Future Cops

Future Cops is a 1993 Hong Kong action-comedy film loosely based on the Street Fighter video game franchise.

It was the first live-action film to feature characters from the Street Fighter series, the second being City Hunter starring Jackie Chan, which was also directed by Wong Jing, but released 15 days later. The following year the official Street Fighter motion picture was released, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Plot
In the year 2043, an evil crime lord (The General/M. Bison) is trying to take over the world. Only one government official stands in his way, and plans to send him to prison, so The General and his minions Kent (Ken), Thai King (Sagat), and Toyota (E. Honda) travel to the year 1993 to kill the official before he has a chance to get into office. During a battle with The General's minions, the Future Cops Lung (Ryu), Broom Man (Guile), Ti Man (Vega), and Ah-Sing (Dhalsim) hear of their evil plan and devise a plan of their own to travel back in time to protect the official. Lung ultimately stays behind because he is the Police Director's son in law, and does not appear again until the very last few minutes of the movie.

Once the Future Cops get to 1993 they land in the backyard of 20 something year old high school student Tai-Hung, who helps them stay under cover by letting them live with him and his family. Tai-Hung ends up being the one the Future Cops are looking for, Ti Man pretends to be a fellow student while striking up a romance with Tai Hung's sister Chun May (Chun Li); Broom Man pretends to be a music teacher at the school while also striking up a romance with one of the students, Crab Angel; while Ah-Sing follows Tai Hung pretending to be his servant, all the while protecting him from the evil school bullies, while Tai Hung pursues a romance of his own with his long time friend Choi Ney. Eventually the villains show up, wreak havoc, and there are many epic battles.

The film moves through strange romance, wacky comedic situations, and a couple of bizarre musical numbers (many of the Chinese actors in the film are also accomplished pop singers), until the introduction of the villains halfway through the movie. There are some epic fight scenes featuring the special attacks and fighting styles of the Street Fighter characters. Though the characters bear an obvious similarity to those of Street Fighter, Fantasy Productions could not get the rights to use their names at the time the film was being made. All in all, the plot of the film has little to do with the actual storyline and characters of the original Street Fighter series.

Game references and differences

 * All the characters in the film have the likeness, fighting style, and special attacks of the Street Fighter video game characters they are based on.
 * In the final battle of the film, Chun May and her mother simultaneously (both dressed as Chun-Li) perform Chun-Li's "yatta!" win animation from Street Fighter II.
 * Vega, who is normally a villain in the video game series, is the main hero, whereas Ken and E. Honda are villains as opposed to heroes.
 * In the scene where Ti Man and Chun May are on a date at an arcade, they jump into a game of Super Mario Bros.
 * Through most of the film Ti Man (Vega), and Chun May (Chun-Li) wear normal school clothes, and Chun May wears glasses.
 * Ken and Guile who normally have blond hair have black hair with blond streaks in the film.
 * Dhalsim, who is normally bald, has black hair with red streaks in the film.
 * Vega's mask only covers half his face, as opposed to his whole face.
 * Sagat in the film is not very tall, has a flattop haircut, and a goatee, but still wears an eyepatch.