Released in 1987, Capcom’s enduring one-on-one fighting game “Street Fighter” has led to myriad sequels, as well as a live-action 1994 movie of the same name, anime films, TV series and comic book runs.

The fight returns to the big screen this week with another flick simply titled “Street Fighter,” director and co-writer Kitao Sakurai’s action-packed, high-energy and perhaps only borderline-nonsensical love letter to the games.

The movie centers on fighters and one-time pseudo-brothers Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) and the last-name-less Ryu (Andrew Koji), who must put aside their grievances if they are to defeat the power-hungry Lord M. Bison (David Dastmalchian, “Dune”).

And we do mean power-hungry, as the film’s lukewarm big bad is literally trying to steal, um, the forceful and supernatural “psycho power” possessed by Ryu, who long ago chose not to wield it and, as a result, allowed his and Ken’s father figure and teacher to be killed.

(Side note: “Street Fighter” shows us this and more in anime-style animation flashbacks that look great and have you sincerely wishing the whole movie was presented in this dazzling medium.)

As time passed, Ryu slipped into the shadows while Ken became a 1980s fighting superstar, getting his own MTV special and endorsing products such as Jolt Cola. However, in the movie’s present day, 1993, Ken has become, as Callina Liang’s Chun-Li puts it, a “sideshow.” Without much trouble, the beautiful young woman convinces him to compete in a major upcoming tournament boasting some of the world’s top fighters. (She is, shall we say, not exactly crushed when Ken says they must keep things professional, as he enters into 48 hours of celibacy before a fight.)

She has a tougher sell when it comes to Ryu, who seems intent on keeping fighting in the past and content with serving his late master’s recipe for fermented pigeon soup on the street to unsuspecting tourists. Of course, Ryu eventually decides to take part in the fist-y festivities.

Unfortunately for him, the tournament is but a complex ruse by Bison to entrap Ryu and steal his power.

As “Street Fighter” rumbles on, we meet other colorful figures, many of them from the game franchise. Two of them, Guile and Akuma, are portrayed by superstar professional wrestlers, Cody Rhodes and Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoai, respectively. Musicians Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and the regularly masked Orville Peck are, respectively, combatants Balrog and Vega. One of the biggest names in the cast, Jason Momoa (“Supergirl”), with the help of effects, portrays the unusually large and simply unusual Blanka.

While not portraying a combatant, Eric André is featured prominently as the slippery Don Sauvage. André’s inclusion is hardly surprising given that Sakurai has for years worked closely with the comic actor, co-directing all episodes of the boundary-pushing talk show comedy series “The Eric André Show” and helming the 2021 prank-comedy movie “Bad Trip.” This background helps to explain the intentionally over-the-top nature of “Street Fighter.”

Still, given this resume, Sakurai would seem to be an unusual choice for an action flick. And while he brings love for the games into the proceedings, “Street Fighter” is simply the latest action affair that relies more on lots of quick cuts instead of well-executed, elaborately choreographed fighting sequences.

That said, if you’re content with quantity over quality when it comes to action, you’ll likely be satiated by “Street Fighter.” Before the tournament begins, we get a two-man fight in a sauna and a big brawl at a club that serves as an introduction to many of the key characters. And, in between intermittently teaming up, Ken and Ryu work out a lot of baggage by beating the snot out of one another.

Koji, who starred in the Cinemax martial arts-heavy series “Warrior” and had prominent roles in the movies “Snake Eyes” (2021) and “Bullet Train,” has the action chops needed for Ryu. As Ken, Centineo (“The Fosters,” “The Recruit”) is solid in that area, too, but brings some much-needed charm to “Street Fighter.”

Obviously, though, this is a movie less about acting — and cohesive storytelling, for that matter — and more about heavily stylized spectacle, with brawlers smashing faces and throwing each other through walls on the regular. Screened in an auditorium with high-end audio and seats that vibrate along with the sound effects, “Street Fighter” gave us something approaching a back massage. Before too long, however, the presentation was more numbing than engaging.

“Street Fighter” has almost enough going for it that we wish we looked forward to the potential sequel it tries to set up.

Instead, though, we’d rather pick up a game controller and spend a few minutes fighting with a friend.

———

‘STREET FIGHTER’

2 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for violence/action, bloody images, strong language, sexual references, partial nudity and brief smoking)

Running time: 2:00

How to watch: In theaters Oct. 16

———

©2026 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.