 Review by Patrick Hodges This may be one of the shortest reviews I’ve ever written. The reason for this is simple: there really is nothing much to say about this film. This film is based on a video game - and that, right there, should tell you all you need to know. It is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, the same guy who did Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave, and the woeful VG-adaptation Doom. It stars Smallville’s Kristin Kreuk as the titular Chun-Li, a girl who trains in martial arts after her father is abducted by a vicious gangster named Bison (Neal McDonough). Tutoring her is the mysterious Gen (Robin Shou, who you may remember from another VG-adaptation, Mortal Kombat). There are a few other familiar faces in the cast: the beefy Michael Clarke Duncan plays Balrog, Bison’s #1 henchman, and Terminator: Salvation’s Moon Bloodgood stars as a detective who is trying to help bring Bison to justice. There are a few good fight scenes, but nothing special and nothing you haven’t seen before in a dozen other B-grade action flicks. The acting, as you can imagine, is nothing to write home about, and honestly, Neal McDonough, who has done MUCH better, is about a 2 out of 10 on a scale of convincingly menacing bad guys. The ending is also as predictable as you can imagine. If you were a player of the video game, your quarter probably would have ran out long before you reached the end. 2 / 5 stars (and that’s being generous) |
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