I’ve been playing Street Fighter since I discovered a Street Fighter II arcade machine in the leisure centre where my sister used to do her swimming training.

While she was in the pool, I was throwing Hadoukens.

I would later play Street Fighter II Turbo on my Mega Drive—that’s a Genesis to you filthy colonists—and I even dragged my parents to see the 1994 film for my seventh birthday. Yes, the one with Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie Minogue as Cammy and the legendary Raul Julia as M. Bison.

I loved that game.

I still love this franchise.

And the new film looks epic.

Set in 1993, the story reunites estranged fighters Ryu and Ken Masters when Chun-Li recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament. What initially appears to be a brutal competition soon reveals itself to be part of a much deadlier conspiracy—one that forces the two former friends to confront each other, alongside the demons lurking in their past.

In other words, they have kept all the wonderfully dramatic nonsense that makes Street Fighter so entertaining.

The film also has an absolutely wild cast. Andrew Koji plays Ryu, with Noah Centineo as Ken and Callina Liang as Chun-Li. They are joined by Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog and Jason Momoa as Blanka.

We are apparently living in the timeline where Jason Momoa gets painted green and transformed into an electrically charged jungle warrior—and cinema may be all the better for it.

Eric André and Andrew Schulz are also involved, which should tell you almost everything you need to know about the tone.

The film looks completely bonkers, and I am here for it.

Most importantly, it doesn’t appear to be taking itself too seriously. This is a franchise in which fighters launch fireballs from their hands, spin through the air like helicopters and settle international conspiracies through organised martial-arts tournaments. Trying to make it grounded and painfully realistic would miss the entire point.

Instead, the trailer seems to embrace the colourful characters, melodrama, ridiculous spectacle and sheer fun of the games. After decades of Hollywood struggling to understand what makes Street Fighter special, this might finally be an adaptation willing to meet the franchise on its own wonderfully absurd terms.

Will it be good? I have absolutely no idea.

Will I be seeing it in the cinema?

You’re damn right I will.

Street Fighter arrives in cinemas on 16 October 2026.