On the official blog for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, or as it’s known in gaming circles, “Street Fighter II: The Apology”, a few new details about the upcoming Chun-Li origin story have been revealed. Chief among them? Street Fighter franchise posterboys Ryu and Ken will not be appearing in the film. Quoting film producer Patrick Aiello:

Justin, Ashok and Capcom got together and decided to make it more of an origin story for Chun Li. There are just way too many characters in the Street Fighter universe to cram them all into one film… So, in short, Ken and Ryu will not be appearing in this film. But, that doesn’t mean we wont see our red and white-clad heroes in potential sequels…

No Ken? No Ryu?! Man… for the sake of everybody involved, this movie better not suck or the rivers will run red with fanboy blood… anyways, let’s move on.

Another person asked whether the movie would be going for a much more serious tone, or if it would be going for the campy, over-the-top style that the previous disaster film had.

Regarding the tone, I’m pleased to say we are certainly not going for camp or cheese or any kind of laughs. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the making of this film, and, you’re gonna see a lot of those ON film as well.

Patrick Aiello further explained the more realistic, gritty atmosphere of the film when addressing some of the attire the characters sport in the games, and how that simply wouldn’t translate to the big screen:

Now, as a result of this approach, it’d be silly to put Neal McDonough’s Bison in a bright red suit and captain’s hat with a pair of humongous shoulder pads. It works great in the video game, but in real life, it just wouldn’t look intimidating. The same can be said for Balrog. He’s an enforcer. A killer. A take-no-shit brawler to the core. And so, how scary would he be on screen if he beat people up with boxing gloves and a pair of blue short-shorts?

All that said, do not worry. We haven’t turned a blind eye on the game we all know and love. At some point, Chun Li will sport her trademark buns (the ones in her HAIR!) and of course, Vega’s still got the mask and claw, for starters.

I have to say that it’s somewhat refreshing to hear that they aren’t going to be trying to create a video game movie so much as they’re trying to create a movie based on a video game. Kind of like what they did with the Tomb Raider films, where everything was inspired by the games, but they never tried to make the films look like the game itself.

What do you think of the direction they’re wanting to take the movie in? Do you approve of the nitty, gritty style, or does the lack of either Ken or Ryu scare you?

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