Street Fighter Legacy – Short Film Review

To begin I would like to say all week I have been anticipating this, which is mighty impressive as I was never a massive fan of the games. Let me start by saying for a low budget short film the graphics are actually quite impressive; the opening dream sequence and both special attacks from our favourite double team. For a short film how it holds itself well, there is a strong narrative and a distinct journey throughout, although the ending is left open this is a positive thing. Now we can speculate about another short film? Perhaps a feature length film to follow? Open endings only ever lead to good things!

The fighting has been well choreographed and though out, all the attacks appear like moves from a video game and including the specials was a nice touch as its something every gamer – or anyone with any knowledge of the games – wants to see. The two actors likeness to the characters is stunning, some may complain Ryu is too Chinese as the character is more Japanese within the game, but please people; lets not get bulked down by semantics!

Now obviously this has to be compared to the feature length film with Jean Claude Van Dam it and do I even dare to say: it’s what the movie should have been? Yes I do dare! In Legacy Ryu and Ken are the focus, with a cameo appearance from Akuma at the beginning which set the scene nicely however in Street Fighter it follows Guile and his rag tag team raid on M. Bison in Shadaloo.

Does the music used rings bells for anyone? I believe it should as it is the theme song from the game, a nice nod to its roots there I believe from a director who obviously cares about where the film comes from before he aims for where it will go to. This short film has an almost John Woo feel about it; the shot of nature and setting contrasting with the action that quickly follows, and of course the rain. John Woo loves his symbolism, like the dove in Mission Impossible II, this battle in the rain could be a scene directly pulled from one of his flims.

My one and only criticism is a few minor inconsistencies with continuity, after a kick to the throat Ken stumbles back with dirt covering his neck. Then we see him deflect a roundhouse jump kick from Ryu and he is clean, not a speck of dirt to be seen. This however can be pulled off and explained away no doubt through its game heritage, within the games their appearance never changes during a battle no matter how much of a beating they take.

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