Street Fighter

When the first Street Fighter film hit in 1994 (trailer) my hype level for it was through the roof! Fighting games were on fire in the arcade and 16-bit systems at the time, and Street Fighter II was still a hot commodity. The trailer had then 11-year-old Dale craving to be there opening weekend because the costumes for most of the characters looked spot on. That preview included a montage of the “World Warriors” showcasing their vintage special attacks and poses. Guile’s Flash Kick and M. Bison enthusiastically proclaiming “GAME OVER!!!” in that trailer guaranteed I would be in the cinema for it. I was such a dork for this movie in my old journal at the time that I would keep a tally of the number of times I would see the trailer during commercial breaks on television leading up to the film……seriously.

There were only a couple of video game movies out by this point. The genre did not have the disastrous reputation that it does today, so suffice it to say, I was amped up going into the film…..and pretty peeved coming out of it because of how it treated a few characters compared to the game and because there was not an actual fighting tournament in it. In 2009, I revisited it when an “Extreme Edition” hit home video with extra features, and my opinion on it softened a bit seeing it with a fresh set of eyes. I re-watched it last week with the new “Steel Book” Ultimate Edition released on BluRay last year. All these years later, and now I seriously love the film!

Well known Belgian, Jean-Claude Van Damme is leading this film as the American fighter, Guile, fresh off Van Damme’s slate of action hits like Hard Target and Double Team. Director Steven de Souza stated in interviews that they had a throwaway line of dialog explaining how Guile covered up his Belgian accent by saying it was actually a southern accent and he is actually from the United States, but it wound up on the cutting room floor. His adversary is the dastardly lead Street Fighter II boss, M. Bison, played by Raul Julia in what would be his final performance.

As I alluded above, 11-year-old Dale was furious there was no fighting tournament. Instead, the film is all about M. Bison holding numerous “Allied Nations” employees as hostages in the fictitious world of Shadaloo, with various other Street Fighter combatants serving under him like Dee Jay (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), Zangief (Andrew Bryniarski), Sagat (Wes Studi), and captured scientist Dhalsim (Roshan Seth). An awkward scientist’s attire is Dhalsim’s costume here, and Bison is forcing him to perform mutation experiments on Guile’s captured comrade, Charlie, and transform him mid-movie into the green-beast we know from the games as Blanka. I can go into the nerd gaming lore on how all kinds of wrong this is relating to Blanka, and Dhalsim’s character’s in the game, but I will actually give the filmmakers credit all these years later because it kind of actually plays well with an adult set of eyes because it would be pretty damn odd diving into Blanka’s actual video game origin story on the silver screen while trying to give equal time for the huge cast.

Speaking of this stacked cast, for the protagonists, aside from Guile, serving under him in the Allied Nations is Thunder Hawk (Gregg Rainwater), Cammy (Kylie Minogue), and Captain Sawada (Kenya Sawada)-who is a character created just for this movie. Sawada was later inserted as a playable character in the video game based on the film…that is based on the game and deliberately titled, Street Fighter: The Movie--just watch this video, it can explain it much better than I can. Two fighters more popular among fans of the video game, Ken (Damian Chapa) and Ryu (Byron Mann), have lesser supporting roles here as they are con-artist weapon dealers who later get teamed up against their will with Sagat and Vega (Jay Tavare).

The last squadron of good guys is the trio of Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen), Balrog (Grand L. Bush – who gave a random viral speech about his memories on the film in 2015), and E. Honda (Peter Tiasosopo). This motley trio is an innocuous TV news crew, but all three coincidentally have their own martial arts background that lines up with the game canon, and Chun-Li wants to avenge her father’s death when M. Bison steamrolled through her village. When Chun-Li confronts Bison with this, Julia absolutely nails it with his delivery of the meme-worthy “It Was Tuesday” line….if you have no recollection of this, well then click or press here to see this iconic moment in cinema history!

Speaking of, Raul Julia is sublime in his performance as M. Bison. He cheeses up his performance just right in his delivery as the master crime lord. Bonus feature interviews detail how he went method for studying for the role going so far as to research Mussolini speeches to mimic body language cadence. Other actors interviewed stated how Julia was visibly sick and downtrodden off-camera with cancer but wanted to do this film for his kids who loved the game. When the cameras were on, his colleagues stated how he was a total pro and how he went out with an aces performance that still lives on to this day! I love the costume he adorns that is incredibly faithful to the game, outrageous cape and all!!!

Most other fighters either have game-appropriate costumes or receive their appropriate gear at some point in the movie. Honda is the perfect case where after an amusing Kong/Godzilla duel homage with Zangief, Honda’s gear is battered so much that he dons it like his traditional sumo gear in the game! Some cast members like Dee Jay and Dhalsim don’t don their proper gear, but the filmmakers and costume department get it right for the most part! For better or worse, the fight choreographers work in plenty of the roster’s iconic moves like Guile’s aforementioned Flash Kick, Bison & Honda’s torpedo dive, and regrettably meek renditions of Ryu’s Hadoken and Ken’s Shoryuken.

The film has a rather convoluted plot, but it essentially stumbles its way into a cohesive mess by the end. The Allied Nations crew teams up with Chun-Li’s TV squad and eventually Ryu & Ken to invade M. Bison’s fortress. Van Damme does an admirable “so-bad-it’s-good” portrayal of Guile, and he has a main event-worthy clash with Bison in the final act to close the film. All the fights inside Bison’s fortress with all the cast members are an admitted dumpster fire to keep up with, but an enjoyable one nonetheless! I tip my hat to the crew for the monumental task of trying to grant adequate screen time for this ensemble cast. At the time of the film’s release, Super Street Fighter II was a fairly new entry in the series at home release, so I was surprised to see Dee Jay, Cammy, and Thunder Hawk all featured, but Fei Long is mysteriously absent. However, it may make sense in recent years after finding out how litigious the estate of the Bruce Lee family is.

This Ultimate Edition Steel Book has a ton of bonus materials. I would be remiss not to mention how awesome the steel book case is, and the gorgeous art that adorns it. Another cheeky bonus is an actual, physical “Bison Dollar” that plays a small-yet-vital part in the film!!! The folks behind this steel book BluRay went all-out with new bonus materials. There are roughly 75 minutes of new video interviews and features. A couple of the highlights are a 20-minute interview with writer/director Steven. E. de Souza, titled, Making Street Fighter. There is roughly an E. Honda’s 100-hand Slap’s worth of new production anecdotes from Souza. Some quick highlights are how $10 million of the $32 million budget went to Jean Claude Van Damme & Raul Julia alone. Additionally, here we find out JCVD was his backup option after Sylvester Stallone and how he originally wanted Stephen Wang as Bison, but was surprised Julia jumped at the role and could not turn him down.

Also amusing was how Souza stated how they kept toning down the violence and blood in the fights to get to a PG-13 rating but eventually overdid it and the MPAA rated the movie G. Hence, they went back and had JCVD whisper in a curse word to get a PG-13 rating. Lastly, it was fascinating to see in this interview how Souza was pretty introspective all these years later, being appreciative of fans coming around and telling him how much they love the movie in recent years after all the initial negative press.

Other notable new extras are interviews with the composer, Graene Revell, and how he was competing to get his soundtrack done and released before the Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack, which went on to much bigger success and still resonates today. They tracked down Ken Masters actor, Damian Chapa for a new interview with fond reflections of his kids loving that he did this movie all these years later. The actress who played Chun-Li, Ming-Na Wen, also had a new interview, with the standout moment being how she was in the scene with Raul Julia for the iconic “It was Tuesday” line. While they could not track JCVD for a new interview, they did have a historian interviewed detailing his humble Hollywood beginnings to his breakout success, and eventually how Street Fighter was the beginning of a downward spiral for him.

There is also roughly a half hour of archived extra features from the aforementioned “Extreme Edition” DVD, but the archived commentary track with de Souza also is carried over and worth your time and has a lot of takeaways from how the production shifted from Thailand into Australia due to filming conditions. This “Ultimate Edition” is a stacked BluRay, and well worth tracking down If you have any nostalgia for the 1994 classic!!! The intricately detailed steel book and physical “Bison Dollar” are just the icing on this delicious cake of camp theater fan service!! I think it is a safe bet the reboot follow-up Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li will not receive this treatment as it is as awful today as it was in 2009. By the way, the pic above this paragraph is the ultimate fan service to end the movie with each fighter’s appropriate victory pose!!!! Many, many thanks, Steven E. de Souza, for this iconic closing shot!!!


Here I am reflecting back on Street Fighter in a clip on the podcast “Big Screens & TV Streams.”

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
1917
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
The Clapper
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed I & II
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dirty Work
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grunt: The Wrestling Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
I Like to Hurt People
Indiana Jones 1-4
Inglourious Basterds
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut)
Last Action Hero
Major League
Mallrats
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nintendo Quest
Not for Resale
Old Joy
Payback (Director’s Cut)
Pulp Fiction
The Punisher (1989)
The Ref
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VIII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Serenity (2005)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Speed
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
Trauma Center
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
The Wizard
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Youngblood

Youngblood

At a local college hockey game earlier this year I was discussing all-time favorite hockey films with a colleague, and he mentioned 1986’s Youngblood (trailer). Somehow, this puck-favorite escaped me all these years as I had never heard of it. I tried to track it down via online streaming, but it was on no streaming services, not even as a rental! I eventually settled on purchasing a DVD off Amazon and can finally cross-check this one off the to-see list!

Rob Lowe is the center of attention here as rural up-and-coming hockey ace Dean Youngblood. He lives on a small Canadian farm and against his dad’s advice, chooses to pursue Junior league hockey in his quest to make the pros. However, Dean is in for a whole new level of competition as the opening scenes at tryouts successfully establish a rival when Dean outperforms tenured player Racki (George Finn) and costs Racki his spot on the team! From there, Dean has to achieve the ultimate test of winning over the respect of his teammates, especially team captain Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze). Another teammate worth noting in a small part with just several lines in the film is the player named Heaver, played by a very early-in-his-career, Keanu Reeves!

Dean has to endure a lot of right-of-passage rituals in the juniors, such as a shaving prank that I hear is commonplace amongst rookies in real-life locker rooms, the team intentionally getting Dean wasted and having to suffer the after-effects in practice the next day and acquiring a specific taste for tea at the player’s local lodging. It was quite the feat of seeing Dean go through the hazing gauntlet, and I feel some of the scenes would have been shot differently if it were released today. Jessie (Cynthia Gibb) is the rink’s Zamboni driver, coach’s daughter, and love interest for Dean. Seeing their relationship play out while attempting to keep the coach out of sight added a fun side dynamic to the film worth investing into.

The actual hockey scenes here have an unorthodox feeling to them. The players are moving at a slow speed for the big plays as if trying to imitate slow-motion replays, but without the special effects filter that enables the slow-motion zoom/blur in sports telecasts. This results in a handful of plays where players are slowly skating awkwardly before scoring a pivotal goal. There are some nasty fight scenes/dirty plays where Racki comes into play, constantly messing with Sutton and Youngblood. There is a massive payoff in the final game, where Youngblood has a do-or-die penalty shot, which directly leads into a game-ending fight scene with Youngblood and Racki, which Youngblood has adequately prepared for via Rocky-esque fight training montages back at the family farm!

This is a barebones DVD release, with only a trailer being the only extra feature. Seeing how this is a real early movie in the career of Lowe, Swayze, and Keanu Reeves, I would have loved a quick interview retrospective piece or even a commentary track. Click or press here to check out this thorough oral history from The Hockey News as a worthy online alternative. This was a fun hockey film that told an interesting story about trying to break into junior league hockey, with the added paradigm of being from a Canadian perspective. Aside from the aforementioned awkward moments, the hockey action is still plenty passable. A fantastic hero/villain is established on the ice with Dean and Racki’s rivalry that rewards viewers with a tremendous end fight scene! Thank you Brad for recommending Youngblood! I think I will put this in the upper echelon of hockey films for me with Mystery, Alaska, Goon, and Sudden Death.


For more discussion on Youngblood and some of my other favorite hockey films, check out this clip where I cover it on the podcast “Big Screens & TV Streams.”

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
1917
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
The Clapper
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed I & II
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dirty Work
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grunt: The Wrestling Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
I Like to Hurt People
Indiana Jones 1-4
Inglourious Basterds
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut)
Last Action Hero
Major League
Mallrats
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nintendo Quest
Not for Resale
Old Joy
Payback (Director’s Cut)
Pulp Fiction
The Punisher (1989)
The Ref
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VIII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Serenity (2005)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Speed
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
Trauma Center
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
The Wizard
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past

1917

One of the most unique theatrical viewings I experienced was 2019’s 1917 (trailer). It was not until about 15-ish minutes in did I realize that Skyfall director, Sam Mendes, was attempting to deliver what would be a film perceived as one non-stop (minus one clear cut), continuous real-time take! Dean Charles-Chapman and George MacKay portray Lance Corporals Blake and Schofield, respectively. They are retrieved from their midday nap at the film's beginning and tasked with delivering a message to General Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch) to immediately halt launching an offensive that will certainly lead 1,600 troops marching into guaranteed death.

After they received their orders and worked their way through their base’s trenches and into No Man’s Land, I realized this was being done without any obvious camera cuts and presented in real-time. Another reason why so long went by without noticing this feat was from being swept up in the cinematic presentation of World War I. Since first seeing this in the theaters upon its release and this 4K UHD Re-watch, I have since viewed Peter Jackson’s documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which is all about the WWI lifestyle and colorizes lost/discovered WWI footage. It made so many shots come across differently on this second viewing.

Watching Blake and Schofield tiptoe and stealth their way across No Man’s Land and the enemy’s maze of trenches was a gripping experience. Seeing this in 4K made the queezy visuals of death pop off the screen as they worked their way past fallen soldiers and horses strewn about the middle ground. Things take a sudden turn when just under halfway through the film when Blake is slain by an enemy, and now Schofield, who until this point was portrayed as meek and reluctant, must deliver the orders on his own. That scene is tremendous; seeing the instant wave of emotions that rush across Schofield’s face in mere seconds and realizing how the mission parameters have drastically changed is one of many powerful moments in the film.

Following Schofield’s newfound determination to make haste to his destination is a deceptively long journey as he, shortly after that, tags along with a squadron of soldiers. Blake then makes his way across a series of ruins while being pursued by the enemy before ultimately making it to his final destination at the last possible moment in a heroic dash across the battlefield that leaps to life with an uplifting score. MacKay’s facials from beginning to end are in a class of their own that puts the exclamation point on pivotal scenes like Blake’s aforementioned demise, especially the frenzied look on his face when barreling through allied ranks to deliver the orders to General MacKenzie in time. In the closing moments, Schofield tracks down Blake’s brother to relay the heartbreaking news of his sibling’s death and then briefly walks off to sit down and take in his trek while reflecting on his family photos. It is a goosebump-inducing scene I found myself rewinding to take in repeatedly and serve as a superbly produced endpoint to an outstanding film from beginning to end.

The 4K and BluRay discs in this combo pack have the same extra features. There are two commentary tracks: one with the director, Sam Mendes, and the other with director of photography, Roger Deckins. I took in the Mendes commentary, and while soft-spoken, he has an abundance of production stories, insights, and reflections with few, if any, noticeable lulls in his track. Some commentary moments that stood out were putting his 007 production knowledge to good use here. Mendes has plenty to say about all the performances in the film and was respectfully introspective on the movie’s closing moments. There are five behind-the-scenes extras totaling around 40 minutes in length. Two are must-watches: Allied Forces: Making 1917 elucidates the state-of-the-art camera work that made the “one-take film” possible, and In the Trenches details MacKay and Chapman immersing themselves in their roles and look back at their time on set.

Looking over at my real-time notes for the film, I wrote down in all caps, with multiple exclamation points, “FUCK YEAH!!” at the end of my notes. That is likely the only time I ever did that in the several hundred entries I crafted for this website in the past decade. Let that speak for itself! If it was not apparent by now, 1917 held up marvelously from the couple of years I held off on its rewatch. Watching this again in 4K is the way to go, and I can see how the film won its Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, and Cinematography. If you have held off this long on 1917, do not dismiss its “one-take” nature as a cheap trick to lure people in; it is a work-of-art through-and-through and not just a good war film, but an undeniable instant classic.

If you want even more 1917 coverage from me, check out this clip where I review it on the podcast “Big Screens & TV Streams.”

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
The Clapper
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed I & II
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dirty Work
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grunt: The Wrestling Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
I Like to Hurt People
Indiana Jones 1-4
Inglourious Basterds
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut)
Last Action Hero
Major League
Mallrats
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nintendo Quest
Not for Resale
Old Joy
Payback (Director’s Cut)
Pulp Fiction
The Punisher (1989)
The Ref
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VIII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Serenity (2005)
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Speed
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
Trauma Center
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
The Wizard
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past