Hey kids, want a movie with loads of flash and no substance? Prefer fight scenes to character or plot development? Wanna check your brain at the door and zone out on hyper kinetic action without having to think? Then Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li is the movie for you.

Somehow supposedly based on the popular and long running Street Fighter video game series (which has spawned all manner of animated spin offs, comic books, toys and yes, the Van Damme movie of the same name), this movie tells the story of a young piano player named Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk) who, during her younger years was witness to the kidnapping of her father, Xiang, by an evil supervillain named Bison (Neal McDonough) and his muscle bound lackey, Balrog (Michael Clarke Duncan). As time progresses, Bison's plan for poor Chun-Li's father becomes clear: he's going to use him to strong arm himself into heading the Thailand-based Shadaloo Corporation which is really little more than a front for his criminal real estate activity.

When Chun-Li grows up and becomes a hot adult with a tight fitting wardrobe, she learns the martial arts and hooks up with a team of warriors called The Order Of The Web. Under the tutelage of their leader, a former henchman of Bison's named Gen (Robin Shou), Chen-Li becomes a force to be reckoned with and before you know it, Chen-Li, a pair of Interpol agents (Chris Klein and Moon Bloodgood as Nash and Maya respectively) are trying to put a stop to Bison and bring he and his cronies to justice and along the way lots of people fight.

So aside from a standard revenge plot, what does this film offer? Well, despite the fact that she doesn't resemble the video game character that Chun-Li is based on, Kristen Kreuk is fun to look at. She handles herself well in the fight scenes and has a pretty decent screen presence. Her performance won't go down in history as a classic but she's got the style and moves that she makes for a pretty decent protagonist. Her chemistry with Robin Shou, whose Gen goes from a complete ass kicker to an easily defeated pusher by the end of the film, feels a bit forced and unnatural but he too at least has a physicality to him that works in the part. Neal McDonough's Bison has an inconsistent Irish accent that would be in keeping with his character's origin if it were a constant but instead it proves to be a distraction as it fades in and out though Michael Clarke Duncan makes for a really good Balrog and steals most of the scenes that he's in. The less said about Chris Klein's performance as the perpetually 'witty' Nash the better while Bloodgood is more or less completely disposable in her role.

You'd hope that the plot could make up for the mediocre acting, but again, the movie falls short. There isn't much here to really hook you, and aside from the characters' various abilities, there's nothing here we haven't seen before in countless other martial arts films and in spaghetti westerns before that. This leaves the fight scenes to carry the bulk of the weight of the film and not surprisingly they really are the film's only redeeming quality. They're well choreographed and plentiful and they give the performers ample opportunity to strut their stuff. While there's obviously been some digital manipulation applied here and there, given that this is a 'video game' inspired movie maybe the CGI isn't out of place. Chun-Li's showdown with Bison at the end of the film is as impressive as you'd hope for and her bathroom brawl with Cantana (Josie Ho) is another film highlight. The action is set against the interesting Thai landscape which adds some welcome visual flair and the action scenes are first and foremost the most important part of the film. It's obvious by their emphasis that they're meant to distract us from the flat acting and uninspired plot, and it sort of works. This isn't a terrible time waster, though there's no doubt that on a narrative level it's a pretty terrible film. Checking your brain is a prerequisite, but that doesn't mean action movie fans won't have at least a little bit of fun watching a very pretty girl beating up a bunch of goons. If that sounds like your idea of a good movie, then you'll probably appreciate it. If you want more than just superficial and hyper stylized violence, however, keep moving, there's nothing for you here.

This Blu-ray release contains both the theatrical cut of the film and the 'unrated and unleashed' cut of the movie.

Video:

Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li is presented in an excellent anamorphic widescreen presentation in 1080p/VC-1 at 2.35.1. Detail levels are excellent throughout playback, even during the darker scenes, and contrast levels look dead on. Black levels are nice and strong and flesh tones look lifelike and natural. This is a surprisingly sharp transfer making use of a very 'comic book' inspired color palette and this transfer really brings the colors out nicely. There aren't any problems with print damage at all nor is there any evidence of any odd authoring problems. Compression artifacts are non-existent and there aren't any edge enhancement problems. The outdoor shots of the city look incredible while close up shots show a remarkable level of facial detail. Some of the more high contrast shots lose some detail in the 'heat' of the image but this is intentional and an obvious stylistic choice. Some mild aliasing is present if you really want to look for it but aside from that, and a couple of shots that show a bit more grain than you might expect (which is never in the least bit intrusive), Fox has done an excellent good job here.