The late, great Raul Julia plays an insane dictator named M. Bison who rules the roost in "Shadaloo", a fictional South Asian country. Currently he's holding a bunch of hostages for a staggering 20 billion dollars, and is at work on a process of turning ordinary soldiers into inhuman fighting beasts. Fortunately, he is opposed by the dedicated heroes of the "Allied Nations", led by Colonel Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Other characters caught up in the melee include hustlers Ken (Damian Chapa) & Ryu (Byron Mann), and a reporter named Chun-Li (eternally gorgeous Ming-Na Wen) who can't be taken at face value.
Big budget adaptation of the popular Capcom video game throws in everything but the kitchen sink for the sake of an entertaining show. Don't even bother attempting to watch it if you want to be intellectually stimulated or want anything resembling "high art". It's purely for action fans who want to be dazzled by spectacle (although not necessarily fans of the game). It's got plenty to keep it lively: hilariously tacky sets, an over the top nature, tons of explosions, vibrant widescreen photography, and some colourful characters. Subtle it ain't, but it is amusing, even if lacking the real wit one would expect from debuting director Steven E. de Souza, whose credits as a screenwriter include "48 Hrs." and "Commando". As you can see, de Souza gives it some semblance of a story, instead of just having one fight after another, which is what you might expect of a video game adaptation.
The international cast features some classy thespians like Julia, Simon Callow, and Roshan Seth, in addition to familiar faces like Australian songbird Kylie Minogue, Grand L. Bush of "Die Hard", Miguel A. Nunez Jr. of "The Return of the Living Dead", and Andrew Bryniarski (Leatherface in two of the more recent "Texas Chain Saw" pictures). Ordinarily it would be depressing to watch an esteemed actor like Julia in their cinematic swan song (especially since Julia clearly looks ill), but he definitely seemed determined to go out in a blaze of glory, and he makes M. Bison a wonderfully grandiose, scenery devouring bad guy. Van Damme is good, and charismatic, as usual, but he can't help but look bland in comparison. Ms. Wen is a delight.
Is this a "good" movie? This viewer is not going to go out of his way to make a case for it being one, but it's damn entertaining. Sometimes that's all that matters.
Eight out of 10.
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