Brandon Inada's Blog

For those who haven’t heard, a new Street Fighter movie is currently filming on location in Thailand. 

Like Batman Begins, the new movie is a reboot and has nothing whatsoever to do with the original Street Fighter movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme.

And, yes, the title really is Street Fighter – The Legend Of Chun Li. 

Sigh.

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Romeo Must Die) and written by Justin Marks, the new film centers around fan favorite Chun Li and takes place prior to the events depicted in the video game Street Fighter II.

The movie stars Kristin Kreuk, of Smallville fame, in the title role:

Chris Klein (American Pie) as Charlie/Nash:

Robin Shou (Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat) as Gen:

 Neal McDonough (Walking Tall) as M. Bison:

Michael Clarke Duncan as Balrog:

Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas as Vega:

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with their casting decisions.  What do you think?

For more on the movie, there’s a production blog over at streetfightermovie.net where you can read up on all the latest developments.

(A recent post confirms that Ken and Ryu won’t be making an appearance in this film…)

Let’s start with the most promising pics, shall we?

Ah, Baroness.  Looking good.  Glad they had her pose with the glasses this time around.  (Here’s a link to the previous pic sans glasses.)  Really completes the look, don’t you think?

Here’s a comparison pic:

Here’s Storm Shadow again, only this time with his mask on:

Also pretty good, all things considered.  I guess they’re going to go with a more realistic approach (“realistic” – HA!) and do away with the Cobra insignia?

Heavy Duty:

To be perfectly honest, I barely remember this character from either the Marvel comics or the popular 80s cartoon.  This picture reminds me of fan favorite Roadblock.  Still don’t know about these X-Men-esque superhero-like costumes…

Breaker:

Yeah.  Not so sure about this one.  Here’s Breaker’s traditional look:

Last one.  Here’s Destro:

Sure looks sinister, doesn’t he?

So like most fans of the old 80s cartoon, I’m left wondering, “Where’s Destro’s shiny metal face mask?”

Too difficult to pull off in a live-action film?  Maybe he’ll don the mask later on…

Here’s hoping they get Cobra Commander right…

Here we have our very first look at team leader Duke (played by actor Channing Tatum) from the upcoming live-action G.I. Joe film being directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) and set to be released late summer 2009: 

Not bad I suppose.  It’s a little easier picturing Channing Tatum in the role now that we’ve seen him in full costume.

The character’s look is a bit too X-Men for my tastes.  Also, judging from what we’ve seen of Scarlett (click here to see), it looks as though we won’t be seeing the Joes in their iconic duds either. 

At least they got Snake Eyes right…

On the Cobra side of things, here we have Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) and The Baroness (Sienna Miller):

These two are a bit closer to the look fans of the series are accustomed to, although the Baroness is missing her glasses in the above pic.

And lastly, here’s a shot of Dennis Quaid as General Hawk:

I actually like this one.  The tough guy smirk is a nice touch. 

General Hawk was always a favorite of mine in the old 80s cartoon.

Well, it’s official.

Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Blade II, and this summer’s Hellboy sequel) will direct the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the precursor to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, with Peter Jackson staying on as executive producer this time out.  

New Line Cinema and MGM are co-producing the prequel and it’s follow-up, an as yet untitled film that will serve as a narrative bridge between the events of The Hobbit and the first LOTR film, The Fellowship Of The Ring.

Exciting news!

Actors Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Hugo Weaving (Lord Elrond) have both expressed interest in reprising their roles for The Hobbit. 

I wonder who’ll play the young Bilbo Baggins, as the actor who played the Bilbo in the LOTR, Ian Holm, looks a bit too old for the role. 

(Ian Holm actually played a young Bilbo Baggins in the original LOTR trilogy in a scene showing how the One Ring came into his possession.)

I’m guessing the part will be recast.

Not bad actually. 

Pretty cool pic.  Cool pose.  Crossbow.  Nice, form-fitting costume.

Now that she’s got the red hair, I’m having a much easier time picturing actress Rachel Nichols in the role of Scarlett. 

It’s hard to tell since Nichols is facing off to the side, but the costume she’s wearing seems fairly close to the traditional, iconic look of the popular female Joe character pictured below:

… well, except for the color scheme. 

Admittedly, the orange and purple-ish hues shown in the pic above might not work terribly well, or even at all, in this slightly more realistic, live-action take on the character but having seen a pic of fellow Joe team member Snake Eyes in full costume earlier (Here’s a link.  And another one.), I’m a bit concerned that the Joes might all end up looking vaguely the same.  You know, all dressed in black, X-Men-movie-like costumes.

I suppose we’ll have to wait and see as more pics become available…