Kitao Sakaurai’s Street Fighter packs a big ‘ol punch of 90s nostalgia and high-octane energy, but can’t quite land all its wild (and weird) swings. Yep, this movie is unique in a lot of ways – if only all those ideas actually, you now, fully worked. For starters, the film uses 2D animation almost exclusively during its flashbacks. It’s a cool touch, with the animation as extreme, vibrant, and gloriously over-the-top as you’d want it to be. The problem? When we return to “real life,” the contrast is downright jarring. The animated sequences never feel like they belong to the same world, and the movie struggles to build the emotional connections that might have made those transitions work. Speaking of connections, it’s the characters who actually make this a worthwhile outing. Each brings their own swagger, energy, and vibe to the proceedings - all in keeping with the video game source material of course. And folks, the costume, hair, and makeup teams absolutely ate with this one. Of course, the actors put in the work too - getting their bodies into peak condition – and I mean peak condition. Their personalities are naturally all over the place, mostly brash, loud and armed with some mostly terrible insult jokes. But what can I say, they’re a whole lot of fun to watch. At least when the movie lets them. Our main attractions are Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji as Ken and Ryu, respectively, and both sink their teeth into these iconic roles. They have the physicality, the chemistry, and the attitude down, but the flashing, frantic circus swirling around them makes it awfully hard to connect with them on a deeper level. There are too many distractions, too many silly side stories and, frankly, too much nonsense competing for our attention. The whole “psycho power” plot? Nonsense. Gloriously ridiculous nonsense, perhaps, but nonsense all the same. At least the fights deliver. There’s plenty of action with the larger-than-life spectacle, but the movie can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be a gritty, bone-breaking actioner or an over-the-top, stylized cartoon brought to life. There’s a version of Street Fighter that could pull off both, but here, the two approaches never quite mesh. The result is a movie that often feels like it’s fighting itself – and not always in a fun way. Its biggest sin, though, is that non-resolution of an ending. Guys, this is a solid two-hour movie. Alas, Street Fighter delivers a knockout when it comes to nostalgia, energy and sheer, unfiltered weirdness, but takes a few too many hits everywhere else. There’s fun to be had here, don’t get me wrong, especially for fans of the games, but all the flashy moves in the world can’t compensate for a movie that never quite gets its act together.