Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist

Plot synopsis:
In the Southeast Asian nation of Shadaloo City, civil war has erupted between the forces of crazed military dictator General M. Bison (Raul Julia) and the Allied Nations, a multinational military force, led by their regional commander, Colonel William F. Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Bison has recently captured several A.N. relief workers, and via a live two-way radio broadcast, demands Guile secure a US$20 billion ransom in three days or else face responsibility for the hostages' deaths. Guile refuses and vows to track Bison down, but his assistant, Sergeant Cammy (Kylie Minogue) is only partially able to pinpoint Bison's location to the river-delta region outside the city. One of the hostages is Guile's close friend, Carlos "Charlie" Blanka (Robert Mammone), who Bison orders taken to his lab for his captive witch doctor, Dhalsim (Roshan Seth), to turn into the first of his supersoldiers. Though Charlie is severely disfigured by the procedure, Dhalsim secretly alters his cerebral programming to maintain Charlie's humanity.
Meanwhile, travelling con artists Ryu Hoshi (Byron Mann) and Ken Masters (Damian Chapa) attempt to swindle arms dealer Viktor Sagat (Wes Studi) by providing him with fake weaponry. Sagat sees through the ruse and has Ryu fight his cage champion, Vega (Jay Tavare), but the fight is interrupted when Guile bursts in and arrests everyone present for violating a curfew. In the prison grounds, Guile witnesses Ryu and Ken fighting against Sagat's men, and recruits them to help him find Bison in exchange for their freedom, since Sagat is Bison's arms supplier. They are entrusted with a homing device and win Sagat's trust by staging a prison escape and faking Guile's death. However, reporter Chun-Li (Ming-Na Wen) and her crew, former sumo wrestler E. Honda (Peter Tuiasosopo) and boxer Balrog (Grand L. Bush), all of whom desire vengeance on Bison and Sagat, stumble across the plan, and, over Guile's objections, attempt to assassinate Bison and Sagat at a party. In order to maintain Bison's trust, Ryu and Ken stop the assassination and reveal Chun Li, Honda, and Balrog to Bison.
Upon returning to his base, Bison inducts Ryu, Ken and Vega into his organization and orders Honda and Balrog imprisoned and Chun-Li taken to his quarters. Ryu and Ken break Balrog and Honda out of confinement and rush to confront Bison, who is fighting Chun-Li, but Bison manages to escape and unleash a sleeping gas, sedating them all. Meanwhile, Guile plans his assault on Bison's base. He is briefly impeded by the Deputy Secretary of the A.N. (Simon Callow), who informs Guile that the decision has been made to pay Bison the ransom, but Guile takes no notice and proceeds with the mission on his own. At the base, Dhalsim is found by a security guard, and a fight ensues in which Charlie is released and he kills the guard to protect Dhalsim. Guile arrives shortly thereafter and sneaks into the lab, where Charlie begins strangling him. Charlie stops when he recognizes Guile. Horrified at what his friend has become, Guile prepares to kill Charlie, to end his suffering, but Dhalsim stops him. Because the ransom was never paid, Bison prepares to kill the hostages by unleashing Charlie on them, but Guile emerges and a gunfight ensues with Guile only barely holding his own until the remaining A.N. forces arrive. After ordering Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Honda and Balrog to find and rescue the hostages, Guile engages Bison in a one-on-one duel. As Guile and Bison fight, Ryu and Ken are confronted by Sagat and Vega, and only barely manage to defeat them. Bison's computer expert, Dee Jay (Miguel A. Nunez Jr.) steals Bison's trunk of money and escapes, joined by Sagat. Bison's bodyguard, Zangief (Andrew Bryniarski), engages Honda in a vicious fight until learning from Dee Jay that Bison was the true enemy, and decides to join sides with Ryu and Ken.
Guile eventually gains the upper hand against Bison and kicks him into a bank of hard drives, delivering him a fatal electric shock, but a revival system restores Bison and he reveals that his suit is powered by electromagnetism which enables him to fly and fire electricity from his knuckles. Bison takes control of the fight and eventually moves to deal the death blow, but Guile counters with a well-timed roundhouse kick that sends Bison crashing into his gigantic monitor wall, but also causes the base's energy field to overload. The hostages are rescued, but Guile stays behind to convince Dhalsim and Charlie to return with him, though they refuse, Charlie unwilling to return to society in his condition and Dhalsim wishes to atone for his part in mutating Charlie in the first place. Guile escapes just as the base explodes and reunites with his comrades, while Sagat and Dee Jay realize the trunk was full of useless "Bison Dollars" that Bison intended to use once he had taken over the world. As the base collapses, the fighters strike their winning poses from Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.
In a post-credits scene, Bison's computer is reactivated from solar power and the revival system restores Bison again. His fist smashes through the rubble and a computer screen is shown selecting "World Domination: Replay". This scene was omitted from the theatrical release "out of deference to Raul Julia".

Tags: dramatic

Review:
It sticks to the authenticity of the game series and does a great job of portraying the street fighter characters that you loved as a child.
The story is very well scripted and is true to the video games.The origin story of Ryu and Ken is very authentic and the focus on the details makes it satisfying to watch.
As a hardcore fan of the street fighter games I hope this is the start of something great and look forward to future episodes.
Apparently, it also was Joey Ansah's, and Christian Howard's, as well as Mike Moh's!All Street Fighter fans who loved the lore and the martial arts of the game were disappointed never to be given a rich, powerful representation of Ryu and Ken on screen, except for some great anime versions.After a long wait (about 16 years for me), Joey and Christian announced that they wanted to make a live action adaptation, and after another year and a half, with hyped up expectations, their team unleashed Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist onto the world.
More of Gouken, Akuma, Ken and a lot more of Ryu, knowing where the story can take us from here!The most imposing actors in the movie for me were Igawa (no surprise there) but also Akira Koieyama, who can be very impressive and compelling.
The image gives off a warm vibe, a strength of colours which just feels good to me as a viewer.I truly hope that Joey, Christian and their team will get the proper funding for many more features and will continue (soon!) to produce more of this great story on screen for us!In the meantime, I just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH JOEY, Christian, JACQUELINE, MIKE, TOGO, AKIRA, PATRICK, and all the others for the amazing work done on the show, and EVERYBODY, WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!
I believe that Street Fighter fans all over the world have been suffering for decades, waiting for a live-action movie that is done right.
From terrible casting, bad fighting scenes to a genuine lack of passion and respect to a franchise that has impacted our world in more ways than we could ever imagine.So why is Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist any different?
As a huge fan of Street Fighter, I couldn't stop reciting the sequence of every moves such as Ryu performing a great focus attack.As for the music, usually in independent productions, the music is often very generic and unoriginal.
There's no real requirement to have a die hard knowledge of the street fighter saga to enjoy this but lets be honest if your watching this series its almost certain you've played at least one of the games, and if not, by the end you will have an higher understanding of the origins of two of the most central characters that made Street Fighter one of the most recognized titles in the fighting genre.
From the actors chosen to the music and the setting of the short films, this rendition of Street Fighter is better than all of the movies made in Hollywood.
I've waited so long for a good adaptation of a fighting game movie especially street fighter and mortal kombat.
What a waste.I was kind of shocked to see who the director was and hopefully they keep that way please don't let the big time directors (no disrespect to Ansah)get their hands on this and ruin it.I was glad they went in depth Ryu,Ken, and Akuma I completely forget how he came about but still never knew that much about him even though i always thought he was one of the best characters.
By far the best SF2 movie yet n it's not even a "Big Hollywood" production..No big budget SFX or blood gore, just great martial arts fighting n I mean the actors must've studied the game moves because they have them down packed!
A brief but comprehensive history of the Ansatsuken fighting technique, the mythos that surrounds it and the destiny of 2 brothers and the paths they follow .From the masters that perfected the technique through the generations.Hollywood has traditionally failed fighting game genres like street fighter with over the top fight scenes and special effect coupled with a weak storyline.SFAF does not fall in this trap , instead focusing on the story of the fighters,the history behind them and their motivation.
The fight scenes are brilliantly done because they are integrated in a believable way, as the warriors practice and understanding of the ansatsuken technique grows.For such a low budget offering, the storyline and "feel" of street fighter is faithfully upheld and expounded upon, this is my favourite rendition yet, culminating in the rivalry and friendship of Ken and Ryu....Very well done and thank you!!!.
There are two parallel similar stories of Ken, Riy and their master Gôken in the present days and young Gôken, Gôki and their master Gôtetsu in the 50's while learning to fight "Ansatsuken" with different conclusions.Reading IMDb Ihave just found that "Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist" is indeed a TV Mini- Series.
I give 10★ for its consistency with the game, unlike most (if not all) ridiculous street fighter movies out there As the subtitle implies, the story focus on ken and ryu and the secret around their school style ansatsuken (assasin's fist), so, no u wont see street fighter tournament or it's many characters participant.The story itself been done real good and consistent with background story of the game series.
They even carefully took care of small details trivia such the gloves and headband, again, consistent with the game time line.As a fan, u could easily recognize their style 'trademark moves' when they fight, not only the 'hado' set of hadoken-shoryuken-tatsumaki but also in their 'ordinary' punch and kick or even in some stance (not in all fight).Now i cant wait to see how they will do the 2nd season.
The characters are all perfectly cast and the fight scenes are incredible; the attention to detail is so pleasing and fans will notice the fight moves are pulled straight from the game and you can tell the stars are actually trained in martial arts.
It's going to be unorthodox in the sense that at first it will seem more about me than the film, but this background is essential to explain the sheer impact this movie can have on a person (in this case, me).Anyone who knows me really well and has heard of "Street Fighter: Assassins Fist" would be surprised that I have yet to say anything about it.
The second thing I did was turn my spare bedroom into a traditional Japanese room with tatami mats and various other pieces of feudal age Japan lore (I also grew up watching jidai geki, just fyi).Now, knowing this background of myself, you can probably see that "Street Fighter: Assassins Fist" was without a doubt made for someone exactly like me.
The story line is mind blowingly epic, covering all the details we've heard of growing up watching the anime series and playing the games, tying them together in such a way that it flawlessly fits in a manner that I can only call perfection.
The whole series was epic as it decently portrayed the the two most famous fighting characters of all time, Ryu and Ken. The video game imitation of the series was also perfectly executed.
Not only did they nail the Ansatsuken fighting stlye (Ken & Ryu's martial lineage), they were able to reflect the personalities of the characters in their fights and choices of moves, whilst combining excellently choreographed scenes, with all of the moves from almost every Street Fighter game, which is an immensely difficult job!Joey Ansah did a brilliant job as director, allowing characters to explore boundaries of their personas, whilst staying true to the series, with beautiful homages to the anime move, anime series, games and so on.
Raging Demon is also quite good and so the rest of techniques.The looking of the story takes much from Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, which, to me, is one of the best SF movies ever.
Everything was explained right from the beginning so even if you have never played the game or watched anything to do with Street Fighter, this will give you what you need to know.
While the past films have focused on slapping random street fighter characters on screen showing some of their signature fighting moves just for the sake of it, this is an actual real movie involving the main street fighter characters.Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist is a web-series containing 12 short episodes chronicling the lives of Ryu, Ken, and their master Gouken.
But when I gave it a try, it blew my mind right away, like in the first seconds of the trailer!If you're a Street Fighter fan and want to watch something REALLY true to the games, then definitely you want to watch this.
The only thing keeping me from giving this movie a 10/10 is its low budget effects, and also I did not like the actor for Ryu. His acting and fighting moves were a bit underwhelming.
A lot of great scenes that SF fans like myself love to see (ie: Ryu's theme played by flute, Akuma's final fight scene, reference to Dan in the dojo, etc.) And, surprisingly, a lot of very powerful, emotional moments in this movie...
I always rate movies based on their niche, so I would not compare a fan made martial arts film inspired from a game to a Hollywood big production.
If you look carefully at the battle between Ken and Ryu you see a lot of the trademark game moves, which were carefully choreographed in a believable fighting scene, which I think is both commendable and very difficult.Now, the film is an origin story, it doesn't contain much fighting and it only concerns the two characters who had disappointingly identical fighting styles in the game: Ken and Ryu. You get the typical dojo Master/pupil story (Street Fighter Kids would have been a better title).
The storyline takes a great deal from the games & enriches it at every level, it is like many "martial arts" training segments in many ways but also takes the mythology & lore into a far deeper realisation that enriches the story exponentially, it is by doing this that the series takes on a life of its own.
The acting is very good, the casting choices were absolutely spot-on & the action was very tightly coordinated without veering too far into the ridiculous (Hado manifestations aside).It brought the Streetfighter back-story of the characters revealed to life about a thousand times better than has been done before & for a fan of movies or games this is a worthwhile view & I found it highly entertaining & can't wait for more..
This is the only street fighter movie/show I've ever seen that consistently keeps the choreography consistent with the game for every fight (for better or worse...).+Ken. He is the best part of the show, and for the most part he's fun to watch (when he's given something to do).+Acting (for most).
Maybe it works better watching it 21-minutes at a time, but I find it hard to believe it would be much more intriguing that way.Check out the anime series instead- Street Fighter 2 V.
For Street Fighters fans, its an absolute treat, Ken and Ryu are played perfectly and really feel like their video game counterparts.
"Sonic Boom" i had no hopes for this, but it was totally different!!!!This movie is a masterpiece, and the actors deserve tons of credit for not just performing well, but also because they fit the roles they are picked for perfectly.Ken and Ryu is exactly how i pictured them, and to see the plot unfold as the movie goes on is nothing but satisfying!If you even remotely enjoyed the Street Fighter game back in the glory days, then i guarantee you will enjoy this movie..
The movie depicts the Street Fighter spirit and atmosphere brilliantly and from the casting, the wardrobe, the amazing fights, well used effects, wonderful landscape and HD image, it was a feast to my eyes and kept me entertained for 2 hours in a row, begging for more.Never heard of Christian Howard, but he was the perfect choice for Ken. I would say the looks are somewhere on the SF Alpha version of Ken, with long hair and ponytail.
The guy has the looks, the physique (humanly possible of course), the moves and the charisma of Ken. I felt like i was seeing one of my favorite characters being played in a live movie.Mike Moh as Ryu, on the other hand, was harder to grow on me, perhaps because there is a notorious discrepancy on physique between the 2 of them, other than that, he was a faithful Ryu, obsessed with getting better and better on fighting, while maintaining the DO spirit all the way.
Comedy and drama were put in all the right places and i loved the old-man on the lake, always teasing Ken, but don't want to be a spoiler.I don't know how good are the martial artists in the movie, what kind of experience they have in martial arts (i have to research on it), but every move, every fighting scene is a visual feast.
Another excel role was the one from Togo Igawa (Gôtetsu), who i already had seen on Last Samurai, he also was great, giving that "Akira Kurosawa" feeling to every scene he was on.Joey Ansah's "Akuma" was a pleasant surprise, they managed to give the character the background and looks of the games, an impressive fighter that was in the center of our story, perhaps my favorite part of the script.All in all, if you are a SF fan, specially of characters like Ryu, Ken and Akuma, go and see this somewhere, it is simply put, the best Street Fighter movie ever made.I can't wait to see the sequel, meanwhile, i will just boot up my console and play SF while watching the movie again.I sure hope that if Hollywood makes a SF movie, looks upon this guys and casts every single actor in here to the role they deserve, cause they sure well deserve it..
The plot is confined to tell the story of four 'Street Fighter' characters: Goken, Akuma, Ken and Ryu. The acting is flawed, but it's good enough for this type of movie.
Finally, fight choreography is very good and very pleasant for the eye so the overall impression of "Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist" is very positive.I didn't care much about 'how true was the plot to the game?', but it looked coherent so I found it to be quite interesting.
As a fan of Street Fighter and King of Fighters, I was amazed while watching this movies.I can only hope that they could do the same for the King of Fighters, because no adaptation has ever given this game the credits it deserves.I think the fans will enjoy this series, because they will not feel that the story is disconnect like in other failed adaptations.Everything is in the game's story, so there is really no need to change it at all.
And it was nice to know how Goki became Akuma and how it all started between Ryu and Ken. Hopefully in the next Street Fighter movie sequel, they will include the story of Ken having a wife and a kid.
I've been waiting for a Street Fighter live action adaptation for ages...I mean there has been previous attempts, but that's all they were attempts, and they messed up the story so much that not even half way through those movies you'd go "What the hell???"...So after watching this feature film, I was completely blown away.
This is how a video game adapted to TV-series.Beautifully filmed, great storyline and the best thing of all the characters and their customs done perfectly.The sound effect were very good if we put to our consideration that this is a fan film with low budget.The graphic effect again very good for low budget film.The action scene were AWESOME!!
Coming from a die hard street fighter fan, EVERYTHING was perfect, from the characters, the acting, the story, the music, the fighting, the whole cinematography!
And the "Legend of Chun-Li" was at least a step in the right direction, but not really great.For a martial arts movie based on a video game, "Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist" was a snoozefest on a grand scale, and it failed to entertain me on any level.
But I always enjoyed the stories of Ken, Ryu, and Akuma.So when I found out about Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist, I was excited, but leery.
I'm no die-hard fan of Street Fighter, but I do love the animated movies/shows & I know the background stories.
What totally put me to awe was the last fighting scene of Ken and Ryu which ended with a counter move that often happened while playing the actual game-a hadouken intercepted half-way by a shoryuken.I hope the series will go on and not loose its charm, concentrating on a few fighters and sticking to a well-written story that allows the characters to develop and transport their emotion..
I love how they are all about detail I mean to even why they move like that it was just truly perfect now they made it official now when street fighter fans think about Ryu and Ken's back story I hope that they think of this.
The characters from the game are limited to ryu, ken, akuma and gouken, which is kind of a good thing as too many characters would have ruin the whole feel of the series.
Overall a must watch for Street Fighter fans who already are familiar with the games' back stories..
The formative years of Ryu and Ken. This is a really good watch for everybody who played the famous Street Fighter video game when they were younger.