Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind (2009)

Charming and brutal

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's overall better than the live-action movie, but that's not saying much. The only really memorable part is the one were Cammy gets electro-groped by C. Viper. No, I did not just make that up. One of the most biggest femme fatals of the video game industry, gets defeated in less than a minute, but also in one the most humiliating and embarrassing defeats in film. For a tribute to the game, why are two of the four new characters completely absent from the film all together? Sure Rufus and El Fuerte were absolutely retarded, but they still deserved to be at least featured in someway. So all that we have left is Abel and C. Viper. Abel is barely in the film, and it is C. Viper who is the one who takes up the most screen time. This wouldn't be a problem ...if she wasn't such an unlikable character. Technically she's not a "villain" so to say, but her actions are so despicable that she might as well be the villain. Not only does she electro-rape Cammy, but she also threatens to murder Cammy, and also kidnaps Ken's wife, for her own purposes. And we're suppose to sympathize with her, because she's a single mother? Yeah, not buying it.The other characters are faithful to their video game counterparts, but that still doesn't make them good characters. Admittedly, the movie can't be blamed for this so much as the game series itself. It's no secret that most of the characters in the Street Fighter universe are based on cultural stereotypes, but that doesn't automatically make them bad characters. Mostly they're just one-dimensional, and uninteresting. For the fight scenes, there's not really much to talk about, as they are just okay. They lack any of the grittiness that made the fight scenes in the animated movie so good.Overall, it's superior to the live-action film, but is inferior to the animated movie. I'd recommend that you go back and watch the animated movie. It includes most of the characters from Ties That Bind, and thankfully lacks C. Viper.

I stumbled upon this Anime on Wikipedia's list of Anime based on video games page by chance and thought that it would be as good as the original Streetfighter Anime from 1994. Sadly however, Streetfighter IV: The Tide That Bides is no where as amazing as its previous effort as this one is disappointing. The plot takes place before the Streetfighter 4 game so it's a prequel to it. Characters in Guy, Dhalsim, Fei Long, Blanka, E. Honda and Dee Jay to Streetfighter 4 newcomers El Fuerte, Rufus, Juri, Hakan are all absent and are nowhere to be seen. However, it makes one wonder why is this actually called Streetfighter 4, when in which one say one third of the characters from the game are in it? It makes no sense. Much of the movie involves the characters spending a large chunk of the film having a conversation- and less on the fighting and action sequences. The main storyline involves Ken, Ryu and Crimson Viper with Chun Li and Guile playing second fiddle to the trio and although it was the writers attempt to make this watchable, it became overdrawn and turned out to be a snooze fest. It got to me that the writers or whoever it was decided to make Crimson so annoying, arrogant and obnoxious. Because when I played Super Streetfighter 4, as she is a CIA agent, I assumed she would be a tough character with a heart. Viper in the games is a cool chick, but here she could've been easily mistaken as one of the villains. The animation is OK at best, although the colours look muted and drab. The character designs I thought are somewhat good - Anime standard that is, but they're not great. I still dislike the live- action Streetfighter flick of 1994 with Van Damme more and would rank this below that and the recent legend of Chun Li movie in third place. If they put more time and effort into it, it would've been a terrific Anime; but alas, this was a waste of an opportunity & a waste of the Streetfighter 4 franchise.In all, a huge disappointment and inferior to the Streetfighter 2 Anime, which is still class 17 years on.

Every Street Fighter anime that has come out after Street Fighter 2: the Movie has been such a disappointment to me that I sincerely hope they just don't keep making them anymore. It has been remarked that the animation itself was obviously rushed to coincide with the game's release, as was the story, but what I find most disappointing about it is *SPOILER WARNING* that this is a Street Fighter anime with no actual fights in it. Yes, you read that right: there are no fights here. What there is, is two beatings. First the new character, Crimson Viper, gives Cammy a horrible beating. Then the villain, Seth, gives Ryu a horrible beating until Ryu throws *one* Hadouken at him, and defeats him. That's it. Unless you count Sakura and Chun Li kicking some random thugs, that's all the action this anime has. Also, of the new characters, only Viper appears in the anime, unless you count the two seconds where Abel shows up at the end. Rufus and El Fuerte are nowhere to be seen. This thing might as well be called "The Crimson Viper Show", and I find her extremely unlikeable, to boot. Don't waste your time and look for an anime with some actual action, instead.

This movie was 105 min of my Life I"ll never get back. The Over compensating Story Line takes a way from a Movie with the title called "Street Fighter". I thought this movie lacked good fighting scenes, Failed on implementing special Moves for the characters and try to make a world in Peril out of special Fighting skills... this movie dragged and Just Just.... JUST DISAPPOINTED ! ! ! !Compared to the Street Fighter 2 (Sutorîto Faitâ II gekijô-ban(1995) ) movie which I Loved, the animation in this Movie was a step down. It had a Horrible Cute Cartoon network type anime Look which took Away from the gritty fighting scenes that they did manage to slip into the Movie. SPOILER*** Kinda****....Surprisingly KEN MASTERS goes the Entire movie without throwing his signature Upcut ? Guile goes Through the Movie throwing one sonic boom and no Flash Kick ? Chung Li throws a punch and kick here and there ? Cammy ...ummmm gets owned ? I mean with the Slew of characters And signature moves you'd think a Street Fighter movie would be enjoyable to the fans and game go'ers... apparently I was mistaken ! Just to Give fellow movie Watchers a heads up Cause I know whether I trash this Movie or not street Fighter fans will Watch it regaurdless lol....Its an 105 min long.... The Movie didn't have Action or at least a decent fight scene till 55 min into the Movie....BORING to say the Least !