STREET FIGHTER Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Kitaro Sakurai
Stars: Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Callina Liang, David Dastmalchian, Joe “Roman Reigns”, Anoa’i, Cody Rhodes, Eric Andre, Jason Momoa, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Orville Peck, Don Lee, Vidyut Jammwal.
Based on the popular video game franchise created by Capcom in 1987, Street Fighter is a mix of martial arts action, manga style animation and at times juvenile humour. There have been six other video games in the series, as well as various spin offs, tv series and merchandise that have made it one of the biggest grossing media franchises. There was even a live action feature film produced in 1994 that starred Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue and Raul Julia. Although that film was poorly received by critics at the time it eventually grossed over $165 million through box office and home video.
This new version of Street Fighter is attempting to kick start a new franchise. It has been directed by Kitao Sakurai, a former cinematographer who has directed lots of episodic television. But this is one big, silly, and at times incoherent and overlong movie that will mainly appeal to fans of the video games. It brings to the big screen several of the familiar figures from the game and does include plenty of well-choreographed fight scenes, performed by the stunt crew and augmented by CGI effects and pyrotechnics.
Street Fighter opens with an extended animated sequence set in Thailand in 1987 with the inaugural World Warrior Tournament that pitted the best fighters against one another with one champion emerging victorious. Ryu was the ultimate winner, but he ignored the advice of his mentor Gouken and let his rage and dark side take over resulting in disaster. Gouken charged Ken Masters, Ryu’s friend and training partner, to look after him and keep him safe. But after Gouken is killed by the evil demon Akuma both Ryu and Ken are distraught. Ryu goes off the grid, while Masters goes on to become a champion.
The main story kicks in when the evil dictator M Bison (David Dastmalchian) organises the second World warrior tournament to be held in Metrolau City, pitting eight of the world’s best fighters against each other. Bison is hoping to tap into the “psycho energy” that Ryu is able to generate to make himself more powerful. The tournament is a way to draw Ryu out of hiding, but initially he is reluctant to participate. When Akuma threatens to kill the winner of the tournament Ryu reluctantly agrees to take part fearing that his friend Ken may be the triumphant fighter. Ryu fights Honda, beating him and then takes his place in the tournament. But there is treachery and subterfuge afoot as Bison rigs the tournament and takes Ryu prisoner.
Meanwhile Chun Li is seeking her own revenge against Bison for the murder of her father.
Street Fighter was largely shot on sound stages at the Disney Studios in Sydney. The action is cartoonish in style, and the tone is matched by the hyperlit and kinetic visual style of the director. Several hand-drawn animated sequences serve as flashback sequences to provide important background detail on the characters and their various motivations. These sequences, from Studio Titmouse, will recall 1994’s Streetfighter II: The Animated Movie.
The film features a largely unknown cast who do their best to give life to these video game characters and the performances are suitably over the top. Dastmalchian (arguably best known for his role in the horror film Late Night With The Devil) makes his mark as the villainous Bison, and he brings a manic edge to his scenery chewing and over the top performance. The heroic Ryu is played by Andrew Koji, a martial artist who appeared in the Brad Pitt action film Bullet Train, and he acquits himself well in a very physical performance. Noah Centineo (from Black Adam, etc) revels in the silly spirit of the material and he delivers a nicely comic performance as the buffoonish and egotistical Ken Masters. Callina Liang plays the feisty Chun-Li.
There are cameo appearances from established action stars including Jason Momoa and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson who play two of the other fighters – the green beast Blunka and Balrog respectively. Comic actor Eric Andre is suitably obnoxious as tv host Dan Suavage.
Co-written by Sakurai and T J Fixman this new version of Street Fighter doesn’t take itself too seriously and is almost as camp in style as the recent remake of Masters Of The Universe. This film is supposedly more faithful to the source material than the 1994 version. But given the recent successful reboot of the new version of popular video game Resident Evil, one of the most successful video games, this version of Street Fighter seems a bit of a backward step in quality.
★★★
