FOCUS: An Original Movie About Street Fighter Champion, Mike Ross - G4 Films

WillTheMartyr

I think what makes this such a compelling documentary and why people love Mike Ross so much is the fact that nothing about his life, play-style, or character as a person is perfect, and he openly contests that they are all of the time, even in the documentary. Anyone who's been apart of the fighting community knows the story of Mike Ross' rise at EVO and how it very well has helped propel him to one of the faces of competitive street fighter and our subscription feed on Youtube. Everything about Mike, while obviously being a competitor and confident in his own ability as a player, is very humbled and very genuine from the way the all-too familiar feeling of when he wins, to his descent to rock bottom when he loses to someone he really wants to beat. Everything is something you can relate to.

I've watched several documentaries about competitive gaming from shooters to the fighting scene, and I don't think I've ever appreciated one (even the highly professional ones) as much as I have this one. This keeps it real. I think what I learned the most and valued about Mike is that even as a professional and a great player his concerns, wants, and needs are the same as those of us who look up to him. I remember listening to the "Don't Be a Scrub Podcast" where Gootecks and Mike Ross were in Australia for Shadowloo Showdown this year and they addressed the issue of Mike Ross not liking or believing in the fact that he has "fans". He protested the idea that he didn't think people looked up to him so much as respected the way he played and wanted to get better just as he did growing up playing the games. To me I didn't really get this concept but after watching this and seeing what he went through you start to understand where Mike is coming from and that his struggles are our struggles, his ambitions are not that much different than our own and so it's not that he doesn't want fans or appreciate them it's just that he humbles the idea that he's a person who any of us cannot touch or relate to like Lady Gaga.

Everything from seeing him have tears in his eyes as he explained the talks he had with his now gone Mother, to him exceeding the goals he set for himself in dramatic fashion makes this documentary something special and something that doesn't feel fabricated. Am I telling everyone that they can be like Mike Ross? Absolutely not. But I believe if you take anything from this documentary it isn't "believe in Mike Ross" it's "believe in yourself."