Street Fighter Review: Vidyut Jammwal's Dhalsim Dazzles, but This Game Adaptation Is a Garish, Incoherent Mess -

Cody Rhodes, Callina Liang and a show-stealing pillow fight can’t stop the new Street Fighter from getting knocked out by its own messy script.

Mumbai, October 16, 2026

Hollywood’s long, painful love affair with video game movies just got another round. Street Fighter, the big-screen revival of Capcom’s legendary fighting franchise, is out in Australian cinemas now and arrives in the UK and US on October 16. The movie has Indian interest too, with martial arts star Vidyut Jammwal playing Dhalsim. But if you were hoping this would continue the recent winning streak for game adaptations, brace yourself for a low blow.

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The Hope That Got Crushed

Just before this film, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil gave fans a giddy, nasty, devilishly fun spin on the Capcom zombie franchise. Along with Sonic the Hedgehog, The Last of Us and Fallout, it fed the belief that video game adaptations could be good, actually.

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Street Fighter flattens that hope with an atomic suplex. The verdict from critics is brutal: a garish, incoherent mess that amuses in fits and starts but barely improves on the Mortal Kombat movies before it.

The Plot: A Tournament and Not Much Else

The setup is classic. Ken (Noah Centineo) and Ryu (Andrew Koji) are old friends who had a years-long fallout. They are lured back together for a world championship tournament organised by the villain M Bison for nefarious purposes. That is more or less all the plot there is, a fight tournament, and yet the film somehow makes it confusing.

The reason is a barrage of character introductions and story arcs lifted from the games and animated spin-offs, all colliding with one another. Reviewers say it feels like a movie made on a six-button control pad. One critic even wondered whether Vega edited it with his Wolverine-like claws.

The Nostalgia Machine

Fans will not mind much. The one-on-one fighter franchises have kept the box office life bar in the green since the disastrous 1994 Street Fighter movie. This film delivers dopamine hits through nostalgia. It rolls out all the iconic characters and moves, including E Honda’s hundred-hand slap and Guile’s flash kick. There are some striking anime flashback sequences and plenty of early-90s pop culture.

Ken is a self-destructive, New Kids on the Block-era celebrity party boy with flashy blond curls, introduced through grainy, UHF-quality MTV segments. The soundtrack brings back MC Hammer’s 2 Legit 2 Quit and Montell Jordan’s This Is How We Do It. Fans who grew up with the 16-bit games will feel right at home.

The Performances That Save the Day

A few cast members bring real pleasure to the crowded mess.

Callina Liang as Chun-Li is the film’s best fighter. Her performance is formidable, and her physicality in the fight scenes is genuinely impressive. She is also the grounded one, calling out in plain terms how silly Ken and Ryu sound whenever they start getting philosophical. The film does give her the only gratuitous slow-motion shower scene, which many viewers will find unnecessary.
Cody Rhodes as Guile is genuinely funny. The WWE wrestler wears a cartoonish trapezoid blond wig and barks pleasantries and threats in equal measure.
Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim brings authenticity and hypnotic movements from his training in the ancient martial art Kalaripayattu. The Indian star plays the yoga priest, and his scenes are captivating, though far too brief.
Andrew Schulz as Ken’s manager gives a convincing performance. His character capitalises on Ken’s brawn while coddling his wounded ego.
50 Cent as Balrog features in a notable boxing matchup against Ken.

The Fight Scenes: Highs and Flat Spots

The film’s most amusing fight comes early. Ken and Ryu reunite in a hotel room, and Ken takes furious, wild swings. Flying kicks miss, and roundhouses hit nothing but air. Ryu calmly out-manoeuvres him, blocks with a pillow, and then slips the pillow under Ken’s head to cushion his wipeout. He even tiptoes away while sitting on a sofa. It is a standout scene that feels like it belongs to a smarter movie.

Another highlight is the Ken versus Balrog bout. Director Sakurai clearly learned lessons from Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, cutting quickly between flashy hits and slow-motion impacts. A sloppy mix of blood and drool hangs in the air long enough to appreciate every drop.

The Big Problem: Making Fun of Itself

The film is full of knowing winks at fans, owning up to how silly everything is. That would land better if the movie ever rose above the stuff it mocks. Instead, Street Fighter is satisfied punching down at itself and at everything cringe about the 90s. It is happily stuck in the past, as if this were as good as it gets for video game adaptations. Critics say we know better.

What This Means for Everyone Involved

For the franchise: Street Fighter fans are loyal, so the box office may still hold. Fighting game adaptations have always had a dedicated audience, and nostalgia is a powerful draw. But a poor critical reception could make it harder to justify a sequel with a bigger budget, and it may reset the conversation about whether the studio can build a proper cinematic universe around the game.

For Callina Liang: This could be her breakout. Even critics who hate the film single out her Chun-Li, which is the kind of notice that leads to bigger roles.

For Cody Rhodes: A scene-stealing comic turn from a WWE star adds to the growing trend of wrestlers crossing into mainstream cinema. Expect more Hollywood offers.

For Vidyut Jammwal: For Indian audiences, the main talking point is seeing an Indian action hero and Kalaripayattu practitioner in a major Hollywood franchise. His screen time is short, but the authenticity of his movement is already being praised. A strong international profile could open the door to more global projects.

For video game movies: The film arrives right after Resident Evil, so the contrast will be hard to miss. Studios may now judge the genre by whether a film respects its source material and tells a coherent story, not just whether it ticks off characters and moves.

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Verdict

Street Fighter is a nostalgic, noisy and badly assembled brawler. It has a handful of great performances, a pillow fight that deserves its own highlight reel and a few well-shot bouts. But a confusing script, an overstuffed roster and a habit of mocking itself without ever improving leave it as a missed opportunity. Die-hard fans will get their dopamine hits. Everyone else should wait for streaming.

Our rating: 2/5

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