Review - Street Fighter (2026)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Street Fighter, directed by Kitao Sakurai, marks the third live-action adaptation of the iconic fighting game franchise by Capcom, and stars Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang, Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i, David Dastmalchian, Mel Jarnson, Cody Rhodes, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Olivier Richters, Eric André, Rayna Vallandingham, Andrew Schultz, Vidyut Jammwal, Don Lee, and Jason Momoa. 

      Set in 1993, six years after Ryu won the first World Warriors Tournament in 1987, the power hungry leader of Shadaloo, M. Bison, decides to host a second World Warriors Tournament in Metrolao City. Among the roster of fighters this time is Ryu's friend, Ken Masters, who is up against the best fighters in the world, such as Guile, Vega, Balrog, Zangief, Joe, and Dhalsim. But, the tournament itself is a trap, not only by Bison, but by the demonic warrior Akuma, who seeks to fight the ultimate opponent. 

      So, let's just say that this movie has a lot of characters. And, while not ALL of them get to fight on camera, we do get a good number of fights fans want to see. For instance, we get to see fighters like Chun-Li take on both Vega and Juli, while we get such match-ups as Ryu against E. Honda, Ryu against Blanka, Ken against Balrog, and so forth. But, the big showdown between Ryu and Akuma was definitely a highlight, and I gotta give it to both Andrew Koji and Roman Reigns for showcasing some fantastic fight skills. 

        The performances for the major characters were really good, as well. Both Andrew Koji and Noah Centineo as Ryu and Ken were fantastic, and worked well off each other, and I thoroughly enjoyed Andrew Schultz as Dan Hibiki. Callina Liang makes the third actress to portray Chun-Li on screen, and she is definitely one of the best elements of the movie. And, while the late Raul Julia is a tough act to follow, David Dastmalchian truly makes M. Bison his own, and showcases the kind of power hungry madman Bison is supposed to be in the Street Fighter franchise. The other players, such as Cody Rhodes as Guile, 50 Cent as Balrog, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Orville Peck as Vega, Eric André as Don Sauvage, Mel Jarnson as Cammy, Rayna Vallandingham as Juli, and Don Lee as Gouken were all varying degrees of decent to really great. But, it was Jason Momoa as Blanka that was a ton of fun to see. And, I'm super glad that Blanka was actually green in this movie. 

        The music in this movie was just a cornucopia of popular '90s tracks, such as "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden, "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, "More Human than Human" by White Zombie, and so forth. But, the score by Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson was also really good. And, these are the same composers behind the Peacock streaming series Twisted Metal.

        But, the key thing about this particular Street Fighter movie, as opposed to the 1994 Street Fighter movie and the 2009 film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, is that, while taking a few liberties, the movie ACTUALLY FOLLOWS THE PLOT OF THE FRIGGIN' VIDEO GAME! How did it take us over THIRTY YEARS to get a Street Fighter movie that actually follows the plot of the Street Fighter game series. Was it really that hard? Jeez! 

      Now, am I saying that everyone is going to enjoy this? No. But, I do think that fans of Street Fighter, and gamers in general, will.be pretty satisfied with it. 

       Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you in the next review.