When it comes to film adaptations, the Street Fighter franchise hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory in the past. “Street Fighter – The Decisive Battle” from 1994 owes its current cult status to the fact that this campy B-movie was staged with all the rigor of the original – as well as a magnificently over-the-top Raúl Julia, who is still celebrated in meme culture in his role as the main villain Bison. The next attempt also turned out to be a total failure, as “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li” from 2009 was punished by the press despite a 50 million budget – and ignored by the cinema audience. What both films have in common: the surprising absence of memorable martial arts scenes given the fighting game template.
Fans were accordingly delighted when the first trailer for the new “Street Fighter” blockbuster by “Beef” creator Kitao Sakurai was released: brightly colored arenas, cracking action, tough fights and exactly recreated outfits – the big screen reboot promised to be a wildly chaotic party. Unfortunately, the result cannot fully fulfill the expectations raised in advance, because this time too there are only a few spectacular fights on offer – and despite the proud running time of two hours and the corresponding unnecessarily inflated story, “Street Fighter” actually only really begins when the credits are almost rolling again.
The costumes from “Street Fighter”, recreated right down to the last detail, look really good.
After a serious break, Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) cross paths again in 1993. The mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits the former friends and training partners for the legendary World Warrior Tournament, in which the best fighters from all over the world compete against each other. But while the participants measure their strength in the ring, the unscrupulous M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) is pursuing a diabolical plan in the background.
In order to prevent this sinister plan, Ryu and Ken not only have to face their personal demons, but also overcome their old differences. Only together can we succeed in averting the impending danger. But a dark force awakens in Ryu – and the situation threatens to spiral out of control…
A really wild mix of styles
It’s hard to believe, but in many ways “Street Fighter” seems like a spiritual continuation of the total failure “Street Fighter – The Decisive Battle”. It starts with the fact that the new edition is located in the same time as its predecessor – and celebrates this decade aesthetically mercilessly: MTV logos flicker across the screen in analogue TV optics and Ken Masters shows a camera team his magnificent villa in a “Follow Me Around”. The deliberately modest green screen animations catapult the audience straight back to the 1990s full of pixel nostalgia. In any case, “Street Fighter” is visually a wild mix, in which the extreme CGI artificiality is deliberately part of the program. The main plot, set in 1993, is repeatedly interrupted by short animated flashbacks to 1987 (not coincidentally also the release year of the first “Street Fighter” game), which shed light on the backstory of Ryu and Ken.
These anime episodes in particular are a pleasant surprise that should make gamers’ hearts beat faster. These players take up a surprising amount of space and present “Street Fighter” in exactly the look that a large part of the community has wanted for years. Maybe Hollywood will answer the fans’ prayers and actually give us a new full-length anime one day. In addition to the animated sequences, there is also other successful fan service in “Street Fighter”: iconic sound effects are built in as well as stage soundtracks and harmonious short appearances by popular supporting characters. Even the legendary bonus level from “Street Fighter II” is taken up – we finally see in “real life” how a car is wrecked with sheer muscle power.
Only very briefly, but still a highlight for fans: Luckily, the legendary car bonus stage is also there!
With the commitment of director Kitao Sakurai, it was already clear that we wouldn’t get a pure martial arts movie. Nevertheless, there was still hope for a good dose of madness. After all, Sakurai had made a name for himself through his work on the anarcho-comedy show “The Eric Andre Show” and its big-screen outing “Bad Trip” – a mix of buddy comedy and hidden camera prank show. Unfortunately, the humorous moments in particular are far too rare or even reach unpleasant cringe levels. Why, for example, Chun-Li’s feet have to be sniffed in a sexualized manner several times, probably only the filmmaker himself knows. The same applies to the subliminal queer allusions that US Air Force pilot Guile is repeatedly given. Both seem out of date and tend to result in awkward silences.
Lightning monster Blanka doesn’t fare much better. The jungle monster portrayed by Jason Momoa degenerates into a pure joke – and only leaves an impression with his hot dog-smelling armpits. It was not foreseeable that Dan, of all people, who was conceived as an inside joke in the game, would come away with anything positive. This would-be fighter, portrayed by Andrew Schulz (“You People”), is an annoying simpleton and is given a little too much screen time, but he has his heart in the right place. In the big finale he even gets to demonstrate his fighting qualities for a brief moment.
Too little action – too much plot
How fantastic “Street Fighter” could have been is shown in a fight scene between Andrew Koji as Ryu and Hirooki Goto as E. Honda. The two super fighters exchange blows in a steam sauna. Director Kitao Sakurai stages the encounter between these two video game icons with a lot of wit and attention to detail – and cleverly uses the special circumstances of the setting. When Honda goes for the “Hundred Hand Slap” or whizzes through the air like a powerful arrow with his “Sumo Headbutt,” fans should have a big smile on their faces.
It is exactly this mixture of banging martial arts moves and crazy humor that should define a “Street Fighter” adaptation. It’s all the more annoying that the big tournament that was announced ultimately turns out to be a flop – and we don’t see the meeting of many popular characters at all – or only in the beginning. Instead – as in “Street Fighter – The Decisive Battle” from 1994 – M. Bison is once again given too much space with his villainous fantasies of world conquest.
How can Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken (Noah Centineo) stop the sinister would-be dictator M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) now?
Unfortunately, the makers behind “Street Fighter” thought too big from the start. Instead of concentrating on the essentials and bringing an entertaining, playful video game brawl to the big screen, a story is told that actually only really picks up speed after the 120 minute running time. The film takes a full two hours – and still uses more space for Eric André’s sketch improvisations than for the tournament itself, which originally only consisted of seven duels.
So you leave the cinema a little sobered and waiting. Whether a second part will come at all and provide the postponed conclusion to the plot will largely depend on the box office figures in the coming weeks.
Conclusion: It could have been so nice, but ultimately the “Street Fighter”, which relies more on sketch humor than on stage duels, remains a largely unfulfilled promise after the fantastic first trailers. The magic of the arcade hit only flashes in places, which is all too often overwhelmed by an unnecessarily overloaded story. The fact that the film ultimately ends with a gigantic cliffhanger that postpones the resolution into a potential sequel further detracts from the cinematic experience.