Reception
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li received overwhelmingly negative reviews and was not pre-screened for critics. The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 18% based on 65 reviews. It was ranked 44th in Rotten Tomatoes's 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s based on a score of 4% in 2009, though the current score is 18%.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 17, based on 11 reviews.
Amongst the more positive reviews, Rob Nelson of Variety wrote that "Neither the best nor the worst of movies derived from videogames, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li at least gives action fans plenty to ogle besides the titular heroine (Kristin Kreuk)", while The New York Times wrote that the film was "Reveling in the vivid Bangkok locations, Geoff Boyle's photography is crisp and bright, and Dion Lam's action choreography unusually witty".
Negative reviews focused on the screenplay and fight scenes. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "other than a few reasonably well-staged fight sequences, the proceedings are dull and visually uninspired. Justin Marks' solemn screenplay lacks any trace of wit." Jeremy Wheeler of TV Guide wrote that "Fight scenes, while admirable for shaking off the shaky-cam aesthetic of their big-screen brethren, neither inspire nor find a good balance between martial arts and FX-laden power punches". IGN gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5, saying "There's better staged and more enjoyable brawls between Peter and The Chicken on Family Guy." They also felt the original live-action Street Fighter film was more enjoyable than The Legend of Chun-Li. Ryan Davis of GiantBomb said "It's a re-invisioning (of the source material) by people who can't see" and stated that Chris Klein's performance had him cringing by the end whenever he was on screen. AskMen.com placed the film at #5 in their Top 10 Worst Video Game Movies, topically stating: "We don't know about you, but in Street Fighter's illustrious 23-year history we've never once seen Balrog fire a rocket launcher. If you paid money to see this -- even stolen money -- D, DF, F+HP yourself in the pancreas."
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