Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain Superb action film that is superior to all recent efforts. The Street Fighter is everything you should love about the genre. In fact, it does so much right, it should be used as a template for any film wishing to achieve such levels of excitement and brutality. The first thing to grab my attention was the lead protagonist. He isn't exactly a nice guy. Far from it. He's a mercenary for hire, and not the lovable rogue like Han Solo. He is sadistic and cruel and self serving. However, Chiba manages to instill such charisma that I was drawn to the performance. As the film progressed, so did Chiba. His actions became more heroic, even if his methods could still make me cringe. The action scenes are those I long to return. This isn't some "exciting" frenetic exercise in editing. The action derives from the actors and the stunts. The camera is following what is going on, and heavy editing is not needed. There are some stylistic flourishes which add extra cool, but not so much as to detract from the emotions of the characters. Some parts are a little convoluted, but the balance between story, dialog, and action is beautifully thought out. It's all helped along by a very 70's and very sexy soundtrack.

whpratt1 This picture held my interest from the very beginning to the end with a film that is full of blood and gore. Sonny Chiba, (Terry) is hired to protect a young gal who has inherited a very large fortune and the the Asian mafia gets involved with trying to kidnap this rich young gal. There is eye-balls torn out, rape and drugs injected into a girl's veins in order to turn her into a full time prostitute. The martial arts was outstanding throughout the entire picture and Sonny Chiba put his entire heart and soul into this great 1974 film. I have never seen such a great film and was very glad I was able to obtain this film which I can enjoy over and over. Enjoy

sc8031 The Streetfighter remains one of the defining films of the Japanese martial arts, "grindhouse", "chop-socky" era from the 1970s. It's one of the titles that made Sonny Chiba famous and features really impressive high-level karate.But the film isn't light-hearted, nor is it made humorous by its dub (as is the case with the contemporary Shaw Bros. films of the time). It is violent, gritty, misogynistic, and a bit racist. It explores gritty underworld elements: drug trafficking, sex slavery, contract killing, etc.The plot revolves around Terry, an underground mercenary in modern Japan, who is forced into a life of crime (presumably) for being half-Chinese in a racist, conservative society. He is offered a job to rescue a wealthy oil baron's daughter-heiress after she is kidnapped by Yakuza. The way the events transpire and the plot develops is actually pretty solid for a "B" movie, and here Street Fighter stands far above its sequels or genre contemporaries.Terry as a character is complex and depressing. He is angry and violent and completely unsympathetic to others, but he is the one we are supposed to connect with. Many people who cross his path are perhaps more upstanding people but are killed either because they are in the way of his contract jobs or because they are not as equally driven by hatred.Sure, maybe it's a character study or a commentary on Japanese society in post-World War II. But that's only in hind-sight and even if so, it's just icing. The premise of the movie is to create a situation for Sonny Chiba to kill a bunch of violent criminals while on commission. But this is okay, because the acting is good, the martial arts are real good, the music is catchy funk-inspired rock and enka from the '70s, and the plot maintains your attention throughout.

MartinHafer If you try to compare this film to non-martial arts films, it surely would not receive a score like 9. However, for the genre, it is an exceptional film as way too many of these martial arts films of the 1970s were so cheaply made and featured the dumbest gimmicks and the most ridiculous fighting that STREET FIGHTER is a welcome relief--even being better than most of the Bruce Lee movies.Originally, this was an X-rated film due to its graphic violence, though today it probably would be rated PG-13 or R--I guess this says a lot about our culture and the type films we are making these days! There is a ton of blood and lots of gouging and ripping out of things such as genitals and throats--making it a movie you still should NOT let your kids see. Plus,instead of the likable and decent hero usually played by Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba plays an amoral jerk who will do anything for money--this is highly reminiscent of the "heros" in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and other Spaghetti Westerns.The film begins with Chiba rescuing a condemned man from execution. The man DID deserved to die, but for the money, Chiba and his dopey sidekick were more than willing to help. However, later, when the same employer wants him to do other jobs but don't want to pay the price he asks, they decide to kill him--after all, they are the Yakuza and they don't want their identities revealed. So, wave after wave after wave of baddies attack Chiba. His martial arts techniques are incredible--we was obviously well-trained and unlike most heroes in martial arts films, he took pains to kill most of his victims--not just punching them but brutally destroying them. However, it also helped that in many cases, the bad guys attacked him one at a time!!! This was reasonably achieved in some cases by having them attack down a path or in an alley, though often they took turns when they all COULD have attacked at the same time--and even the greatest marital artist would not survive this. Hey folks, these are the YAKUZA--Japanese mobsters famed for their brutality--this one at a time stuff just isn't realistic. What I did like, though, was that they did sometimes use guns and Chiba was able to handle this--it wasn't all hand to hand nonsense.Aside from the one at a time problem, the only other minor problem was his fight with nice-guy Master Masaoka. Masaoka was a middle-aged and rather overweight guy but he more than handled Chiba--even though Chiba then went on to kill dozens throughout the rest of the film. Masaoka appeared in the next film as well and none of his techniques look the least bit impressive. So how did he do so well against Chiba? But for the good, there is a lot to like. This is some of the most brutal and skilled martial arts I have seen and it is very realistic due to the blood and because he remembers to kill just about all those who attack him--making Chiba a rare thing in martial arts films--a very smart and pragmatic leading man!!! While not quite as fast as Bruce Lee or artistic as Jackie Chan, Chiba's brutal combination of styles of martial arts is very impressive and hard to dismiss. Lovers of the genre MUST see this film.