Ryu and Ken Are Ready to Throw Down in New STREET FIGHTER Movie Image and New Details Are Shared
Ryu and Ken are ready to throw down on the big screen again, and the upcoming Street Fighter reboot has offered up another look at the legendary fighting game duo in action.
There’s a lot riding on this movie. Fans have been waiting a long time for a Street Fighter adaptation that can capture what makes Capcom’s games so damn fun, and while the story certainly matters, the fights are going to be the real test. If Ryu throws a Hadouken, and it doesn’t get the audience fired up, we’ve got a problem.
Thankfully, this production has recruited a wild mix of performers with backgrounds in martial arts, action movies, professional wrestling, and music. The footage released so far suggests the team has put serious effort into translating the physical punishment of the games into live-action combat.
Of course, being able to fight like Ryu and being good at the Street Fighter games are two very different skills.
Andrew Koji, who plays Ryu, admitted that he wasn’t exactly dominating opponents with perfect combos when he played the games growing up.
"I wasn't very good at the game, growing up. I was a button-basher. I found it really hard. But being an Asian dude growing up in the West, I'd always play as Ryu because he was the one that was like me."
That childhood connection eventually became something Koji could bring to his performance. Rather than simply recreating Ryu’s familiar poses and attacks, the actor wanted to give the character some substance while making his martial arts feel authentic.
Koji explained, "My task was to try and bring as much depth and nuance as possible. Ryu's fighting style is more karate, so I was training and studying Shotokan karate as well as judo, jujitsu, and kickboxing."
That level of physical preparation extended across the cast. Noah Centineo, who steps into the role of Ken Masters, trained alongside Koji and Callina Liang, who plays Chun-Li.
Centineo said, "For the physical side, me, Andrew and Callina trained together every day, six days a week, for six weeks straight. I felt like I had something to prove."
He added, "I think a lot of us did, as we were given an opportunity with this movie to step up into a position we had never been in before. So I think we all felt that responsibility."
A new image from Street Fighter has now been released as well, giving fans another look at Koji’s Ryu alongside Centineo’s Ken Masters. The two characters are obviously essential to the franchise, so getting their friendship, rivalry, and fighting styles right will be a huge part of making this movie work.
The story takes place in 1993 and finds Ryu and Ken estranged before Chun-Li pulls them back into the fight. She recruits the pair for the next World Warrior Tournament, where fighters will collide in a brutal competition involving far more than bragging rights.
A deadly conspiracy is hiding within the tournament, eventually forcing Ryu and Ken to confront each other as well as some nasty pieces of their own pasts. Failure comes with an appropriately arcade-inspired warning: "Game Over!"
Kitao Sakurai directs Street Fighter, which is going all-in on bringing the arcade experience to theaters with Hadoukens, roundhouse kicks, World Warriors, and a seriously eclectic collection of characters from Capcom’s fighting game universe.
Centineo stars as Ken Masters, Koji as Ryu, Liang as Chun-Li, Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoai as Akuma, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Eric André as Don Sauvage, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Balrog, and Jason Momoa as Blanka.
The supporting lineup includes Orville Peck as Vega, Olivier Richters as Zangief, Hirooki Goto as E. Honda, Rayna Vallandingham as Juli, Alexander Volkanovski as Joe, Kyle Mooney as Marvin, and Mel Jarnson as Cammy.
The biggest question is whether Sakurai and his cast can deliver fights that actually feel like Street Fighter. Koji’s commitment to studying multiple martial arts disciplines and the cast’s six-day-a-week training schedule certainly sound promising.
Now we just need those Hadoukens to hit hard. Street Fighter arrives in theaters on October 16.