Directed by Kitao Sakurai (Twisted Metal, Bad Trip) and co-produced by Legendary and Capcom, the new Street Fighter opened at No. 1 at the North American box office with about $30.8 million, already close to the entire domestic run of the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme film. Critics have been far less kind than audiences, though: it sits at 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, but 78% with Fandango’s verified audiences.
After seeing it, we understand both numbers. Street Fighter is a hilarious, faithful, gloriously silly celebration of the games, wrapped around a genuinely messy film. Your fan brain will have a blast. Your critic brain will spend half the movie wondering whether it missed a scene.
Fan Brain vs. Critic Brain
Every reviewer we heard from landed in the same place: they had a great time, and they know it isn’t a good movie. One summed it up as a 7 with their critic hat on, and an 8 with their fan hat on.
🕹️ Fan Brain Says
- The special moves are faithful, and the film isn’t shy about using them
- Genuinely funny, with a crowd that was laughing all the way through
- Deep-cut characters and lore nods everywhere
- Classic game music at the right moments
- The anime flashbacks are fantastic
🎬 Critic Brain Says
- Choppy editing that feels like scenes are missing
- Fights cut away, or happen entirely off-screen
- The tournament barely matters
- Crams about three movies into one
- M. Bison doesn’t work at all
It Gets the Games Right
Whatever else you say about it, nobody can accuse this film of not knowing its source material. Sakurai has said Legendary would never have hired him if he’d pitched a gritty, Batman Begins-style take, and it shows. This is a film that understands Street Fighter has always been a little ridiculous, and leans into it.
Hadokens, a Tatsumaki that actually connects like it should, a spinning Zangief, a Psycho Crusher. Even the small kicks and punches are game-accurate.
Hand-drawn 2D flashbacks by Titmouse tell Ryu and Ken’s backstory. They’re beautiful, serious, and left reviewers wanting a whole animated film.
A car-smashing bonus stage, Joe from the original game, Dan Hibiki, and a load of fighting game community cameos in Bison’s prison.
The game themes, including video game versions, play at the right moments, alongside a run of nostalgic needle drops.
And it’s genuinely funny. Cody Rhodes’s Guile gets one of the biggest laughs of the year when he asks whether a Toyota entered the tournament, and one reviewer said an older moviegoer next to them was in stitches. When the jokes hit, the whole theater is in on it.
The Cast: Hits and Misses
The casting is the film in miniature: some choices are perfect, and some are baffling.
A real martial artist and the most perfect Dhalsim ever put on screen. His fight with Ken is a highlight. We wanted far more of him.
The wandering warrior, right down to the terrible cooking. Koji nails the quiet intensity.
Flashy, cocky and funny, with some great banter with Chun-Li.
A committed, physical performance held back a little by cheesy material.
You feel the power behind every punch. The film just doesn’t build enough suspense around him.
In remarkable shape, and completely convincing as a boxer.
One of the film’s best surprises. Funny, and a great Dan.
Hilarious, but he never gets to be serious, and a running gag about Vega is played far too many times.
A real-life giant who is perfectly cast, and barely used. What’s in the trailer is most of what you get.
Better than the 1994 version, but one big digital spectacle that never quite convinces.
Looks right, but she’s stuck as a henchwoman with nothing to do. The same goes for the other Dolls.
Eric André being Eric André. Some will love it; the reviewers we heard from mostly found it grating.
Where It Falls Apart
The result is that, for all its fight scenes, Street Fighter doesn’t have one standout fight you’ll want to rewatch, which is a strange thing to say about a Street Fighter movie. The Ryu vs. E. Honda bout early on and an extended, wall-smashing fight later in the film come closest.
Spoiler Zone
⚠️ Click to reveal full spoilers, including the ending
The big change: In the games, Ken has usually lived in Ryu’s shadow. Here, it’s flipped. Two tournament invitations arrived, and Ryu secretly burned Ken’s out of jealousy. When he finally confesses, it sparks one of the film’s best fights, an extended brawl between the two of them. Reviewers were split on the change: it adds drama, but makes Ryu a less likeable, more flawed hero.
The tournament is a joke, literally: Ryu forfeits almost immediately, nearly everyone else drops out, and Joe wins by default, only for Akuma to show up and flatten him with an uppercut. It’s one of the film’s funniest moments.
The jailbreak: Bison captures Ryu to drain his power. A jailbreak follows with little setup (one of the moments that feels like a scene is missing), and it’s Blanka who returns the favour after Ryu freed him earlier.
The climax: Despite a whole film warning him not to, Ryu embraces the Dark Hado to beat Akuma, then turns on his friends. Ken finally unlocks the Hado himself and helps bring Ryu back, and the moment ends with the gang singing a 4 Non Blondes song that’s been a running joke all film. Meanwhile, Bison and Cammy steal Akuma’s unconscious body to absorb his power, and escape.
The ending: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Dan are hitchhiking when Guile and Dhalsim pick them up. Ryu nobly announces he’ll walk, in classic wandering-warrior fashion, and then gets in the car anyway.
Mid-credits: An animated scene shows a scarred Sagat training, before Bison arrives with his henchmen.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good | The Bad | The Ugly |
|---|---|---|
| Made With Real Love for the GamesFaithful special moves, deep-cut characters, lore nods and classic music. It’s a celebration of Street Fighter, and it shows. | Choppy, Confusing EditingScenes seem to be missing, characters teleport, and fights get interrupted by cutaways and flashbacks. | M. BisonA creepy, foot-sniffing joke instead of a menacing villain. The film’s biggest misfire. |
| Genuinely FunnyA crowd-pleaser in the truest sense. Guile’s Toyota joke alone is worth the ticket for some. | The Tournament Barely MattersThe World Warrior Tournament is the premise, but most of its fights happen off-screen. | Wasted CharactersZangief, Cammy, Vega and the Dolls look great and get almost nothing to do. |
| The Anime FlashbacksBeautiful hand-drawn sequences by Titmouse that left us wanting a full animated film. | OverstuffedEnough story for a trilogy, crammed into one film. | Lost on NewcomersIf you’ve never played the games, you’ll have a hard time following what’s happening. |
| Dhalsim, Ryu and BalrogSome of the best video game casting ever, especially Vidyut Jammwal. | Tonal WhiplashSerious anime, then wall-to-wall jokes, then serious anime again. | — |
The Verdict
Street Fighter is the rare movie that is both bad and badass. As a piece of filmmaking, it’s a mess: overstuffed, choppily edited, and allergic to letting its own fights play out. As a celebration of a series that so many of us grew up with, it’s a loud, silly, often hilarious good time, made by people who clearly love these characters.
Where does it rank? It’s comfortably better than The Legend of Chun-Li, but well short of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist or the animated Street Fighter II movie. Whether it beats the 1994 Van Damme cult classic depends on how much you love Raul Julia’s Bison. This film’s version can’t compete.
The honest read: if you love Street Fighter, see it with friends and have a blast, then argue about it afterwards. If you don’t know a Hadoken from a Shoryuken, this probably isn’t the movie that will win you over. Either way, leave your expectations at the door, and stay for the mid-credits scene.
For more reviews, check out our full reviews section.
