Street Fighter is easily one of the most recognizable video games ever. Sadly, being well-known doesn’t always translate into a watchable movie. That much is proven thanks to two poorly done live-action films. The most recent one (The Legend of Chun Li) was bad from start to finish, with only one good fight scene. And then there's the original movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, the great Raul Julia, and the unaging and amazing Ming-Na Wen.
With the exception of Raul Julia’s M. Bison, the movie was a poorly acted mess. And while we all love Ming-Na Wen, this wasn’t her best outing. However, it was campy and remains a fun watch for all the wrong reasons. That is why everyone should go see the 2026 Street Fighter when it’s released in October.
Street Fighter is perfectly unserious
The most recent trailer for the movie shows that the creative team understood the assignment. This isn’t a franchise like The Last of Us, Tomb Raider, or even Resident Evil. Those are all video games that have a serious tone. Everything about Street Fighter is goofy. For example, Pete Holmes once pointed out in a sketch that M. Bison’s plan to take over the world involved a fighting tournament. Does this make any sense? Of course not, but no one cared because the game is fun.
The trailer shows that writers and directors have learned from their predecessors’ mistakes by highlighting the characters people care about. But instead of keeping them 100% like the source material (which would have been dull), they’re adding things to keep people who do and don’t know the storyline interested. For instance, Ryu doesn't seem overly serious, Ken is a washed-up '90s pop culture star, and Chun Li is the one bringing everyone together.
Another clear sign that this will be fun was the casting. That happened long before the trailer, but you can see that the choices were spot on. Cody Rhodes is shown as Guile with more personality, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson's moment as Balrog was short but funny, and Eric André playing Don Sauvage will probably be one of the highlights of the film. And there’s no way that Andrew Schulz won’t kill it as the weak and cowardly Dan Hibiki.
The silliness is great, but the action looks excellent. And, if we’re being honest, the fights are what’s going to make or break this project. The general public isn’t going to the theaters to see Street Fighter to see the next Charlize Theron or Sterling K. Brown. They’re paying money to see creative action scenes. As for the gaming community, they're probably hoping that the Psycho Crusher, Flash Kick, and Final Atomic Crusher are done well.
I truly believe that we’re in for a treat because this isn’t the final cut, and things look good. Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick and Ryu’s Hadouken weren’t as “unrealistic” as they could have been. However, on the flip side, Ken Masters’ Rising Dragon Fist was perfectly exaggerated because it fit the scene. It shows that there’s a balance to the over-the-topness of this movie. And at the end of the day, all you want from a Street Fighter movie is a balance of ridiculousness and realism.
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