The new Street Fighter movie is a fun live-action adaptation with a strong cast, impressive character designs and plenty of humour, but it falls short where it matters most for a fighting game movie. While the film does a good job bringing Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Dhalsim and the rest of the iconic characters to life, its rushed story and shortened fight sequences prevent the action from having the impact it deserves. As someone experiencing Street Fighter for the first time, I enjoyed the characters and the overall experience, but I left wanting much more from the fights.
Street Fighter Movie: Quick Details
| Movie | Street Fighter |
| Director | Kitao Sakurai |
| Genre | Action / Adventure |
| Runtime | 2 hours 5 minutes |
| Release Date | October 16, 2026 |
| Production | Legendary Pictures, Capcom |
| Distributor | Paramount Pictures |
| Ryu | Andrew Koji |
| Ken Masters | Noah Centineo |
| Chun-Li | Callina Liang |
| Dhalsim | Vidyut Jammwal |
| M. Bison | David Dastmalchian |
| Akuma | Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i |
| Blanka | Jason Momoa |
The film is based on Capcom’s Street Fighter video game franchise and follows Ryu and Ken as they are brought into the World Warrior Tournament by Chun-Li, while a larger conspiracy develops around the tournament.
The Story Starts Strong, But Quickly Becomes Rushed
The Street Fighter movie starts off well. It takes a good amount of time to establish Ryu and Ken, their backgrounds, their relationship with their master and their connection to Akuma. This opening gives the audience enough time to understand where these characters come from and what their story is about.
However, after this point, the movie starts moving much faster than it should.
The remaining story feels like a rushed recap of the events surrounding the Street Fighter games. A character is introduced, some humour and event is built around them, we get a very short fight sequence and then the movie quickly moves on to the next character or story point.
Because the movie tries to cover so much in its runtime, several connections and details are not explained properly. The plot eventually starts feeling like a summary of Street Fighter Game 1 and 2 rather than a complete story. You get the main events, but many of them are only explored on the surface level.
This is probably where the movie loses some of its potential. There are enough characters and storylines here to make a much longer and more detailed movie, but the film seems determined to move from one event to the next.
A Street Fighter Movie That Needed More Fighting
This is probably my biggest issue with the movie.
The name Street Fighter itself gives you a certain expectation. You expect a movie about fighters, their individual fighting styles and the battles between them. Unfortunately, a major portion of the tournament fights are either shortened or cut down.
Because of this, the audience only gets a very short opportunity to explore the fighting style of each character.
The movie introduces a large number of fighters, but instead of allowing us to properly experience what makes each fighter different, many of them receive only a brief fight before the story moves forward.
This makes some of the fights feel more like checkpoints in the story rather than major moments.
The movie does show the characters’ powers and signature moves, which I enjoyed, but the fights themselves needed much more time. A stronger fight choreographer and more complex choreography could have made the battles much more memorable.
For a franchise that is built around its fighters, I wanted to see more of them actually fight.
Ryu vs Ken Needed More
The fight between Ryu and Ken was one of the most disappointing parts of the movie for me.
Considering the importance of these two characters, their confrontation should have felt like one of the major highlights of the movie. Instead, the fight felt too short, and the final part of the confrontation did not get the impact it deserved.
The problem is not that the movie doesn’t show their abilities. Their powers and moves are there. The problem is that the fight does not have enough time to develop.
The movie also does not give the fight the kind of emotional build-up that could have made it more powerful. By the time we reach these major confrontations, the story has already moved through so many characters and events that the emotional impact does not land as strongly as it could.
The ending itself was good, but the journey towards it could have been handled much better.
The Cast Is One of the Movie’s Biggest Strengths
Where the Street Fighter movie really succeeds for me is its casting.
The cast was able to get into the characters themselves. It was not only about the costumes or physical appearance. Their overall body language, expressions and mannerisms helped make the characters feel recognizable.
Chun-Li and Dhalsim were the two performances that stood out the most to me.
Dhalsim has relatively less screen time, but he was still one of the more enjoyable characters to watch. I particularly liked seeing Dhalsim and Ken interact and fight, especially the moment where Dhalsim helps Ken calm down.
The dialogue also feels strongly influenced by the game. The conversations are relatively short and direct, which works well with the game’s personality. This is also where a lot of the humour works for me.
The comedy does not always feel like it is trying to be a completely separate element. It often comes from the exaggerated personalities and dialogue associated with Street Fighter, which makes some of the funny moments feel natural to the world.
The Characters Look Like They Came Out of the Game
The casting and costume design are another major positive.
The characters are quite accurate to their original artwork, and I never really felt like someone looked completely out of place. The costumes do a good job of making the characters immediately recognizable.
What makes this work even better is that the actors don’t rely only on the costumes. Their expressions, body language and overall presence help sell the characters.
I also want to mention the cosplayers who were present at the promotional booth. They did an amazing job bringing these characters to life, and seeing the characters represented through cosplay added to the overall Street Fighter atmosphere.
The Camera Work Looks Good, But the Fights Needed More Attention
The movie has some amazing camera work, and there are moments where it looks really good on screen.
However, I felt that the movie falls flat when it comes to some of its fighting sequences.
The fights could have been taken more seriously. With a franchise that is literally built around fighting, I expected more detailed and complex choreography.
The camera work itself is not necessarily the problem. The bigger issue is that the actual fights don’t always get enough time to develop. When a fight is shortened, the camera work and visual effects can only do so much to make it feel important.
There was also a major scene that started with an anime-style presentation and had a glitch in between. Because of the way the scene transitioned, it was unclear to me whether certain parts had been changed or removed. This also affected the flow of the movie for me.
The Comedy Works, But the Movie Needed More Balance
The Street Fighter movie leans heavily towards humour and comedy instead of focusing entirely on action.
The humour itself is not necessarily a problem. In fact, some of it works because the dialogue and character personalities are clearly influenced by the games.
The problem is the balance.
I would have preferred to see the same humour combined with more tournament fights and more time dedicated to the individual fighters.
The movie has so many characters that there is a lot of potential for interesting matchups, but many of those fights are only briefly explored. This leaves the audience wanting more from the tournament.
Final Verdict
As someone watching Street Fighter for the first time, I found the movie enjoyable, but I also felt that it could have been much better.
The biggest strengths are definitely the cast, character portrayal, costumes, humour and the way the movie brings the game’s characters into live action. Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Ken and Ryu were particularly enjoyable to watch.
However, the biggest weakness is the rushed storytelling and the lack of proper fight sequences. Too many fights are shortened or skipped, which means the audience does not get enough time to explore the different fighting styles of the characters. This also makes the final fights feel less impactful than they should.
The movie does have a good ending, but the journey towards that ending feels rushed. It feels like the movie is trying to tell you everything about Street Fighter without giving every part enough time to properly develop.
For me, that makes Street Fighter a 3/5. It is a fun experience with a strong cast and recognizable characters, but it needed more time, better fight choreography and more focus on the actual fighters to become a truly great Street Fighter movie.
