Street Fighter ~ Review

By: [email protected] on
Google says Street Fighter 2 was released for the Super Nintendo in late July or early August 1992. That sounds about right; I don’t remember exactly which friend showed me the game, but I remember playing it A LOT that summer. To an eight-year-old kid in the early 90s, Street Fighter 2 was one of the coolest things ever invented. An extremely fast-paced game featuring a colorful cast of characters with unique powers trying to beat the ever-living snot out of each other. I bought the toys, dragged my mom to 1994’s Street Fighter the Movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue, and Raul Julia, and sunk a ton of quarters into the various Street Fighter 2 arcade cabinets I came across. The latest live-action adaptation of the popular fighting game series is like catnip for my inner eight-year-old. The resulting movie is fast, loud, and has a vibe and energy that matches the game series, or at least a hyperactive eight-year-old’s retelling of them.
The year is 1993, and M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), the dictator of the fictional country Shadaloo, wants ultimate power, but more specifically “Hado,” a spiritual energy allowing the user to fire energy blasts from one’s hands. Unfortunately, Ryu (Andrew Koji) is the only fighter in the world who knows this technique, but no one can find him. So, M. Bison organizes the Second World Warrior Tournament to lure Ryu out of hiding so he can steal his power. This leads to a whole bunch of other characters getting involved in the tournament for one reason or another – such as Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) Ryu’s training partner and blood brother, Ken’s friend Dan (Andrew Schulz), undercover Interpol agent Chun Li (Callina Liang), air force pilot Guile (Cody Rhodes), yogi fighter Dhalsim (Vidyut Jammwal), boxer Balrog (50 Cent), monster Blanka (Jason Momoa), announcer Don Sauvage (Eric André), and a whole bunch of other people along with a demon martial artist known as Akuma (Roman Reigns).
Look, the plot of this film, like the games it’s based on, is an excuse to have these characters fight each other in creative ways, with cool superpowers. The characters do have backstories, and the film addresses some of them through nifty anime interstitials, but mostly characters pose, say their names, and then fight.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Writers Kitao Sakurai (who also directed), T.J. Fixman, with a story by Dalan Musson and Gary Dauberman, understand the assignment here – let the characters fight and get out of the way. Sakurai’s direction is frenetic without being confusing, but he really shows off during the fight scenes. The characters' powers are all appropriately expressed. The film is extremely silly without being embarrassed about itself, and is littered with Easter Eggs from all corners of the franchise (such as the 1994 live-action film and the anime Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie).
The actors also understand the over-the-top movie they are in and play the drama on just this side of parody. I’ve been a fan of Andrew Koji since the series Warrior, and have been waiting for his movie star breakout ever since. While Koji’s work here doesn’t show his full range, he’s perfect as the stoic Ryu. Noah Centineo plays himbo Ken with gusto, and Callina Lang plays Chun Li with grace and rage. Dastmalchian devours every inch of scenery he can, but he doesn’t quite measure up to the glee Raul Julia brought to the role of M. Bison.
Dumber than a sack of hammers and edited through a wood chipper, Street Fighter is not for everyone. But I had a blast! If you spent a great deal of time (and money) playing the Street Fighter games you will also have a great time. But let me be clear…this is not, strictly speaking, good; it is gloriously stupid, over the top fun. However, I am knocking half a star off my ranking because this movie commits the most egregious bit of sequel bait I’ve ever seen; basically, once the film gets a full head of steam and starts heading toward an insane action climax…the movie just ends. Not cool Street Fighter…not cool.
Two and a Half out of Four Stars