One of the great cinematic experiences of my life was seeing Street Fighter: The Movie in theaters back in 1994. Rather than try to describe the thrill, I'll just suggest you watch this clip:
Besides being one of the best bad movies of all time, Street Fighter has the distinction of having embarrassed poor ol' Raul Julia to death. Fourteen years later, the videogame franchise isn't as popular as it was in the '90s, but with two new games on the horizon, the brand's poised for a rebirth, which must be why they're trampling on sacred ground with a new Street Fighter movie. Smallville's Kristen Kreuk takes the lead as Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen in the original, far from The Joy Luck Club); the cast also includes Michael Clark Duncan, Neal McDonough, Chris Klein and "Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas." No word on who'll supplant Jean-Claude Van Damme as All-American flag-waver Guile, but we hope it's someone with an equally heavy French accent. For more comic Street Fighter goodness, be sure to check out CollegeHumor.com's spectacular web series, Street Fighter: The Later Years. If it's all lost on you, you may be my mother, who once wondered aloud why no one would make a game called Street Poet II.