(Not)Love Actually: Judge Dredd

Apparently Time Warner customers get Showtime for a free preview this summer, flipping through listings, none other than Judge Dredd was on! This was one of my favorite films growing up after seeing it for a buck at the local second run theater. The scope of the future, the design and brutal violence all made for an excellent 90's sci-fi action flick. Little did I know back then that Dredd was a bit of a flop, unloved by critics and despised by fans of the source material while audiences more or less weren't interested. Based on the cult British comic book that started in 1977, Judge Dredd takes place in an over crowded, post WW III future where millions cram into Mega Cities while the desolate land in between is known as the Cursed Earth. Street Judges are given the power of Judge, Jury and Executioner as they can arrest, convict, sentence and execute criminals on the spot. Armed with a Lawgiver pistol that is DNA coded and fires six kinds of ammo, Judge Dredd sports a helmet he never removes along with shoulder pads and armor as he rides a machine gun equipped Lawmaster motorcycle.

While the comic books never gained the mass appeal of a Batman or Spider-Man in the states, producer Charles M. Lippincott thought Dredd could make for a futuristic version of Dirty Harry and in 1983, secured the rights. Working with independent producer Edward R. Pressman (Conan the Barbarian), the duo set out to find scribes for the film. A small army of writers came and went, including Ed Neumeier (Robocop), Tim Hunter and James Crumley, comic book maestro Howard Chaykin, William Wisher (Terminator 2) and Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard). 1987's law enforcement-satire-western hit Robocop drew much of it's inspiration from Dredd while the project continued to languish. Arnold Schwarzenegger was rumored to be interested but it would be his then rival Sylvester Stallone that gave the project the necessary star wattage to push it closer to production. Cinergi, the company of former Carolco partner Andrew G. Vajna, stepped up to co-finance with distribution coming from Disney's Hollywood Pictures. 27 year old Danny Cannon won the director's job through a mix of his impressive love and knowledge of Dredd, vision of the film and heat from debut film The Young Americans.

Budgeted at a rumored $70 million bucks, Judge Dredd began shooting in England on giant street, prison and the Statue of Liberty sets while utilizing miniatures, matte paintings and CGI. With no Cinergi production executives on set, the young director clashed with star Stallone over the tone of the film which had already been targeted for a PG-13 rating and a Burger King toy-in promotion. Cannon wanted to keep the film serious and violent like the comics while Stallone aimed for an action tale with morality, humor and fun. The film would be given an X rating before downgraded to an R, losing the fast food and toy deals while spurring lawsuits from angry spurned partners in the process. The flick opens with comic book panels filling the screen as we meet freshly released hacker Fergie (Rob Schnieder) as he's dropped off at his new home, Heavenly Haven, a misnamed hell hole filled with gun toting squatters involved in a violent block war. Stallone's Judge Dredd takes out the bad guys with extreme prejudice and sends Fergie back to prison for violating his parole while trying to save his own ass. Seemingly emotionless, Dredd is the most feared Judge on the street and a big problem for Judge Council member Griffin (Jurgen Prochnow) who has more nefarious plans for the Halls of Justice. With manpower in short supply and faced with a growing population, Griffin is all about harsher punishment for lesser crimes. To tip society's scale, Griffin has disgraced former Judge Rico (Armand Assante) freed from prison in order to start a war on the streets.

Like I said, Judge Dredd is great. You're thrown into the flick with Alan Silvestri's big orchestral score, James Earl Jones' narration and a vision of the future that is at once grimy, giant and violent. The film's sense of humor is established early on with memorable gags like an automated food serving droid and Dredd blowing up a car to punish the driver. Sets and costumes are awesome with the city streets crowded, cramped and going high into the sky with neon while Dredd's costume looks straight out of the comic book with a little help from Gianni Versace. The look of the film is immense, detailed and very expensive looking. There's also a giant, menacing mechanical robot bodyguard done practically versus CGI. While many fans were upset Dredd takes off his helmet 17 minutes in, as a non-reader, I was fine with it and let's not forget, the film wouldn't have been made without Stallone's famous mug. The Italian Stallion is solid as Dredd, playing both shouting and over the top while quiet, sad and reserved as he lives in constant solitude and judged his only friend Rico while delivering memorable lines like "I AM THE LAW!" and "I KNEW YOU'D SAY THAT!" with action hero relish. Diane Lane is smart and spunky as love interest and fellow Judge Hershey while Schneider gets a little more screen time than he did in Stallone's previous sci-fi flick Demolition Man as the comedic relief sidekick. The film's cast is deep and excellently filled with Armand Assante, Jurgen Prochnow, Max von Sydow, Joan Chen and James Remar.

The action is both big and close quartered with highlights including Dredd pacifying two rooms filled with heavily armed thugs using Rapid Fire, Grenade, Double Whammy and Armor Piercing shots, a showdown with mutated thugs in the scorched Earth wasteland, a flying motorbikes chase through the skies of the city and a fight on top of the Statue of Liberty. The motorbike chase scene is one I've always remembered since seeing the film nearly 20 years ago as it just felt like a roller coaster and the only thing I can think to compare it to is the speeder bike chase from Return of the Jedi. Sadly all of this would not be enough to save the film upon release on June 30th in 1995. It's $12.2 million take would only be good enough for # 5 behind Apollo 13, Pocahontas, Batman Forever and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on it's way to a not great $34.6 mil take. Overseas the film would gross an additional $78 million. While Stallone had scored with a string of R rated thrillers like Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and The Specialist, Judge Dredd was supposed to be a kinder, gentler film meant to capture a young audience. The same gambit did not work for his brothers in arms Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme with family friendly fare The Last Action Hero and Street Fighter. Having just come back a bit from the under performing Rocky V, Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Stallone would struggle as high profile and big budget films Assassins and Daylight would disappoint at the U.S. box office.

Director Danny Cannon publicly stated he'd never work with a big star again after clashing with Stallone and found solace in television with credits on CSI, Nikita and Gotham. The decade plus journey from panels to screen would mark Charles M. Lippencott's final producing credit to date while writer William Wisher moved on to another troubled but enjoyable flick, viking epic The 13th Warrior. Steven E. de Souza would reteam with Jean-Claude Van Damme for 1998's Knock Off before guiding Tomb Raider sequel, The Cradle of Life. Years after Dredd's release, de Souza would be blamed for writing an R rated Disney film after Danny Cannon delivered a such a violent piece that it lost promotional deals for toy and fast food tie-ins. In 2012, a medium budget, gritty, more faithful take on the character hit theaters with Karl Urban sporting the helmet as Dredd. Fans and critics liked the film more than Stallone's version but the flick landed with a thud opening weekend with an anemic take of $6.3 million on it's way to a $13 million total and worldwide gross of $35 million, woof! Fans might have gotten the Dredd they always wanted but I found the new flick to be boring, self serious, cheap looking and used way too much CGI and slow motion. Guess that just shows you how unknown the character is and partially validates the original's star driven attempt. Until next time, Judge this!

(Not)Love Actually: The Hunted

I remember seeing the trailer for 2003's The Hunted in a theater back in the early 2000's. The story of a special forces operator having trouble dealing with society and going on a surprise violent rampage elicited an immediate "Rambo for the new millennium" from someone in the crowd. A few Sunday's ago I found myself inexplicably watching the William Friedkin directed, somewhat forgotten man to man, hand to hand mini-classic starring Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones . When I first saw the flick, I was semi-obsessed with it and devoured the DVD special features and commentary. Tweeting to the director that it was underrated, Friedkin and several dozen others agreed.

The film opens in Kosovo where Special Forces soldier Aaron Hallam (Del Toro) is knee deep into a violent mission to take out some bad guys. Years later we find him challenging two hunters in the woods of Oregon and killing them with a knife. Hallam's teacher and deep woods tracker L.T. Bonham (Jones) is called in to assist with the investigation. Being trained in the arts of stealth, self sufficiency in nature and the production and use of edged weapons, Hallam makes for an excellent soldier. But the stress of battle has him seemingly coming off the hinges and unable to hold a job or maintain healthy relationships back in the world. With the threat of confidential military affairs going public, Hallam is targeted for assassination by some of his former teammates turned government agents. But Hallam escapes and the chase is on with Bonham, agent Abby Durrell (Connie Nielsen) and half the city's police in pursuit. It all leads to a final confrontation between former teacher and student where only one will leave alive.

Based on a script by David and Peter Griffiths along with Art Monterastelli, at face value The Hunted treads familiar ground as Stallone's 1984 breakout hit First Blood where a returning Vietnam veteran butts heads with a small town sheriff and wreaks havoc when they won't leave him alone. But The Hunted tells it's own story in a very unique way in a fast paced, educational and violent style as we see flashes of Hallam's intense training designed to take a person's life quickly and efficiently. Then we have Tommy Lee Jones' Bonham feeling partially responsible for Hallam's actions and stepping up to deal with the issue and save civilian lives. At a brisk and simple 94 minutes, The Hunted is a genre film elevated by it's cast and crew. Director Friedkin films everything practically so we get expansive woods, chases through crowded streets, cars crashing, trucks flipping, high falls and impressive hand to hand and knife to knife fights with a brutal showdown on the side of a waterfall. The amount of research displayed is great from Hallam's training to each using their tracking prowess to find the other and the final confrontation where one makes a knife out of scrap metal and the other chisels an over sized arrowhead from a piece of rock. Del Toro is calm, cool and reserved here with a hint of instability while Jones is his usual solid, strong and weary self.

Released in March of 2003, The Hunted was meant to be Benicio Del Toro's leading man follow up to his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 2000's Traffic. Jones was coming off consecutive hits like Men in Black II, Space Cowboys, Double Jeopardy and Friedkin collaboration Rules of Engagement. While the director had boffo box office success with The Exorcist and The French Connection in the 70's, Friedkin struggled in the 80's and 90's, giving us among others the awesomely stylistic secret service saga and Dammaged Goods favorite To Live and Die In L.A. and long delayed death penalty drama Rampage starring Michael Biehn. Both films are high on my list but along with the likes of Cruising, The Guardian and Blue Chips failed to find a wide audience. Some would argue that his hiring for 1995's big budget thriller Jade came from being married to the head of Paramount. After Jade flopped, Friedkin was entrusted with another expensive film there, 2000's military themed Rules of Engagement starring Samuel L. Jackson and Jones. The financial success of Engagement lead to The Hunted but during shooting, star Del Toro broke his wrist and delayed filming for four months.

Once finished, The Hunted opened on March 14th to a so-so $13.4 million bucks and weak reviews. Although Roger Ebert did give it a glowing 3.5 out of 4 stars, commending it's simple story but superb execution of a chase movie. Going on to gross $34.2 million in the states at a supposed $55 million budget, The Hunted could hardly be called a hit and would rank 85th for the year. Friedkin would follow up with 2006's Bug, an independent horror film with 1/10th the budget of Hunted before bouncing back critically with 2011's offbeat Killer Joe. Del Toro's leading man career would never take off as supporting roles in Sin City and 21 Grams would be lauded while the big budget, two part bio-pic Che barely saw theatrical release. 2010's enjoyable if uneven passion project The Wolfman would lose it's original director shortly before filming and suffer cost overruns before disappointing at the box office. Still in high demand, Del Toro was sought out for the villain role in 2009's Star Trek, ended up in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and is rumored to be up for a baddie in an upcoming Star Wars spin-off. Jones would continue to work in films big and small like The Missing and Lincoln, directing The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada while popping up in Oscar winner No Country For Old Men along with the crowd pleasing, money making Captain America and Men in Black 3.

While The Hunted remains a film few have seen, it still holds up as an exciting, violent, educational and strangely hypnotic entry in the rare one on one, hand to hand combat, knife fighting, chase thriller genre. A decade plus removed and it's safe to say they don't make'em like that anymore.

(Not) Love Actually: The 13th Warrior

Three of my closest friends growing up introduced me to The 13th Warrior, an action-horror mini-epic loosely based on the old story of Beowulf and Grendel. One was into the mystical and supernatural aspects, one into the viking warrior characters and one just liked to quote it out of nowhere. "Lo there do I see my father..." Only years later would I discover that the film was considered a bomb but has amassed a cult following around the world. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) and directed by John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard) with a script by Terminator 2 co-writer William Wisher and Black Rain's Warren Lewis, you'd think The 13th Warrior would be better remembered. In an age before the internet tore things apart prior to their release, The 13th Warrior suffered a similar fate of bad press, increasing budget woes, creative disputes and ultimate withdrawal of studio support.

We meet Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (Antonio Banderas), an outcast academic and poet type turned ambassador as he and his mentor/translator Melchisidek (Omar Sharif) run into some Northmen at a shipping village. Word comes in that a nearby village has been besieged by a murderous, supernatural force and the Vikings enlist themselves to help. An old blind lady with a bag of bones claims that 13 warriors must go but one of them is not to be a Northman. Ibn is thrown into the crusade as they travel to the kingdom and meet the monsters of the mist and their "mother". Nordic shenanigans, Antonio Banderas being the little guy, wine made from honey aka mead, communal face washing/mouth rinsing/nose blowing bowls, feeble words like an old woman's, a mullet, boiled cow urine, sword and ax fighting, lots of beheading and bear worshiping baddies awesomeness ensues. Besides some crappy 90's CGI, 13th Warrior makes terrific use of it's British Columbia settings near rivers, in the woods and rain soaked villages. There's also an elaborate cave sequence complete with waterfall and diving escape. 

The men on a mission feel is old news to director McTiernan who gave us one of the best examples post The Magnificent Seven or The Dirty Dozen with 1987's Predator. While the 13 members aren't given a ton of development, you do get to know stoic and strong leader Buliwyf (sounds like Bull-vie) played by Vladimir Kulich and small funny guy Herger (Dennis Sorhoi) who is basically like Ibn's keeper and calls him "little brother". What's great about this movie is the warrior camaraderie mixed with a "fish out of water" story and action blended with light horror. You get cannibals in bear outfits, severed limbs, huge battles on ground and horseback, a descent into a creepy cave and a showdown with a poison fang handling witch along with sword, shield and spear action. It's not often you see a swords and sails flick and all of our guys are armored up in not too extravagant gear with an archer, ax-man, hatchet guy and of course the leader brandishes a big ass broadsword.

So what happened? How did such a promising flick fail to live up to the hype? Antonio Banderas was riding high from The Mask of Zorro, McTiernan had rebounded from the disappointing performance of Last Action Hero with Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Michael Crichton has wrote, produced and directed films like Westworld and Twister while his novels have turned into hits like Jurassic Park. Apparently from the onset, McTiernan and Crichton clashed which wasn't good for McTiernan as Crichton had final cut approval. Initially titled Eaters of the Dead like the book, a 1998 teaser trailer showcases the horror as well as the action. But test screenings were all over the map with positive reviews digging the visuals and adventure while negative ones focused on the leisurely pace and missed opportunities in the battle scenes. Having already spent over 6 months filming, the cast and crew were called back to the studio lot the following year for reshoots. On one end was McTiernan crafting a new ending and on the other was Crichton doing the same. Actor Vladimir Kulich would shoot scenes for each on any given day. While both men told the actor not to discuss what he was doing on each set, Crichton chimed in that it didn't matter what McTiernan was doing as he still had final cut.

Losing about 20 minutes of footage and gaining a new ending that included a final one on one battle for Bulwyf and the recasting of the evil mother; Disney lost interest in the film, McTiernan departed before final editing was completed and the title became The 13th Warrior. Estimated to have cost around $85 million bucks, rumors swirled that the budget had doubled. Graeme Revell's original score was scrapped in favor of a new one by Jerry Goldsmith. The film was not given a premiere and after sitting on the shelf, Disney made a last ditch promotional effort and released the flick on August 27th in 1999. So much time had passed that McTiernan's The Thomas Crown Affair was released four weeks prior. The 13th Warrior would gross $10.2 million on it's way to a tepid $32 million domestic and make about the same overseas. While Omar Sharif would publicly state his dissatisfaction with the film, 13th would find it's audience on DVD in the ensuing years with Zorro and future Casino Royale director Martin Campbell telling Banderas that it was an underrated film that had become a cult. Various websites were devoted to uncovering the lost McTiernan cut but even the original director couldn't promise a mythical masterpiece lying in wait. A 2011 French special edition DVD includes comments from the likes of Banderas, McTiernan, Kulich and co-writer Lewis in a nearly one hour documentary that has yet to make its way to the states.

After Desperado, Evita and The Mask of Zorro made Banderas a household name, subsequent misfires like 13th Warrior, Play It to the Bone, Original Sin and flop Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever would keep him working steadily until voicing Puss In Boots in the hugely successful Shrek series. Director McTiernan would fumble with big budget remake Rollerball and Basic before going to prison for allegedly lying to authorities. Now free, here's hoping he still has some flicks left in the tank. Crichton's film output would cool as adaptation Timeline would flop and he passed away in 2008 (Write In Peace). While it wasn't the big break Vladimir Kulich was hoping for, The 13th Warrior did lead him to a small role in Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces and Buliwyf-esque roles in Ironclad and TV's The Vikings. Until the special edition Blu-Ray hits the U.S., keep the mead coming.

(Not) Love Actually: Red Sonja

Flipping through channels I came across Robert Rodriguez's ElRey Network showing Red Sonja. I hadn't seen the flick in a long time, like as a kid on TBS long so I tuned in. First off, ElRey is a pretty cool channel showing lots of kung-fu and exploitation movies along with original programs like The Director's Chair (more episodes please!) where Rodriguez sits down with Quentin Tarantino and John Carpenter among others to discuss their storied careers. This would be my first time watching a movie on ElRey and in a neat twist, they don't edit the movies as in there's a warning for graphic content to preserve the filmmakers original vision. So you get the uncut flick just with commercials.

Red Sonja takes place in the same fantasy universe as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan flicks as we meet Sonja (Brigette Nielsen) after her family has been killed and she's been raped for rejecting the sexual advances of Queen Gedren (Sandahl Bergman). After being bestowed with strength by a spirit/god/ghost thing Sonja goes and trains in sword fighting with some Asian dudes like in Conan then heads off on a quest of revenge. On her way she meets Lord Kalidor (Arnold), young Prince Tarn (Ernie Reyes, Jr.) and his servant Falkon (Paul L. Smith). Sword fighting, beheading, stabbing, mechanical underwater snake creature, eating, Tae Kwon Do, magical orb only Sonja can touch, beautiful landscapes, huge sets and Ennio Morricone score shenanigans ensues.

As you should know, Conan was the literary creation of Robert E. Howard who also gave us Kull and Solomon Kane. Sonja came from Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith based loosely on Red Sonya in Howard's short The Shadow of the Vulture. Dubbed the "She-Devil with a Sword", Red Sonja appeared in  Conan the Barbarian comic books in 1973 before headlining her own series. Conan the Barbarian film producer Dino De Laurentis had struck massive success with the 1982 film starring Arnold directed by John Milius. Less violent and sexual sequel Conan the Destroyer from Richard Fleischer was released in 1984. Both films grossed more than $100 million worldwide on budgets under $20 million.

Producer De Laurentis offered the title role to Conan the Barbarian co-star Sandahl Bergman who had played the viciously vivacious Valeria, Arnold's love interest and fellow sword fighting thief. Bergman turned down the role in favor of the evil Queen Gedren. With production nearing, De Laurentis saw 21 year old Danish model Brigitte Nielsen on the cover of a magazine and flew her to Italy to screen test. Standing in line with 25 other hopefuls, 6'1" Nielsen barely fit into her costume and immediately became returning Destroyer director Richard Fleischer's favorite. Schwarzenegger was under contract to De Laurentis and came on board for what he thought would be a glorified cameo as the sword swinging Lord Kalidor. Originally intended to be a reprisal of his Conan character, De Laurentis didn't pay Universal for name rights so Arnold is basically Conan but with fancier clothes (is that red vest and pants ensemble velvet?!). The $18 million dollar film with a script by George MacDonald Fraser and Clive Exton shot in Italy near Rome. A total newcomer to acting and movie making, Nielsen quickly fell for Arnold and the two embarked on an affair during shooting. Arnold shot his role in less than 4 weeks and was horrified to see his cameo had turned into a full on supporting role with his name listed first on the movie's poster and his image being larger than Red Sonja's.

Released on July 3rd of 1985, Red Sonja grossed an anemic $2.2 million dollars at # 9 behind Back to the Future, Pale Rider, Rambo II, The Goonies and Fletch among others on it's way to a $6.9 million total. A huge drop off from Barbarian's $38 million domestic take and Destroyer's $31 million total. Reviews were unsurprisingly harsh with Nielsen and Bergman each receiving Golden Raspberry Award nominations for worst acting. Arnold would soon fulfill and terminate his contract with De Laurentis while years later describing Sonja as his worst film, reserved for punishing his children if they misbehaved. The title would be brought up nearly 30 years later when Sabotage barely cracked $10 million at the box office, making it his worst showing since Sonja not adjusting for inflation. Star Nielsen would soon meet action icon Sylvester Stallone, a rumored "gift" from Arnold as the two men were still rivals at the time. Nielsen would marry Sly and appear in Rocky IV and then Cobra before landing a plum role in the 1987 hit Beverly Hills Cop II. The two divorced in 1987 and Nielsen's follow up film roles would never match her early output. In 2014 she appeared in Mercenaries, a low budget knock off of Stallone's The Expendables featuring female action figures like Zoe Bell, Kristanna Loken, Cynthia Rothrock and Vivica A Fox.

Young co-star Ernie Reyes, Jr. would go on to roles in film and television, notably in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and Surf Ninjas while bodyguard Paul L. Smith had already been acting for 20 years and would continue to pop up in film and TV into the 90's before passing away in 2012. Dancer turned actress Sandahl Bergman would go on to appear in genre movies like Hell Comes to Frogtown and episodic TV into the 2000's. Red Sonja would be director Richard Fleischer's penultimate motion picture preceding another De Laurentis production, 1987's Million Dollar Mystery before retiring. Fleisher passed away in 2006. Talk of a Red Sonja remake percolated in the late 2000's with Robert Rodriguez looking to direct his then fiance Rose McGowan in a Nu Image/Millennium Films production but nerve damage in McGowan's right arm nixed the idea and she appeared in the flop 2011 Conan the Barbarian remake as a witch instead. Nu Image is still pushing forward with a film, allegedly with Con Air and Expendables 2's Simon West at the helm and Amber Heard at the top of the starring wish list.

While Red Sonja may have been a looked down upon disappointment upon release, all these years later the film still holds up as a prime entry in the sword, sorcery and fantasy genre that the wonderfully weird 80's gave us. Sure there's some bland and over the top delivery but production values are terrific from the ornate costumes, weaponry and huge castle and cave sets. Characters are all decently fleshed out and memorable with Sonja claiming she would never be with a man who could not best her in combat so cue to her fighting with Arnold to Falkon's penchant for food and Prince Tarn's precocious, bordering on annoying prince who can throw down . The fights are excellent with solid back and forth choreography, bettering the circle then slash approach of Conan the Destroyer. Ernie Reyes, Jr. gets to show off his impressive martial arts abilities, especially considering his age and the film moves quite quickly wasting no time at 90 minutes. It also lacks the jokey cheesiness of Destroyer with it's pretty straight ahead approach that somehow effortlessly mixes lesbianism, rape, revenge, romance, magic, swordplay and high adventure.

(Not) Love Actually: Stretch

Writer and Director Joe Carnahan is one of my favorite dudes working today.  It's hard to believe that his breakthrough film, Narc, was released 12 years ago.  That 2002 flick, about two cops working the mean streets of Detroit to find a cop killer was a gritty and electrifying piece of work that signaled Carnahan had arrived in Hollywood.  A detour into writing and directing Mission Impossible III for Tom Cruise followed but after a year and a half, Carnahan quit the production when his raw, low budget version dealing with private military in Africa just wasn't cutting it with studio Paramount.  In 2006 we got Smokin' Aces, a frantic, hilarious, fucked up, star-studded affair about federal agents and hired assassins going after a mob informant.  2010's big budget, action and stunt filled adaptation of 80's television show The A-Team was just about the most fun I had watching a movie that year.  2011's follow up The Grey changed directions and was a harrowing, lyrical and successful mash up of art house and mainstream dramatic action thriller.

In 2012, rumors were swirling about a proposed Death Wish remake or a quick, micro budget project with genre powerhouse Jason Blum of Paranormal Activity and The Purge fame.  The Los Angeles set Death Wish was allegedly derailed when MGM wanted Bruce Willis for the title role while Carnahan was looking for a non-action icon and had earmarked the lead for up and coming actor Frank Grillo from Warrior and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Carnahan's project with Blum would become known as Stretch and tell the tale of an in debt limo driver chauffeuring an eccentric billionaire around town on one crazy night hoping to land a big tip.  Like Smokin' Aces, Stretch would line up a low-watt cast of familiar faces including Patrick Wilson, Jessica Alba, Ray Liotta, Brooklyn Decker, David Hasselhoff, Ed Helms and Chris Pine.  Not much was released from the production of the film and news on it's release was lacking.  Universal announced a March, 2013 release date but in January, dropped Stretch from their schedule.  Producer Blum was given the chance to shop the film to other studios but there were no takers.  Although the film only cost $5 million dollars, Universal did not feel it's potential earning power would justify the $20+ million it would take to advertise it.  Thus is the case with several Blum productions under his deal with Universal, this was just the most high profile example.  Carnahan defended the film, stating that it was a great flick and Patrick Wilson was terrific as the lead.  Stretch would find it's audience somehow and sometime, whether it be via a film festival or creative distribution.  Things went quiet again, the film didn't play festivals or receive any kind of theatrical release as far as I'm aware before hitting Netflix in October and a so far bare bones DVD only release is slated for this week. That's a marked difference to Carnahan's past films which all feature entertainingly candid commentaries and insightful making of's.

So what happened?  Is the film worthy of Carnahan's praise?  Was it his first cinematic misstep?  Was it too bad to release?  Yes and no.  Is it as memorable as his previous work?  No.  Is it entertaining?  Hell yes.  Did it deserve a wide release?  In my opinion, no, it did not.  Stretch is fast, fun and depraved in the vein of Smokin' Aces meeting Michael Mann's Collateral but is very, very Los Angeles story and probably wouldn't appeal to the vast stretches of AMERICA that live in between us and New York.  That being said, I still think it should have gotten some kind of release in major markets and be given a few supplements on home video but hey, I'm not in charge.

We meet Stretch (Patrick Wilson) as he's being t-boned at an intersection and goes flying out the window.  Miraculously, he's unharmed and begins dating the driver who hit him, a beautiful young woman named Candace (Brooklyn Decker).  Candace breaks up with Stretch a year later and our guy goes back to his drinking and gambling ways, incurring a harsh, $6,000 debt.  Originally moving to LA to be an actor, Stretch pays the bills by driving a limo but their service is in danger of being obliterated by new competition, Cossack.  After his bookie's agency is bought out by Chinese investors, Stretch's once payment plan debt is now due by the end of the night.  We roll with Stretch as he tries to figure out how to get the money and as he picks up various clients.  David Hasselhoff and Ray Liotta play amped up, funny versions of themselves as his first fares of the day.  Oh yeah, he's visited by the ghost of Karl, a former legend in the limo business who basically shows up to tell Stretch how stupid he is, played by an over the top, mustached Ed Helms.  With the help of his cute, kind and bespectacled dispatcher Charlie (Jessica Alba), Stretch lands a possibly lucrative fare in the shape of eccentric billionaire Roger Karos (Chris Pine looking like Howard Hughes smashed with Charles Manson).  From there, drug, bookie, hooker, police filled Los Angeles and Hollywood shenanigans ensue. 

Stretch is a lot of fun, if you liked his crazy, what the fuck-ness of Smokin' Aces, you'll probably like this.  It's also kind of sweet and you feel for our lead.  Like I said, it's a very Los Angeles movie as the once ambitious, go getting Stretch gets burned out while trying to make it and struggles to get through another day while pursuing his goal of becoming an actor.  Things play out like a screen writers descent into hell, combining all of the worst and weirdest stories broke creatives moonlighting as drivers, waiters, etc have encountered or heard.  Watching the film you can basically spot LA and Hollywood landmarks and many are used with their real names.  I was impressed that they were able to close down certain streets and parts of the freeway for such a small budgeted film.  Shot in 23 days, Stretch feels much bigger than your typical Direct to Video film of it's size, mostly due to Carnahan's experience with making movies large and small.  There's bits of action peppered throughout to keep things exciting and the cast is used very efficiently so nearly every scene has a familiar face, even if only for a few moments.  This film fell off my radar and by the time I was reminded of it and wanting to do some sort of screening, it was already coming out on VOD.  Carnahan has been keeping busy directing episodic television lately as film projects stall, hopefully that changes soon and we get his edgy, macho, funny and weirdcool sensibility back on the big screen where it belongs.

(Not) Love Actually: Trial of the Incredible Hulk

At this weekend's New York Comic Con, the cast and creators of new Netflix series Daredevil swung by, dropping tidbits, screening footage and showcasing a few stills.  The Man Without Fear is shown to be clad in all black on a rooftop which is straight from some Frank Miller - John Romita, Jr. version of the comic so fans seemed happy enough.  When I saw said photo, I did a double take and thought it was a high-res capture from 1989's TV movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.  Basically, it's a guy covered in all black with a bandana over his eyes with no eye slits.  Or, as one comic loving friend put it, a ninja with a mouth.

If you'll recall, Marvel's record with live action outings have only recently been successful.  In the 70's and 80's you had less than well received takes on Spider-Man, Captain America and Doctor Strange.  The one that stuck was CBS' adult take on The Incredible Hulk in 1977.  Bill Bixby played David Banner, instead of Bruce, rumored to be too homosexual a name at the time or that producer Kenneth Johnson didn't like double alliteration names that Marvel was so known for (Reed Richards, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker, etc.).  I wonder how double B Bixby felt about that...After exposing himself to gamma radiation, Banner transforms into the huge, muscular and green giant known as The Hulk, played by bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno.  The show follows his nomadic adventures trying to control the beast and rid himself of it.  With 2 Hulk Outs per episode, the rest of the runtime would be filled with Banner's arriving in a new town, seeking work, somehow getting caught up in local trouble then Hulking out to bust some heads or random property.  An intrepid news reporter begins to chase him from town to town.  The show was a hit and ran for 5 seasons but ended with a cliffhanger in 1982.

By the late 80's, Marvel was owned by Roger Corman's New World Productions and along with the young, visionary NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff, set out to bring the Hulk and some friends from the Marvel Universe back into the public consciousness.  Tartikoff is credited with turning then low-rated NBC into a powerhouse with hit shows like Miami Vice, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Alf, Saved By the Bell and The Cosby Show changing the medium and attracting millions of viewers.  A television movie, The Return of the Incredible Hulk aired in 1988 to solid ratings and introduced Asgardian god of Thunder, Thor.  Thor is kind of a loud mouthed douche bag in the flick who likes to drink beer, fight and call Hulk "troll" a lot while hefting a prop hammer that looks surprisingly not hefty.  Further adventures of Thor starring Eric Allan Kramer were not commissioned as the telefilm is extremely clunky with lots of slow motion, over the top performances and unexplainable poor story logic.

Next up was 1989's The Trial of the Incredible Hulk where Banner is working construction somewhere cold but then heads to the big city after not wanting to Hulk out on one of the asshole crew members.  Vancouver stands in for the I believe nameless city which is rash with street and high level crime as well as a vigilante known as Daredevil making things interesting.  After a brazen daytime jewelry store heist planned by crime Kingpin Wilson Fisk, two thieves hit the subway where one of them hits on a chick with big hair.  When Banner tries to intervene, he's tossed aside and gets P-I-S-T, unleashing da Hulk and tearing through the tin can.  Lou Ferrigno looks yoked as ever clad in green paint, a big wig, fake nose and green slippers.  Waking up in human form, Banner is tossed in jail where blind lawyer Matt Murdock visits him.  Turns out the big haired lady has been threatened by Fisk's thugs and claims Banner was the one who assaulted her.  Murdock has a unique gift and knows when someone is lying to him and wants to help Banner.  That gift?  Why, super radar sense from losing his sight as a boy saving an old man from a runaway truck.  A steel drum full of radioactive waste hits young Matt and takes his sight but amplifies his hearing, scent and touch to the point he can listen to your hearbeat and read normal print with his fingertips, even with gloves on!  His backstory from the TV movie comes straight from the comic books, former boxer for a father who gets killed by gangsters and all.

It's said that Trial was to serve as a backdoor pilot for a Daredevil series.  If you watch closely, you can see groundwork laid out with an interesting hero protagonist who could deal with people at city hall by day and thugs in alleys by night.  There's a supporting cast; funny, fresh from the Army office assistant Al (Richard Cummings, Jr.) filling in for the comics' Foggy Nelson, Murdock's partner in law and would be love interest Christa (Nancy Everhard, who would co-star in New World's big screen adaptation The Punisher w/Dolph Lundgren the same year).  There's sleazy street informant Turk (Mark Acheson) and the tough yet honest cop with a great voice and hard hitting delivery Tendeli (Joseph Mascolo) who inspires Murdock to become a "Daredevil" that can fight the corruption and not be killed off, paid off or scared off.  Then you had a recurring villain in the sleek, suit clad and operatic Wilson Fisk (Indiana Jones' & Lord of the Rings' John Rhys-Davies).  Former 70's teen idol/singer Rex Smith plays Murdock with handsome dignity and Daredevil with action posing, overcooked hero delivery.  With Banner's knowledge of radiation mishaps, there's an instant bond with Murdock and the two are like Radioactive bros, preceding Banner and Tony Stark's science bromance from The Avengers.

While there's a lot of poke fun at or laugh about, for some reason, from the opening somber piano theme, Bixby's grounded, honest portrayal of David and even tempered directing, I just get into it.  Back in those days, this was before Tim Burton's Batman became a global phenomenon, costumed superheroes were not easy to pull off so giving DD an all black leotard outfit was a lot more understandable than giving him a red outfit with horns.  Said outfit is like a gymnasts singlet with wetsuit-ish turtle necked shirt and a tight, domed hood with a sleeping mask looking thing covering the eyes.  There's some gloves, elbow and knee pads, a belt and big boots to give some texture while the trademark billy club is in effect complete with a few gadgets like a zipline attachment and plunger firing wire thing.  The fight scenes are pretty TV movie with lots of slow motion and awkward pause filled karate moves and exhales along with more than a few unconvincing hits.  Lance Rubin's synth score is seemingly generic yet appropriate and effective.  The ending features some really bad visual effects (this is the late 80's, on TV no less) as Fisk escapes his skyscraper in a helicopter/hovercraft!  All in, I dig it, the actors take the material seriously, there's no winking or camp factor and that lends the semblance of drama.  They just could have used a bigger budget I'm sure but it's still fun to see The Hulk and Daredevil in the same 90 minutes a decade before the first X-Men movie and 20 years before superhero team up The Avengers.

After the surprise success of Return, New World was set to produce two additional features for NBC and bring Daredevil, She-Hulk and Iron Man to the small screen.  While Return was the 4th highest rated program of the week, Trial did not lead to a Daredevil series and we never got to see low budget versions of Iron Man or She-Hulk.  New World did attempt to produce a She-Hulk theatrical film from writer/director Larry Cohen that would have starred Brigitte Nielsen but it never happened either.

Gotta Drank (& Eat)! Skillet Diner and Elephant & Castle

Having a few days in Seattle this time compared to the 25 hour trip of a few weeks ago, I got to try out a few more local and touristy spots.  A chum from college took us to the Capitol Hill district, a bustling, crowded area that apparently attracts many displaced New Yorkers as it reminds them of home.  Our first stop was a dive bar but it was holding a singles event so we checked out Skillet Diner across the street.  Nice place, clean décor and that pseudo hipster/upscale take on American classics.  The special for the night was Chicken Fried Steak which had sadly sold out by the time we cozied up to the counter.  The Chicken Fried Chicken was quite delicious though and their fries were so crispy and addictive I had to have them taken away. 

After a 13 hour day at the office Friday, it was time for dinner.  The lady scouted out some joints near the hotel so instead of settling for franchise staple Rock Bottom Brewery, we ended up at Elephant & Castle, a large English pub located beneath a downtown hotel.  It was surprisingly empty for a Friday night but our server was great and my Pimm's Cup wasn't bad either, just a little sour.  They had all kinds of Poutine, ya know the Canadian dish that consists of French fries covered in brown gravy and cheese curds?  I just like saying Poutine (Poo-teen) because it reminds me of Jean-Claude Van Damme's pronunciation of bear-wrestling, military charging Russian President Vladimir Putin.  While most American's would say Poot-in, Van Damme calls him Mr. Poo-teen and has been the guest of the sports loving leader at MMA events but sadly lost his number.  While the Poutine was delectable and topped with bacon, I think I'd rather have my fries doused in chili and cheese.  America style.  No offense Canada, if I were to live in another country connected to the United States, it would be you.

Con-Man: Salt Lake City Round Up

Saturday was a short day where we hoped to get Danny Glover's photo, see Simon Helberg and maybe Stephen Amell before doing a last walk of the floor for any unseen swag.  We breezed on in the door with our Gold passes and I headed for Photo Ops where a very small line was formed.  I'm not one for paying to interact with celebrities but I hadn't spent much at the show and I had a significant discount so I figured what the hey, it'll make for a funny Christmas card.  Danny Glover has always been an actor I've enjoyed, especially in the Lethal Weapon series and Predator 2 where his clap in Gary Busey's face actually saved a rude asshole and his rude asshole assistant one day at work when I was ready to beat up an old man and his underling. 

After a few minutes on the floor we realized we'd seen everything the day before so we headed to Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory's panel.  An announcer/organizer type came out several times to pump up the crowd with bad jokes and asked us to scoot in to make room for people coming in.  Compared to the light hearted fun of Alan Tudyk and emotional frankness of Manu Bennett from Friday, Helberg's panel was a bit awkward and got pretty old.  Sure I've seen the show he's famous for but I'm not exactly it's biggest fan.  More than one question was in regards to guest stars and all I could think about was the BS fact that they're all supposed Flash fans but John Wesley Shipp from CBS' own The Flash television show never guest starred.  Also, there wasn't an introduction per se, whereas Manu Bennett can have a quick sizzle reel of action pieces, Helberg's clip consisted of him telling jokes without audio.  He seemed like a nice guy but the moderator didn't do much to prep the crowd and talk about Helberg's career, beginnings or how he got involved with the show and just handed the mic(s) to the crowd.  Coupons were handed out for Helberg's autograph and photo op so when people asked for photos on stage they were awkwardly denied.  One question asker said San Diego sucked but I'm sure he's never actually been there to see how clown shoes Salt Lake's show is in comparison but we'll get to that later.

The panel got lame kind of quickly with too many kids asking incoherent questions or people making comments instead of asking anything and then the fawning fans asking for up close and personal time.  They just gave you coupons to meet him, if you want a face to face experience, you gotta pay!  That's how this show works!  Helberg did get to talk about his studies at NYU, thinking the show would be canceled due to the writer's strike, being in awe of Stephen Hawking, the loneliness of shooting his astronaut subplot, working with Joss Whedon for Dr. Horrible, how a movie he directed is based on his bumbling, bad luck ridden attempt to win his girlfriend back and that he can't name favorites among the cast since he would alienate others.  Even though we had primo seats for Stephen Amell, having only seen season 1 I figured the panel would be very season 2 and upcoming 3 heavy so we decided to bounce.  It was off to the arcade for another crack at Captain America and The Avengers.  Armed with about $10 bucks in quarters we triumphed over additional villains like Crossbones, Juggernaut, Ultron and then the Red Skull himself, on a space station!  After 5 stages and about 25 minutes of gameplay, we had defeated the game and the universe can sleep safely once again.

Then it was time for our photo op with Danny Glover.  I honestly thought no one would be queued up but I was wrong.  There were dozens of people already waiting.  I had planned to say something to Mr. Glover but once we got in with him, he was just so kind and happy to be there that all I could do was shake his hand, ask how he was doing and smile like a goof.  A truly enjoyable experience and the photo is now hanging in the den.

Parting thoughts on Salt Lake Comic Con?  It's a fun show but still has to work out a lot of their logistical issues.  Thursday's wait time and disorganization was pretty unacceptable to me although Friday went smoothly.  Saturday got real crowded and it's estimated that 120,000 peeps rolled through in total.  But if their staff can't handle that capacity, maybe they should consider capping ticket sales.  Oh wait, they're for profit so no, that won't happen.  Their info book didn't include an actual schedule of events and there could have been a lot more signage around the floor for special events, panel rooms, etc.  The exhibition floor was decent with lots of variety but we got through it pretty quickly.  Panel wise beyond actor spotlights were mostly fan run and listening to super fans talk about a subject really isn't that interesting or educational compared to someone involved professionally in a comic, movie or book discussing their experience.  How does it compare to San Diego Comic Con?  It doesn't.  At all.  I hope attendees will stop comparing themselves to the show because they're not on the same level.  At all.  They might have crammed nearly as many people into the show but they also gouged them to buy upgraded ticket packages that didn't even get you much.  The entire show is based around selling autographs and photos whereas SDCC is about celebrating the arts with over 1,000 panels to choose from. Nothing was going on outside the show unlike San Diego where half a dozen venues offsite offer more activities, many for free while SLCC had special events with Kevin Sorbo and Hulk Hogan available for a separate ticket price.  So for their own sake, I hope fans and organizers of SLCC work on making their show better, not trying to compete with San Diego because they're not in the same league and mouthing off about something you've never even experienced is just sad.

With Salt Lake City being such a religious town, the show did not occur on Sunday so our flight back to Los Angeles included no less than Bruce Campbell, Jon Heder, Cary Elwes and Lou Ferrigno.  Lou is still a pretty big boy and Bruce has that great, distinctive voice that could read you your rights and be entertaining.  I'd probably come back to Salt Lake Comic Con but only for Thursday or Friday, there's just not enough going on to keep you there for 3 days.  I hear there's a huge outdoor store outside SLC complete with an indoor shooting range and full sized Ferris wheel so that would be cool to check out.  Until then, America needs your help!

(Not) Love Actually: Street Fighter

Christmas, 1994.  My mom took me to see Street Fighter at the same local theater where she had taken me to see Masters of the Universe 7 years earlier.  While SF wouldn't have the lasting impact on me as Masters did, I enjoyed the flick then and still do.  So what better way to cap off my weekend where I watched, read, played and wrote about Street Fighter than to take in the hugely hyped adaptation starring none other than The Real JC...VD, Jean-Claude Van Damme?  Much like the comic book adaptation craze we're currently experiencing, the early days of video games to cinema screens has been fraught with disappointments and failed expectations.  Street Fighter was one of the first of it's kind following the financial and critical debacle of Super Mario Brothers in 1993.  Having already boasted $1.5 billion dollars worth of quarters fueled revenue from arcade and home console gaming, Capcom was ready to take their next step: a big budget, Hollywood epic.  Independent producer Edward R. Pressman (Badlands, Conan, Masters, Wall Street) obtained the rights and immediately began accepting pitches as Capcom wanted the film released at Christmas of 1994.

Steven E. de Souza, a billion dollar writer with Die Hard, Commando, 48 Hours and many more titles to his credit landed a meeting with Pressman on the condition that he could direct as well as script.  Pressman acquiesced and de Souza went on a writing frenzy to finish his pitch in time to meet with Capcom executives.  Seeing the video game as simply fighting with no backstory, de Souza envisioned the film as a war story meets James Bond movie.  For the lead, Capcom had done a worldwide poll of gamers to determine who they wanted to play Guile, the American Air Force fighter known for his Sonic Boom and Flash Kick.  Jean-Claude Van Damme, the high kicking martial arts action hero hot off the success of inspiration for the game Bloodsport, Universal Soldier and Hard Target was the clear favorite.  de Souza and Pressman hit the studio trail to find a home and were quickly turned down by everyone in town due to Super Mario Brothers' lackluster performance.  Tom Pollack, long a Jean-Claude Van Damme supporter, brought Street Fighter to Universal and along with Capcom, financed and released the $35 million dollar production.  Scheduled for a 69 day shoot in Australia and Thailand, world kickboxing champion Benny "The Jet" Urquidez was brought in to train the actors, putting them through 3 workouts a day training cardio, martial arts and weights.  Legendary stuntman and 2nd Unit Director Charles Picerni would help train the cast and handle the big action sequences while 6-time Academy Award nominated cinematographer William A. Fraker would be on hand to assist the novice director. 

Van Damme was just finishing the time traveling action and romantic thriller Timecop for Universal and was about to move on to Sudden Death, a take on the Die Hard formula where a lone man takes on a group of terrorists, only this time in a hockey arena.  To fit Street Fighter into his tight scheduling window, Van Damme walked away with $7.2 million bucks, double his Timecop salary for just 6 weeks work in Thailand and Australia.  Raul Julia was the said first choice for mad warlord and dictator M. Bison while Mina-Na Wen was recruited to play revenge seeking journalist Chun-Li and The Last of the Mohican's Wes Studi came in to play gun runner Sagat.  Former actress and pop singer Kylie Minogue was a last minute addition to the cast, playing Guile's right hand woman, Cammy.  Young and fresh faced actors Byron Mann and Damian Chapa landed the roles of Ryu and Ken, the karate fighting stars of the video game, here turned into low rent operators that become spies for Guile's network.  The supporting cast of Dhalsim, Balrog, E. Honda, Vega, Zangief, T. Hawk, Blanka and Dee Jay were filled by the established and newcomer likes of Roshan Seth, Grand L. Bush, Peter Navy Tuiasosopo, Jay Tavare, Andrew Bryniarski, Gregg Rainwater, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. and Robert Mammone.  If you're keeping track, that's 15 characters from the video game appearing in the film.  The only character left out was movie star and Bruce Lee knock off/homage Fei Long.  Instead, a new character, Captain Sawada was introduced played by Capcom favorite Kenya Sawada.

Street Fighter starts quick, delving right into the world of the film with a nice use of the Universal logo turning into the movie title card.  Immediately we're thrown into a wall of international news broadcasts telling us about M. Bison, the self styled warlord of Shadaloo who has kidnapped a group of Aid workers and is holding them for a $20 BILLION dollar ransom.  Allied Nations Commander Colonel William Guile (Van Damme, with blonde hair and guttural "American" accent) has a personal vendetta to squash Bison as the warlord is a murderer and has now inadvertently kidnapped his buddy Charlie.  News reporter Chun-Li and her camera crew of Balrog and Honda are on the case, trying to get close to Bison while Ryu and Ken get caught selling toy guns to crime boss Sagat and his cohort Vega.  Sagat, Vega, Ryu and Ken all get picked up in an AN sweep at an underground street fight.  Guile learns that Sagat is running guns to Bison and hatches a plan to infiltrate Ryu and Ken into his gang, thus leading them to Bison's secret base.  With the location discovered and time running out, Guile and his troops stage a massive, seaside assault on Bison's fortress.  There's guns and rockets galore topside while below the surface, one on one bouts break out between Honda and Zangief, Ryu and Ken versus Vega and Sagat and finally, Guile comes face to face with Bison.  Oh, and Dhalsim is running genetic and psychological experiments on Charlie, turning him into man-beast Blanka.  Got all that?

To hype the film, Capcom digitized all of the cast to be part of Street Fighter III, which would use actors on green screen a la Mortal Kombat instead of the traditional, animated programming of the games up to that point.  Hasbro released a line of Street Fighter toys (repainted G.I. Joes) and there were trading card tie-ins, magazines, comic books and more.  Being Van Damme's first PG-13 rating, expectations were huge and it looked like Van Damme might break through to the next level of action hero appeal, joining the likes of Steven Seagal, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.  Hitting theaters on Friday, 12.23 on 1,671 screens, Street Fighter opened up at # 3 behind 2nd week champ Dumb and Dumber and 7 week old release The Santa Clause, earning $6.8 million on it's way to a $33 million dollar gross.  It was a crowded holiday weekend as Street Fighter topped 5 additional wide releases including Richie Rich, Little Women and The Jungle Book, which would all end up having more stamina and out grossing SF.  Domestically, SF lost the momentum of Van Damme's previous effort, the September released Timecop but grossed more than starring vehicles Double Impact, Hard Target and Nowhere to Run.  Internationally, the film would make it to $100 million, further solidifying Van Damme's global appeal.  However, the film was ravaged by critics and gamers alike who saw it as a botched interpretation of the game with it's straying from the core concept of street fighting, it's tongue in cheek humor and differences in appearance between characters in the game and movie.

Me?  I enjoy the flick.  It's big, fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.  Honestly, I think it was ahead of it's time.  I always say that this isn't a Street Fighter movie but it is the best G.I. Joe movie ever made.  If you look at the costumed army hordes of Hydra in Captain America or the Cobra troopers in G.I. Joe's two movies, you can see how Street Fighter did it first 20 years ago.  But being first out of the gate is always rough so Street Fighter was cast off as a piece of cheesy garbage that further proved you can't make a good movie from a video game.  Sure there's a lot going on but de Souza handles the multitude of characters pretty well.  X-Men 3 and Origins: Wolverine suffered from too many cameos and unnecessary characters whereas Street Fighter cleverly used the compressed availability of it's star to give the other roles more light.  Ryu and Ken get the most fight scenes in the flick while grouping Cammy and Tee Hawk with Guile, Bison with Zangief and Dee Jay, Sagat with Vega then Chun-Li with Balrog and E. Honda keeps them all fresh in our minds for the most part.  Sure, the use of Dhalsim and Blanka is a little thin but hey, there's 15 characters to keep track of here and to keep things running lean and mean, certain character building scenes had to be cut.  Action wise, there's a nice variety throughout with rough and tumble fist and feet fights, crashing trucks, gun fights, shootouts, explosions, destruction, military invading and the like.

Production values are still pretty impressive thanks to William Creber's (Planet of the Apes, Towering Inferno) design with huge sets for Bison's lair showcasing a wall of video monitors, a training facility and hostage pit while the exterior is a big, Thai style temple giving the film a vast, James Bond feeling.  The attention to detail is solid as well with Bison and AN logos posted everywhere, news casts playing in the background and random radio DJ and robot announcer telling us jokes and factoids throughout.  Graeme Revell's score gives the film a big, driving feel while the crammed in hip-hop infused soundtrack features a team up for the ages:  M.C. Hammer and Deion Sanders!  The bad troops are decked out in red tinged armored outfits with G.I. Joe style mask/helmets while the AN forces look sharp in their blue toned camouflage fatigues and old school metal helmets.  In this day and age where fanboys get upset nobody is in their comic book costume, Street Fighter should be applauded for getting EVERYONE into their video game duds by the end of the flick.  Guile and Ken's hair might not be spot on translations but come on, a big ol' flatop and Fabio style locks wouldn't have worked either.  Along with the costumes, many of the special moves from the game are included as well as dialog straight from the arcade console.  The film's sense of humor might have turned off some viewers but I think there's a nice balance between the laughs and action.  It keeps the tone light and the pace lithe as it's only 40 minutes into the movie and we're already prepping the invasion for the climax and conclusion.  Van Damme plays Guile tough yet amusing and makes jokes at his own expense, further showing his sense of self and even gets to deliver a rousing, pre-attack speech inspired by the D-Day invasion anniversary during filming and his families own struggles during World War II.  Raul Julia eats up the scenery in a fun performance as the power mad dictator while everyone on board does a good job of inhabiting their characters, even when some are written more absurdly than others.

While the film wasn't a huge success or failure, I'm sure it didn't live up to expectations from the studios.  Street Fighter marked the beginning of Van Damme's career slide as he fought with drug, alcohol and marital woes along with weak scripts and lack of professional focus.  Raul Julia was fighting stomach cancer during production and sadly passed away shortly after filming completed.  Steven E. de Souza would not be handed the reins to another big budget picture again and his writing efforts gave us the mangled Judge Dredd adaptation starring Sylvester Stallone (I'm a supporter though) and Van Damme's gonzo, Hong Kong action flick Knock Off.  Wes Studi still had Heat, Mystery Men and Avatar in his future while Byron Mann would work alongside the likes of Mark Dacascos, Richard Gere, Chow-Yun Fat, Mark Wahlberg, Steven Seagal and Halle Berry in film and TV roles.  Damian Chapa would become his own movie making factory, pumping out low budget DTV flicks.  Ming-Na Wen is one of the most recognizable Asian actresses in the game thanks to stints on E.R., Two and a Half Men and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while Kylie Minogue has sold something like 70 million records worldwide.

Cut to today and recent video game adaptation Need For Speed did middling business upon release while Mark Wahlberg, The Rock, Jake Gyllenhal and Jason Statham have all struck out in bringing video games to life.  Financially, the only series to make the successful leap to film has been Capcom's own Resident Evil but even that was derided for not being faithful to it's source material.  The man behind it, Paul W.S. Anderson, was also responsible for arguably the best video game adaptation movie, Mortal Kombat.  Released the summer after Street Fighter, MK stuck to it's simple formula of a fighting tournament with supernatural aspects and delivered a fast, fun and entertaining martial arts flick.  The sequel became a nonsensical, visual translation of the game and did half the business of the original.  Same thing with Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider where part I wasn't great and the sequel was released to little interest and less box office.  As for Street Fighter, a big budget reboot, The Legend of Chun-Li, was released in 2009 to poor reviews and an embarrassing box office take of $8.7 million clams.  Game over, indeed.