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Street Fighter 2026 Review: Nostalgia, Epic Battles, and Too Many Endings
I never played Street Fighter to the extent of Mortal Kombat ( on the computer, anyway ), but with 8 Bit games, yes, I did - a lot. With Street Fighter, I'd usually choose Guile for his vertical spin kick, Blanka for his rolling and electrocution, and obviously the top choices were Ken and Ryu with "Hadoken" fireballs. There was a lot of button mashing on the off-brand PlayStation and Sega clones that I played on. This was the routine on every weekend, National Holiday, and festival. Just hours and hours of video game fun. We usually always played PVP games for fun, but I remember one conversation in school got out of hand in a fun way.
It was about the 8 bit version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where I faced off against my classmate, with one person on either side of us as battle counsel and to cheer us on. One of the most fun days of my childhood, I must say. This was the reason why I went to watch Street Fighter 2026, as it was a part of my childhood and I had to see how they had brought it to life on screen. Just like the Mortal Kombat Movie, it focused on the game's fighting moves, popular one-on-one battles, and all the powers of the characters.
TMJ Rating: 🍿🍿🍿/5
What is Street Fighter 2026 About?
While I didn't know the full lore of the Street Fighter games while playing, I knew everything else related to playing the actual game. So this movie was the last piece of the puzzle.
After Akuma kills their mentor, estranged brothers Ryu and Ken reunite for a martial arts tournament organized by dictator M. Bison. Alongside Chun-Li, they uncover Bison’s sinister plans, confront powerful enemies, and battle Ryu’s inner darkness when Akuma returns.
The film is appropriately set in 1993, with CRT TVs on which we played those actual games as kids. I loved CRT TVs then and still do now, as they were BUILT for analogue signals, so if you have a flat-screen TV and you don't have HD, then the flat screen is terrible to watch anything on. But CRT TVs give really great clarity and picture quality for analogue signals, even though they stopped them in 2009 in the US and India. I had a legacy vintage Black & White Dynarama 14-inch TV all to myself in the 90s and the early naughties to play 8 bit games on with my friends, along with some brand of 21-inch CRT colour TV which I don't seem to remember.
That TV was built like a Tank! No amount of voltage fluctuations, power surges, rough handling, and heavy bumping against the wall could harm it! Completely over-engineered piece of media tech that was made before the TV industry adopted planned obsolescence like most brands ( if not all! ) today. You could grind a Nokia 3310 into literal dust with one of these! Check out all the Movie Adaptations of Video Games That I've Grown Up With
Where the Movie Messes Up
The first half of the movie is way too cheesy, even for a video game movie, making everything way too cartoony, and the second half begins well, until there are way too many boss battles and what seems like two endings ( at least! ) packed into one movie. Yes, there is a clear opening for a sequel, although there's a really good chance they might stretch that one a bit too much, too! There's a lot of Homo eroticism, phobia, pansexual flair all jumbled up in a hotpot of nonsense that is funny at first but gets tiring really soon.
The PVP Battles
This is the whole point of the movie, and they nailed it with all the precise fight moves, appropriately used CGI, and practical effects. Ken's Spinning Kick and Flying Upper Cut are done well, along with the legendary Hadoken fireball. Jason Momoa plays Blanca, and he plays him well as the giant green beast who rolls into a ball to attack and get away, and also has a few electrifying moves. The PVP battles are ALL about the cast, like Vidyut Jammwal from India as Dhalsim, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Noah Centineo as Ken, and Andrew Koji as Ryu. The powers are shown really well, with the Ryu Fire Eyes being exceptionally close to the game. 50 Cent probably requested this, but it's still cool anyway. They recreate Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston's fight and the iconic photograph where Ali taunts Liston to get up and fight.
Should You Watch This? Depends.
If you're a fan of the Street Fighter Game on various devices and its various versions, then yes. If you are new to the whole Franchise and especially if you have never played the game, this game will not make sense and will feel like a jumble of movie elements that don't add up to much.
