‘Street Fighter’ is plenty of fun—but is fun enough?

Street Fighter is set shortly after the events of the first game that launched in 1994. In an animated cutscene, Ryu unwittingly uses the “Satsui no Hado”, a malevolent power within him, to defeat the Thai fighter Sagat during the First World Warrior Tournament. Though victorious and becoming famous, this experience unsettles Ryu, as well as his sensei, Gouken. This incident awakens Akuma, who attacks their dojo and murders Gouken, which causes a rift between Ryu and Ken.

Rather than attempt a strictly realistic depiction of martial arts, Street Fighter leans into its campy, B-movie, Kung Fury-infused DNA. There are standard punches and kicks (yawn), but they also pull out moves like E Honda’s (Hirooki Gato) Hundred Hand Slap, Zangief’s (Olivier Richters) aerial grabs and Dhalsim’s (Vidyut Jammwal) stretching limbs. It’s a lot of fun to see on the big screen, especially when the characters performing them are dead serious about it. You can feel the weight behind every strike and blow, enough to make you wince and cheer.

There’s a lot of fan service, recognisable even by tourists. Aside from the moves pulled out of the arcade machine, there are quips, quotes and even special appearances that all exist to have longtime players jumping out of their seats. Their use of music is also excellent, both for comedic effect and during important character moments.

Centineo hits the nail on the head in conveying the cocky, arrogant Ken Masters, while delivering a sort of himbo attitude that I hadn’t realised was initially there. At the same time, he is capable of expressing a more vulnerable side of the martial artist, who for years had lived in the shadow of the far more talented Ryu.

Koji brings a more measured, restrained performance with Ryu, embodying that stoic, zen archetype to an almost comical degree. Still, there are moments when he is allowed some comedic prose, delivered with an expected deadpan tone.

Liang’s Chun-Li is also deserving of praise, with a surprisingly pained and emotional element that seems almost out of place here. Unlike how the marketing would lead you to believe, however, she fulfils a far more secondary role to the lead two actors. A shame, given the intensity she brings to the table.

Dastmalchian’s M Bison is more of a mixed bag. There are moments when the megalomaniac is unsettling and a genuinely menacing threat, but there are also flashes of him being a whiny, petulant child. Not all characters need (an intentionally) comedic side, and M Bison is one of them.

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There’s a lot of fun to be had in the film, but that doesn’t fully exonerate it. While Street Fighter is certainly faithful to and proud of its source material, it’s a bit confused about how it wants to do it.

The Second World Warrior Tournament is propped up as the main plot point, but is sidelined during the halfway point in favour of a kidnapping escapade. It is disappointing, to say the least, to feature Guile (Cody Rhodes) and have him lose his match off-screen, or have Zangief appear for only a single fight and a one-off cameo. It feels like the nightclub brawl was the studio’s way of saying, “Here’s everyone fighting once, now you can’t complain”, as though there were some imaginary checklist they had to begrudgingly fulfil.

Though the cheesy dialogue and over-the-top delivery is a vestige of its video game and Eighties movie roots, it doesn’t translate quite as well in a relatively more grounded setting. But one shouldn’t deduct too many points from it because of this.

It’s half-baked in a lot of areas. The supporting cast is delightfully expansive, but it stretches itself too thin in trying to show meaningful growth and development for each individual character. It already has its hands full struggling to juggle two main leads competing for screentime. Instead, it directed its efforts on setting up a sequel, forgetting that the first entry has to be good enough to warrant one.

The overall tone and flow is also rather inconsistent, as a result of the film trying to reconcile its overlapping plot lines into one coherent climax.

Street Fighter is by far the best fighting game in recent memory, though that isn’t a very tall hurdle. It’s very likable and entertaining, especially for its target audience, but it has unfortunately made concessions through an inconsistent tone and pacing. The nostalgia and pop culture references do a lot of heavy lifting to keep it afloat, and for the most part, it's enough to draw people into cinemas. But as a standalone film, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Perhaps a future studio will take another run at a Tekken.

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