Street Fighter: Extreme Edition (1994/Universal DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: B- Feature: C-
There are
some movies that can be said to define a generation. Unfortunately, for my generation, that movie
just might be Street Fighter. Mention it to almost any twenty-something and
you’re likely to get a chuckle and either “That’s a terrible movie,” “That’s an
awesome movie,” or very likely both. Now
don’t get me wrong, this movie is poorly acted, poorly written, and wallowing
waist-deep in absurdity. But it also
possibly evokes the most nostalgia out of any film from the early 1990s, second
only to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Street Fighter is based on one of the most
popular videogame franchises ever, and if there ever was a strategic time to
re-release the film, it’s now. Capcom
has just released the first new non-crossover Street Fighter game since 2001,
“Street Fighter IV.” In addition, a new
movie was just released in select theaters, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. The extra features on this disc make no qualms
about plugging the new game with two trailers and another for the latest
animated series. The extras also feature
recorded matches from two of the classic games.
The
picture has very clearly been restored, especially when compared to footage
used in the special features, and it really does look good. The sound is decent as well, though some of
the dialogue recorded in post is as bad now as it was fifteen years ago. The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.
The rest
of the extras not mentioned above include feature commentary by the director,
behind-the-scenes footage mislabeled as “outtakes,” two deleted scenes, two
storyboard sequences, and a plethora of stills galleries including promotional
images, pictures from the set, concept art, and merchandising tie-ins. There are also two “Cyberwalks,” one is simply
an extended scene, and the other is humorous look at the propaganda that
populated the background scenery of the film. And finally, there is a laughably bad
“Making-of” featurette that looks as though it may have been included as an
extra at the end of the original VHS release boasting, “Bigger than life
heroes, larger than life stars!”
The
overabundance of extra features is indicative of several things. The first is the disc’s timely re-release. The second is extreme degree of nostalgia
attached to this film. And the third is
the need to create an impetus to buy the film rather than just watch it on
cable syndication where it airs at least once a month.
Now I,
and just about anyone else my age will be the first to tell you that Street Fighter is a really terrible
movie. However, we grew up watching it, and we grew up playing the games, and
it has left its mark on us as surely as early MTV did on the age group before
us, and Howdy Doody did on our
parents.
- Matthew Carrick
