Street Fighter movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score takes us back to the days of bad video game movies
The new Street Fighter film arrives in cinemas this Friday, and its Rotten Tomatoes score has already revived an old conversation about what happens when a beloved game is adapted for the screen. The early reception suggests the movie is closer to the bad old days than anyone hoping for a turnaround would like. Aggregate scores are a blunt instrument, but they are a useful signal of consensus. When critics line up on one side, it usually reflects something structural rather than a matter of taste: a script that cannot decide what it wants to be, or a production that treats the source material as a licence rather than a foundation. Street Fighter has the ingredients for a good film. A global cast of fighters, clear rivalries, a tournament structure and a villain with a personal stake in the hero’s defeat. The arcade games were built on broad archetypes, and broad archetypes travel well...
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