number of ways of admiring pictures of Minogue and most of them can be effected without having to hear her singing if it's not to your taste! Ming-Na is also easy on the eye especially in the very silly dress or the black catsuit, and she's not quite so ubiquitous, so that could be this is the film's saving grace. She also has the only role that comes close to having anything in it to work with.

Raol Julia tried hard, but even here the character just doesn't work. I suggest you watch The Addams Family, which is brilliantly written and really gives Julia a chance to show his not inconsiderable talents.

At the end of the day, this is a waste of good celluloid. Watch something else. Anything.

The late, great Raul Julia plays an insane dictator named M. Bison who rules the roost in "Shadaloo", a fictional South Asian country. Currently he's holding a bunch of hostages for a staggering 20 billion dollars, and is at work on a process of turning ordinary soldiers into inhuman fighting beasts. Fortunately, he is opposed by the dedicated heroes of the "Allied Nations", led by Colonel Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Other characters caught up in the melee include hustlers Ken (Damian Chapa) & Ryu (Byron Mann), and a reporter named Chun-Li (eternally gorgeous Ming-Na Wen) who can't be taken at face value.

Big budget adaptation of the popular Capcom video game throws in everything but the kitchen sink for the sake of an entertaining show. Don't even bother attempting to watch it if you want to be intellectually stimulated or want anything resembling "high art". It's purely for action fans who want to be dazzled by spectacle (although not necessarily fans of the game). It's got plenty to keep it lively: hilariously tacky sets, an over the top nature, tons of explosions, vibrant widescreen photography, and some colourful characters. Subtle it ain't, but it is amusing, even if lacking the real wit one would expect from debuting director Steven E. de Souza, whose credits as a screenwriter include "48 Hrs." and "Commando". As you can see, de Souza gives it some semblance of a story, instead of just having one fight after another, which is what you might expect of a video game adaptation.

The international cast features some classy thespians like Julia, Simon Callow, and Roshan Seth, in addition to familiar faces like Australian songbird Kylie Minogue, Grand L. Bush of "Die Hard", Miguel A. Nunez Jr. of "The Return of the Living Dead", and Andrew Bryniarski (Leatherface in two of the more recent "Texas Chain Saw" pictures). Ordinarily it would be depressing to watch an esteemed actor like Julia in their cinematic swan song (especially since Julia clearly looks ill), but he definitely seemed determined to go out in a blaze of glory, and he makes M. Bison a wonderfully grandiose, scenery devouring bad guy. Van Damme is good, and charismatic, as usual, but he can't help but look bland in comparison. Ms. Wen is a delight.

Is this a "good" movie? This viewer is not going to go out of his way to make a case for it being one, but it's damn entertaining. Sometimes that's all that matters.

Eight out of 10.

Video games make horrible movies. This schlock was based on the most popular 2D fighting game of its day and was gobbled up by Hollywood. It diverged highly from the game story line (which admittedly was not very well suited to a live action film) with B-movie martial arts actor Jean Claude Van Damme as Guile, the Special Ops soldier from the USA, as commander of a U.N.- like group of peace keeping soldiers fighting M. Bison (Vega), dictator of a small nation called Shadaloo. It doesn't help any there's no mention of any tournament and Ryu, Street Fighter II's real protagonist, is demoted to a glorified cameo along side Ken Masters. Characters like Balrog, T. Hawk, Blanka and Dhalsim are all after thoughts as well. When you think about how ridiculous just the attempt to portray Blanka (think The Incredible Hulk with Lou Ferrigno cheesy) was, one has to wonder why they made a film at all? For some reason they also attempted to combine Blanka and Charlie from the Street Fighter Alpha series together into one character. If you believe the Wikipedia article about this movie, Van Damme and Raul Julia's salaries ate up most of the $35 million budget (hard to believe Mr. Spinning Side Kick of Death made $8 million for this crap). Van Damme was also notoriously carrying on an affair during production with co-star Kylie Minogue while his then-wife was pregnant. Sadly Raul Julia made his final movie appearance in a throwaway role as M. Bison. Conclusion is that this was a giant greedy cash grab by Capcom. There are some supernatural elements missing like Bison's Psycho Power or Ryu's Hadouken technique which given the aggressive filming schedule, the cobbled together screenplay and bad casting choices would've probably looked horrendous in this movie any how. It's a movie to avoid for most unless you are feeling extra nostalgic, a first time viewer who isn't bored easily or maybe just a hardcore Street Fighter fan.