If you're watching a video game movie expecting anything but an embarrassing amount of cheese, you are most likely doing it wrong. While the release of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" has been a considerable improvement over past adaptations in the eyes of many, the mere mention of video game movies is still seen, in many circles, as the terminal Monkey's Paw: a twisted aberration of fate.
But although there are movies that would traditionally be considered better than the ones listed below in a traditional sense, I am one of those to embrace the cheese; let's be fair: the concept of a video game movie adaptation is innately the premise of a disaster scenario.
Without further ado, here are the Best Worst Video Games Movies.
Raul Julia took the role of Bison in Street Fighter for one reason:
his children simply loved the video game franchise.
He was battling terminal cancer.
Street Fighter: The Movie (1994)
This movie had everything for its commercial success: Jean-Claude Van
Damme and Raul Julia, a cast of main actors famously known for their
critical acclaim. Jean-Claude Van Damme was - at the time - struggling
with a $10,000-a-week cocaine problem that caused quite a stir with its
director Steven E. de Souza.
Memorable moments include tongue-in-cheek humor that sat well even by
today's standards.
This caused his character, the American hero "Guile," to not appear as
much as Souza would have potentially wanted him to. As a result, more
scenes featuring the rest of the cast were mismatched in between scenes
to make up for the lost time. Van Damme was understandably toxic to work
with, excused for his drug and drinking abuse of the time.
"Quick, change the channel!"
Similar to the second entry of the video game series, the plot revolves around a group of allied militia infiltrating the criminal "Shadaloo" organization, led by its dictator, M. Bison, played by the late Raul Julia. In this adaptation, the American hero "Guile", played by Van Damme, serves as our main character, as opposed to the more iconic Shotokan fighter "Ryu". However, the entire cast is there, including the villainous "Four Heavenly Kings of Shadaloo" and all of the World Warriors; fan-favorites are spread between protagonists teaming up with Colonel Guile and antagonists under M. Bison's iron grip.
The looser adaptation of a yet nonexistent video game plot had seemingly angered gamers and critics back in 1994, much like the Darker and Edgier "Mario Bros." movie, released only a year prior. The mid-90s were a year of experimentation for video game movies, which proved to be a failed experiment, ultimately spawning its own genre of cult classics.
Backstories of our World Warriors were messy, characters and their personalities were poorly adapted, such as the unfortunate Dhalsim, now a scientist. Steven E. de Souza, known for writing Die Hard, Commando, and Judge Dredd, had little experience with a newer video game culture. Video games were at the time remembered only for their gameplay, a media relatively shunned by the film industry.
"World Warrior" Dhalsim is portrayed as a mere scientist,
instead of a spiritual, limb-extending Yoga fighter.
In retrospect, we believe that Steven E. de Souza's decision to adopt
the "action-comedy" genre was the right call. Many of the over-the-top
comedic scenes and cheesy acting associated with the genre caused its
unfavorable reception by enthusiasts of the video game series - and for
what!
Despite his unfamiliarity with the "Street Fighter" franchise, Steven E.
de Souza's screenwriting genius definitely shows in his signature
tongue-in-cheek scenes, such as the iconic "Tuesday" remembered by all
Street Fighter fans, some of whom have never even seen the movie in
question.
"For me, it was Tuesday"
With most of its cast having next to no martial art background, let
alone experience in action movies, fight scenes were often
embarrassingly wacky, even to the point of being comparable to
slapstick. Camera angles are therefore abused, shifting every few
seconds to create a false sense of speed for the audience, but this
approach was unsuccessful. Camera cut-offs are often awkward, and we can
see how this movie served as a directorial debut for Steven E. de
Souza. Fight scenes notably excluded characters' special moves - Ryu's
"Hadoken" or Guile's "Sonic Boom" are nowhere to be found.
Many of the action scenes rely upon the excessive use of extreme close-ups.
A video game by the same name - "Street Fighter the Movie" - was
released subsequently in 1995, a few months after the movie's cinematic
release. Its Arcade version, inspired by Mortal Kombat, was developed by
Incredible Technologies. Capcom released their console version much
later on PlayStation and Saturn. While the arcade version is still
enjoyed as a distinct entry, the console counterpart was poorly received
for stripping the newer combat mechanics implemented in its arcade
original. Both games introduced a new character, not appearing in the
movie, called "Blade," and omitted the characters T. Hawk and Dhalsim. A
laughable adaptation of "Akuma" was hastily added late into its
development, albeit not being in the movie. Introduced late in 1994 in
Super Street Fighter II Turbo, shortly after the movie's release,
developers felt pressured to include the new secret character to compete
with its newest edition.
Digitized actors from the films were used for sprites
We love the movie, just as we love "Die Hard" or any Steven E. de Souza
movies. They aren't the best-written movies, nonetheless enjoyable
jocose comedy action movies. Raul Julia's role in the movie was a labor
of love that ultimately showed through his performance, stealing the
spotlight of even the more popular Jean Claude Van Damme. We believe the
movie to have its faults, yet many qualities which clearly went
uncredited by unforgiving critics of its time.
The movie ends on an easter egg, a freeze-frame shows each of the protagonist's
respective "win-pose" from the Street Fighter 2 arcade game, reminding the viewer
that this movie is meant to be but a light-hearted action comedy movie.
