Rating: **
Review Date: 10/16/26
Cast: Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang, David Dastmalchian,
Andrew Schulz, Cody Rhodes, Jason Momoa, Eric André, Curtis '50 Cent'
Jackson, Don Lee, Mel Jarnson, Orville Peck, Hirooki Goto, Vidyut Jammwal,
Olivier Richters, Rayna Vallandingham
"To live is to fight. To fight is to live."
The third attempt to adapt Capcom's "Street Fighter" mythos into a live action film (not including the "Assassin's Fist" (2014) web series) is better than the previous ones, but the bar is incredibly low. The story follows the rivalry between martial arts experts Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) and Ryu (Andrew Koji), with Ryu succumbing to the dark powers of a demon named Akuma. Megalomaniac and all-around bad guy M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) wants to harness Ryu's power in order to enhance his own "psycho powers," so he arranges a world fighting tournament to lure him out of hiding. At the same time, Ken wants to prove he's the best by defeating Ryu in the ring, but Ryu knows it will cost Ken his life. And we can't forget the other main plot thread, which involves Interpol agent Chun Li (Callina Liang) trying to infiltrate Bison's organization and take him down before he becomes an international threat.
It's completely ridiculous and really leans into its ridiculousness, which is good, but the attempts at humor are awful and the dialog is appallingly bad. When Chun Li says to Bison, "You talk too much," that could easily be applied to the entire cast. The worst offender in the bunch is Eric André, whose character is downright offensive and totally unnecessary. Noah Centineo is supremely annoying as Ken, but he completely owns it and runs with it. Casting Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki was an odd and baffling choice, and while he's annoying in a way that's different from the game, he ultimately becomes rather endearing. Jason Momoa (who also served as a producer on the film) as Blanka is downright embarrassing and unnecessary - especially since he's a totally CGI character. David Dastmalchian is just as dull and uninteresting as Raul Julia's Bison, and even makes a winking reference to the first film, as if that would mean anything to the characters in this one. It's definitely cringe-worthy, but not nearly as cringey as Interpol agent Marvin, who has an extremely unhealthy obsession with Chun Li. Again, there's absolutely no reason for his character, and he really drags the film down.
On the plus side, Andrew Koji is excellent as Ryu and he's the spiritual center of the film. Cody Rhodes (Guile), Hirooki Goto (E. Honda), Curtis Jackson (Balrog), Orville Peck (Vega), Olivier Richters (Zangief), Vidyut Jammwal (Dhalsim), and Don Lee (Gouken) are all very good and understand the assignment. Rhodes in particular really goes all in with his portrayal of Guile, while Hirooki Goto's Honda is surprisingly deep, serious, and poignant. His fight with Ryu may actually be the highlight of the film.
But let's get to the important things, and by that, I mean the women. Callina Liang is fantastic as Chun Li, but her story arc is poorly executed and her character is compromised along the way. She deserves much better. However, the real disappointment is Cammy White (Mel Jarnson), who doesn't get to fight at all, and is simply a psychotic cosplay servant of Bison. The treatment of her character is shameful, and it's not even clear why she's included because Juli (Rayna Vallandingham) serves the same purpose, and she gets to fight.
Fortunately, unlike the previous two films, this one actually focuses on fighting, and there's plenty of it. While the choreography, cinematography, and execution are quite good, the action scenes become less interesting as the film wears on due to their increasing reliance on CGI. By the end of the movie, it's all just computer animated characters battling each other, which lessens the film's impact. Additionally, Chun Li's one fight scene is shot mostly in the dark, so you can't actually see what she's doing, which is disappointing.
Production-wise, it's attractive and well-made, and the action is exaggerated to cartoon levels of violence and resiliency. While the original music score is good, the film suffers from the inclusion of some regrettable 90s songs, which betrays the tone of the film just as badly as the dialog and humor do. Overall, the film is a mixed bag that's equally exciting and awful, and while it may be the best live action adaptation so far, fans are still better served by the excellent animated "Street Fighter II" (1994) movie.