I've been working a lot recently, so not much else of note has been happening. The notable exception, however, was Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li at the dollar theater. (I use the term "dollar theater" in the colloquial sense. I was called out on this by a patron last week, when I told him that Revolutionary Road, which he asks me if the library has acquired every week despite the fact that it hasn't yet been released on DVD, was currently playing at the dollar theater. He seemed confused and said, "You mean the $1.50 theater?" This is an important distinction.)
Anyway, there is only one word to sum up Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li: EPIC.
The first thing I noted about this film as it opened was that Kristin Kreuk has again demonstrated that uncanny ability she seems to have over casting directors and other filmmakers. I say this because the character of Chun-Li was rewritten specifically to make her half-Chinese, and originally born in America in order to make her fit Kreuk's background more closely. I don't know what it is about this girl. The second thing that I noted was that the character of Chun-Li was rewritten so that her father pushed her hard to become a concert pianist specifically to make her an Asian-American stereotype. Thanks!
The most noticeable thing about the movie is that it was created for moviegoers with the attention span of a gnat. I don't think a single scene lasted for more than two minutes. This means that the camera is constantly jumping between sets of characters and locations, often in different countries. It's an exciting pace, but it's disorienting. Also, some storylines could really use more than two minutes of explication, like the entire M. Bison story, which makes no sense as depicted. And while things like M. Bison's grand plan to transplant his soul into his unborn child in order to raze some Bangkok slums are rushed through, we occasionally get flashbacks to scenes from literally less than five minutes earlier. Because filmgoers are not able to piece together that men with a spiderweb tattoo might be related to the mysterious organization, "The Web."
The fights are generally pretty and plentiful, which is good. The way that they try to interpret Chun-Li's signature moves, though, is often pathetic. In particular, the Spinning Bird Kick looks like it was choreographed by the Ninja Turtles. I think that as long as they decided they were going to give Chun-Li CGI balls of chi (which really, what?) they could have computer-generated her something a little cooler for her most famous move.
They did a pretty good job of keeping Chun-Li's dialogue to a minimum so we don't have to watch Kreuk deliver too much wooden dialogue. However, the first half of the film is filled with completely unnecessary Chun-Li voiceover (and I mean completely unnecessary - like we watch her play the piano and the voiceover says "I played the piano"), so we do have to listen to Kreuk deliver plenty of wooden monologue.
M. Bison was genuinely creepy and really the only high point of the film. Chris Klein's Interpol agent Charlie Nash is skeezy like few have ever skeezed. It's fascinating to watch.
The high point of the film is when Chun-Li attempts to seduce one of Bison's (female) operatives through dance at a nightclub. It is one of the least sexy dances in the history of humankind - so stilted, and her face has this intense look of concentration, like she can force sexiness through willpower. In the theater, the boy and I started giggling during this scene, and then the laughter spread to our friends, and then to the other two sets of people in the theater (who, by their reactions, seemed to be genuinely enjoying other parts of the movie). I do not believe this was the scene's intention.
Honestly, this movie was beyond terrible, but I really enjoyed the two hours spent watching it. It's like, as I was watching it, it made no sense. And then I spent a lot of time talking the movie over, and realized it made even less sense than I originally thought.
Anyway, there is only one word to sum up Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li: EPIC.
The first thing I noted about this film as it opened was that Kristin Kreuk has again demonstrated that uncanny ability she seems to have over casting directors and other filmmakers. I say this because the character of Chun-Li was rewritten specifically to make her half-Chinese, and originally born in America in order to make her fit Kreuk's background more closely. I don't know what it is about this girl. The second thing that I noted was that the character of Chun-Li was rewritten so that her father pushed her hard to become a concert pianist specifically to make her an Asian-American stereotype. Thanks!
The most noticeable thing about the movie is that it was created for moviegoers with the attention span of a gnat. I don't think a single scene lasted for more than two minutes. This means that the camera is constantly jumping between sets of characters and locations, often in different countries. It's an exciting pace, but it's disorienting. Also, some storylines could really use more than two minutes of explication, like the entire M. Bison story, which makes no sense as depicted. And while things like M. Bison's grand plan to transplant his soul into his unborn child in order to raze some Bangkok slums are rushed through, we occasionally get flashbacks to scenes from literally less than five minutes earlier. Because filmgoers are not able to piece together that men with a spiderweb tattoo might be related to the mysterious organization, "The Web."
The fights are generally pretty and plentiful, which is good. The way that they try to interpret Chun-Li's signature moves, though, is often pathetic. In particular, the Spinning Bird Kick looks like it was choreographed by the Ninja Turtles. I think that as long as they decided they were going to give Chun-Li CGI balls of chi (which really, what?) they could have computer-generated her something a little cooler for her most famous move.
They did a pretty good job of keeping Chun-Li's dialogue to a minimum so we don't have to watch Kreuk deliver too much wooden dialogue. However, the first half of the film is filled with completely unnecessary Chun-Li voiceover (and I mean completely unnecessary - like we watch her play the piano and the voiceover says "I played the piano"), so we do have to listen to Kreuk deliver plenty of wooden monologue.
M. Bison was genuinely creepy and really the only high point of the film. Chris Klein's Interpol agent Charlie Nash is skeezy like few have ever skeezed. It's fascinating to watch.
The high point of the film is when Chun-Li attempts to seduce one of Bison's (female) operatives through dance at a nightclub. It is one of the least sexy dances in the history of humankind - so stilted, and her face has this intense look of concentration, like she can force sexiness through willpower. In the theater, the boy and I started giggling during this scene, and then the laughter spread to our friends, and then to the other two sets of people in the theater (who, by their reactions, seemed to be genuinely enjoying other parts of the movie). I do not believe this was the scene's intention.
Honestly, this movie was beyond terrible, but I really enjoyed the two hours spent watching it. It's like, as I was watching it, it made no sense. And then I spent a lot of time talking the movie over, and realized it made even less sense than I originally thought.