The New Street Fighter Movie Did Everything Right
Video game movies are always an enigma. They can never truly be compared to their source material due to the interactive nature of video games as a form of media. Liberties to the story will always happen, because you can’t fit a game-length’s worth of lore and exposition into two or so hours without losing something along the line. And someone somewhere will always complain that the real life actor does not exactly look like the fictional character made up entirely of pixels. That being said, the new 2026 live action Street Fighter movie is a great adaptation of Capcom’s most influential fighting game franchise, and it’s definitely worth your time.
Anime in My Live Action Movie
The movie opens with an incredible 2D animated section of Ryu vs Sagat facing off at the finals of the first World Tournament in 1987, setting the backstory for the events that take place in the present year of 1993. The animation quality is so intense that it left me wanting an entire separate movie done in that style… Is what I would say until I was delighted to see more animated segments sprinkled throughout the film. Major character flashbacks were shown using these awesome 2D animated scenes.
The Most Important Details
The quality of the action scenes in previous live action Street Fighter media isn’t a high bar to clear, but the fights in this new movie are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous choreography combined with pretty tasteful, and surprisingly, not too campy inclusions of iconic special moves you know and love. And while I would consider this to be a turn-off-your-brain-and-enjoy type of film, the story isn’t something to dismiss either. They cram a lot into the nearly 2-hour runtime, and it’s refreshing to have it not only be about Ryu this round. As far as references go, they pull the best parts from what seems to be every (!) source of Street Fighter media. From the games, the fighting game community, the original live action movie, to even the American animated TV series. If you’re a Street Fighter fan, this film is truly a love letter to you.
About the Author - Miguel Mendoza
Primarily known for creating and managing video content for TMG, Migoy can also be found writing a review and/or article here and there. Has a great fondness for giant robots and masked superheroes. He is commonly seen yelling at a microphone while playing videogames.
The amount of effort seen here gives me hope for Capcom’s future attempts at reviving classic titles, as Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the latest title of the once dormant classic franchise, comes back in the best way possible as it very well might be my game of the year contender.