Street Fighter Review: Campy Goodness, But Not Campy Greatness

Despite some narrative clunkiness and a poorly laid-out structure, the stylish combat and game cast turn Street Fighter into a bombastic blast.

Street Fighter, as a property, presents an interesting challenge for adaptations. The video game series has been a mainstay for decades, with a sense of style that infuses the openly absurd narrative with a sense of self-aware but fully committed charm. Recreating that in live-action can be difficult, as it requires a cast and crew fully committed to the strange, silly, and staggering world around it.

In that sense, Kitao Sakurai's new movie is a rousing success. It's a fast-paced flex of a film, with plenty of memorable fight scenes and a self-assured style that leaves a strong impression. It's flashy enough that it even blinds the audience at times to the rougher edges of the underlying script.

There are a lot of pacing and structural problems that are too big to be ignored, however, resulting in one of the most overtly mixed bags of any movie this year. Street Fighter is a silly action movie on the grandest scale that can't always hold up its own weight. While the strengths outweigh the flaws, and make a good case for the talent of everyone involved, those hang-ups come close to derailing what often is a straightforward and effective live-action cartoon.

Street Fighter Chooses Style Over Substance, Every Time

There is a lot going on in Street Fighter, and it doesn't always gel – but when it works, it's great. At its core, the movie is about Ryu (Andrew Koji), who has been in hiding for years following his victory over Sagat in the last World Warrior tournament. That brutal win caught the attention of the mystical warrior Akuma (Joe 'Roman Reigns' Anoa'i), whose efforts to make Ryu like him led to the death of Ryu, Ken (Noah Centineo), and Dan's (Andrew Schulz) master, Gouken (Don Lee).

Years later, Ken has become a global celebrity (and a joke in the eyes of the public), while Dan works as his manager. However, the villainous M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) wants to drain Ryu's potential power for himself, prompting him to host another tournament in a bid to lure Ryu out of hiding. There are a dozen other heroic fighters, secret agents, brutal henchmen, and animalistic brawlers in this cast, overstuffing the film to the brim.

That's not necessarily a problem for a movie this breezy, though. While some, like Chun-Li (Callina Liang), suffer from this disjointed focus, the deluge of characters benefits from a cast that has come to play. Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, and Callina Liang bring the right balance of comedy, action, and heart to the three central characters, keeping the story moving.

The rest of the cast do just as well, lending clear personality to their roles, even when they're fairly one-note – take Mel Jarnson, who delivers a memorably unhinged and vampy take on Cammi. There's a certain unrestrained id to all the action that makes it a blast to watch, especially once the film ditches any pretext of realism and embraces a vibrant, punchy aesthetic.

Don't go in expecting serious cinema, and you'll have a blast with this chaotic, charming video game adaptation. Taking more cues from the cult classic 1994 adaptation than one might expect, there's a knowing self-assurance that (mostly) avoids the kind of MCU-style snark that could otherwise trip up the action. By fully committing to its own brand of wacky brutality, Street Fighter knows how to be fun.

Street Fighter's Flaws Don't Ruin It (But Are Still Annoying)

All that craft on display in the action and visuals can't paper over the flaws in Street Fighter's script. The central emotional arc between Ryu and Ken may be solid, but the movie is frequently distracted by silly character beats, or M. Bison's completely different storyline. The tonal mishmash is softened by the constant sense of wholehearted comedy, but it's still noticeable.

More grating are the screenplay's structural problems. Fights are set up and then never shown; characters make flashy entrances only to barely add anything to the subsequent scene; and the film's non-ending is one of the most frustrating I've seen at a movie theater all year, setting up an admittedly fun-looking sequel instead of offering a real climax.

The problems are glaring, but the strengths are just as obvious. The fight choreography is great – a solid blend of video game references, inventive movement, and hard-hitting blows. The cast as a whole does good work in bringing their characters to life through action, but Koji and Centineo, in particular, deserve props for their ability to infuse so much character and comedy into their combat. ​​​​​​​

Street Fighter is a mixed bag, with really strong highs and some very annoying lows. Luckily, the former outnumber the latter, buoyed by the overall "go for broke" tone that carries the movie's best moments. Kitao Sakurai does great work helming the film, working with the cast and crew to deliver consistently entertaining fight scenes that are flush with personality and style.

While it's a fundamentally flawed movie on an underlying storytelling level, there's simply too much great style to ignore in Street Fighter. The emotional elements of the narrative work largely thanks to that tonal control and the cast, keeping audiences invested even when the movie embraces its worst impulses.

Street Fighter releases in theaters nationwide on Friday, October 16.