The New Street Fighter Movie Finally Gets It Right

SPOILER WARNING: This review may contain spoilers for the film Street Fighter.

In a world of amazing video game films that stand on their own merits, the simple novelty of seeing your favorite franchiseFranchiseA series of films, shows, or games built around shared characters and a shared universe, often spanning many sequels, spin-offs, and merchandise. Franchises dominate box offices and streaming, and theirGo to Franchise Glossary on the big screen has officially worn off. The latest Street Fighter film by director Kitao Sakurai not only sets out to join that list of incredible adaptations, but also to redeem developer and publisher Capcom after a long line of terrible movies.

Fans have been clamoring for a fun time at the movies, full of Hadouken-blasting, Shoryuken-punching, Tatsumaki-Senpuu-whatever-it’s-called-kicking glory for years. I can tell them to rest easy now, because despite some flaws, 2026’s Street Fighter finally gets it right.

I want to preface this review by saying I grew up as a Tekken nerd, and I’m always down to whip out my day-one main, Jin Kazama, for a quick match any day. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t dabbled in the occasional first-to-three at Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike with my buddies, though, because no one can deny how influential and massive the series has become since it first blew up in the ‘90s. 

However, despite the countless games, merch, collaborations, and tournament scenes as legendary as the fighters we all love, one thing Capcom still can’t seem to get right is a decent live-action film.

The original adaptation, Street Fighter: The Movie in 1994, which, while a box office hit, was horribly messy and inaccurate to the games. There’s also The Legend of Chun-Li. Its 4% Rotten Tomatoes score is all anyone needs to know about that one. The last adaptation was the animated 2005 Street Fighter Alpha: Generations, which was the best of the three mentioned.

Sakurai’s new film works as a reboot/standalone not tied to any particular game, but it takes the upper hand over past entries by remaining close to Street Fighter II and the Alpha titles. Many iconic characters and their arcs get their own moment to shine, and everything they do has a specific callback to the source material in some way.

But it wouldn’t be a Street Fighter movie without Ryu and Ken, the series’ poster boys, played by Andrew Koji and Noah Centineo. The story’s heart is their brotherhood, which begins in a remote dojo and is tested by Ryu’s inner demon, the dark force called Satsui no Hado.

It accidentally summons the big bad Akuma (WWE’s Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i), evil in physical form. The calamity that ensued ends their friendship and leaves both men as shadows of who they once were.

They’re drawn back together when the series main villain, M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), announces the a tournament of the world’s best fighters. It was fun seeing gaming’s most iconic bromance save the day, and each other.

The biggest delight of the whole movie, however, is that it offers both beautiful, hand-drawn flashbacks and live-action scenes for the present fights. Regardless of which style you prefer in a Street Fighter full-length feature, you will be truly satisfied by the end.

An especially standout scene for me was the first battle between Ryu and E. Honda, played by Hirooki Goto. This is where you can tell director Sakurai not only did his research, but also got to show off his filmmaking chops. Set in a steamy bathhouse, the moment the hand swipes and spinning kicks connect with the traditional Japanese music, the whole theater knew this movie had sauce.

It’s still not without its issues, though. While the stacked cast is a treat to watch onscreen, trying to fit so many character arcs into the nearly two-hour runtime bogs down the pacing, especially when perspectives shift so quickly per scene. Having that many stars and, weirder still, a few too many oddly placed needle drops also likely ate into the budget and muddied the tone.

We knew from the beginning it wouldn’t be as gritty or serious, which, admittedly, is to the movie’s benefit. But hearing “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes and “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden feels so forced when the money spent acquiring those songs could have given us more action during the tournament itself. I was most excited to see potential beat-ups and special moves finally happen, but was disappointed because far too many of them occurred off-screen.

Despite all the obvious Hollywood studio-ness, 2026’s Street Fighter is chock-full of heart, style, and combat that’s more than worth the ticket price. Whether you emptied your piggy bank on the arcades back in the day or got hooked through Street Fighter 6, you’ll leave wanting more, and the ending all but confirms a sequel. Until then, anyone want to recreate EVO Moment 37 with me?

Street Fighter is now showing in cinemas nationwide. Rated PG.