New ‘Street Fighter’ Trailer Can’t Keep a Straight Face for Long

Paramount Pictures unveiled a new trailer for its upcoming Street Fighter movie today. Unlike the film’s first full-length trailer, which was appropriately goofy right from the start, this one tries to play it straight, delivering some more backstory as Chun-Li (Callina Liang) tries to convince Ryu (Andrew Koji) that Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) is in trouble and needs his help in a sketchy martial arts tournament. But this movie clearly still knows what it is at heart, and the tone switches to a campier, more self-aware vibe about halfway through. Check out the new trailer below. Once the trailer starts showing off the World Warrior Tournament and all of its unrepentantly extra participants—looking at you, Guile (Cody Rhodes) and Vega (Orville Peck)—there’s just no way to keep pretending this is anything other than a goofy romp. At best, this movie will be a love letter to the Street Fighter games; at worst, it’ll be poorly executed fan service. So far, we’re leaning more optimistic, but, admittedly, self-aware silliness is a hard tone to maintain throughout an entire movie. If anyone can pull it off, though, it’s director and co-screenwriter Kitao Sakurai, who spent more than a decade documenting and scripting Eric André’s gonzo hijinks on The Eric André Show. (We see a bit more of André’s delightfully unhinged ring announcer Don Sauvage in this trailer, too.) Street Fighter hits theaters on October 16. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.