MovieChat Forums > Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist (2014) Discussion > Just not gonna work

Just not gonna work

posted 10 years ago by JackDnCoke
28 replies | jump to latest

Street Fighter will not work as a series or movie unless they include all (or a majority) of the characters. Street Fighter (just like Mortal Kombat) was a culmination of numerous characters. Picking 1 or 2 characters will simply not work.

Chun Li was obviously a fan favorite but look how that turned out. Crappy movie in general for sure, but Street Fighter fans didn't want to see JUST 1 character. They want to see them all. So if we didn't like just Chun Li, why would we like a show centered around just Ryu and knockoff white Ryu (yeah I said it, we've all known that since day 1)? Trash the original all you want but I'd take that version over just Chun Li (might have helped if she appeared in her game attire, just saying lol) or just Ryu and Ken any day.

Street Fighter 2 Turbo would be the perfect ensemble. Just enough characters to not be over crowded and all characters would have a fan base. And keep it simple. Not over militarized like both movie versions, keep it as an actual fighting tournament like the first Mortal Kombat.

[–] tsiterp83 10 years ago

These episodes are taking place during the Alpha period of the series and is supposedly following the actual canon of the video game pretty closely. It's also not just about Ryu and Ken, it's also about the history of Gouken and Gouki (Akuma). And Akuma as you know him in the video games is also part of the series. The purpose of this series, from what I gather, was to start off with the history of Ansatsuken through Ryu's and Ken's storyline, and then if it gets a good response would dovetail into a World Warrior series (SFII).

This series was made by and for the hardcore Street Fighter fan who wanted to see the video game done properly in live action. From the previews I've seen so far, I think it should be impressive.

[–] JohnBonDon 10 years ago

This series was made by and for the hardcore Street Fighter fan who wanted to see the video game done properly in live action.

With one big caveat:

The makers have hired a white actor to play Ken even though in the games Ken is Asian. He is mixed but mostly of an Asian background.

This was a major mistake on their part.

[–] tsiterp83 10 years ago

Alright fine, maybe not the hardcore hardcore Street Fighter fan. I can see where you're coming from but I care more about the actual story following canon because I think it's an intriguing storyline. From what I know about the canon Ken's ethnicity plays no part in it. The canon isn't affected by what majority race he is. Yes, Ken is mostly Japanese, but he marries a white US girl and is the US martial arts champion, so having him played a by a white guy is not the worst thing in the world.

One thing that does worry me, however, is that Christian Howard did refer to Ken as American in his Q&A a couple of weeks ago, so a part of me is concerned of how much they missed in terms of research for this movie.

[–] JohnBonDon 10 years ago

You claim that "Ken's ethnicity plays no part in it" (even though his name "Ken" is a Japanese name) but then suggest that because Ken marries a white girl and is a US champion that it somehow makes it better that he is white? This is rather insulting seeing as how there are many Americans of Asian descent in the US. Ken being American doesn't stop him from being of Asian descent.

[–] tsiterp83 10 years ago

Ken is also a Gaelic name, to suggest it's exclusively Japenese is patently false. And you miss my point, Ken's ethnicity plays no part in the canon storyline. His relationship with Gouken and Ryu, what happened with Gouken and Gouki, Akuma fighting and possibly killing Gouken, Ryu's struggle with the satsui no hado, none of that has anything to do with Ken's race. Yes they cast a white actor (although we don't know the character's exact racial background yet) to play a character who is mostly asian, but that oversight certainly is not a major mistake unless the series misses other major aspects of the storyline. They also cast a Korean actor to play Ryu I don't see you up in arms about that.

[–] JohnBonDon 10 years ago

Ken is also a Gaelic name, to suggest it's exclusively Japenese is patently false.

What is patently false is to pretend that "Ken" here is a Gaelic name.

And you miss my point, Ken's ethnicity plays no part in the canon storyline.

Yes, it does. The whole reason that Ken is sent to Gouken to train at all is because his father (who is half Japanese) wants Ken to connect with his Japanese roots because Ken was rebellious and spoiled. Ken's father being half Japanese is also how he knows Gouken.

And you are using this "ethnicity plays no part in their story" nonsensical rhetoric to justify whitewashed casting. Taking Ken who is not white and changing him to white is wrong seeing as how there are plenty of white characters in Street Fighter.

They also cast a Korean actor to play Ryu I don't see you up in arms about that.

Mike Moh is American not Korean. That's the second time now you continue to act as if Asians cannot be Americans.

Also, the difference between a Korean and a Japanese is nationality not race.

[–] metal_head1216 10 years ago

Let's see: Ken
Short for ----
Kensaku
Kensuke
Kenji
Kenneth
Kenny

So yeah. Ken isn't just a Japanese name. And Ken Masters had an American father so if they wanna use a white actor to play him, then guess what? They can. Shut your mouth. You wanna complain about Ken being White and not Japanese? I don't hear you mentioning about Mike Moh or the girl who plays Sayaku being Korean descent and not Japanese. Again, shut it.

No Sparkling Wiggles here!

[–] zecon202 10 years ago

He's also not whining about Akuma being black, I smell a racist hypocrite in here.

[–] Thenewnexus 10 years ago

That is why I asked if a New actor should play Akuma. I think people are alright when nonwhites play a nonwhite character like Joey playing an Asian character like Akuma,people are going to say it is ok since he is Ghanaian and there is not anybody that is Ghanaian that gets a big opportunity so it is ok,but if Ray Park or Scott Adkins played Akuma it would look bad,I myself would not want to see them play Akuma either. I think it was wrong when White actors played Shredder,Goku,Khan(Star Trek) and Mandarin. I have to ask Is Ken really being whitewashed?

In a time of ancient Gods, Warlords and Kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero The power the passion the danger

[–] zecon202 10 years ago

There's nothing wrong with different races playing other roles, as long as they look like character they're meant to be. I never had a problem with a black Nick Fury or a Black Kingpin from Daredevil or even a Hispanic Susan Storm from Fantastic 4, it's alright as long as its believable and they pulled it off just fine. In the Foxtastic 4 reboot they're going to have a black Johnny Storm, now that I might have a problem with that since his sister is white, they better have a damn good explanation like he's adopted or something, cause I just don't see it happening. Ken Masters looked white in the games, so it's only natural to choose a white actor to play him, and Akuma looked great with a black actor, overall the choices for the roles were perfect, nitpicking on races of the actors only proves who the real racist is.

[–] JohnBonDon 10 years ago

There's nothing wrong with different races playing other roles

This isn't tit for tat. Changing a role of a person of color to a white character hurts people of color because there are hardly roles give to them like there are to whites. Any statistics will show this. In fact, the whole reason Nick Fury was made to be black was to create more characters of color because there are so few not because they just randomly decided to make him black.

Ken Masters looked white in the games

Not true. Watch this video and learn about the art styles seen in Japanese popular culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn_wuOur-EQ

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] metal_head1216 10 years ago

Joey Ansah playing Akuma was fine because even in the game lore, it seemed that once Gouki became corrupted by the Dark Hado that his appearance became so warped he didn't even look human anymore. Joey Ansah has Akuma's dark skin tone, his build and the makeup crew did great at making his face look like Akuma's with the thick brow. He also has a more fitting voice than the actor who handled the role of Gouki pre-corruption. I mean honestly, look at pics of Akuma. Does he actually look Japanese? Not really. You can't tell where he's from anymore because of what's become of him.

No Sparkling Wiggles here!

[–] tangohitman 10 years ago

http://www.capcom.co.jp/sf4/ken.html

"Ken was born in the USA and is a proud member of the very wealthy Masters family. He trained in the martial arts alongside Ryu under Master Gouken as a young boy."
- http://capcom.wikia.com/wiki/Ken

Ken SF4+ win quote:

"The whole American champion thing seems petty. I should aim even higher!"

Ken's stage music/background/flag/song name/loletc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrNK8qJMHiQ

people are still arguing? i dont even

arguing for the sake of arguing.

[–] JohnBonDon 10 years ago

So yeah. Ken isn't just a Japanese name.

In here it is a Japanese name.

Do you think it's a coincidence that "Ken" also appears in the moves that Ryu and Ken use? What's the "rising dragon fist" in Japanese? What are the last two syllables in it? Do you really think it's just pure luck that "Ryu" and "Ken" both appear in the name of that move?

And Ken Masters had an American father so if they wanna use a white actor to play him, then guess what? They can.

Too bad Ken's father is supposed to be half Japanese.

I don't hear you mentioning about Mike Moh or the girl who plays Sayaku being Korean descent and not Japanese.

I already took care of this weak return in the response you decided to reply to. Go back and read it again.

[–] nikount 10 years ago

Ken is mixed, which means he can look, Japanese, Caucasian or a combination between the two. His father is also mixed and he has blond hair in every one of his depictions. Why is it so hard to believe that Ken looks like his father and not his mother? The dark brows argument doesn't hold water, brows can have a different color than the hair on top of your head. In fact my sister is blond but her brows are dark brown. And yes, i know that he was supposedly dyeing his hair at one point but Capcom is notorious for constantly retconing stuff.

Your argument about the anime look doesn't hold much water either. SF3 had the most realistic depiction of the characters. Ryu looked asian, Ken did not. In SFVI he even got green eyes and you can't get more cannon than the game. So if you want to blame someone for "whitewashing" Ken, blame Capcom. It's their character and they have a right to change him in whatever way they see fit.

Even the Japanese loved Christian as Ken, just browse a few of their boards and you will see that he is probably the most popular pick.

[–] huda-90-526304 10 years ago

Also, the difference between a Korean and a Japanese is nationality not race.

Sir, can I ask you something? Are you even Asian? Do you even live in an Asian country?

For you to claim that Korean and Japanese is just nationality and not race is a big insult and obviously not true at all. I'm not sure how you can come up with something like this, but Korean and Japanese use different language, different culture, different lifestyle of living, they even come from different countries.

And also, not diverting from the current issue here, Chad Michael Murray is 1/4 Japanese. Does he looks like a Japanese to you?

[–] Carnage81 10 years ago

Stop whinging bitch i've seen you on all the topics in this movie thread crying that Ken isn't Asian, who cares? Get a fvcking life you loser. Someone who fixates on a topic this much is a pathetic sad fanboy.

[–] Neo_v7 10 years ago

Let it go.

Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken

[–] plo617 10 years ago

About the whole white characters playing Asian parts in anime/anime style live action movies. You can blame the Japanese for that. Their characters are typically drawn with such euro-centric traits, that it usually looks closer to the Anime when a white actor plays them.

There are certainly characters that clearly look more Asian in Anime (and it's stupid when they have non Asians play them), but Ken isn't one of them. The actor playing ken looks like he was pulled straight from SF Alpha. All I could think while watching this was how great Ken was in this series.

[–] tsiterp83 10 years ago

Even though Ken is played by a white actor, his character in the series is at least alluded to be half Japenese, based on his mother's name being Japense. Joey has mentioned several times how convoluted the canon storyline is when it comes to the Street Fighter universe. I think he tried as hard as he could to be faithful to the source material but it's hard when Capcom has retconned so many parts of the story. The series itself doesn't follow the timeline exactly (Ken giving his red redband to Ryu after their fight occurs too early in this series). I think Joey was just trying to combine the parts of the story that people enjoyed and recognized from the different animated movies and comics and combine it to a singular storyline that makes sense.

But to complain about a casting choice to use a white actor instead of an Asian American seems to be nitpicking, and is no where near the kind of 'whitewashing' that guys wants to claim is happening. Also I don't follow his logic that the drawings of Ken are not of a white guy but that of Japenese descent. Maybe I'm just ignorant, (I probably am because I really don't know the intent of how the Japense draw anime characters) but how many Japanese or Japenese American males have hair as drawn in Ken's SF3 depiction. Further, even in SF IV his game model does have blue/green eyes but the opening and ending cut scenes shows that he has brown eyes. The point being that even Capcom doesn't seem sure what Ken's true origin should be.

[–] huldu 10 years ago

I agree. I wanted to see more characters not less. The editing of the movie felt weird in certain parts. I'd give the movie 5/10, would have been 6/10 if it didn't feel like they dragged on forever. How long was the movie? It felt like an eternity, especially considering that most of the movie is based around training and some history lessons. It wasn't bad but the beginning felt very slow and sluggish. I'm glad I stuck out because it improved towards the middle.

[–] HarryPotterIsGarbage 10 years ago

I'd give the movie 5/10, would have been 6/10 if it didn't feel like they dragged on forever. How long was the movie? It felt like an eternity, especially considering that most of the movie is based around training and some history lessons. It wasn't bad but the beginning felt very slow and sluggish.

You probably just enjoy mindless action movies like Transformers. This movie isn't your type of movie, that's all. I was never bored throughout the whole movie, and if anything, I wanted it to be even longer.

[–] ryto_69 10 years ago

The thing the OP fails to realise is, this isn't a series about street fighter as a whole, it's more or less an origin for Ken and Ryu.. and maybe if he's patient and complains a little less then maybe we will see more characters stories told and then have it all culminate in an ensemble.

[–] HarryPotterIsGarbage 10 years ago

Street Fighter will not work as a series or movie unless they include all (or a majority) of the characters. Street Fighter (just like Mortal Kombat) was a culmination of numerous characters. Picking 1 or 2 characters will simply not work.

The movie is called Assassin's Fist which is the English translation of 'Ansatsuken', the fighting style used by Ken/Ryu/Gouken/etc. The whole movie is about the history of the "assassin's fist" fighting style, so it's pointless adding other irrelevant characters (other than as cameos).

[–] diabolik24 10 years ago

The Street Fighter story began with Alpha and that's where the producers decided to base the story on. Nothing wrong with that.

[–] thunderemperor 10 years ago

You nerds are a disgrace. Who gives a rats ass about race?

The only thing that is important is :- Has the chosen actor played his/her role well? Does he/she suit the role?

Everybody embodied their characters really well and I have no complaints. You people will claw at anything. Clam the **** down. If you really have a problem with Ken being white, then you have major issues. It's a character from a *beep* video game.

[–] liquidchaoss 10 years ago

Kind of an old thread but I have watched SFAF so many times, its the best adaptation of SF or any game for that matter in my opinion. I mean a lot of us paid money to watch crap movies like the 1994 SF version and the later one about Chung Li and we thought it was horrible. Finally SFAF comes out and its true to the story line, very clear in understanding whats going on, great job picking the right people for each role, clearly its as I said one of the best game adaptations. And after all of that they give it to us for free! And we are complaining about it? Your right, who gives a rats ass. This was an amazing series leaving a lot of us wanting more.

I definitely will be buying the movie when it comes out in October and I will be eagerly awaiting for season 2, World Warrior where we will see more characters. I already bought the sound track and made Ken and Ryus theme my ringtones. My only hope is if they do season 2 they do not go Hollywood and get new actors or do a new way of filming, stick to what is working!