Street Fighter Captures Gameplay feel with A+ Cast Despite D- Storyline

When you don't have enough money to make a Marvel level cinematic blockbuster, you do the next best thing… lean into the absurdity and have fun. The $82 million Street Fighter directed by Kitao Sakuri is an energetic romp through 90's culture viewed through the lens of chaos magic… or should I say Psycho Power?

It’s been 32 years since the ridiculous Jean Claude Van Damme Street Fighter made audiences groan and 17 years since Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li was arguably worse. Now after Legendary Pictures bought the rights from Capcom three and a half years ago, how did they fare? Better… but still not good enough.

Street Fighter 2026 is a lot of fun and is 100% saved by its casting. Led by Noah Centineo, who plays Ken Masters, Andrew Koji, who plays Ryu and Callina Liang, who plays Chun-li, a paper thin storyline is elevated by over the top performances. David Dastmalchian does an admirable job as M. Bison, although he doesn’t quite invoke the fear I’d like from that villain. Wrestler Cody Rhodes plays an excellent Guile, both intimidating and funny while being over the top. 50 Cent plays the larger than life Mike Tyson inspired Balrog and Jason Momoa plays Blanka… sorta. We’ll get back to that one.

It’s obvious Sakuri was shooting for the video game feel over substance and it sorta works. It felt like you were watching the video game characters' special moves and all. It also doesn’t feel corny or forced. There were the right amount of Hadokens. Sakuri is fortunate that he casted so well because the actors are able to bring more to the characters to cover up an almost non-existent storyline. And while I appreciate the attempt to infuse animation into the movie to tell the backstory, it ends up looking like a money saving technique as opposed to an artistic choice. The motivations for all of the characters except Ryu are non-existent. Even Ken, who has most of the screen time is uncertain why he is fighting.

Who would have guessed that Andrew Shultz had some acting chops outside of roasts, podcasts and hanging out with Joe Rogan? He is actually fantastic in this movie as Dan, Ken’s friend. Although I am not generally a fan of Eric Andre, his style and energy is perfect as the Street Fighter News Caster and ring announcer.

Along with the story, there is something else that stinks in Streetfighter… literally. It’s Jason Mamoa as Blanka. But not really Jason Mamoa, but instead some sort of CGI monster that looks so creepily like Mamoa and has Mamoa’s voice that somehow sounds like him and also a baby who is looking for his mama. I can’t make this up. Blanka might have been cool had it not looked like Mamoa… seriously.

Street fighter is not something you need to see in theaters, but the 90’s music and feel along with really awesome characters make it a should see sort of movie. If conclusions are important to you, be warned that Sakuri is under the impression he will be making a sequel at some point. I am not so sure he’ll get the green light if he doesn’t make close to $200 Million.

Street Fighter gets a B- saved by actors who seemed to really love making the movie!