Fridae

Even after two terrible movies based on the ultra-successful videogame Street Fighter, the producers somehow felt the world hasn't had enough. So they've now come up with Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li, a movie so awful that several patrons walked out less than halfway through during last week's preview.

The lovely Kristin Kreuk, Smallville's Lana, stars as Chun Li the concert pianist in America whose father is kidnapped by evil ninjas. Years later, she comes across a mysterious ancient scroll which instructs her to look for a man named Gen in Bangkok. Without any hesitation, she jumps on a flight to the city. (Um, why?)

She also forgets to bring money, hence had to beg on the streets. One night, she is attacked by gangsters and miraculously manages to fight them off with her excellent martial arts skills. A man then reveals himself as Gen (Robin Shou) and offers to be her guru so she can fight bad people and stuff.

Now, many of us have played the videogame. It involves two fighters go mano-a-mano, each one possessing a set of kicks, punches and special moves design to annihilate his or her opponent.

Strangely, the movie adaptations of Street Fighter always try to create a Proper Plot around the characters at the expense of actual fight sequences. The 1994 live version with Jean-Claude Van Damme was memorable for its lack of fighting sequences, while the new version features some of the worst fighting choreography we've ever seen. And let's not forget about the childish script, uneven acting and limp direction.

Speaking of direction, helmer Andrzej Bartkowiak's previous works were Romeo Must Die, Cradle 2 The Grave and Doom, horrible movies with ominous titles that may describe his career. Street Fighter? Probably more like Shit Fighter.