The Street Fighter Movie Makes a Mistake Mortal Kombat Already Learned From

The article argues that the new Street Fighter film weakens its story by treating the World Warrior tournament as incidental, even though fighting is central to the game series. It says this choice leaves the film feeling disjointed and makes its tournament scenes difficult to care about.

The film draws on Street Fighter II, with M. Bison organising a tournament to lure Ryu out and steal his Hado power. But Ryu is kidnapped before competing, Chun-Li does not take part, and several fights are skipped or decided by forfeit; Ken’s attempt to win accounts for only part of his story. The article says the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot made a similar mistake by sidelining its tournament.