Enter the Dragon Punch

Street Fighter 2 was a phenomenon when it blew through arcades and home consoles back in the early 90s. There have been many more instalments in the franchise since but while each one has been a big deal in the game industry, none of them have come close to penetrating pop culture the same way. It's no surprise then that Street Fighter takes most of its cues and characters from that breakout hit. Whether nostalgia for a mostly plotless thirty-plus year old game warrants a third live action adaptation, after 1994's film with the same name and 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, is another matter.

One thing this iteration has going for it over those that came before is the fact it actually features a fighting tournament (the entire premise of the games), albeit fairly briefly. All the Street Fighter 2 characters make appearances (as do a couple from later games) of varying importance. Chief players are M.Bison (David Dastmalchian), evil tournament organiser looking to steal power from the other fighters; Ryu (Andrew Koji), the current champion who no longer wants to fight for fear of unleashing a dark power within himself; Ken (Noah Centineo), estranged adoptive brother of Ryu out to prove he is more than an MTV lifestyle joke; and Chun-Li (Callina Liang), who is on a mission to bring Bison down.

The story follows the typical three acts for a fighting tournament movie. The first act introduces the characters, second revolves around the tournament and the heroes face the conspiracy behind the tournament. While this gives some structure, the tournament ends up being played for an actual (admittedly quite funny) joke and the film is too long. A film about colourfully dressed people punching each other has no business being two hours long. Likewise, it has no business being this confusing. Despite the simplest of premises, some odd choices make it surprisingly hard to keep track of what is going on and at least one character disappears part way through the movie with no explanation.

Fortunately, it's unlikely fans of the game are here for a fleshed out narrative. The trailers promised a bunch of colourful character fisticuffs and some brash humour. The film mostly delivers. There is certainly plenty of fighting and more or less every character gets at least a small moment to shine. That said, we aren't exactly talking "The Raid" in terms of fight choreography and while fun is more important than intricacy it lags a long way behind even Mortal Kombat II, the other fighting game to film release of the year.

The comedy is the most consistently successful part of the film. There is a bit of slapstick and plenty of comedic nods to the games and pop culture in general. Jason Momoa appears in a small but fun role as electric monster man Blanka and there is entertaining bickering between characters who dislike each other. It ain't sophisticated wit but there is plenty to chuckle at.

That's the story of Street Fighter. With fight scenes that are just OK and comedy that is decent, there isn't really anything here to tempt in newcomers. On the other hand, there should be enough that fans of the games don't feel shortchanged if they do turn up.

6 "it was Tuesday"'s out of 10.

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