Street Fighter offers up a wacky, insane, and adrenaline-filled good time. The internet states you will be disappointed, but should you believe everything you read?

Street Fighter is the latest video game to get the big screen treatment. Even though it did get its first live-action iteration in the 90’s (JCVD himself couldn’t save that one), this time it comes back with a fresh spin on the characters and lore.

Ready. Set. Fight

Without diving into too many spoilers, Street Fighter DOES take place in the 90’s after the 1987 Street Fighter tournament. This really becomes important to the vibe and the flow of the movie. Why? Well because the entire movie feels like it came from that era. I mean this with the best possible intention.

The story is thin but gets the job done. The dialogue is cheesy but funny, and the action is…well it is action. It’s good. It’s 90’s. It is Street Fighter.

We follow the story of Ryu and Ken. Two best friends that are so close they are practically brothers. We see Ken trying to live up to Ryu’s former glory while Ryu himself hides away in sadness and self pity after some unfortunate events. Their relationship gives the movie something to work toward beyond Hadoukens even if it may not be the most engaging part of the film.

It has it’s moments but I highly suggest you do not come to the movie thinking we are going to get an Oscar worthy story. It’s a fighting video game turned movie. It’s supposed to be fun.

Thankfully, the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously. And the moment it starts to leak into that territory, we are met with some comedy right after to bring us back down to earth. With its insane cast of characters from the game, there isn’t much you should be doing in terms of drama. Even if you did, I feel that would have been a mistake. Have you ever looked at any of these characters from this series? They’re all kind of insane already. This movie amplifies that (with the exception of Ryu) to the next level.

A moment that captures the comedy is M. Bison’s eye rolls whenever he does something utterly disgusting. It’s something that probably shouldn’t work giving the context, but gave me a chuckle every time it happened. And the heebee-jeebees.

We don’t get much backstory on a lot of the fighters and some of them only grace us on screen for 5-10 minutes total. However, we got a lot of characters to go through and you can only do so much in a two hour span. Sure, there is a bit that was sort of glossed over and maybe felt a bit rushed. But that is okay. The fighters fight, they spit witty dialogue, and they all look awesome. Sometimes, that is all we really need.

Costume Selection

The details that were put into this movie were tremendous. Each character looks pretty darn close to how they looked in the game. There were a few, however, that I felt maybe missed the mark.

While I think Andrew Koji is a great actor, I am not entirely convinced that he is Ryu. His fight scenes were incredible but there was something that threw me off a little. It could have been the writing or maybe just my high expectations of what Ryu should be. Whatever the reason, I just didn’t quite click for me.

Ken Masters, played by Noah Centineo, was top notch. All around great casting choice, hilarious delivery, and gave the true feeling of being at the top of your game but haunted by a shadow of the past. You can say the same for Callina Liang as Chun-Li. She made me believe Chun-Li (who I always picked in the games back in the day) was real and badass.

The majority of characters in this movie did shine throughout and made for some solid performances. Cody Rhodes as Guile is easily the one who stole the show, though. I wasn’t sure after watching the initial trailers how much of a comedy this movie would be, but Cody’s portrayal of Guile really made me laugh a ton. Not only did he look the part, he nailed the theatrics as well. I don’t think I’ll ever think of “oxygen” the same after watching him.

Overall, everyone looked great. From the wild aura of Akuma to the downright dictator look of Lord M. Bison. Each character was authentic to their video game counterparts and I don’t think you can ask much more than that. Especially for fans of the games.

Should You Watch It?

If you’re looking for a “shut my brain off and enjoy some fun” type of movie, Street Fighter will deliver. It offers over the top action, characters, and comedy. One of my favorite parts was indeed the action and there is plenty of it all around. It may be scattered and might not make the most sense, but sometimes it doesn’t need to. If you’re wanting an Odyssey-like cinematic experience though, you may want to look elsewhere.

Through everything, I enjoyed my time with Street Fighter and cannot wait for it to come to streaming services so I can watch it again. Was it my favorite movie of all time? No. Not even close. Was it fun and exciting? Yeah absolutely. I think heading into this one with “fun” on the mind is your best best.

For me, Street Fighter earns a solid 7 out of 10.