Cert – 12, Run-time – 2 hours, Director – Kitao Sakurai
Former brothers-in-arms Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken (Noah Centineo) return to the world of street fighting for a tournament that could tip the power balance beyond the World Warrior Tournament.
If you want to see a film of people punching each other and occasionally using powers that allow for bigger punches, and sometimes blasts, then this 2026 take on Street Fighter may be for you. If you like a narrative, then there are scenes between the fights to loosely connect them together.
Is the fate of the world at stake? Possibly. Will fighting be changed forever? Probably not. M Bison (David Dastmalchian delightfully playing up the role with full self-awareness) plans to steal the power of multiple street fighters at the second ever World Warrior Tournament, which he’s hosting. Most of all he wants to entrap previous winner Ryu (Andrew Koji), who hasn’t been seen since his victory six years prior. Meanwhile, his brother-in-arms Ken (Noah Centineo) has become the star of celebrity-endorsed-product adverts. Both are drawn into the tournament by Callina Liang’s Chun-Li, eventually having to take on Bison to save the wider world. Each figure aware of the campy, plucked-from-the-game costumes they’re donning for the fighting action whilst wearing a straight face as the film wears a knowing grin.
The fights themselves are shaded by CG, but still have enough martial style to them for them to not feel drowned by it. There’s an enjoyable feeling to them and the different styles, forms and simply powers that we see used. Director Kitao Sakurai doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the video game origins here. Embracing the ridiculous without feeling fully so, letting the skills, forces and power-ups of the characters just exist in the world that’s been set-up – often spectated by a cheering audience in an arena, although with a handful of fights still being allowed to take place in the street.
While the narrative is somewhat thin and used largely to link the fight sequences, eventually almost moved to the side for the third act scraps and sequel-baiting, it does generally lean into the stronger elements of the film. The knowing costumes and character details that made them favourites for people in the games for whatever reasons. Whether it be the way they looked, a cool special move they had or simply because they just struck as a personal favourite. It’s all part of the entertainment of this filmic version of Street Fighter. One that for two hours relies on the base idea of a tournament of people with power-ups hitting each other.
While its narratively thin, eventually affecting the various fights, there’s an entertainment to Street Fighter’s action sequences and the styles brought to them by both the martial arts styles and the acknowledged video game abilities.
