STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI screenwriter Justin Marks seems to have become a spokesman of sorts for the upcoming video game-to-film adaptation starring Kristin Kreuk. Following a revealing interview with movie site JoBlo.com in May of 2008 comes a new video interview for IGN that includes a preview of footage to compliment the available trailer.
Looking at this new video, I cannot help but feel that the STREET FIGHTER franchise simply isn’t right for the live-action medium and any attempt to do so is fundamentally flawed. The video game characters exist in a video game world of colorful costumes, bulging muscles and over-the-top fighting moves. Forcing them into the real world seems to only remove what makes STREET FIGHTER visually compelling. The franchise works much better in animated form where the original art design of the video game can be credibly maintained.
Marks has stated that fight choreographer Dion Lam has managed to reference signature moves from the video game while adapting his own wirework expertise to the film’s fighting action.
Marks also argues that the video game has a strong story that deserves to be taken seriously in film. He seems confident that the film will spark a successful franchise by starting small and broadening out by using Bryan Singer’s X-MEN model. He has said that this film is to the Van Damme STREET FIGHTER movie what BATMAN BEGINS is to BATMAN FOREVER. It’s not too difficult to make something better than the 1994 STREET FIGHTER but it’s a lot more difficult to get a genre film up to BATMAN BEGINS territory. To me, THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI looks to have fallen somewhere in the middle but only time will tell.
STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI opens in theaters in the U.S. on February 29th courtesy of 20th Century Fox.
Related Topics:Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009) • video game • Videos







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