Hello, this is Mayor and if you grew up in the 90’s you’ll know the videogame Final Fight was a classic. This side-scrolling beat-em-up game let players control a handful of brawlers as they punched and kicked their way through the streets of Metro City to rescue the mayor’s daughter from the evil gang, Mad Gear. But could Final Fight be made into a genuinely good movie? Perhaps and here’s how I’d do it.
First things first, I’d keep the story pretty much the same. Haggar would be the main protagonist with Guy and Cody making for a double act who have to rescue Jessica from Mad Gear’s clutches. However, I’d flesh out the characters and the world they live in a little more. Maybe Mad Gear has taken over more than just one city block, and Guy and Cody are fighting not just for Jessica, but for their entire community. Maybe there are some moral quandaries to explore as well. Are Guy and Cody the “good guys” just because they’re fighting Mad Gear, or are there shades of grey to their characters? We all know Cody ends up in jail in later games, so we could give him a volatile temper where maybe he goes too far when beating up bad guys.
Now let’s talk about casting.
MIKE HAGGAR
For Mayor Mike Haggar, it’s actually a really hard choice as he has to be a big guy but also needs a moustache but then I thought of Dave Bautista: Haggar is a tough wrestler turned mayor who can pack a punch and has a soft heart for his daughter. Dave Bautista has shown that he can pull off the tough guy persona, as seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Final Score, but can also show the vulnerable side, making him an excellent choice for the role of Mike Haggar. Ideally if this was made back in the day it would have been Jesse Ventura as he was always who I pictured playing him in reality but he’s far too old at this stage.
GUY
For Guy, I’d possibly go with Daniel Wu. He has some serious martial arts chops (as evidenced in TV shows like Into the Badlands), and he has a charisma and intensity that would be ideal for the role.
CODY
Cody is described as having dirty blonde hair and I’ve been racking my brains trying to decide who would be a good fit but what about someone like Lucas Till who is still young enough to pull off the role? I’m sure he could learn fight choreography as he doesn’t need to be an amazing martial artist, just a good brawler and know how to use knives.
JESSICA
As for Jessica, I’d choose someone who could hold her own against the bad guys. My top pick would be Amy Johnston; she’s got the physicality to pull off the fight scenes and she deserves to be a bigger star. She could be fleshed out more as a character rather than just needing rescued.
THRASHER
And what about the villains? We’ve got to have a great bad guy to make the heroes look good. For Thrasher Damnd, I was trying to think of someone with long blonde hair and I thought of the wrestler HHH (but he’s too old now and doesn’t have the long hair anymore) or if you’re looking for more of an actor type then maybe Travis Fimmel from Vikings. He could look crazy too (see above) so he might be a good fit.
BELGER
For Mad Gear boss Belger, this is another tough one as he needs to be bald and have a beard so maybe someone like Vincent D’Onofrio (although may be too similar a role to Kingpin) or even Bryan Cranston who can pull off any role and has been suggested elsewhere on the internet..
Of course, we can’t forget about the action scenes. With a cast like this, we’d want to make sure the fight scenes are as epic as possible so maybe have it directed by someone who understands fight scenes like Chad Stahelski, Sam Hargrave or Gareth Evans.
Those are some of my stupid thoughts but it’s a videogame series I’ve always thought has the potential to be a kick-ass movie in the right hands… any ideas who you would cast?
