Street Fighter (1994)

Street Fighter 2 was a video game that not only rekindled interest in the arcades during the 90s, but spawned an entire new genre of video gaming. SF2 was filled with a wide assortment of characters with a diverse range of fighting styles. Naturally the potential to create a wild martial arts film from such a game would be huge!

...Except that there is very little hand-to-hand combat in this movie. In its place is loads of lackluster military "drama" and vehicle chase scenes. (Superboat cruising through Thailand! STREET FIGHTER!) This *would* explain the subsequent GI Joe tie-ins, though.

Mistake #2 would be the insane casting. Guile, who is now the focal point of the story, is played by none other Jean-Claude Van Damme. Apparently, he's from the Belgian part of America. His arch-nemesis, M.Bison is played by the late Raul Julia, and God rest his soul he tries to spark the movie up with amazing levels of ham. The "star" power is rounded out by actress-slash-model Kylie Minogue as British agent Cammy.

Mistake #3: The inexplicable rewriting of the rest of the supporting cast. Ryu (constantly pronounced Rye-You throughout the film) and Ken are now second-tier weapons dealers, swindling the Shadowloo baddies and grudgingly sticking to the Action Film Buddies template. The rest of the cast is equally unrecognizable from their in-game counterparts, but eventually develop through the movie. And by "develop" I mean their costumes gradually shift to something more resembling their videogame outfits, rather than actual characterization & dialogue.

MEMORABLE DIALOGE

(Guile, inspiring the troops) I'm going to get in my boat... and I'm going to go up river... and I'm going to *kick* that sonovabitch Bison's ass so hard, that the next Bison-wannabe is going to feel it. So who wants to go home... and WHO WANTS TO GO WITH ME!

(Bison, to the captive Chun Li) For you, the day I wiped out your village was the most important day of your life... but for me, it was Tuesday.

GRATUITIOUS REFERENCE TO THE ACTUAL GAME

Guile and Cammy are cruising to Bison's fortress is the super stealth boat they copped from Thunder In Paradise, and Bison is about to assault him with his advanced underwater mine system... that runs on the joystick & six-button control set-up of the SF games.

Double Dragon (1994)

Double Dragon was another popular beat-em-up of the time, and this time its movie counterpart stays closer to its roots. An earthquake has ravished Los Angeles, and is now overrun with gangs composed of extras from Mad Max. The gangs report to a single crime lord and only a pair of martial artist twin brothers are bad enough to take them down!

Once again, the casting and script are what make this game-to-movie conversion insane. Billy is played by Scott Wolf, the guy who'd go on to be known as That Guy from "Party of Five". Jimmy is Mark Dacascos, who'd go on to be the Chairman of Iron Chef America and Eric Draven in the Crow TV series. Mystical crime lord Koga Shuko (...) is played by Robert Patrick, the guy best known as T-1000. The unusually empowered Marian is portrayed by Alyssa Milano, post-Who's the Boss, pre-soft core porn.

The plot, video game roots aside, also follows a pair of trademark action movie tropes. The Lee's attractive Asian mentor dies at the hands of Shuko and they swear REVENGE! (tm) Also, she was guarding one half of the mystic Double Dragon Amulet (Think it gives +3 Armor Class...) and the twins must keep it away from Shuko, who has the other half, at all costs. Here's a rule of thumb if you ever find out that you have half of an Awesome Artifact that some despot is trying to combine with his half: DESTROY YOUR HALF. It would save a lot of trouble.

MEMORABLE DIALOGE

(Billy) "My whole life just flashed before my eyes... ...dude, I sleep a lot."
(Koga Shuko) "I just want domination of one major American City! Is that too much to ask for? Is it, is it?"

GRATUITIOUS REFERENCE TO THE ACTUAL GAME

Billy's facing the now fully powered Shadow Lord Koga Shuko and has been cornered in the Power Corps gang headquarters-arcade. And wouldn't you know it he backs right into a Double Dragon game cabinet.

There's plenty more video game cinema out there, but you'll have to tune in next time for some more two tokens worth. OR... you can visit your local video rental shop and explore their discount galleries and experience them first-hand. For now, I'm signing off, and patiently awaiting the announcement of the Duck Hunt movie.
 

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