Col. Guile and various other martial arts heroes fight against the tyranny of Dictator M. Bison and his cohorts.
Steven E. de Souza wrote a lot of box office hits throughout the ’80s and ’90s, including “48 Hrs.,” “Commando,” “The Running Man,” “Die Hard 1 & 2,” and “Ricochet,” to name but a few. In 1994, he was asked to pitch an idea for a “Street Fighter” movie but he said he would only do so on the condition that he gets to direct the film as well. Capcom, the video game developer and publisher of the “Street Fighter” games agreed and de Souza wrote an initial draft of the script in one night that they liked and signed off on. While the movie divided audiences, particularly fans of the video games, in the end, it wound up being an enjoyable piece of entertainment that never takes itself too seriously.
Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Colonel Guile, a major in the Allied Nations whose goal is to destroy drug lord-turned General M. Bison (Raul Julia), a dictator who is motivated by his own self-serving interests and lust for absolute power through world domination and who is responsible for dealing biochemical drugs and arms all around the globe. When Bison kidnaps several A.N. relief workers and demands a $20 billion dollar ransom in the next three days, Guile, along with his first-in-command, Sergeant Cammy White (Kylie Minogue), and their A.N. forces, attack Bison’s lair in Southeast Asia with the intent of rescuing the relief workers and putting an end to Bison’s tyrannical reign.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was at the height of his fame and was paid $8 million to take on the role of Colonel Guile while Raul Julia agreed to take on the film’s protagonist, M. Bison, at the behest of his children who were big fans of the “Street Fighter” video games. Director Steven E. de Souza presents a beautifully-shot movie filled with martial arts choreography influenced directly by the video games that inspired it, and Van Damme and Julia appear to be having fun facing off against each other. “Street Fighter” adds nothing new to the collection of video games to big-screen adaptations and the violence is cartoonish at best, which means the adults don’t have to worry about the kiddos being inundated with over-the-top bloodshed and brutality.
Now available on a Special Edition Blu-ray Steelbook from Mill Creek Entertainment
