‘Street Fighter’ movie review: Fists, fetishes and a fighting chance at cult status
A critical review of the new 'Street Fighter' film describes it as a chaotic, plot-starved adaptation of the classic video game. The reviewer notes that while the film lacks narrative depth, it retains a certain level of nostalgic entertainment value.
Why it matters
This reflects the ongoing challenge Hollywood faces in adapting fighting-style video games into coherent cinematic experiences.
‘Street Fighter’ movie review: Fists, fetishes and a fighting chance at cult status center A still from ‘Street Fighter’ Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures https://th-i.thgim.com/public/entertainment/movies/16uf4o/article71592208.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/Street-Fighter-Noah-Centineo-Andrew-Koji-083126-7d8e6d9d4c37470fbe15d5246cb00497.jpg A salacious, plot-starved brawl of horny meatheads and ‘90s mall-arcade nostalgia, ‘Street Fighter’ is far too stupid for its own good, yet far too entertaining to dismiss Fighter games have always posed an obnoxious little problem for Hollywood. While action games, adventure games, horror games, RPGs and narrative-driven games feature some semblance of storytelling to be excavated, expanded or improved by a screenwriter with a functioning frontal lobe, fighter games are fundamentally about selecting a colourful meathead and beating another colourful meathead into submission. Mortal Kombat has repeatedly attempted to alchemise the knuckle-dragging simplicity of this concept into cinema, with results ranging from tolerable to terminally embarrassing, while Tekken has also thrown its hat into the ring without leaving the competition quaking in its boots.
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