Photo : U.S. Air Force photo/Robbin Cresswell, Public domain
Synopsis
In the fictional country of Shadaloo, General M. Bison holds aid workers hostage and demands a 20-billion-dollar ransom. Colonel Guile mounts an operation to take him down, alongside journalist Chun-Li, who wants to avenge her father, and two small-time hustlers, Ryu and Ken, sent to infiltrate the dictator's base.
Why watch it
The first film from the Capcom game
Released in the United States on 23 December 1994, Street Fighter adapts the most played fighting game of the arcade era, Street Fighter II. Capcom co-produced the film and Steven E. de Souza, the screenwriter of Die Hard, directed it. He did not want a standard martial arts film and described the project as a cross between Star Wars, James Bond and a war movie. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Guile, Raúl Juliá General Bison, Ming-Na Wen Chun-Li, Byron Mann Ryu and singer Kylie Minogue Cammy.
Fights put together in a hurry
The cast's trainer was Benny Urquidez, a world full-contact and kickboxing champion of the 1970s and 1980s, who also appears on screen as one of Sagat's henchmen. Stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni asked for time to train the actors, but the schedule was upended by Raúl Juliá's health, as he was being treated for cancer: some performers rehearsed their scenes only hours before shooting them. The fights are therefore short, shot in wide frames, and rely mostly on Van Damme's jumping and spinning kicks. A practitioner will spot a few stances borrowed from the game, but not the techniques of any specific style.
A critical flop turned cult film
On a 35-million-dollar budget, nearly 8 million of it Van Damme's fee, the film grossed around 99 million worldwide, and Capcom said it recouped close to 165 million once home video was counted. Critics were harsh: 20% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. Raúl Juliá's performance, two months after his death, was praised and earned a Saturn Award nomination for best supporting actor; the film is dedicated to him. Thirty years on it has become a cult object, quoted for its one-liners and knowing kitsch.
Who it's for
For Street Fighter II players and fans of 1990s Van Damme, after Bloodsport and Kickboxer. The new Street Fighter film, released in cinemas in 2026, brings the characters back with real fighters in the cast and far more credible choreography.
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