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Is the Street Fighter movie bad, good-bad, or just plain good? Alex has thoughts | Bonus Ramblings · Respec: Video Game Ramblings

• 0:03
  The Street Fighter movie is okay. I'm talking,
• 0:08
  of course, about the 2026 movie titled Street
• 0:11
  Fighter, not the glorious one from the 90s and
• 0:14
  not that trash from a decade or so ago that was
• 0:16
  strictly about Chun -Li. This is the new one.
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  And yeah, it's the first revival of Street Fighter
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  since we've had this sort of renaissance of video
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  game movies that was kicked off by the likes
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  of Sonic and the Super Mario Bros. movie, where
• 0:30
  video game movies are suddenly good. This isn't
• 0:34
  in that category, I don't think. It's not as
• 0:36
  good as a Detective Pikachu or a Sonic 1, 2 or
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  3. And most Sonic movies have got better as they've
• 0:43
  gone on. But it is pretty good. And I actually
• 0:45
  think it's very much sort of on par of a piece
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  with the Mortal Kombat movies we've had recently.
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  This is an unscripted chat. I just wanted to
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  talk about the movie while it's fresh in my mind.
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  And so I just thought I would ramble a little
• 1:00
  bit here. Through that, I figured you guys could
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  decide if you're going to check out to the cinema
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  yourselves to see it, or if you're going to wait
• 1:06
  for video on demand, or if you're not going to
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  watch it at all. Now, full and important context,
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  I really like Street Fighter. I had a Street
• 1:15
  Fighter arcade cabinet at my wedding, something
• 1:19
  which you can read about on the Respec Patreon
• 1:22
  page. I wrote an exclusive article about all
• 1:25
  that, about how I bought video games into my
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  wedding. I've got two Street Fighter arcade cabinets
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  in my house that I... bought and rescued from
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  arcade closures in Japan. I really like this
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  series. I'm not like a pro player or anything,
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  but I don't know. There's something about Street
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  Fighter that's always just spoken to me, always
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  just really, really grabbed me. And so these
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  are characters and this is a world that I love.
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  And so obviously I was going into this movie
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  invested and you need to keep that in mind. But
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  that also does mean that I'm potentially a little
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  bit hard as a please because I want to see versions
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  of these characters that I recognize and that
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  I appreciate. So keep that. in mind as we go
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  into spoiler three me just thinking and talking
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  off the dome about what i liked about this movie
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  so first of all we've got to talk about the casting
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  the casting is absolutely tremendous the meme
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  that you've heard is the idea that they didn't
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  just cast these characters but they found them
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  and i absolutely do think that that is true you
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  know This is something where perhaps it does
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  differ from the recent Mortal Kombat films, where
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  I feel like there's two elements at play there.
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  The first is that I actually don't think the
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  Mortal Kombat cast, with a few exceptions, is
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  really as immediately iconic and recognizable
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  as the Street Fighter cast. I think that's just
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  true. But also through that, I think they struggled
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  to find actors who could really embody those
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  roles in that same way. And when they did, it
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  was a slam junk. So Kyle Urban as... johnny cage
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  is perfect but in this movie they've pretty much
• 3:02
  managed that level of casting for everyone even
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  relatively minor roles with a few exceptions
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  which i will get into when i talk about the things
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  i didn't like so much so when you look at that
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  dude playing zangief incredible he just looks
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  like him he embodies him he moves like him dalsim
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  just the same and those two for instance are
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  more minor characters in the story you can sense
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  that there was an attempt to ensure that the
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  main eight world warriors were all here. So some
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  of them are crowbarred in interesting ways. E.
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  Honda, characters like that. Some of that works
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  better than others. But all these characters,
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  you sort of, you look at them and you go, yep,
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  that is Honda. That is Balrog. 50 Cent feels
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  like he was born to play Balrog. And I think
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  especially that has to be said for Dalsim and
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  Chun -Li. I think absolutely perfect. And I think...
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  Also, although people really do not like Daniel
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  Shultz, I believe his name is, who's playing
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  Dan Hibiki, because he's got political views
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  that people really don't like and stuff, which
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  is totally fair enough to dislike someone for
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  those reasons. But I think he's pretty nailed
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  on for Dan, really. I buy him as that sort of
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  slightly pathetic joke of a geezer. And I think
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  Ken is excellent. Ryu? he gets the stoicism right
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  but i wish there was a bit more to him i think
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  that's always problem with rio because he's so
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  stoic and quiet it runs the risk of him becoming
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  a bit boring and this is ultimately a movie that's
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  about rio so that's one of the things that is
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  less exciting in that sense is i just wish there
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  was a bit more from rio characters that i didn't
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  like as much i think the performance as bison
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  is spot on there's a vibe there's a creepiness
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  I think some people have been turned off a little
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  bit by no specific spoilers, but they sort of
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  make Bison out to be a bit of a fetishist. He's
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  definitely a weird guy. He seems to get off on
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  pain, on inflicting pain. Sadist, there is a
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  word for that. Alex, there is a word for that.
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  Yeah, the acting works and they get him some
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  iconic sayings from the games and from the other
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  movies as well. David, I forget his surname.
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  You can tell I'm doing this off the dome, can't
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  you? He is a tall bloke, but he's not a big bloke.
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  And unlike others who did train for this movie
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  to pile on the pounds, he didn't do that. And
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  the costume does some for him in terms of big
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  shoulder pads, all the rest. But you can tell
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  he's not that big, which I think makes him not
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  appear as threatening as perhaps you would hope.
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  And there's a funny old thing in this movie where
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  there's a lot of flashback sequences. Too many
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  flashback sequences, arguably. And in the flashback
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  sequences, Bison's really hench. And then it
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  cuts to the live action. You're like, he's not
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  that hench. Whereas everyone else sort of matches
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  their flashback counterparts. And Cammy. I'm
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  a Cammy main. So I've got vested interest in
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  this one. But they sort of... She doesn't have
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  very much to do. She doesn't get to fight, which
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  is a bit of a bummer. And she is... She's sort
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  of Harley Quinn -ized, I guess. She's quipping
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  and she's got like both sexual and enemy tension
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  routinely. And, you know, sort of weird sexual
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  tension with Bison as well, actually. And she's
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  cackling and laughing and being mean. And Eric
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  Andre's kissing her boots the first time you
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  see her and stuff like that. And the visual look
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  is perfect. Probably she's a little bit too tan,
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  I guess. Can be usually paler than that. But
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  that's fine. But I... So the visual and the look
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  and the posture and stuff is great, but I wish
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  I'd seen her fighting. And I don't love the Harley
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  Quinn -ization of Cammy. However, this is obviously
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  Killer Bee era Cammy when she works for Bison.
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  And the whole thing is they're meant to be, her
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  and all the dolls are brainwashed, right? And
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  so maybe that's the personality that this fetishist,
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  slightly weirdo Bison wants in his dolls. And
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  you also get that from Julie, the other main
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  doll, brilliant by the way throughout like a
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  character that doesn't have many lines doesn't
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  have much to say but has quite a lot to do in
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  terms of being a physical presence in scenes
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  and also that actress is an amazing martial artist
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  and they make use of that and they make use of
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  that but they do a thing where they're all fanatically
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  devoted to bison so like when trinity's undercover
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  and she's becoming one of bison's girls so to
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  speak and you can see they're getting it angry
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  and getting jealous. And I actually think that's
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  quite an interesting take on the doll thing.
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  The question is, were they doing a sequel? You
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  know, I think in a sequel, you want to get Cammy
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  out from under that and Julie and any others
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  and get Cammy in the green and all the rest.
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  But we'll see if that is a thing. But yeah, I
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  didn't like those two as much. Obviously, I've
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  got skin in the game on the Cammy front. I mentioned
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  the flashbacks. So I liked the movie. its ability
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  to try to really all -encompassing tell as much
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  of the Street Fighter lore to all the relevant
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  characters as possible. However, there's too
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  much story going on here, the movie's already
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  too long, and then you have these anime flashbacks
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  that it's cutting to constantly. And it's a really
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  interesting choice, and they're beautifully produced,
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  hand -drawn anime sequences. But, goodness me,
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  it does start to become quite intense. And I
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  think... the movie can sometimes feel way too
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  convoluted for its own good as a direct result
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  of the amount of flashback things they've got
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  going on at one point they make a really weird
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  choice where they show you the end of a conversation
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  between rio and between ken and chun -li and
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  literally not 90 seconds two minutes later they
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  give you a flashback to the middle of that conversation
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  where you actually have the context of the thing
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  they just said They said, why didn't you just
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  show us that entire conversation as a scene?
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  There's some really weird editing stuff going
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  on. And I think that's where some of the more
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  proper film criticism is coming from, is that
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  when you watch it as a movie, it feels convoluted
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  as hell. And I don't know if that's because,
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  you know, the guy who directed this, his probably
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  most famous directing gig prior to this was directing
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  a load of episodes of The Eric Andre Show. It's
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  also very chaotic. And this feels like a very,
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  very chaotic movie. I think it works well enough.
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  I think it's inevitably going to work better
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  if you are a Street Fighter fan and you know
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  the characters and stuff. But yeah, it's a bit
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  of a mess. It's a bit all over the place. It's
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  also probably 15, 20 minutes too long. There's
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  entire characters you could cut. Chun -Li has
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  an Interpol sidekick where... this guy's in the
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  movie a little bit and i'm genuinely like these
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  all could have been phone conversations even
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  with like a voice without cutting to anyone and
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  you could have cut some of those scenes and sort
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  of a showdown between two characters that is
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  sort of the i guess you'd say it's the penultimate
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  fight in the movie and i don't get why it's there
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  it doesn't actually you could have you could
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  have had the scene that leads up to it which
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  is a big emotional scene and then cut the fight
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  and that sounds weird to say to cut a fight But
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  it just felt superfluous. It felt like the script
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  required those two particular characters to fight.
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  And so they found the most convoluted way possible
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  to do it. I think the fighting's good. I saw
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  some people saying they don't think the choreography's
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  good. I think it's pretty fun. And they do a
• 10:45
  great job of bringing some of the video game
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  moves into the movie world. In fact, most of
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  the video game moves, really. Everyone gets to
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  use a lot of their signature moves. I think some
• 10:55
  people will probably be upset that Guile is largely
• 10:58
  comic relief. But, you know. We had a whole movie
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  where Guile was the main character. So I think
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  it's okay for Ryu, Ken, Chun to have their moment
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  in the spotlight instead. Really like Dhalsim.
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  Just acts as excellent. Look is perfect. But
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  also I really enjoy that he's in that mentor
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  role, which is often where they place him in
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  the comics and stuff like that. He's the wise
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  one of the hero side of Street Fighter. And then
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  I guess my greatest criticism gripe, and hey
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  -ho, it's similar to Mortal Kombat again. I think
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  the comparison to that Mortal Kombat reboot,
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  which obviously then just more recently got the
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  sequel, is an adept one. Because another problem
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  shared with that movie is that it does just sort
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  of end. Some would say it ends right as it feels
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  like it's getting started, which isn't ideal.
• 11:50
  It does feel like they set everything up. And
• 11:53
  don't get me wrong, there is a particular story
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  here that is set up in the intro of the movie
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  and to some degree resolved by the end. And it's
• 12:01
  a very familiar Street Fighter story. But actually,
• 12:05
  the other storyline, it's not so much that there's
• 12:08
  an A storyline and a B storyline. There's sort
• 12:09
  of two A storylines. And one of them sort of
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  gets to a resolution point of a sword. And the
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  other one doesn't really resolve at all. That's
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  sort of the shocker. They are so reliant on the
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  idea of getting a sequel. And I think we don't
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  know with the box office stuff if this will get
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  a sequel. I actually think how we look at this
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  movie will be greatly determined by whether it
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  gets a sequel or not. Because I think if it gets
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  a sequel, what you'll actually have is this as
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  a tee -up to something much more exciting that
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  brings in more characters. I think they dial
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  in things like the ability to do the combat and
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  how they shoot the combat. How they fold the
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  story from the games in, the look of the characters,
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  the humor too. Because it's a movie that is at
• 12:55
  pains to be funny. And it often is funny. Although
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  I think it's a style and era of humor that will
• 13:02
  appeal more to people of a certain age than others.
• 13:06
  Again, you can definitely tell that the director
• 13:09
  of this movie directed a lot of the Eric Andre
• 13:11
  show. And a lot of the best laughs in the movie
• 13:12
  come from Eric Andre, who's playing Don Savage,
• 13:15
  an announcer character, the tournament announcer
• 13:17
  and judge. But, yeah, in a sequel, they'd be
• 13:22
  able to dial all that stuff in. But, but, but,
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  but, will they get one? That's the big question.
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  I really hope they do because I think there's
• 13:32
  the kernel of something really excellent here.
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  And I think the casting is so good. And I look
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  at it and I'm like, yeah, I can imagine what
• 13:39
  a sequel would be. You would probably do leftover
• 13:43
  bits of the Street Fighter 2 story combined with
• 13:46
  bits of the Street Fighter 4 story. I think you've
• 13:49
  got to do Juri because she's the... most iconic
• 13:53
  non -Street Fighter 2 character, I think. You
• 13:56
  can make an argument for Sakura and people, but
• 13:58
  I really think Juri's the one that's really cut
• 14:00
  through. Juri's now in that group where I don't
• 14:02
  think there will be a Street Fighter game that
• 14:04
  she's not in going forward. But you could probably
• 14:09
  lean into the cage, do this, you know, the Korean
• 14:11
  culture wave that we've got. You know, maybe
• 14:15
  she's... maybe there's some weird K -pop connection
• 14:18
  going on. That's what I'd probably do if I was
• 14:20
  doing a cinematic version of that character.
• 14:21
  Anyway, the fact that I'm talking about this,
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  I think speaks to the nature of the movie, right?
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  Where it works great as a setup, but it's, you
• 14:30
  know what it sort of feels like to me in a weird
• 14:31
  way, although it's not as good as this, don't
• 14:33
  get me wrong, but it's sort of like, you know
• 14:34
  how with Battlestar Galactica, they did the mini
• 14:36
  series and that was like, you know, the feature
• 14:38
  length episode, episodes, and then that led into
• 14:41
  the series. This almost feels like the Street
• 14:45
  Fighter mini. that then leads into the main thing.
• 14:50
  And I don't think it would work as a TV show.
• 14:52
  I think the movie format is best for the characters
• 14:54
  and the story. They've got stuff like that. But
• 14:57
  it feels, the feeling you get is a lot like the
• 15:00
  feeling at the end of Battlestar miniseries where
• 15:02
  you're like, oh, okay, the journey has begun.
• 15:05
  And literally, in some ways, the journey begins
• 15:08
  as the credits roll, which is, you know, an interesting
• 15:12
  proposition. Oh, and the soundtrack's excellent.
• 15:15
  I think the soundtrack's really good. I always
• 15:17
  would rather they, if you're going to invoke
• 15:20
  the video game tunes, then go all in and use
• 15:24
  them quite a lot in that Mario movie where this
• 15:26
  is more like the Sonic movie where it does its
• 15:28
  own thing and it's actually a really good and
• 15:31
  unique score. But every now and then you get
• 15:34
  a little snippet of Guile's theme, a little snippet
• 15:37
  of Ryu's theme, a little snippet of Ken's theme.
• 15:39
  Works well enough, but I would have liked a wee
• 15:42
  bit more. if at all possible but hey yeah i think
• 15:46
  like people have been saying it's absolute garbage
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  and i'm just like i don't personally see it i
• 15:53
  think of the pantheon of video game movies and
• 15:56
  i would i would absolutely rather watch this
• 15:59
  than you know stuff like the the tom holland
• 16:04
  uncharted movie like it's certainly not anything
• 16:07
  like those like trash hitman movies they did
• 16:09
  or you know that awful awful god awful borderlands
• 16:14
  movie you know or monster hunter rampage all
• 16:19
  this trash we've had it's probably on par with
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  like there was that 2018 tomb raider movie and
• 16:25
  that was good but not great and unfortunately
• 16:29
  that was not good enough to get a sequel for
• 16:31
  instance um so we'll see how it how it lands
• 16:37
  but i thought it was good i thought it was fine
• 16:41
  i thought it was a good time it was fun you can't
• 16:43
  go into a movie about fighting games expecting
• 16:46
  a cinematic masterpiece any more than you can
• 16:48
  go into a fighting game except expecting a story
• 16:51
  masterpiece it's just it's just fundamentally
• 16:53
  incompatible with what that is but i really enjoyed
• 16:57
  it as a street fighter fan i got a lot out of
• 16:59
  it i look forward to watching it again but it
• 17:02
  will be i won't go back to the cinema again what
• 17:04
  i will do is when this comes out on on digital
• 17:07
  i will buy it straight away and it will go into
• 17:10
  a wholly parcel of movies where it will be something
• 17:16
  that me and the lads whip out you know on a night
• 17:20
  when we've had some drinks and we want to put
• 17:22
  something on in the background while we're drinking
• 17:24
  or maybe we want to set up some drinking rules
• 17:26
  and it'll exist in that space with some classic
• 17:29
  bond movies and some some older classic video
• 17:31
  game movies One of my favorite video game movies
• 17:34
  for that purpose is DOA Dead or Alive, the 2006
• 17:36
  movie, which don't get me wrong. Again, this
• 17:39
  is legions ahead of DOA, which is genuinely a
• 17:42
  sort of so bad. It's good movie. I don't think
• 17:45
  this is like that. I think it's genuinely good,
• 17:47
  just flawed, just a bit all over the place. But
• 17:50
  I think the nature of what they were trying to
• 17:52
  do, get all those characters in, give everyone
• 17:55
  their moment in the sun to at least a little
• 17:57
  degree. It was always going to be the challenge
• 18:00
  sort of. make the film not feel overstuffed it
• 18:04
  does feel overstuffed but i think it's a pretty
• 18:07
  good pretty nice sort of overstuffed so yeah
• 18:11
  if i was a movie reviewer and i was giving it
• 18:12
  a score i would give it three stars out of five
• 18:15
  i think it becomes a four star movie if you really
• 18:18
  like street fighter but overall fine and i i
• 18:23
  i really hope it does well enough to get a sequel
• 18:26
  because i see great potential in this so But
• 18:29
  my advice to you is if you're at all curious,
• 18:31
  go and see it. Help them maybe to hit that box
• 18:33
  office that will let them continue. And perhaps
• 18:36
  most importantly, let some of these guys continue
• 18:38
  as these characters. I want to see more of this
• 18:42
  Chun -Li and this Dhalsim and this Guile and
• 18:48
  this Ryu and Ken and so on and so forth. So the
• 18:51
  only way we're going to get that is if we get
• 18:52
  a sequel. So I really hope it does well. And
• 18:55
  I don't think I would be saying that. if the
• 18:57
  movie was as trash as some people have been overreacting
• 18:59
  and saying it is. So that's the Donaldson take.
• 19:02
  Curious what you think. Let us know in the comments,
• 19:04
  on the Discord, on the Patreon comments. That's
• 19:07
  respect .net for the website. You can hit the
• 19:10
  link to get to the Patreon from that website.
• 19:12
  You can hit the link to get to the Discord from
• 19:13
  that website. And as always, thank you so much
• 19:15
  for your support. That is it from me for today.
• 19:18
  Until next time, I'll see you.