I grew up playing the absolute shit out of Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo, so I was genuinely looking forward to this movie. When you think back to the fighting games of the ’90s, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are the two franchises that immediately come to mind. Both are iconic in their own right, but they always had different identities. Mortal Kombat was the more violent, gruesome franchise, while Street Fighter was the sillier, more colorful, mainstream-friendly alternative. With that in mind, I was expecting some dumb fun from this new adaptation. Unfortunately, what we get is a movie that has some genuinely cool ideas but is ultimately a big-time miss.
Directed by Kitao Sakurai, Street Fighter features a ridiculously stacked cast, including Noah Centineo as Ken, Andrew Koji as Ryu, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Jason Momoa as Blanka, and plenty of other familiar faces. The first hour isn’t bad, either. It introduces the characters, establishes the tournament, and gives us a glimpse of what this movie could have been. Ken and Ryu are always great to see together, and Centineo and Koji have solid chemistry. Cody Rhodes is also a great fit for Guile, while Liang is a standout as Chun-Li.
My favorite character in the movie, however, was Dhalsim, played by Vidyut Jammwal. I’ve always loved using Dhalsim in the games because of his ridiculous reach and unique abilities, and the movie does a great job bringing his powers to life. I just wish he had been in it more. The character designs overall are pretty great, and seeing these fighters brought to life with their signature moves is one of the movie’s biggest strengths. There’s a particularly fun sequence involving E. Honda and Ryu in a sauna that showcases Honda’s abilities, and I found myself wishing the entire movie had more moments like that.
One of the coolest creative decisions is the use of anime-style animation during the flashbacks. The opening sequence, which shows Ryu fighting Sagat in the tournament finals and unleashing the dark energy inside him, immediately caught my attention. Every time the movie returned to that animated style, I thought it looked fantastic. There’s clearly some imagination behind the filmmaking, and I actually think Street Fighter looks more interesting stylistically than the newer Mortal Kombat movies.
Unfortunately, the script is absolutely horrendous, and that’s what holds this movie back the most.
I understand that Street Fighter is supposed to be silly. The games have always embraced outrageous characters, ridiculous powers, and over-the-top moves. I wasn’t expecting some grounded, serious martial arts drama. But there’s a difference between embracing the absurdity of the source material and making practically everything feel like a joke. This movie leans so hard into the comedy that I found myself wishing it would take its characters seriously every once in a while.
And I really could have done without some of the casting choices. Andrew Schulz is in the movie as Dan Hibiki, but Eric André, playing Don Sauvage, was particularly annoying. Every time André appeared on screen, I found myself wishing the scene would move on. His performance is so over-the-top that it becomes grating, especially considering how frequently he shows up. Schulz wasn’t quite as irritating, but I don’t think the movie needed to lean so heavily on comedians who constantly threaten to turn everything into a gag.
Jason Momoa’s Blanka was another disappointment. I just didn’t like this interpretation of the character. Blanka is a green monster with incredible abilities, but that doesn’t mean he needs to be portrayed as a dumb brute. The character deserves more than that, and Momoa’s performance felt like another example of the movie confusing silliness with a lack of substance. David Dastmalchian was fine as M. Bison, but I wanted someone a little more physically imposing in the role. More importantly, for one of the franchise’s biggest villains, we barely get to see Bison fight. How do you make a Street Fighter movie and shortchange the fights?
That’s my other major problem with this movie: there simply isn’t enough fighting.
There are some good sequences. The bar fight before the tournament begins is entertaining, Vega looks cool, and there’s a great-looking fight in the rain that briefly makes you think the movie is about to deliver something special. Even 50 Cent’s appearance as Balrog has its moments. But I went into this movie wanting spectacular fight choreography, creative uses of the characters’ signature moves, and the kind of action that makes you want to pick up a controller and play the games again. Instead, the movie spends too much time on its messy story and exhausting comedy.
The newer Mortal Kombat movies are a useful comparison here. I’ve enjoyed both, and while the first one had its issues with the action, the second improved on the fights enough that I found myself getting genuinely excited whenever the characters started throwing down. That’s what I wanted from Street Fighter. Give me the outrageous powers, the ridiculous characters, and the spectacular martial arts. The movie has the visual style to pull it off, but it never delivers enough of the goods.
The pacing doesn’t help, either. I actually think the movie is a little too long, and the ending is particularly frustrating. The story keeps going and going, only to abruptly end with an obvious setup for another adventure. It feels like the filmmakers are already planning the next installment before they’ve even given this one a proper conclusion. I understand wanting to build a franchise, but you still need to make the first movie feel complete. And considering how much of a gamble a sequel would be, that cliffhanger feels especially premature.
At the end of the day, Street Fighter is a very hit-or-miss experience. I appreciate that it embraces the absurdity of the video games, and I liked the character designs, the anime flashbacks, the occasional stylistic flourishes, and the chemistry between Ken and Ryu. Callina Liang is great as Chun-Li, Cody Rhodes is a strong Guile, and Vidyut Jammwal’s Dhalsim was easily one of my favorite parts of the movie. There are flashes of something genuinely entertaining here.
But the screenplay is terrible, the comedy frequently gets on my nerves, and the action never reaches the level I was hoping for. You can make a dumb, fun video game movie without sacrificing decent writing, giving characters more depth, or delivering great fights. The ingredients are all here. The execution just isn’t.
I wanted more from Street Fighter. More fights, more Dhalsim, more of the characters actually showcasing their abilities, and a script that understood when to have fun and when to take things seriously. Instead, I walked out feeling pretty underwhelmed.
For a franchise as iconic as this one, that’s a disappointing result.
Street Fighter = 66/100
