Street Fighter: Not "perfect," but the Round One we need.

Riot’s Reviews: Street Fighter

WHOO BABY!!! It’s finally here!!! Ever since Round One (get it?) of casting was dropped, ‘ol Riot has been aching to see this film brought to life. It’s a shame that Street Fighter, being the video game powerhouse that it is, has never been properly adapted into a film. I say “properly” because even though it has gained a cult following over the years, one would be extremely hard pressed to call the 1996 adaptation a proper film; with even less praise going to 2009’s The Legend of Chun-Li. The current title has been getting fairly hammered for its casting choices, a heap of criticisms I have been vehemently against. Casting appeared to me to be out-of-the-box and unique, but also begged the question of what kind of film this was going to be. Coming out fairly closely on the heels of a rival fighting game adaptation (see my thoughts on Mortal Kombat 2), would Street Fighter make similar mistakes? Or would it gain itself a “perfect” round?

It would prove false for me to say this is a perfect movie, even if my biases prevent me from falling in line with the frankly asinine rating the film is getting on Rotten Tomatoes. Street Fighter does in fact make the same mistake Mortal Kombat made in its first iteration. It leaned too hard into a story that it didn’t have enough depth to tell. The “plot” as it exists comes off as choppy/sloppy and underdeveloped. I felt slightly vindicated though, because it wasn’t necessarily the fault of the actors that this story wasn’t properly told. A major issue affecting this is the sheer size of the cast, a number so large there is never enough time to develop really anything, except for the relationship between Ken and Ryu. It’s not even that all the characters need the time, it’s more that the story we are meant to follow doesn’t make all that much sense.

At the end of the day, the audience doesn’t really need a story to get into a film like this and it would have done a whole lot of service for the creators to have simply picked a lane. Early trailers let us know that they were going to lean into the comedy, but (and this is really the only point I have full consensus on with critics) it just wasn’t very funny. There’s a few nuggets to be sure, but I ended up wishing they kept the more serious nature of the story instead of trying to overlay the humorous elements. Eric Andre (Don Sauvage), Andrew Shulz (Dan Hibiki), and even Cody Rhodes (Guile) were just not enough to really get the laughs, regardless of how fitting they were to their respective characters.

That’s about where my criticisms end though, because when it comes down to brass tacks, this is a fighting movie and holy moly did it deliver on that. Street Fighter is filled to the absolute gills with brilliant fight choreography, action sequences, and direct video game references/Easter Eggs that it would be nearly impossible to list them all in one sitting. Where the plot fails, the fights slap (sometimes literally), with special nods to: Ryu (Andrew Koji) vs. E. Honda (Hirooki Goto), Chun-Li (Callina Liang) vs. Vega (Orville Peck) and Juli (Rayna Villandingham), Ken (Noah Centineo) vs. Dhalsim (Vidyut Jammwal), and Ryu vs. Akuma (Roman Reigns). The consistency to the classic fighting moves is one of the true gems of the film and making them look/feel realistic is a real testament to the creators behind the lens. The film score is packed with nostalgic 90s tracks and fantastic adaptations of the video games’ classic level themes. The visual effects were far better than I could have hoped for and I really enjoyed a lot of the set work.

Truly, it really seemed like this film was a love letter to the video games’ fans. It’s written all over the attention to detail in costumes and fighting styles. As I expected from each announcement, the casting really is the core of what makes the film an enjoyable experience. It’s in watching these fictional fighters all brought to life. Even David Dastmalchian (M. Bison), who I think I was most worried about, ended up really embodying the character surprisingly well. His broad jawline and menacing aura made for a much more believable villain than I was expecting. The cast really seemed to have put in the work to embody these fighters. If I had to give the biggest gold stars, they would go to: 1) Ryu: Andrew Koji IS Ryu, no ifs ands or buts. 2) Dhalsim: Vidyut was so convincing, I was in awe. 3) E. Honda: Goto had an unbelievable fight with Ryu in the bathhouse. 4) Balrog: 50 Cent clearly put in the work here, he looked like a legitimate pound-for-pound fighter.

Anyone going into this film expecting a cinematic masterpiece (which seems to be what the RT critics were in fact expecting for some reason), they’re certain to be disappointed. Obviously if you’re a fan of the games, this is going to rank higher up on the enjoyment scale. But for the average viewer, turning the brain off and enjoying the ride will go a long way here. I think I asked myself when reviewing the second Mortal Kombat, which of the two films was going to win the war (the same question I asked between Superman and Fantastic Four), and I’m slightly disappointed to report that Mortal Kombat 2 was in fact better. Street Fighter left a lot of room to improve itself on and I think if they tighten their focus back to the actual tournament and not so much convoluted storylines, they would do themselves a big favor for the second instalment (which I would bet good money is coming sooner than later).

Riot’s Rating: 7.5/10: This is a film to be enjoyed in the theater to be sure. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

P.S. I’m also sorry to report, Blanka (Jason Mamoa) was a huge miss for me and while the jokes didn’t land so well, Andrew Shulz was a fantastic Dan Hibiki, y’all (critics) crazy for doubting that one.

P.S.S. The film features a substantial amount of anime to tell important parts of the story, it even opens the film. The artistry here is unreal and almost steals the show in a lot of ways. I certainly wouldn’t be against another fully animated Street Fighter movie told in the styles that are popular today.