49th Parallel (1942)

Video game adaptations have a mixed track record, but in general, they tend to be better received when they stick closer to the source material. Street Fighter doesn’t have to worry about that, for the most part. The majority of people who have played a Street Fighter game played it either in the arcades or at a friend’s house, and are completely unaware of the lore. That shallow experience is reflected in the new film adaptation.

Street Fighter does have a story, but it’s one that has been told ten million times and is incredibly sloppy in this specific instance.  There are two main antagonists and three main protagonists, which makes the film feel unfocused.  Of the two main antagonists, the more prominent M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) has a very weak and generic motivation.  The other, Akuma (Roman Reigns) has basically no motivation at all other than “be evil.”  The protagonists’ motivations feel much more natural, but character decisions still make no sense as they lack set-up, due to the rushed nature of the movie’s story.  There is one revelation in particular which is supposed to be the movie’s big plot twist that makes no sense for the character who takes the action.