I’ll admit that I was initially pretty leery of the cast chosen to bring characters from the “Street Fighter” videogame franchise to life.
After all, it was done once before in the 1994 version and while it still holds a certain nostalgic quality to it, it wasn’t very on-brand for the franchise.
Once the first teaser sand trailers rolled out, I finally felt the flicker of excitement to see some of my favorite videogame characters coming to life with a bigger and better budget.
Needless to say, giving this a chance was more than worth it by the time the credits rolled!
Sure, it’s highly stylized and soaked in neon 1990s deliciousness, but, it also retains that ever-important vibe where the villain is legitimately creepy and evil.
Plus, the quips between characters is hilarious in its own way and the storyline takes from both the games and other franchise media – like the animated series and movie.
Street Fighter is a martial arts comedy film directed by Kitao Sakurai and written by Sakurai and T.J. Fixman, with a story by Dalan Musson and Gary Dauberman.
It is technically the third live-action feature-length film based on the Street Fighter video game series by Capcom.
The ensemble cast includes Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang, Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i, David Dastmalchian, Cody Rhodes, Eric André, Andrew Schulz, Vidyut Jammwal, Orville Peck, Don Lee, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Hirooki Goto, and Jason Momoa.
Overall, the movie clocks in at 120-minutes long and is rated PG 13 for violence/action, bloody images, strong language, sexual references, partial nudity and brief smoking.
In 1987, Japanese-born Ryu (Koji) defeats Sagat in the first World Warrior tournament using Dark Hadou, attracting the attention of the demonic entity known as Akuma (Anoa’i).
Shortly afterward, Akuma murders Ryu's mentor Gouken (Lee), to provoke Ryu into unleashing Dark Hadou.
The incident drives Ryu and his adoptive brother, Ken Masters (Centineo), apart and Ryu disappears from the martial arts world.
Six years later, M. Bison (Dastmalchian), dictator of Shadaloo, organizes the second World Warrior tournament in Metrolao City to draw Ryu out of hiding.
Undercover Interpol agent Chun-Li (Liang) is seeking revenge for her father's murder at Bison's hands, recruits Ryu, Ken, and other fighters from around the world.
Ryu initially declines to participate, but Akuma threatens to destroy the tournament's winner unless Ryu enters.
Fearing that Ken will win, Ryu travels to Metrolao to dissuade his brother, who refuses to listen him.
After an intense sauna fight, Ryu defeats E. Honda (Goto) to take his place in the tournament.
The night before the competition, the fighters brawl in a bar before Bison's soldiers incapacitate them and take Ryu to Bison's spire.
During the tournament, Vega (Peck) defeats Guile (Rhodes), while Ken defeats boxer Balrog (Jackson).
At the spire, Bison offers Ryu a position in his empire along with some escargot.
When Ryu refuses, Bison forces him to fight Blanka (Momoa) in prison while using a device to extract his fighting power.
Unable to avoid the confrontation, Ryu unleashes a Hadouken that destroys the prison walls and overloads the device, allowing Blanka to escape.
Before his next match, Ken learns from Chun-Li about Bison's plans for Ryu.
After defeating Dhalsim (Jammwal) in the semifinals, Ken abandons the tournament to rescue his brother, but both are captured while trying to escape.
From there, Ken and Ryu still have a ways to go before they repair their relationship and Akuma is dealt with.
However, I do encourage you if you’re a fan of the franchise to relax and take in the entire experience – plus, there is a mid-credits scene that helps set us up for a possible sequel and I’m totally done for that!
