Live action video game adaptations have a dismal track record. Capcom’s Street Fighter franchise is no exception. The 1994 Jean Claude Van Damme film flopped critically and commercially, only achieving cult status in the decades since. 2009’s The Legend of Chun-Li fared worse, with an astonishing 3% Rotten Tomatoes score. While clearly a lot of love went into the newest entry, the fighter’s latest adaptation can’t rise above its weak script, sloppy editing, and middling performances.

Street Fighter (2026) loosely retells the story of the beloved 1994 anime. After winning the ’87 Street Fighter tournament, Ryu (Andrew Koji) has disappeared from public life. In the six years since his childhood friend and training partner Ken (Noah Centineo) has become a washed-up MTV personality, partying hard to hide the pain of living in the champion’s shadow. Criminal overlord M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) organizes a new Street Fighter tournament as a pretext to capture Ryu and harness his fighting energy. He enlists Chun-Li (Callina Liang) to recruit the two Shotokan devotees, not realizing she has motives of her own.

That’s a lot to fit in the movie’s two hour runtime while also introducing twelve other fighters. Sadly the editing can’t keep all these threads together. Characters seem to teleport wherever the story demands. Exposition is awkwardly shoehorned into fight scenes.

One look at the costumes or Guile’s haircut makes it clear that Street Fighter doesn’t take itself very seriously. The movie embraces its arcade roots and 90s nostalgia. This is a smart approach undermined by films’ insistence on assaulting us with hacky jokes. I groaned through countless one-liners and tired gay jokes. The script desperately needed a few punch-ups.

A talented cast can elevate weak material, but no one rises to the challenge. Centineo’s Ken and Liang’s Chun-Li are merely adequate. Ryu’s mood is subdued for most of the film but with Koji’s performance he just comes off as flat. Dan Hibiki (Andrew Schulz) is in nearly half of the movie and brings nothing to the table. Even Eric Andre as announcer Don Sauvage is wasted. The biggest whiff is Dastmalchian as M. Bison, who’s put in the unenviable position of imitating Raul Julia’s iconic performance in the ’94 film. His Bison comes off as a weird, ineffectual creep instead of campy and deliciously evil.

Thankfully the movie shines when the characters shut up and let their fists and feet do the talking. The best fights are a symphony of smashed concrete, broken glass and flying kicks against colorful backdrops. Not every fight hits the mark (the final battle was particularly unsatisfying), but they were fun overall. The sets, lighting and visual effects keep the screen awash in bright and beautiful colors. Another standout is the animated sequences, which are used for flashbacks. Titmouse, Inc depicts the heroes’ pasts with fluid action and beautiful backgrounds. But it also reminds me that this story was already done better in another medium.

Street Fighter has enough easter eggs, references, and characters to recommend it to hardcore fans of the series. Casual fans and newcomers will be left scratching their heads at the convoluted plot. Sadly this 3rd strike isn’t a winner.