One of the biggest criticisms of the new Street Fighter movie is its abrupt, "sequel bait" climax, which ends the World Warrior Tournament on a confusing, inconclusive note.
Even though the story builds to Ken, Ryu, and the rest of the video game's classic characters taking part in the tournament, we actually only get to see a couple of fights, and some of the most important battles happen off-screen.
Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) ultimately makes it to the finals after defeating Balrog (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson), but drops out to go and rescue Ryu (Andrew Koji) from M. Bison's (David Dastmalchian) clutches. Don Sauvage (Eric André) then declares Joe (Alexander Volkanovski) - who we hadn't even seen in action up to this point - the winner.
However, Akuma (Roman Reigns), who had sworn to face whoever won the tournament, arrives to challenge Joe, defeating - and killing - the diminutive Aussie in seconds. The demonic villain then demands to face his "true opponent," and Ryu shows up to confront the man who murdered his mentor, Gouken, years before.
Ryu is able to defeat Akuma by channeling his "Hado" energy and allowing himself to become Dark/Evil Ryu before being taken down by a Hadouken fireball from Ken. When Ryu comes to his senses, the heroes leave to track down Bison, who has captured the unconscious Akuma.
So, who won the tournament? Technically, it was Joe, since Akuma wasn't an official competitor, but can he still be considered the winner if he's dead?
In the end, the tournament isn't really presented as a vital part of this particular Street Fighter story. Primarily focusing on Ken and Ryu was a smart move, but it would have been nice to see a little more emphasis placed on the competition that brings them back together in the first place.
Maybe in the sequel? Another SF movie is far from guaranteed, but director Kitao Sakurai has revealed that some ideas are currently being fleshed out during an interview with MovieWeb.
"It's something that we're thinking about and developing. I don't want to say anything that locks us in. We definitely have a lot of ideas, and we're writing currently, but you know, I wouldn't want to make any promises one way or the other about what exactly we're gonna do."
“Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!”
The movie stars Noah Centineo as Ken Masters, Andrew Koji as Ryu, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Orville Peck as Vega, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, Jason Momoa as Blanka, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Olivier Richters as Zangief, Hirooki Goto as E. Honda, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma, Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki, Eric André as Don Sauvage, Mel Jarnson as Cammy, Rayna Vallandingham as Juli, and Alexander Volkanovski as Joe.