Street Fighter review: Noah's film is unapologetically silly, testosterone-fuelled

Good versus evil, Ken Masters and Ryu Vs Akuma, impossible fighting moves and a villain with plans for world domination. Street Fighter follows a familiar action genre formula, throws a dozen larger-than-life characters into the mix and lets them punch their way through the story. The difference is that the film knows how predictable and preposterous it is. Rather than disguise its absurdity behind grand ideas, it wears it like a second skin. And that is where much of the fun lies.Directed by Kitao Sakurai, this live-action adaptation of Capcom’s popular fighting game franchise follows estranged fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo), who are drawn into the World Warrior Tournament by Chun-Li (Callina Liang). What begins as a reunion with their past turns into a larger confrontation involving M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) and a conspiracy that threatens the fighters.The plot is largely a vehicle to get these characters into the ring, and the film makes little effort to pretend otherwise. There is always another fight, another rivalry or another opportunity to unleash a signature move. The world outside the game might as well not exist. And honestly, that commitment is part of the fun.The film doesn’t spend half its runtime apologising for its own premise. Street Fighter isn’t trying to turn its colourful fighters into brooding, morally conflicted superheroes or dress up every punch as a meditation on the human condition. It is a live-action video game adaptation that wants to entertain, and it understands that the source material’s appeal lies partly in its larger-than-life characters and spectacularly implausible combat. The film is at its best when it stops worrying about making everything fit neatly into a conventional action narrative. The fights have a heightened, almost cartoonish quality, while the humour allows the cast to lean into the material rather than play it straight. The result is unabashedly silly, sometimes to the point of excess, but rarely embarrassed by its own silliness.The casting is another reason the film works. Sakurai has assembled an ensemble that looks deliberately unpredictable on paper, with actors, wrestlers, musicians and action stars sharing the screen. Yet the choices feel considerably more inspired once everyone inhabits the world. Dastmalchian brings theatrical menace to M. Bison, while Koji and Centineo give Ryu and Ken contrasting personalities that help anchor the chaos. Callina Liang’s Chun-Li is central to bringing the fighters together. For an adaptation built around recognisable characters, casting matters enormously. These are figures that one has spent years controlling on a screen, and simply reproducing their costumes would not be enough. Here, the performances and physicality go a long way towards making the characters feel like more than elaborate cosplay.Vidyut Jammwal, making his Hollywood debut as Dhalsim, has a relatively limited role in an ensemble that includes Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog and Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma. He doesn’t get enough screen time to leave a substantial mark on the story, but he holds his own among the larger-than-life personalities. Given Jammwal’s martial arts background, the casting feels natural, even if the film could have made better use of him. But there could very well be a sequel, if the post-credits are anything to go by.One of the more interesting creative decisions is the use of animation to establish aspects of the characters’ histories before returning to live action. It is a smart way to acknowledge the franchise’s gaming and animated roots without forcing every piece of backstory into dialogue. These sequences help bridge the gap between the exaggerated visual language of the game and the physical world of the film. The callbacks to earlier adaptations and the franchise’s history add another layer of nostalgia.Of course, the same qualities that make Street Fighter enjoyable also limit it. The good-versus-evil conflict rarely strays from familiar territory, and the testosterone-fuelled world leaves little room for emotional complexity. The relentless succession of fights can be exhausting but depends on who is watching. The film is so committed to its own bubble that its characters rarely feel connected to anything beyond their immediate rivalries. The silliness is intentional, but intention does not make every joke land or every action sequence equally engaging.It surrenders to the source material without attempting to make it intentionally 'woke,' which means that there are sexual references and misogynistic jokes which can make you roll your eyes.Still, Street Fighter never promises sophistication. It knows its audience, understands its appeal and largely delivers on those terms. It is not a reinvention of the video game movie, nor does it need to be. It simply embraces the ridiculousness of its premise without pretending it is something grander.For all its flaws, Street Fighter lands enough punches to make the brawl worthwhile. The film releases in Indian theatres today, October 16.- Ends