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Review: ‘Street Fighter’ is a Fun Love Letter to Capcom’s Beloved Fighting Franchise and a Certifiable Super Combo for Fans of the 1994 Cult Classic
October 15, 2026Ben MK
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One of the most popular video games of all time, Street Fighter is a franchise than many gamers hold near and dear to their hearts. With a legacy than spans almost 40 years, what began in 1987 as an arcade fighting game with only two playable characters has evolved into a worldwide phenomenon encompassing five sequels, well over 100 playable characters, and dozens of spin-offs. As for its live-action feature adaptations, on the other hand, Capcom's venerable fighting franchise hasn't been nearly as fortunate. But with Street Fighter, director Kitao Sakurai is aiming to turn the series' cinematic luck around, assembling an impressive roster of actors to bring the brotherhood of Ryu and Ken and their battle against M. Bison to the big screen in the most over-the-top way possible. The year is 1993, and Lord M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) is a madman with villainous aspirations. From his evil lair high atop the tallest building in Megalao City, Bison has his top scientists working around the clock to extract the life force from the world's best fighters, in order to harness their pycho power and transform himself into a god among men. Despite all their efforts, however, Bison still hasn't been able to siphon off enough energy to maximize his psycho power; so he sets about devising a trap to lure the formidable warrior Ryu (Andrew Koji) to Megalao City, to drain him of his Hado power. The only problem is that no one — not even Ryu's closest friend, Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) — knows where he is. It's been six years since Ryu defeated Sagat at the first World Warrior Tournament in Thailand; but ever since the death of their beloved master, Gouken (Don Lee), at the hands of Akuma (Joe Anoa'i), Ryu has chosen to go into hiding, whereas Ken has become more of a joke rather than an actual martial artist. All that's about to change, though, now that Bison has sent Chun-Li (Callina Liang) on a mission to recruit eight of the world's top fighters to participate in the second World Warrior Tournament. Along with such combatants as Guile (Cody Rhodes), Balrog (Curtis Jackson), Vega (Orville Peck), E. Honda (Hirooki Goto), Dhalsim (Vidyut Jammwal), Zangief (Olivier Richters) and Joe (Alex Volkanovski), Ken and his manager, Dan (Andrew Schulz), find themselves journeying to Megalao City, where they're soon introduced to Bison, his lethal bodyguard, Juli (Rayna Vallandingham), and his right-hand woman, Cammy (Mel Jarnson). What none of them could have ever anticipated is that the entire tournament is just an elaborate ruse designed to draw out Ryu from his self-imposed exile. But when Ryu decides to take the bait in order to save his estranged friend Ken from becoming Bison's next victim, will he be able to resist succumbing to the same Dark Hado power that transformed Akuma into the terrifying monster that he is? Likewise, will Bison be able to see beyond his own megalomaniacal vision and realize that his newest warrior, Chun-Li, isn't who she claims to be — and that she's actually a vengeance-driven Interpol agent intent on taking him down for the murder of her father? Bolstered by some of the most visually stunning hand-drawn anime sequences to grace the franchise since Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, the result isn't merely a love letter to the Street Fighter video game series, but also a love letter to the 1994 version starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, not to mention a love letter to all things 1990s. From the soundtrack, which includes bangers from such artists as Soundgarden, The Offspring and White Zombie, to the movie's eye-catchingly fun aesthetic, replete with an abundance of VHS-era cheesiness and bright, neon-colored hues, there's no mistaking the tongue-in-cheek vibe that Sakurai and company are going for. Still, first and foremost, Street Fighter is clearly a film made by fans of the franchise for fans of the franchise. And nowhere is that more evident than in the movie's devotion to bringing to life the series' most recognizable characters, complete with all their game-accurate costumes and their trademark special attacks. Suffice to say, anyone who bemoaned the last two Mortal Kombat films for their unwillingness to fully commit to the silliness of that franchise's 1995 movie adaptation should have no such complaints here. For while those remakes took an overall serious tone with its story, Street Fighter takes the complete opposite approach. Could this strategy backfire at the box office? Of course, it most certainly can. Nevertheless, for hardcore Street Fighter fans who have a soft spot for the Van Damme version and fondly remember button-mashing their way through the games, this newest iteration delivers a sure-fire Super Combo. Street Fighter releases October 16th, 2026 from Paramount Pictures. The film has an MPAA rating of PG 13 for violence/action, bloody images, strong language, sexual references, partial nudity and brief smoking. Its runtime is 1 hr. 59 min. |
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