By Jeremy Azevedo

So I’m sure some of you must have heard that there is a new Street Fighter movie in development with a target release date of 2009, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li”. For those of you that haven't heard, please take a moment for the ZOMFG to sink in. Finished? Okay...

Typically, movies based on video games don’t fare too well, and movies based on video games that are not particularly plot heavy tend to be even more problematic. And let’s also not forget that a previous attempt at a live-action Street Fighter movie was generally considered by most to be an outright disaster.

Despite all this, accomplished action movie director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Cradle 2 The Grave, Exit Wounds, Romeo Must Die) is signed on to the project, which is being produced by Twentieth Century Fox. A partial cast list has been released, so we’ve made our best guesses as to what parts everyone will be playing.



We already know that Kristen Kreuk (Smallville) has been cast in the titular role as Chun Li. Focusing on the plot line of this one character is probably the best news yet for fans of the series, as Chun Li has one of the most coherent plotlines in the canon.



Chris Klein has been cast as Nash, which is the Japanese name for the character we know as Charlie. Charlie is a war buddy of Guile’s that Chun Li is tracking because of his undercover connection with M. Bison, the man Chun Li seeks to enact revenge for the murder of her father.



Michael Clarke Duncan will be playing the part of Balrog, one of M. Bison’s personal bodyguards. MCD is always good, too bad He'll probably have a pretty small role in this.



Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas is cast in the film as well. One can only assume that he will be playing Vega. He’s got long, luxurious hair, and his face is probably best covered up with a mask. Really, the dude is unfortunate looking.



Rick Yune will be playing the part of Gen, the kung fu master that trained Chun Li. Which is weird because Gen is supposed to be like 100 years old but whatever.



Edmund Chen will most likely be playing the part of Ryu, and will very likely be developed into some sort of love interest for Chun Li.



I’m going to guess that Moon Bloodgood will be Cammy, the brainwashed clone enforcer of M. Bison that Chun Li has run ins with throughout the series. This would keep in line with the military/Shadowloo (M. Bison’s criminal organization) theme of the film that seems to be developing.

 

The only other actor that has not already been assigned a character is Pei-pei Cheng. The only obvious role for her would have to be Sakura. Sakura is a plucky young fan of Ryu that could serve as a comical sidekick and strengthen the connection between Chun Li and Ryu.

We still don’t know who will be playing M. Bison. Personally, I’d be pulling for Gary Oldman, myself. Or Clive Owen, it’s about time he played a really bad guy. Henry Rollins would be rad. The Rock may as well be Sagat now that Dolph Lundgren is getting a bit oldish. Owen Wilson as Ken would be funny, and I wouldn’t mind Jason Statham as Guile if he got some hair plugs for his bald-ass head. But let’s just leave the really corny characters out of this one, what do you say? That means no Blanka, E. Honda, Zangief or Dhalsim. This movie is guaranteed to be better without any green, hairy men or sumo wrestlers showing up for absolutely no goddamn reason like in the last Street Fighter movie.