I bought a ticket for a Thursday afternoon matinee screening, a HDR By Barco presentation, so it was VERY VERY VERY VERY LOUD, so loud I wished it had English subtitles. Then again, would that have mattered?
Street Fighter
The film opens Friday, October 16, in movie theaters throughout the U.S. via Paramount Pictures. Visit their official site for locations and showtimes. It is also now playing in Canada -- visit Tribute for locations and showtimes, as well as Argentina, Belgium, France, Mexico, and South Korea, via various distributors.
Rather than the latest video game adaptation to hit the big screen, it's perhaps better to think of Street Fighter as a movie that is designed for today's audiences, especially those who love or remember things from the 1990s. It takes big, big swings, like playing a game of tennis with redwood trees for rackets.
Originally released as an arcade video game in 1987, Street Fighter spawned an exhaustive list of games, anime series and films, and even a live-action film in 1994, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, and Kylie Minogue, as well as a spin-off movie in 2009, starring Kristin Kreuk.
Neither of those two live-action films are currently streaming, so I don't have any other valid points of comparison, though I have seen Jackie Chan in Wong Jing's City Hunter (1994), in which humans take on the appearance of characters from the Street Fighter II video game.
In any event, my initial interest in watching the movie was seeing what director Kitao Sakurai might do with the material, after helming the pilot episode for the generally wearisome Twisted Metal series for Peacock TV, which was saved by the performances of Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz. Having cut his teeth by helming more than 60 episodes of The Eric Andre Show, it's no surprise that Andre appears here in a supporting role as a personality forced to broadcast news about the next World Warrior Tournament, an over-amped series of deadly combat games that take place in 1993.
I was also curious about what Andrew Koji might bring to the role of Ryu, a world-renowned street fighter who disappeared after the death of his master. Koji was dynamic in Warrior, and has impressed more than the material in Bullet Train, Snake Eyes, and Gangs of London. Again, he is better than the material, which, to be fair, is so thin that it breaks apart multiple times without him, but it's only meant to be an excuse for one fight after another. He still brings a welcome intensity.
As Ken Masters, his estranged best friend of sort, Noah Centineo looks the part of a dim American, but he's good natured, looks quite fit, and fills the role that is demanded of him.
The third of the "heroic roles," Chun-Li, is played capably by Callina Liang, who gets to do more here than she did in Steven Soderbergh's Presence, though she was quite good in the Bad Genius remake. Her character is more sober-minded than nearly everyone else, save for Ryu, yet she demonstrates a steely grit.
Jason Momoa is nearly unrecognizable in a supporting role, though his voice cuts through his makeup. David Dastmalchin, of course, mops the floor with everyone else, playing his villainous M. Bison with evil, joyful menace.
I've not mentioned the plot because it hardly matters. (Also, I had to step out for another 10 minutes on a "personal matter.") The action is busy and the screen rarely stops buzzing with activity. There were two moments that I absolutely loved, but one was about halfway through the movie, and the other was near the end, and I don't want to give those moments away, but they are quite enjoyable, and secured my vote for the movie as an action vehicle that knows what it is doing and takes great pleasure in the full measure of its PG-13 rating.