Avenue Fighter is heading again to theaters later this 12 months with a brand new adaptation of the beloved online game franchise. With the newest live-action film comes an ensemble forged to fill out the combating sport’s prolonged roster. Quite a few fan-favorite characters are confirmed to look, with an early teaser trailer highlighting fighters like Ryu, Ken, Cammy, Balrog, and Guile. The film additionally sees Callina Liang taking up the function of Chun-Li.
Chun-Li is one in all Avenue Fighter‘s most iconic characters, with Liang following within the footsteps of notable previous actors. Kristin Kreuk portrayed the fighter in 2009’s Avenue Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, and Ming-Na Wen performed the half within the first 1994 movie. Whereas Wen is the primary actor to embody Chun-Li in an official film based mostly on the online game franchise, her portrayal was not technically the character’s live-action debut. Earlier than Avenue Fighter had its personal film, a number of of the characters appeared in a 1993 action-comedy starring Jackie Chan, wherein the martial-arts actor donned the enduring outfit earlier than anybody else.
Jackie Chan Was Weirdly Excellent because the First Dwell-Motion Chun-Li
Metropolis Hunter is a 1993 motion movie based mostly on Tsukasa Hojo’s manga collection. Chan performs Ryo Saeba, a non-public detective or “sweeper.” He’s such a famous womanizer that his associate’s dying phrases are to ask Saeba to not seduce his sister, Kaori Makimura. Saeba nonetheless brings Makimura on as his assistant, and the movie follows the duo as they’re employed to find a information magnate’s lacking daughter. Their case ultimately finds them aboard a cruise ship stuffed with terrorists, resulting in loads of Chan’s trademark mixture of humor and expert stunt work. Whereas he is battling his self-indulgent methods and loads of villains, Metropolis Hunter additionally paints Makimura as a love curiosity, seeing Saeba contending together with his emotions versus his promise to his deceased associate.
At one level within the film, Saeba is combating in an arcade room with a number of video video games scattered round. He’s kicked into one of many gaming cupboards, which shatters and electrocutes him, inflicting Saeba to hallucinate. Metropolis Hunter then options a number of of the movie’s actors as Avenue Fighter characters, with the remainder of the sequence taking part in out as a battle between the online game personalities. The film options distinctive iterations of Guile, Ken, E. Honda, and Dhalsim. Nevertheless, essentially the most noteworthy look comes from Chan, who dons Chun-Li’s iconic blue outfit and white hair bows.
The battle scene options Chan hitting a lot of Chun-Li’s iconic poses, like her well-known peace signal, and even pulling off a few of her spectacular strikes from the video games. The film even makes use of a few of Avenue Fighter‘s music and sound results, which really assist make the sequence work. Metropolis Hunter options Chun-Li combating Ken, E. Honda utilizing his Hundred Hand Slap, and even Guile taking a second to repair his hair. Whereas the battle is merely a hallucinatory second for Saeba, it marks the live-action debut of quite a few Avenue Fighter characters.
On the subject of comparisons with the upcoming 2026 adaptation of the online game, Cody Rhodes’ Guile does not look an excessive amount of totally different than what Metropolis Hunter dropped at life, completely coiffed hair and all. Even Chan’s interpretation of Chun-Li feels weirdly good, with the famous martial arts star wanting in a position to give Liang and Wen an actual run for his or her cash. Whereas 2026’s Avenue Fighter nonetheless has lots left to disclose, even Chan followers usually overlook about Metropolis Hunter, making it the right time to provide the 1993 motion comedy a watch.
- Launch Date
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January 14, 1993
- Runtime
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99 minutes
- Director
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Wong Jing
- Writers
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Wong Jing, Tsukasa Hojo
- Producers
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Chua Lam
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Kumiko Goto
Shizuko Imumura / Kiyoko
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Chingmy Yau
Saeko Nogami / Anna
