One could say simply this: at least it's not Paul Anderson's Resident Evil, right? The 1994 Street Fighter is a movie anyone who grew up in the 80s (or maybe even the 70s) have seen at least once, either against their will kicking and screaming or with a bunch of friends laughing and yucking it up - or maybe even legitimate die-hard fans of the video-game, one of the definitive fighting games. It may have been impossible for there to ever be a good Street Fighter movie (and lets not kid ourselves, this is far from the Sonny Chiba Street Fighter in terms of just the fights themselves let alone the story), but perhaps we got the Street Fighter we deserved. It's colorful, crazy, a little random and even a little epic thanks to the BIG if inferior-to-Schwarzenegger presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Also very good is the decidedly one-note Raul Julia who did this as his last movie as one for his kids.
So, what to criticize then if I'm trying to be fair? How about the completely non-sensical and basically militaristic plot, the weird blue camouflage gear made up as if the soldiers are fighting in the sea, the ill-attempts at comedy and the overwhelming bits of unintentional comedy, or just the cheesy make-up done for that guy in green with the orange hair? There's no limit to what to criticize, but at the same time Street Fighter is non-threatening in that way that sometimes bad movies can be. It arrives with a thud, and does some damage, but you can't say that you didn't have a little fun... unless, of course, you're looking for a really good video game movie, which is almost redundant at this point of modern cinematic history.
