1999. For quite some time, that was the last time anyone saw a proper Street Fighter game from Capcom. But the fighting game community that surrounded it, though dwindled, never faded out remained alive long enough to flourish ten years later with the release of Street Fighter 4. With that newfound vigor came the return to prominence of long time Street Fighter pros such as Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong, accompanied by the arrival of new challengers such as Mike Ross, who placed second in the GameStop National tournament that was held to promote the game and is also the focus of …uh… Focus: A Documentary.

 Focus is director Steve Hwang’s debut documentary and follows Mike on his road from a small San Diego tournament, to the big stage of fighting games, Evolution 2010. Through the film’s solid and intimate camera work, we gain insight on how Mike prepared himself for those events, how hard he took his losses, and how he tries to overcome a weak showing at Evo 2009. If you thought the fight he had with Dr. Chaos at Evo 2010 was intense, well this film will shed light on how truly motivated Ross was to not settle with defeat and triple the intensity whether you know the outcome or not.

 

            The film contains plenty of first and second-hand accounts of Ross’ gamer roots that reveal that he has been very adept at video games from a young age and is a true competitor at heart. Ross reveals that there is more to him than being an underdog with the uncanny ability to make comebacks from the brink of defeat, and shows that though the game can get you extremely frustrated, he really does enjoy what he does and does it not only for himself, but his admirers.

            When all is said and done, this documentary is an enjoyable film centered on a rather charismatic individual and whether you know what plinking and cross-up mean or not, anyone can watch and thoroughly enjoy this film. Hwang has made a very solid film debut with it and I suspect you’d agree. To add some cheese to this review, by the end of the film you will BELIEVE in Mike Ross.