As STREET FIGHTER Gets Pummeled by Critics, Uwe Boll ss Taking Shots: "Don’t Ever Bash My Movies Again"

The new Street Fighter movie has entered the arena, and critics are beating the hell out of it. The reviews have been rough enough that even Uwe Boll, the filmmaker responsible for some of the worst video game adaptations ever made, has decided to get in on the action.

Boll took to X to share a negative review of the film, adding one hilarious comment: "Don’t ever bash my movies again.”

That's pretty funny coming from the guy who directed House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark. Apparently, Boll sees the new Street Fighter as proof that Hollywood hasn't gotten much better at adapting video games, even with bigger budgets and recognizable stars.

Unfortunately for Street Fighter, the reviews aren't doing much to help its reputation. After receiving mixed reactions from early screenings, the film debuted with a disappointing 41% on Rotten Tomatoes before climbing slightly to 45%.

That's certainly not the critical reception the filmmakers were hoping for, although it still manages to beat the notoriously bad 1994 adaptation.

GamesRadar+ offered this brutal assessment: "An overstuffed miss: a hyper-edited, dick-joke-filled, tonally inconsistent movie that ends halfway through its own story. But rather than leaving you wanting more, you're left with a headache."

The Guardian wasn't impressed either, criticizing the movie for being too obsessed with its own nostalgia: "Street Fighter is satisfied punching down on itself, and everything that’s cringe about the 90s, while happily being stuck there, in the past, so it could pretend that this is as good as it gets for video game adaptations,"

However, not everyone hated it. The New York Times had a much more positive reaction, appreciating the movie's ridiculous energy and its attempt to capture the imagination of kids who grew up playing the arcade games:

"It simply feels like the natural zenith of an arcade player’s imagination, the ‘and then, and then’ output of fighter fantasies running wild. By the end, you can practically see the ’90s kid smashing and kicking at the air on his way out of the theater."

Personally, I thought the anime sequences were easily the strongest part of the movie. I loved that aspect of the storytelling, and I wish the filmmakers had leaned into it more. Hell, the whole movie should’ve been anime!

The problem was everything happening in live action. None of it impressed me nearly as much, and the difference was pretty jarring.

It felt like I was watching two completely different movies. One was a cool anime adaptation that understood what made Street Fighter exciting and was telling a good and interesting story, while the other was a crappy live-action movie struggling to keep up.

Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the film follows Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) as they're brought back together by Chun-Li (Callina Liang) to compete in the World Warrior Tournament.

The cast also features Jason Momoa, 50 Cent, and WWE stars Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. That's a pretty entertaining collection of talent, but apparently throwing a bunch of recognizable faces into a fighting tournament isn't enough to make a great movie.

As for Boll's criticism, it's worth remembering just how badly his own video game adaptations were received. His 2003 movie House of the Dead, based on Sega's arcade shooter, currently holds an embarrassing 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. His 2005 adaptation of Alone in the Dark somehow did even worse with 1%.

He also directed Postal in 2007, which sits at 9%, along with 2008's Far Cry, which doesn't even have a Rotten Tomatoes critics score. Boll also produced the 2008 direct-to-video sequel Alone in the Dark II.

So, while Boll might be enjoying Street Fighter getting trashed by critics, his own record doesn't exactly give him bragging rights. A 45% Rotten Tomatoes score suddenly looks pretty respectable next to those numbers.

Then there's the original 1994 Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, which currently holds a miserable 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. Although, I still think Raul Julia deserves credit for his wonderfully ridiculous performance as M. Bison.

For all its problems, there's still something entertaining about that movie, even if much of the enjoyment comes from how absurd it is. The disappointing reception to the new Street Fighter is particularly unfortunate considering how far video game movies have come in recent years.

Just last month, director Zach Cregger delivered Resident Evil, which exceeded box office expectations and received fantastic reviews, with many calling it one of the best video game adaptations ever made.

That success proves Hollywood can still get these adaptations right. Unfortunately, Street Fighter seems to have landed somewhere between a nostalgic throwback and the kind of messy video game movies we were getting decades ago.

At least it's given Uwe Boll an opportunity to have some fun at Hollywood's expense, which might be one of the funniest things to come out of this whole situation.

Street Fighter is now playing in theaters, so fans can judge the movie for themselves. Maybe there's enough ridiculous action and video game nostalgia to make it worth watching.

Or you could make a night of it and watch both Street Fighter movies back-to-back. That could either be a pretty entertaining double feature or a serious test of your patience.