New Street Fighter movie draws mixed reviews ahead of theatrical release

The new live-action film adaptation of Capcom's Street Fighter video game franchise arrives in theaters this Friday to largely negative and mixed reviews. Kotaku, PC Gamer, and GamesRadar all reported that critics have labeled the reboot an incoherent mess, though several reviewers noted it is not a complete disaster and has enjoyable moments. [1][2][3][4][5]

Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the film stars Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken Masters, and Callina Liang as Chun-Li. Kotaku and GamesRadar reported that the cast also features Cody Rhodes as Guile, 50 Cent as Balrog, and Eric André as ring announcer Don Sauvage. [1][3][5]

Reviewers noted that the movie moves at a fast pace but suffers from poor editing and excessive exposition. GamesRadar and PC Gamer reported that while the action sequences and fight scenes offer fun moments, the underlying storytelling and character drama remain fundamentally flawed. [2][3]

Capcom's fighting franchise previously spawned Steven E. de Souza's 1994 live-action feature film adaptation, as well as the 1994 anime film Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, which was directed by Gisaburō Sugii. [5][12]