Review: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Kristin Kreuk desperately looks for a new career path in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Terrible performances. Uninspired writing. Loose, uneven direction... these are things you would expect from (great cinematographer-turned lowly action director) Andrzej Bartkowiak. But one would also expect a guiltily-fun, action-packed B-experience, and this new turn on the popular Street Fighter franchise doesn't even do that—it can't even have fun.

The notorious 1994 Street Fighter had fun. Jackie Chan's great parody from City Hunter had fun. But no, no fun here as, like with anything in the new millennium, the premise of the game is taken in a 'grittier, more realistic' direction while still trying to hold on to the original palette of what ultimately is a video game, and at least where I come from, video games are supposed to be fun, right? All of Bartkowiak's other directorial works (Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave, Doom) have frequent comic relief, and even when a good portion of it doesn't work, some of it does, and some of it does wonderfully (the great comic pairing of Tom Arnold and Anthony Anderson comes to mind, as well as Doom's self-parodying moments). In any given action movie, you expect there to be a lot of bad jokes, but Chris Klein's douchebag interpretation of Keanu Reeves just doesn't work and his tough-slut counterpart, played by Moon Bloodgood, doesn't either. The only thing is funny about the movie is Michael Clarke Duncan's voice (which caused a few initial laughs in the theater) and the way Neal McDonough's Bison is somehow super-fly when making an entrance.

And speaking of Bison, where the hell is Guile anyways? Was Justin Marks to scared to write him into the script after the picture-perfect casting of Van Damme? A lot of the characters are left out, possibly for a hinted-at potential sequel, but also possibly because they just didn't want to mess up their (unsuccessful) plan at making Street Fighter 'real.'

Propelling TV-star Kristin Kreuk to the silver screen seems like a good idea—and I say 'seems' because her acting talent, even in action terms, cannot be judged by this passable, mediocre throwaway of a film. Rounding up smaller actioners such as Robin Shou, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Neal McDonough also 'seemed' like a good idea, but that didn't exactly pan out either. In the end, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li seemed like a good idea, but ultimately, it wasn't.


* out of ****

~ Patrick Fryberger

I was there

Via Film School Rejects

First Universal Soldiers: The Next Generation pictures

Already rampant across the forums of FanDamme, Unofficial Steven Seagal, and Dolph Ultimate (see sidebar for links), here are the first on-location pictures from Universal Soldiers: The Next Generation:













Not much to say here. Looks like these two sisters (twins? Are they even sisters?) had a fun photoshoot with the boys, though that metallic wound smack dab in the middle of Dolph's forehead is pretty rockin.' We'll see how it progresses.

The greatest early-'90s New York action movie double-feature you'll ever see

Complete with skylines, explosions, and cool font to boot.

New Videos Added, 02/24/09

New videos have been added to the YouTube page, including clips from the following movies:

A Better Tomorrow
American Ninja
City Hunter
Death Race [blocked in some countries]
Resident Evil: Extinction
RoboCop [blocked]
The Specialist
Undisputed

Check them out, along with the rest of the collection, and, as always, more on the way!

He's in

And he's back, baby.

Source: Worst Previews

Like on the moon, the 'darkside' of the Oscars

(Late) props to Kimmel and company for putting together these two great spots on Oscar night:





And way to bring Mel Gibson back from the dead (while Tom Cruise continues to fight the fall to, well, wherever Gibson was).

...

The few and far in between highlights are not even worth mentioning considering none of them came during the actual award-competition itself. Okay, well, I'll mention them. Hugh Jackman was admittedly fun. So was Steve Martin. Will Smith's quip about action movies and having "fans" was also nice. Jack Black calling out DreamWorks-Pixar was priceless. Ben Stiller playing Phoenix, the previous-winner lineups, and the final reel--the one featuring best-picture nominees/winners both old and new, were all pleasant things to see on what was ultimately a bland, uninspiring, and utterly frivolous night.

And well, as for the actual winners, the Ledger family was a tragic thing to see regardless of the superb job they did taking it all in stride. Sean Penn did his best to make up for the steal of what was rightfully Mickey Rourke's by giving a pretty decent speech. It was nice to see Christopher Nolan smile, for once, when Richard King accepted the Oscar for Sound Editing. Milk writer Dustin Lance Black made a good case on Prop 8, sadly a little too late. And it was indeed a nice thing to see Kate Winslet win. There was a feeling of fulfillment, or relief, or just something special that came along with it. More power to her.

Other than that, well, as my friend texted me before the show, "You look nervous, is it the Oscars? Wanna know how I got 'em?"

It's a funny world we live in.

Oscars or Oscar the Grouch?

I don't know yet, honestly. I can't remember the last time I sat down to watch the Oscars and was actually excited to do so. The peer pressure (from other film blogs) is astounding; I feel like its Oscars or death. Either way, I should be posting the results that I am particularly biased to, and probably ranting on some of the ones I am not.

On the note, I recently/finally caught up with The Wrestler. A tad bit overrated (opening titles a tack-on, handheld-only style workable but in no way revolutionary, Rourke nails the part but not much else, feels a bit overlong, etc), but it had one of the most tragic messages I've seen in a long time. To explicate this without spoiling anything, much has been made of the short-to-long speeches given by Rourke, from the "broken down piece of meat" speech, to the speech he gives to the crowd at a fight, but hands down, the most significant one, in my eyes, is the few words exchanged before he gets into the ring, backstage. That, above all, was the one that almost sent me running for the Kleenex--powerful, inspiring, to-the-point, and tragic to no end.

Anyway, we'll see if I come out of the trash can this year.

The Expendables gets a Trejo, perhaps a Governator

The rumor mill of our favorite film here at The Action Reaction has gone through the roof, apparently. Before I even dive into the juicy details, let me list who has been confirmed for the action ensemble of the millennium, if not eternity:

Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker, Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, and now Danny Trejo.

And then the rumored:

Jean-Claude Van Damme (rejected a part, but still a possibility) Sandra Bullock, Ben Kingsley, Scott Adkins, and now Arnold frickin' Schwarzenegger in a possible cameo appearance (as well as a round of small actioners who could potentially have parts).

There's really not much to say at this point--much of it's been said already across the interwebs. For one, I too have had it with the fucking "capes," a.k.a. Superhero films. I've also had with the hype for Inglourious Basterds, which, after its new teaser, certainly seems a complete waste of time. And most of all, I've had it with this new generation of action films--they're obviously not doing very well considering all the hackshit attempts to revive previous franchises (Rocky, Die Hard, Rambo, Indiana Jones, etc). The Expendables is doing something that really has never been done before, at least since The Dirty Dozen, which even then doesn't accurately compare. It won't be about the plot (obviously), it won't be about some fanboy phenomenon, hell, it might not even be about the action. It's about bringing the heroes we've watched for all these years together for the first time and watching their combined star power kick more ass than is humanly (and humanely) possible.

Okay, rant over, well, not quite; who would I like to see become 'expendable?' Well, Van Damme would've been nice, but that's probably said and done. Unfortunately, Wesley Snipes couldn't join the cast because he can't leave the country--I still hope he avoids jailtime, as pathetic as that probably sounds. I would love to see Sandra as Forest Whitaker's partner (he plays a government-type chasing them down), and Scott Adkins would be great too--he deserves all the mainstream exposure he can get. I think Mark Dacascos would be great as another villain, or hero, for that matter; he doesn't only deserve the exposure but quite frankly, he needs it. Personally, I could do without Ben Kingsley and Mickey Rourke, the latter of which seemed a bit forced, even if he's only playing an arms dealer. And what about old Steven Seagal? Make him a general, or something, like John Travolta in The Thin Red Line--now that was a memorable cameo.

Okay, Steven Seagal might be pushing it. But either way, The Expendables is shaping up nicely, and we (or rather, I) here at The Action Reaction will keep you updated on the news of this epic action ensemble for the decades.

Armond White profile piece

This is not really action news, but it's pretty interesting, at least for me. Believe it or not, I do actually pay a great deal of attention to the normal, more prestigious film world, but out of that not-so-wild bunch my favorites have always been the outcasts, or at least the controversial types, most notably in Jeffery Wells, and even more so Armond White, who recently had this profile done on him by Mark Jacobson of New York Magazine. If you don't know who White is, this is a fairly neutral introduction to him, as half the fun of White is comprised in the reactions that he's gotten out of people (some of which are discussed in the piece). Check it out if you have the time, and make sure to check out some of White's sometimes infuriating, other times baffling reviews.

More trailers, posters, posters of trailers

Because that's all we can really get for news around here. Once I have the time (school has been an incredible nuisance in this respect), I have a bunch of features I want to do so hopefully I can get rolling on at least some of those. Yet, in the meantime, check out the admittedly epic trailer (Yahoo has always had wacky embed shit, so just head on over there instead) for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, as well as the new poster for Fast & Furious:



Both movies look like unnecessary sequels to what were originally more or less bad movies to begin with, but even then, I'm probably going to see them. Why? Well, good advertising for one, and secondly, neither is really about the actors involved (though Michelle might have some sway here), it's about cars, some of which turn into giant robots and blow shit up. Need I say more? It's like what Resident Evil: Apocalypse producer Jeremy Bolt said of his own movie: "Who doesn't want to see beautiful women with guns, hordes of undead getting shot, fantastic action sequences...?" I think the point is clear. That's why I'll see these movies and that's really why I have this blog up and running.

Okay rant-trying-to-make-something-out-of-nothing over. That is all.

New Videos Added, 02/15/09

Guess what, we're back in business baby! (we'll see just how long that lasts, however) So without further ado, here are the new action videos added to the new YouTube page, including clips from the following movies:

Detention
Highlander 2: The Quickening
Replicant [blocked in some countries]
Resident Evil
Starship Troopers
The Fast & the Furious [blocked]
The Replacement Killers
The One

Check them out, along with the rest of the collection, and, as always, more on the way!

Two more trailers

Trailer park is filling up. Here are The People vs. George Lucas and the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. The former--intriguing, decent, necessary; the latter--bad, bad Tony Scott. Bad.







What they have in common? Themes of unforgivable bastardization. So true!

UPDATE: Defamer has the most perfect description/interpretation of the 123 trailer I've seen yet. Wonderful.

The full teaser

Of Inglourious Basterds. Enjoy:




Looks pretty gritty for Tarantino (visually, that is), and I'm not really buying Brad Pitt, but you always give QT the benefit of the doubt. We'll see how it shapes up.

Street Preacher op-ed, 02/10/2009

The Street Preacher has been busy, very busy.

If you haven't already noticed, the YouTube channel is back up, or rather, has returned (hence, "TheReactionReturns"). The massive uploadage took a lot out of me, even with the admittedly conveinent bulk-uploader-plugin courtesy of Youtube (thx). This time around, I'm much more keen to what I can get away with and what I can't, and I've figured out which movie studios to look out for (it's a very, very complicated game, but I think I've got the basic ins and outs of dodging who I need to dodge and so on). Hopefully, this time, we won't go under, and The Action Reaction can bring you the action you so greatly deserve (or are not getting, but I digress).

Anyway, news, as usual, has been slow, but then again I've been busy with school and as always habitually lazy, so this point is contentious to its own end. Some quick notes include the recent Van Damme interview(s) (---yes, there are two links there) explaining why he won't join The Expendables and why and how he wants to do a second Bloodsport and so on. To this I say more power to him, as he's truly dedicated to reinventing himself, mostly on a part of his son that was taken away from him (a truth most sorely referenced in J.C.V.D.). But then again, he's kind of got the crazy, Seagal-esque thing going on right now. In other words, turning down The Expendables may have not been the best idea (and rigidly anti-awesome at that). But of course I believe in Jean-Claude, in the same way I believe in Harvey Dent, even if we all know what happens to the latter.

Another piece of news worthy of mention is this, and that's all I'm going to say about that, for now. Goodness.

Moving on, there is also a new poll (the former poll coming in with a whopping three votes), if you haven't noticed. I was inspired in finally getting around to watching the Resident Evil series, which, as bad/terrible/frightening-terrible as it can be, is also a complete riot, the second one especially. And with watching the Resident Evil series came a new obsession with yet another actress-- inevitable, for anyone really: the tantalizing Michelle Rodriguez (who's website you will now find on the sidebar, f.y.i.). As one commentor said on some YouTube video featuring her, "I'd drink her bathwater." I would, too.

Clips from Resident Evil and other action films will be posted in the next video round-up, which should be next week at the latest. Oh jeez and I almost forgot:

Inglourious Basterds promo:





And a new poster for the completely unnecessary, bastardizing, and predictably-trashy remake of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three:





And even after this, I will still like Tony Scott (why?? I don't know!).



~ Street Preacher out!

My thoughts exactly...

Also-- the YouTube channel is well on its way. I'm about a little under halfway done after two days or so of straight uploading. I'll give the lowdown when it's all said and done.


Source: /Film

Superbowl spots

After a sad day in the football world (it's like if McCain won the election, or something), I can at least post some of the action-jam-fucking-packed trailers we saw in the interim. G.I. Joe, Transformers 2, Fast & Furious, and a clever little commercial which you may or may not have noticed, are featured below. Check 'em out.














And don't forget,





Note: I'm finally planning on uploading the action videos this week. The bullshitting and procrastinating is over. It may take me a good week (or two), but I'll get on it. I've also got a lot planned for the next month or so, so we'll see where that goes.

That is all, for now.