When looking back at the 1994 movie adaptation of the popular video game franchise Street Fighter, viewers have to suspend their disbelief. By that, there are multiple layers of nonsensical plot holes and gaffes sprinkled through this unintentionally hilarious martial-arts film that deserve particular scrutiny.
Naturally, this is all in good fun, much like the movie itself. Street Fighter is one of those guilty pleasures people have a hard time admitting they like, yet have probably watched more than once. Led by famed martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme, the '94 film is complete with irrationality and silliness.
No Tournament
It seems odd to adapt a video game property about a martial arts tournament, and turn it into a film centering around a geopolitical conflict. In many ways, it feels as if the writers were taking the easy way out in order to better compartmentalize the characters and bypass their development.
By shoehorning characters into convenient roles, there's no need to worry about the logistics of the tournament, who wins, who loses, and who changes throughout. Fans expecting Bloodsport ended up getting Braddock: Missing In Action II, sans Chuck Norris and fantastic action sequences.
Ken & Ryu Running Guns
The characters of Ken Masters and fan favorite Ryu Hoshi are introduced in a much different manner compared to their video game counterparts. In the film, both are gun runners in Shadaloo City who see fit to rip off the local crime boss Sagat by dealing out toy replicas rather than the real thing.
While the shocking deviation from the source material is bad enough, it's not nearly as puzzling as the decision to run guns in the first place. Swindling the clientele is really bad for repeat business, and it's hard to believe that one shipment of weapons would be enough to set Ken and Ryu up for life, even if they did have something resembling a moral compass.
Why Does Guile Bust The Cage Fight?
After being exposed as frauds, Ken and Ryu are taken by Sagat to a cage fight, where they are scheduled to compete against Vega. The objective is for them to face their doom in the ring, one at a time. Before Ryu and Vega engage each other in a fight, Guile busts through the wall with armored tank and orders everyone arrested.
If it was Sagat he was after, it seems illogical to bust a cage fight, rather than knock his front door down. Also, Guile would have had much bigger fish to fry, namely the arch-villain Bison and his team. Since Sagat was not accepted fully into Bison's inner circle, using him to extract intel would have been pointless.
Why Is Guile Still Under A Sheet?
Guile concocts a plan in the first half of the film to fool Sagat into accepting Ken and Ryu into his circle. He does this by orchestrating a not-so-complex plan involving squibs to simulate Ken shooting him in the stomach, then fabricating an obituary on the local news outlets. The plan works, but Chun Li suspects that something is up.
When she investigates a tracking signal placed on the escaping prisoner bus that leads right back to A.N. headquarters, she infiltrates the compound to trace it. There, she finds Guile under a sheet in the mortuary, still alive. It makes no sense for him to remain under that sheet for so long, as revealing himself to Chun Li would have meant revealing himself to his own personnel, as well. Plus, he's still wearing the squib pack underneath his uniform, which is pointless given how much time had elapsed since the jailbreak.
Honda & Balrog
It isn't known why Balrog and Honda are working with Chun Li, as none of these characters had anything resembling a relationship in the video game series. All three come from polar opposite spectrums, with individual and completely unrelated motivations for joining the tournament. In the film, the three work together, posing as a journalist team whilst seeking to undermine Bison.
When Ken and Ryu are confronted by them, Honda mentions that Bison's Shadaloo Tong destroyed his reputation as a sumo wrestler. Balrog confirms the same regarding his boxing career. The question is, why? What business would the Shadaloo Tong have in such mundane and pointless conflicts as that? A motive would have helped, but the script writers decided to hurry the story along, without an explanation.
Ken & Ryu Re-Enter The Tent
Chun Li realizes that Ken and Ryu are working for Guile, which is why she lures them both away from Bison and Sagat. She divulges her plan to detonate a cache of explosions embedded in the illegal weapons being traded between the two, and tells Ryu and Ken that they have ten minutes to get out.
Rather than run for cover, Ryu and Ken casually stroll right back into the very same tent where Bison and Sagat were doing their deal. Now at each other's throats, Ken and Ryu are caught squarely in the middle. This is an example of purposely going from the frying pan and into the fire.
How Did Bison Capture Chun Li?
After Chun Li, Balrog and Honda roll an explosives-laden truck into Bison's encampment and detonate it, the entire place goes wild. In the midst of all this, the audience can hear Bison screaming at his minions to seek out and apprehend Chun Li and her team.
This doesn't make any sense, as Chun Li would have been smart enough to formulate a backup plan and get out of there, once the fireworks went off. Worse yet, why did she bother drawing attention to her plan, and giving Bison and Sagat a chance to escape? If she were truly interested in accomplishing her mission, she'd have rolled the truck quietly down the hill and robbed them of any notice.
The Stealth Boat
In order to get the jump on Bison, Guile runs a stealth boat up a river channel in an attempt to stay under his radar. The premise seems sound, but the execution is preposterous. First, initiating the stealth mechanism on the boat seems to negatively affect Guile, as well as Cammy and T.Hawk, for no apparent reason.
Next, Guile begins knocking out Bison's radar stations, which draws his immediate attention. When Deejay switches to visual mode, the boat is invisible, but its wake can clearly be seen. The fact that Bison needs to piece together this particular puzzle is bereft of all logic and sense, as anyone could clearly see what was happening.
Choice Of Weapons
There is an argument to be made for going in light when it comes to infiltration of an enemy base, but this is ridiculous. Guile and his team bust into Bison's compound with nothing but sidearms, which is a far cry from the Rambo-style assault weaponry being carried by the enemy soldiers. A strike team would have gone in with a primary weapon capable of going toe-to-toe with enemy personnel.
It's possible Guile intended for his team to acquire weapons on site, but that doesn't excuse omitting so much as a submachine gun capable of laying down suppressing fire in case things got hot. With a limited number of shots in the magazine, they would run out of bullets real quickly, to say nothing of the decrease in stopping power.
Bison's Life Support
When Guile fights Bison and manages to kick him straight into a console, which (somehow) electrocutes him badly enough to stop his heart and kill him. Guile thinks it's all over, but while he's busy coordinating battle plans with Cammy, Bison is being resuscitated.
The automated life support mechanism is laughably silly, and involves a three stage process of C.P.R., where the compressions work in reverse for some strange reason, followed by an electrical jolt to the heart, and the injecting of adrenaline directly into that organ. It doesn't make much medical sense, but it's also best the audience just accept this and move on.