Hmmm, I was hoping to see Gouken and Akuma go at it.
It would be a fun fight to see, but I don't believe the movie is really about this conflict, as strange as that may sound.
Okay, so here's what I thought. Long review, mostly really good. Excuse any spelling errors or weird phrasing. Typing this as I think of it with minimal editing. That may come later.
The acting is stronger than I would have expected for a production like this. In some cases, it's surprisingly good. Old Gouken does an amazing job in this movie. It's like the second coming of Ken Watanabe. He plays the role very well. Probably my favorite scene in the entire movie is when he summons Ken into the dojo and forces him to tell the truth about where he learned the Satsui No Hado technique.
As we see later, Gotetsu would have probably yelled at his students and been hard on them for doing things they weren't supposed to do. But when Gouken gets Ken to admit to the pamphlet, he becomes surprisingly emotional and is all but begging him not to talk to Ryu about it. It's a pretty powerful moment, and it shows the subtle depths of the character as envisioned here.
Gouken's a deeply tormented person inside, and while he can be a taciturn master, he is also a compassionate father figure. Confronted with certain dilemmas, he will reveal his inner fears. In fact, rather than being mysterious and demanding that his students simply obey his commands without question, he actually opens up to them while sitting around a fireplace and answers all of their questions without reservation. The movie never directly says it, but it's clearly shown that Gouken needs his students in order to be a complete human being. It's touching, and far more complex than I could have ever hoped for out of a production inspired by Street Fighter. Gouken in this movie, by himself, is a better interpretation than pretty much every other video game adaptation to live film I've ever seen.
The best character in the movie, however, may surprise you. It's not Gouken or Ryu or Sayaka or any of the rest. The best character in the movie, and the character that this film is really
about is
Ansatsuken itself.The movie has a very unusual narrative flow. It's not a movie about any of the people in it. It's more about the martial art of Ansatsuken, how different people deal with the burden of responsibility it puts on them, how bystanders are affected by it and what it means to each of them. The movie is, astonishingly, a very philosophical look at Ansatsuken, and the spiritualism and realism, in the sense of primacy, that they bestow on everyone affected by it. This is a highly subtle approach to take towards a movie based on a video game about people fighting each other, but I think it's the best way they could have gone. This movie, like all the best martial arts movies, tells the audience why fighting even matters to these people, why they do it and how it affects them. It's not just an excuse for highly overpriced and overboring fight scenes of no consequence. The scene where Ryu and Ken are trying to summon the Hado power for the first time is more meaningful and relevant to the story than in most other action oriented fare where these sequences are so much sound and fury amounting to nothing. The philosophical approach to this film will fly over Joe Average Movie Goer's head. It's a daring direction for this film to go in, and one that I think results in a martial arts film with real substance. There are probably a lot of fans of the game series that will not be able to grasp what makes this movie work. This, ultimately, is why I don't need to see a Gouken-Gouki showdown: at its heart, I really don't feel the movie is building towards that conflict. That conflict is just a consequence of all of these people being affected by Ansatsuken in different ways.
It helps that the rest of the cast is very solid as well, and other than a few clumsy instances of scripting, the actors play their roles very well and have believable dialogue. The direction for these actors is actually very solid at times. When Gouken first shows Ryu and Ken the power of the Hadoken, the camera angle makes sure you see their awed expressions and body language as they bear witness to powers they never knew their master was capable of. There are also other subtle moments as well, such as when Ryu and Ken are sitting atop the dojo while Ken explains his decision to stay until his training is done. The body language in the direction really helps in so many instances.
There are also a number of good visual cues that the director is careful to make sure are included. Things such as the bridge that Ryu and Ken cross in the first episode on their way to the old dojo and then showing that same bridge as Gouki crosses it in a flashback sequence later on, or of the varying states of the old dojo based on the time period; in the past, it's still very well maintained but in 'present day' 1989, there are holes in the paper walls and the place has a more run down appearance.
The easter eggs and nods to Street Fighter an video game culture in general are appreciated, and don't get in the way of enjoying the story. Most of the signature moves are well represented and flow naturally within the fight choreography of more conventional martial arts. As for the choreography itself, it's very good, the action is simultaneously fast and easy to track, and it's really what Hollywood needs more of. There are very few quick cuts between blows, although they occur more often during Gotetsu's duel with Gouki, likely due to the age of the actor playing Gotetsu. But for the most part, the action is satisfying and stands on its own; even if the signature Street Fighter moves weren't included, they'd be entertaining duels. They're not ridiculously over the top and they don't need to be: the film has gone to such great lengths to make us care about the characters, that each fight means something. We, as an audience, understandably become more invested in the battles as a result, and don't need spectacle to be engaged.
The comedy bits are light and are mostly hit or miss, but there is never anything that is flat out bad or unfunny. One of the most amusing elements of the film is the old fisherman that watches Ryu and Ken spar by the lake. He cheers his fellow countryman Ryu on, shouting encouragement at ever turn and then snapping on Ken and insulting him nearly non stop. The old man can insult Ken and praise Ryu in the same sentence, and these moments come off as really funny and strangely economical.
It's a bit much, however, when Ryu and Ken receive a copy of Megaman 2 to play in their spare time, but that's almost a homage to Sakura's background in Street Fighter Alpha 2, which shows her brother playing Final Fight inside the house. There's something quaint and charming about these two guys sitting down to play a Nintendo game on a 15" color TV. And the scene gets even more charming in a cheesy way when Gouken tells them he'd beat them both at it. It's purely fan service and taken on that level is acceptable. On any other level, it's pure cheese and maybe too light and
meta a sequence for a film otherwise very well grounded in its storytelling sensibilities.
The production values are solid, but nothing to really get too excited about. Some effects, such as the Hadoken and Flaming Shoryuken, are pretty well done, but some of the more otherworldly effects shots, such as Gouki's more explosive Satsui No Hado powers, are clearly limited in their scope and breadth. It's not damaging to the overall enjoyment of the production, but the drop in quality is certainly noticeable. The sets are mostly wide open Japanese plains or forests, and the majority of the footage is shot either by the side of a lake or in and around one of two martial arts dojos.
The soundtrack is solid, but like the effects are nothing to truly cherish or celebrate. Most of it is deep and resonant mood music that sets the tone but doesn't really speak about itself beyond being a prop for the films. It's not something you'd listen to separate from the flick unless you were a fan of Hans Zimmer scores or if you were a really big fan of this movie or Street Fighter in general. The most memorable tracks are, obviously, the reiterations of familiar tunes SF fans have heard many, many times. Of course you'd hear these tracks in a Street Fighter film. If you didn't, the movie would be missing something.
The movie's not perfect, however, and this is to be expected. There are times where I feel that as a tightly explored narrative, it loses its focus. the most jarring sequence that doesn't seem to fit in anywhere is the scene where Ken's father comes back to bring him home and then spars with Ryu and Ken. As it turns out, Ken's father was a boxer in his day and he was likely a very good one. It just seems like an odd scene to include in this particular narrative, like cutting room floor footage that the director couldn't bear to leave out. Ken's relationship with his father
is worth exploring as long as it's handled in the same thoughtful manner as most of the subject matter in the movie, but it just doesn't feel like there's enough time to show any of it and give it the gravity it needs to feel less invasive and more an organic part of the story. Ken's rebellious nature
should be explored, but the movie doesn't do the best job of examining it, given how much it's already trying to deal with.
For the most part, this is a movie I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in compelling characters, well executed character dynamics, martial arts philosophy or fans of the game series that are into the 'zen' of the Street Fighter mythology. In my view, it's one of the best attempts to explain why Ryu is the main character and not the boring protagonist many see him as. Street Fighter 3 Ryu Final is still, in my opinion, the ultimate Ryu/Ansatsuken story and the best Ryu story of all time, but this is a pretty good runner up.
4 out of 5 stars. Taken for what it is, it's a marvelous accomplishment.
