There is at least two earlier live action films based on the video game of Street Fighter. One with Simon Yam and Andy Lau and one that was made a year later with Jean Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia.(I won't get into the numerous animated films/series) This is a prequel of sorts that tells the story of Chun Li who goes off to fight the evil Bison many years after her father was carried off by the foul villain. Good but not great film is an okay time killer. Seeing this in close proximity to the much inferior Dragonball Evolution I know raised the enjoyment level a great deal since this is a film that not only doesn't seem aimed at kids but also has some pretty good fight scenes.(I know my saying that may come as a surprise since I was less then thrilled with how the making of show on Fox Movie Channel showed the fights). Of course what I can decipher of the plot is cliché and of course it would have helped had I had a working knowledge of the various story lines and characters from the other incarnations, but at the same time I could follow it enough that this was a good rainy Sunday afternoon popcorn movie. I don't know if I would have plunked down 12 bucks to see this in a theater during peak movie going times, but for a bargain matinée (6 bucks all day Tuesday) or, better, afternoon on the couch I wouldn't have minded the outlay of cash as a rental.
