M. Bison and the Art of Ham | Street Fighter 1994 | A Video Essay

[@fredbeard8867]

Raul Julia took the role while 3 years into battling stomach cancer and was extremely ill at the time, & he did it because his 2 sons were huge Street Fighter fans...

[@jculver1674]

The man loved nothing more than knowing his work entertained kids. So he spent much of his final time on Earth to working on this role in a horrible movie, knowing it would bring his kids some joy, and was determined to have fun with it. What an absolute legend.

[@SicketMog]

He made the movie for his kids and his kids' choice, in turn, made him immortal through this movie. It's a beautiful story. Edit: and I landed here due to just having seen the famous scene at random and writing this comment on WHY I think his performance turned out so well so I'll just quote it again. "and I think the reason for it, and formula to replicate it, were I to analyze it as a "normal viewer" (and not an expert on movies or psychology or anything) would be something like this... He KNEW he was the only good thing about the movie. He KNEW he was a better actor than the rest (by far), though surely too nice and humble to say it, and so when you have him play the bad guy, who's supposed to look down on everyone, that ALSO just shines through in a way. That subconcious "I'm better than you" attitude from the villain translating "yeah I know I'm good" from the actor. That certain je ne sais quoi. See the movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space and the actor playing the police chief in that (Vernon something?) as another example. The rest of the actors suck balls and he just goes HAM in every scene with an air of superiority, probably because he KNOWS he's a better actor, it's a very fun watch whenever he's on screen."

[@hylianbatman3153]

"For you, the day M.Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday." .....fucking brilliant

[@andrewblanchard2398]

I was hoping PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN would've used that quote when he beat TRUMP in 2020 & again in 2024

[@hylianbatman3153]

@@andrewblanchard2398 I mean, he is your power hungry dictator who stole the election...so it fits. If Chun Li had a small daughter and Bison sniffed her like a pervert, it would really fit

[@hylianbatman3153]

@@andrewblanchard2398 lmfao you look like someone who's never had their dick sucked and it shows

[@projectikaruga]

​@@andrewblanchard2398Biden in 2024 cant even wipe his own ass

[@UrpleSquirrel]

Street Fighter the movie is a perfect example of the how "entertaining" and "good" don't necessarily overlap. Is it a good movie? No way. Is it a wildly entertaining campy mess? Absolutely yes.

[@marleyjr.bobert6639]

When I saw the title, I thought you were disrespecting his brilliance in this film. Im glad I watched this. Thank you for HONORING RAUL JULIA.. R.I.P.

[@miqvPL]

Palpatine comes to mind as a great villain. No matter if prequels or OT- dude LOVES being evil and seeing others suffer. The whole return of the jedi finale is him setting up a spectacle for Luke to see, since he just hates jedi so much he wants the last of them to suffer greatly. In the novelization he also mocks yoda by mimicking his speech pattern when asking Luke about Yoda, which is crystal clear awesome. He's the strongest part of the prequels too, being calm, calculated, reasonable until the whole facade drops, "I am the senate" and here he goes spinning like a bayblade killing jedi and having the time of his life, finally relaxing after holding the mask for so long. He makes dark side fun, he makes me wanna join

[@adamb89]

100% disagree, Palpatine is a terribly written villain. Evil for evil's sake, just cartoonishly evil. And on top of that, he's a blithering idiot. "Hey let's take all of our resources and build a battle station, surely there's no way creating such a massive single point of failure will end baaaaaaannnd they blew it up.. OK plan B. We'll build another one, but this time I'm gonna live in an apartment right there before it's even finished." If you look at the official schematics for that throne room on the Death Star 2, you'll notice two notable things, that are likely directly related. 1: Even though it specifically includes sleeping quarters and even a dressing room, notably missing is any form of a toilet. And 2: It does however have a shaft that leads straight down into the reactor. Dude's powering the thing with his own dookie.

[@miqvPL]

@@adamb89 Tarkin doctrine was the idea of ruling the empire through fear and Death Star was the ultimate tool for it, an unstoppable force able to destroy a whole planet. fear of the death star was how you rule a whole galaxy. It's much easier to manage than trying to control thousands of planets with multiple fleets. Palpatine was not aware there was a massive weak spot in the first station, he wasnt the main engineer of it. Second death star is easy to explain- when you control the galaxy you control the flow of information in it. Empire never lost the first death star, it was rebel propaganda, right? And even if some systems know the death star exploded- a second one, with no flaws of the first one will make it no matter. It's an attempt to re-grasp the galaxy with fear. If you think about it- not a terrible plan. And he has a hate boner for jedi, of course he is cartoonishly evil but not that dumb, I actually love how in prequels he has a backup plan for backup plan, although shit sometimes go in wrong direction. I dont wanna go find my crossections book, there are no toilets in star wars aside some "refreshers" or whatever it's called, and I dont expect Palpy to have one near throne room. Or maybe it is a "throne" room, I dont really care about it too much

[@adamb89]

@@miqvPL I'm aware of the Tarkin Doctrine, but it turned into "Let's build a pair of space tits that shoot planet-destroying lasers!" Shoulda listened to Thrawn.

[@christinadoxstader3004]

Raul absolutely killed it in this role. It's so over the top yet totally believable at the same time and to think he was dealing with stomach cancer while filming it and you appreciate it all the more.

[@Scott_Forsell]

I am strongly reminded of the FMV cutscenes from the Command & Conquer video game series featuring Tim Curry as a truly demented Russian general. So bleeping cheesy! Cheese, glorious cheese! A masterclass in ramping up the hamming it up and layering on the cheese so hard it becomes absolutely fascinating. You can't not be utterly engrossed. You can't look away or space out. Truly over the top. Bonkers on toast. Early C&C games were tough as nails. Even if you did everything right and set your base up well, you still lost the battle 50% of the time by sheer force of numbers. They did not mess around. So it felt super awesome when you won.

[@Jesse-qy6ur]

...SPACE!

[@dermotmcdermott6890]

That line has stuck with me also, it's delivery and context really drives home his megalomania and indifference to everyone else in the world. True villainy.

[@scottstevens7639]

It’s a shame that this was Julia’s final performance. Perhaps that’s why he went full ham - he probably knew the end was near and the critics be damned. One other full ham villain you could have cited was Sir Ben Kingsley as The Hood in the live action remake of Gerry Anderson’s “Thunderbirds”. Some tasty, joyful ham to be had there.

[@chandansimms9167]

His kids liked the street fighter character and when he found out after he had informed them he had be asked too take part in the film he took the role for his kids

[@SurprisinglyDeep]

4:39 Bison has deserved self pride while the Baron does not. Bison can take self pride in knowing that he took over made himself into the ruler of a small country through his physical abilities, engineering skills, tactics, strategies, wits and charisma. Disregarding ethics and morals that's an impressive accomplishment. Also Bison can take pride in the fact he is the rich boss of a multi-national company he created out of almost nothing. Granted it's a drug syndicate but still it's a very successful snd profitable globe spanning company. Also Bison can take a perverse sense of pride in the fact that he succeeded in building both his drug syndicate and dictatorship constantly facing off against both national governments AND all the other more well established multi-national criminal organisations. Also he literally worked with engineers to successfully create a super suit that basically lets him become a flying super fast healing super human, a feat that it seems nobody else in that world had ever done before. Also if the ANA decided to give him the 2,000,000,000 ransom and his super soldier experiments bore fruit he had a real chance of successfuly conquering and taking over another neighboring country or two even if he never had a real shot at taking over the world. The Baron by contrast has absolutely none of that. The Baron simply inherited his wealth, status, power, subjects, lands, spaceships, armies and advanced machines because he was the royal heir. The Baron can't even claim to be happy about himself as a person since he's likely smart enough to recognise himself as being a friendless, horrifically obese, sociopathic misanthrophe with a terrible off-putting personality. Bison is oddly somewhat inspirational. The Baron by contrast is a pitiful pathetic loser.

[@Fullmetal1291985]

The man became Bison I've played many street fighter games and i always feel Raul did it better 😂

[@shainewhite2781]

RIP, Raul Julia, 1940-1994.

[@cirederfsamot2730]

the shot of Gary Oldman as Zorg in the Fifth Element while you talk about "ham"-iness is so on point ! As would be one from Gary Oldman in Leon, actually. And watching this, I realize a bunch of my favorite character and/or actors went ham at least once in a part and nailed it in the best way possible. Like Alan Rickman and Raul Julia

[@superblaster2]

It's so sad that Steven De Souza was blamed for the failure of this movie. Capcom representatives wanted to add SO many of the characters from the game in that it became difficult for him to write enough dialogue, AND tell the story. Plus, Van Damme spent so much time dicking about in his trailer and refusing to come out so they had to film the scenes without him in which left little time to get the other actors ready.

[@Jajais4u]

He was a hot mess filming that movie from what I heard

[@superblaster2]

@@Jajais4u Pretty much. Having to juggle a main star that didn't want to film, another star who was too ill to film, and constant additions to the script, it was no wonder he nearly burnt himself out.

[@Wirenfeldt1990]

Raul Julia was a god damn treasure..

[@terrylong8894]

Everyone else: plays tic tac toe Raul Julia: plays 5D multiversal time travel chess

[@JShepLord]

Okay, but can we talk about how amazing Raul would have been as a Joker?

[@jculver1674]

He would've been an even better Penguin.

[@DeepEye1994]

I wouldn't mind seeing him as Hugo Strange.

[@marleyjr.bobert6639]

Riddler comes to mind..

[@nix98zlcy]

Fuck it, he could have killed it as any batman villain. 🔥🔥🔥

[@tomalakis]

Don't we already have enough Jokers? Be glad we have him as Bison.

[@GCJACK83]

Raul Julia took the Bison role purely for his kids. It was his last role. His stomach cancer took him shortly after.

[@Billinois78]

Kylie Minogue is Australian. I haven't seen this movie in a long time, but maybe her character is supposed to be English. Raul Julia was a great actor. He put as much effort into his acting in bad movies as he did in good movies. Another example is "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank", a movie made by a PBS station in Canada.

[@maynardperalta3188]

Over a year old response, but yes, you are correct. She was cast because the director didn’t like any of the British actresses that auditioned or were presented to him; his own words: “they were either overweight, or couldn’t beat up PeeWee Herman.”

[@DeepEye1994]

I guess this is why many people were annoyed by Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face performance, it didn't make sense in-universe for him being so campy and over the top like a cringe version of Joker and unnecessary since Jim Carrey already provided lots of unhinged cheese. Except Edward Nygma (or at least, that version) is totally a madman, a total manchild mad scientist obsessed with image and trying to come off as a genius even though he's absolutely nuts about being rejected by Bruce, his demeanor made sense. Two-Face, Harvey Dent, used to be a composed and committed man of the law who fought against crime and the scarring he received drove him to a FURIOUS type of madness in which he believes justice to be pure random chance. Race-lifting aside even when Billy Dee Williams played him in the 1989 film we saw the type of person Harvey was... and becoming this giggling clownish dude who won't shut up just feels jarring and random. _Where_ did this come from after what we saw of him? "Well, he's crazy so of course he acts unexpected!" please, DON'T use that lazy af argument to defend lazy writing and poor choices -_- By that logic I could've written that Two-Face believes to be a chicken and poops everywhere thinking he's laying eggs and say "Shuttup, he's just crazy y'know!" to defend it. It doesn't really make sense for Harvey to behave like this. Even the 1989 film did this right by establishing how mood-swinging Jack Napier is before he became the Joker, and Nicholson himself has explained that Jack Napier deep down was always a terrifying artsy and pretentious monster clown madman and falling into the chemicals washed away what little composure and humanity he had and became his true self. If anything, it would've been better if Two-Face was a more contained and cold villain to contrast The Riddler's more unhinged presence, would've been an amusing contrast and Two-Face can still have _some_ moments of camp in his own way, I'm not asking him to be dead serious, just as you said, give him a larger than life figure that is in-universe grounded and makes sense to his character. Instead we got The Riddler making friends with another silly screaming manchild villain who is WAAAAY goofier than Jack Nicholson's Joker and it just didn't feel right.

[@darkservantofheaven]

"For Bison it was Tuesday...." Chun li....IT WAS WENSDAY YOU MONSTER!

[@Robbuffet]

I"m confident that the aggressive martial arts pose that Guile does in the interview is a classic "Up Yours".

[@ptittannique5621]

Simply brilliant. Thank you so very much for this.

[@wfly81]

Please do "Spawn". Jesus, I think I now realize how a great actor like John Leguizamo can fall between the cracks (see Super Mario Bros).

[@Crowley9]

Feels appropriate to mention that Baron Harkonnen in the new Dune movies removed hamminess he had in the books. In the books he would at times present himself as theatrical and playful, while the movie version is just grim and dour all the time.

[@MightyMurloc]

Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie was one of my first exposures to Anime, Chun Li shower scene and all... and I love that Bison is such a threat that he can take on both Ken and Ryu at the same time and still come back. Years later I enjoyed the Street Fighter movie for the embodiment of "We dont have a martial arts trained person, who is built so physically imposing that they could truly embody the Lore we've made, so we've subsituted someone MASSIVELY enthusiastic abour their villainy" and it totally works.

[@jonestraloma]

1:00 in and I already feel like this video is going to explain everything I’ve been feeling about this movie for decades now.

[@aaronbraegen8651]

This was a truly marvelous, thoughtful, insightful essay. The build to the conclusion was logical, fun and the last 2 mins were truly satisfying.

[@lakobause]

I wouldn't say ALL modern Bond villains were grim and tired. Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva had just enough of that old-school hamminess to come off as eccentric and quirky without breaking the setting. He was flamboyant, flirtatious, and deviously sadistic, while also consumed with a vengeful bitterness that proved his undoing. That made him easily one of my top 5 favorite Bond villains.

[@fredferd965]

"""For me, it was Tuesday.......""" Wow! I'm sitting here, wondering what Friday would bring....

[@davelewis8270]

What? This film is cinematic genius.

[@sojugon]

maybe watch the video before commenting? cause the video praises the movie.

[@Scott_Forsell]

I think Peter Stormare gets there at times. In Constantine, a bit in Fargo, definitely in John Wick 2, The King's Man. Incidentally, one of my favorite actors over the last 20 years. He is obviously having a blast and it shines through. I want to go to pancakes house, too, dude. I feel you.

[@Hartinmouston5158]

His performance was a labour of love to his sons ❤

[@Lonewolf360gaming]

Wasn't expecting a video essay from this channel but this is pretty entertaining

[@The_Texorcist]

His performance in this movie is head and shoulders above anything else. It literally is the only thing I like about the movie.

[@Blynat]

Van Dam trying to sound like a southerner actually sounds more Russian than the "Russian guy" in Doctor Strange Love.

[@GreyBeast99]

Outstanding essay! Evil is the thing, that helps weak people feel strong. Very true. Thank you!

[@xcom54]

Just now watched this on TUESDAY.

[@joekeegan937]

Excellent essay.

[@mikesilva3868]

Lori: My ex-husband took off with my bankbook, my car, my good vibrator, my wigs... Lori: I was never superhuman, never super powered. I was never as interesting as Superman. Judy Pope: But... Lori: I mean, come on, face it. Technically the guy's an alien, right? 😄

[@harbour08]

Glen close in 101 dal John Leguzamo in Spawn Brings a Tear of joy to my eye

[@paareth]

Magnificent. I often comment we've lost the theatrical side of film, and gone for too much realism. Realism is all well and good, but sometimes I want to just be entertained. Thank you again for doing another video game suggestion. The only one i'd have like you to hit in this video essay was Jeremy Irons in Dungeon and Dragons 2000, which along with his partially blue-lipped sidekick, gave a performance that ended his career, to be fair that film ended several careers. Though for me I didn't care about the over the top nature of it, because I can look at some films and just see them as theatrical performances. When there is Richard O'Brien of crystal maze fame in the same film being outdone for flashy, hammy performances it's definitely one to reference :D. Probably explains why I like movies like Hackers, because its absurd, and still the energy of Matthew Lillard was very fun to watch Checkout Dungeons & Dragons 2000 Highlights for irons clips. All the best.

[@samovarsa2640]

Cringe?! How DARE you! Actually, pointing out the Baron in Dune 2021, one can't help but think of Ian McShane's representation of the Baron in the 99 miniseries. HE is an example of incredible campy/haminess indulgence in the representation of the character, I think better than the guy in the 84 movie.

[@MysteriousMrL]

Ian McNiece. But hey, Ian McShane could have made an interesting Baron.

[@chimsuaumo]

The best portrayal of Satan came from Andy Hamilton in 'Old Harry's Game'. It may have been a sitcom on radio 4. But it showed Satan as very sympathetic and larger than life in his villainy at the same time.

[@christinadoxstader3004]

I think part of the problem is filmmakers wanting to make movies darker and more "realistic," That's all fine and good but the problem is they take it too far.

[@CommieGIR]

The Baron is massive NOT because of his boundless gluttony - but because the Reverend Mother inflicted him with a rare, incurable disease that cause his obesity and loss of hair as retribution for the things he did to her in conceiving Jessica.

[@DIEGhostfish]

5:40 While that's true, it's interesting to show that all the binge eating has done nothing for him, the sheer ahedonia of overindulgence is a very good counterpoint to the aristocratic restraint of the Atriedies, or the outright spartan asceticism of the Fremen.

[@octoman_games]

"Evil is the thing that makes weak people feel strong"

[@chblancoj]

Dennis Hopper in Waterworld is at a comparable level of ham

[@personatodo]

After watching the John Wick Chapter 3 video on Cinebinge, someone in the comment gave me an idea, try Double Dragon starring Mark Dacascos (who played the bald assassin Zero in Chapter 3) and Alyssa Milano another so bad it's good video game adaptation but please watch some good movies of his like Only the Strong, 1997 Drive: Director's Cut, Crying Freeman or Brotherhood of the Wolf first.

[@NealFowler]

Except Lynch’s dune is totally different in tone than Frank Herbert’s novel.

[@nuyabuisness7526]

If there was ever a time to justify chewing the scenery this is it.

[@Citizen88020120820]

Even as a kid I was like wth is this, but yes, Bison was cool.

[@TheNefastor]

It is a good movie. You know it is because we're still talking about it. Meanwhile I couldn't tell you what movies got an Oscar for anything in the past ten years.

[@brandimurray1984]

What is Street Fighter doing here???? Lol I loved this one, it's 90s cheese at its finest!

[@Trenchcoat3]

Great video!

[@mike-bee]

As a child seeing this in the theater, I even thought back then everyone, including bc M.Bison was cast incorrectly. In disagree with your assessment on him. His performance definitely put the nail in the coffin in this movie for me.

[@meyatetana2973]

I really miss Raul Julia

[@nooneinparticular1491]

Friends, Shadalooans, Troopers, lend me your ears; I come to bury Bison, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Bison. The noble Guile hath told you the war was cancelled; If it were so, it was GAME!!! OVER!!! and we can all go home. Here, under leave of Guile and the Allied Nations; Come I to speak in Bison's funeral. Why? Why did they still call him a Warlord? And mad? All Bison wanted to do was to create the perfect genetic soldier; Not for power, not for evil, but for good! His Bison Dollars did the general coffers fill; Each worth five Pounds Sterling; The exchange rate set after Bison kidnapped the Queen. Yet Guile said the war was cancelled; And we can all go home. When Guile was believed dead, Bison hath mourned; Bison hath hoped to face Guile personally on the battlefield; One gentleman warrior to another, in respectful combat; Then, he would snap Guile's spine; ah, the road not taken. Did this in Bison seem a Warlord? And mad? Madness should be made of sterner stuff. Yet Guile said the war was cancelled; And we can all go home. Bison would sweep away every adversary, every creed, every nation; 'Till the very planet would lie in the loving grip of the Pax Bisonica; And then peace would reign in the World! Then all humanity would bow to Bison in loving gratitude. Yet Guile said the war was cancelled; And we can all go home. Bear with me; my heart is in the coffin there with Bison, And I must pause 'till it come back to me.

[@robfinlay8058]

They should have done a serious Street Fighter movie about the tournament instead of this stupid thing.

[@derichawkins4201]

No George 😔

[@Hogtownboy1]

This the best so far. It deep look at a subjet without glossing over the Awfulness of this movie

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

Well stated.

[@infinity_flair]

This is a great video and I appreciate your opinion.

[@SuzakuX]

Nice timing with EVO, assuming it was intentional.

[@sr.thecreatedplayer4997]

Bravo 👏🏾

[@MrJbrown1014]

Julia took this movie because he was dyeing for his kids but gave it everything he had to make what is an awful movie into what is one of the best ever performed over the top characters of an megalomaniac .

[@damianolandi5003]

The Baron in the books is closer to the recent movie, though ... a rather miasmic evil, not a joyous one.

[@jeffgray7922]

Raul Julia was a great actor, no doubt. But the problem I have with your argument for "haminess" is that it always winds up in a bad performance, despite the haminess. I'm sorry it just doesn't work. I will take the new Baron Harkkonen in the recent Dune movie a million times over the one from the 80s version that I grew up with. He actually seems like a very serious threat to the antagonist and not like a clown like he did in the 80s version. It's all subjective and I say to each their own.

[@peterseaby4744]

One villian who is both modern and classic...Agent Smith

[@iyot1020]

makes sense coz raul before taking this role studied dictators like hitler stalin mousolini and etc

[@shainewhite2781]

Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Stay safe.😁

[@Raven5150]

Ok just started this video, but here goes, street fighter is my favorite game franchise, but when ever this movie got made they didn't even pretend to use the source material, someone said guile is the main hero but he's not, but don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. This movie is about as good as the heroclix set with the same name.

[@johnnywoods5549]

I wouldn't call it ham, Julia did the best he could with a bad script and personally I think he leaned into the comedy because it was the only thing that could make this movie bearable. Think about it, if they tried to pass Street Fighter off as a serious movie it would be abominable.

[@salvadorlopezsalas8766]

George I post this comment and I will continue until you finish de Twilight saga that is not a saga, My wife and I loved those movies and I know they have flaws and I still love them

[@Raven5150]

Nice secgway into american pie.

[@deadbydayinblack]

The baron is fat because he is infected with a bene geserite disease. ( yeah its kinda retro con wierd but Franks original books only say hes obese needing suspenders to walk....not fly....just be able to walk. Its the lynch film that has him floating around...which the DV film sticks to)

[@blueroute3561]

That Chun Li ending laugh was so fake

[@geoffmason7215]

Gr8 video...all the reasons why we LOVE the bad stuff

[@sebastiansochanski]

👌

[@Sovereign-kh4ng]

I miss this so much, as a Child of the 90's. This is why modern movies do not work, including Disney. No excellent villains, compare Lion King 1994 to Lion King 2020 and the change is obvious. They wanted to be more politically correct (Fine by me) but they didn't find an actor of colour that could do a campy performance of Scar (Or just bring back Jeremy Irons if all else fails), which is needed for the film to be memorable so we had boring Scar and the movie was terrible.

[@MrRandomcommentguy]

Lynch Dune is 1000% better than Villeneuve Dune.

[@theeternalgus9119]

M Bison did nothing wrong.

[@jonforster656]

His was the only decent performance in that shocker of a film.