Take a break from work: watch a trailer…
This may be the most generic trailer I’ve ever seen. What’s the story? Who are the people living the story? What’s the movie actually about? Can it really be actually about anonymous people engaging in hand-to-hand combat, with the occasional instance of stuff blowing up?
Of course that’s what it can actually be about. Because this is based on video game. So perhaps it’s not an accident that the voiceover in the trailer keeps talking about “you”: what “you” do, what “you” think, what “you” feel. Because “you” are always the star of a video game. But you’d think that filmmakers have learned by now that “you” doesn’t work as the star of a movie. Apparently, this is a lesson yet to sink in.
One thing to say in favor of this trailer (and will probably be true of the movie too): It makes you appreciate the relative artistry and integrity of the oeuvres of the likes of McG and Brett Ratner.
I’m shocked, shocked that it looks like this will open next week without benefit of press screenings.
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li opens in the U.S. on February 27; no U.K. release date has been announced yet.
Makes one wistful for the halcyon days of Jean-Claude Van Damme films…
Oh, come on, Paul, this has GOT to be better than the movie that killed Raul Julia. “Of course!” “This is merely superconducting electromagnetism- surely you’ve heard of it?” And the immortal “Who wants to go home- and who wants to go with me!”
Incidentally, Van Damme’s stirring speech about ignoring the U.N. and overthrowing another country’s government because they’re really bad may have been thrilling, if ridiculous, back in the 90’s, but after having a president who did exactly that, it’s downright disturbing.
aaaaaand here comes the prerequisite video game defense:
Please don’t generalize. I have played plenty of games with better stories and characters than a lot of movies Hollywood puts out. Obviously, you are not a gamer. Just so you know, it’s not ALL about running around and blowing things up. Like a lot of other things in this world, they have “evolved” into something greater. Not all of them, mind you. Plenty allow “you” to run around and kill things mindlessly. I tend not to play those, though.
I do wonder about the Chun Li business. I take it “They” are trying to appeal to the “young, stupid, male who will see anything” crowd.
Oops. Another casualty of Hollywood’s war on free advertising.