After the great success of the video game Street
Fighter II, Hollywood was right there to exploit the now famous name. they
tried to make sense of the fighting game in 1994, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme
looking to turn the story into one of politics and military. It wasn’t loved by
anyone. There was another attempt in 2009 with “Street Fighter: The Legend of
Chun-Li,” and the film was almost ignored by everyone. The game has also been
turned into television shows, comic books, and animated films. There hasn’t
been a shortage of “Street Fighter” adaptations over the years, and now
Hollywood gave it another attempt. The new “Street Fighter” looks to more
closely copy the video game atmosphere, and director Kitao Sakurai is ready to
put on a show with the movie, filling it with violence, 90s songs, and personal
grudges, giving at least a great viewing experience that’s out to please the
fanbase and, once again, start a new film franchise.
Lifelong friends and training partners, Ken (Noah
Centineo) and Ryu (Andre Koji) are strained from each other during an appearance
at the 1987 World Warrior Tournament, with Ryu’s anger returning spirit Akuma
(WWE Wrestler Roman Reigns) to life, immediately killing the fighters’ master,
Gouken (Don Lee). Six years later, Ken has become a popular celebrity in the news
with his tournament fighting successes, while Ryu has isolated himself, now
selling noodles on a food car. Looking to bring the man back to what he’s known
for is Chun-Li (Callina Liang), who is planning to take down the dictator M. Bison
(David Dastmalchian), who’s working to generate “psycho power” and create an
army. M. Bison needs Ryu’s dark energy to make his vision, staging the World
Warrior Tournament II to bring him back, welcoming so many fighters to the city
of Metrolao to compete, while Ken and Ryu process seeing each other again.
Brian Orndorf said in his review, “To help add style
to the picture (and save some money), Ryu and Ken’s backstory uses anime to
depict the devastating power of Ryu’s tournament victory and the arrival of
Akuma, who’s looking to conquer the world. It’s a colorful, dynamic way to
launch “Street Fighter,” and it gets through exposition with clarity, setting
up Ryu and Ken as fallen “brothers” dealing with the loss of their teacher and
father figure, going their separate ways.” The writing (T.J. Fixman and
Sakurai) goes to 1993, picking up with Ken, who’s fame has gotten to his head,
becoming an impulsive drunk with the help from his manager Dan, played by
Andrew Schultz. Ryu is left on the street, hoping to sell soup to anyone. Then we
have M. Bison, an evil man of limited strength trying to generate “psycho power”
to help him rule humanity, joined by Cammy (Mel Jarnson) and Juli (Rayna Vallandingham).
Helping the story along is “Combat News” host Don, played
by Eric Andrew, and “Street Fighter” needs the help with organization, soon
introducing the famous group of supporting characters as fighters arrive for
the tournament. The production is incredibly careful to make sure the personalities
match the game, with Guile (WWE Wrestler Cody Rhodes), Dhalsim (Vidyut
Jammwal), Vega (Orville Peck), Balrog (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), Blanka (Jason
Momoa), and Zangief (Olivier Richters) enlisting in the tournament. Orndorf
said, “To help add style to the picture (and save some money), Ryu and Ken’s
backstory uses anime to depict the devastating power of Ryu’s tournament
victory and the arrival of Akuma, who’s looking to conquer the world. It’s a
colorful, dynamic way to launch “Street Fighter,” and it gets through
exposition with clarity, setting up Ryu and Ken as fallen “brothers” dealing
with the loss of their teacher and father figure, going their separate ways.” “Street
Fighter” tries to keep tensions high with different fights before the tournament
starts, watching Ryu suffer a terrible reunion with Ken before he fights Edmund
Honda, played by Hirooki Goto, in a hotel sauna. A nightclub fight also
happens, giving time for the characters to show their anger and physical
strength (with help from visual effects).
Street Fighter II
is a tournament fighting video game, and the writing sets up a Big Game final
act where the characters fight one another. Orndorf mentioned, “There’s a
little competition in the picture, but “Street Fighter” ends up mostly ignoring
the tournament element, electing to dig into revenge scenarios and villain
battles, offering two bad guys for the heroes(?) to topple. Sakurai gets noisy
with the movie, losing focus on the core appeal of one-on-one brawling to
launch a more epic resolution, and it doesn’t work. Some feeble performances
and a fixation on fetish-coded humor is also unwelcome, keeping the feature
from truly exploding as a presentation of gaming mayhem.” “Street Fighter” definitely
has flaws, but Sakurai also gives so much excitement and style during the runtime,
and the film is definitely energetic, wanting to please young audiences and old
arcade players with a more vibrant look on the source material.
I don’t agree with the critics when they are slamming
this film. I truly was engaged throughout the entire time. Even though I had
used the bathroom before the trailers were done, I had to go again a little bit
into the movie. However, I didn’t think about it so much, only a little, and
even though I was tired from work, I didn’t fall asleep while watching this
film. This film kept me engaged throughout. I was into the film, with the right
balance of action, comedy, character development, and even though certain characters
we don’t get to see fight, like Joe, played by Alexander Volkanovski, I wasn’t
disappointed. The animated sequences mixed with live-action was done very well,
and beautifully drawn. This is the best live-action “Street Fighter”
adaptation, even though the animated film is the best adaptation, this new film
is a close contender. The IMAX experience was just great. I know for a fact that they will make a sequel, so I will
be looking forward to that. See this in the theaters because I think this is
worth it.
Thank you for joining in on this film review. Stay
tuned next Friday for the finale of “Halloween Month 2026.”
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