Street Fighter's first Malaysian fans love the fights and doubt the plot

Street Fighter has a split verdict two days into its Malaysian run, and the split runs between critics and the people buying tickets. Malay Mail reported on 17 October that the film held a 45 per cent critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes against an 84 per cent verified audience score, and the Malaysian fans the paper spoke to landed on the audience's side, with reservations.

What the fans said

Malay Mail talked to three fans. Alynn Lau, a 29-year-old cosplayer and office clerk, praised the character portrayals, the visual effects and the short 2D animated sequences, but found the plot scattered and without a clear flow; she would welcome a sequel or a spin-off, and the animated moments left her wanting a full animated adaptation. Maya, 29, who works in human resources, said the film fell short of what she hoped for as a fan, yet still rated it the best Street Fighter adaptation so far. Her favourites were E. Honda and Dhalsim, and her complaint was specific: she told the paper it was a pity there was no 'Yoga Flame'. Momo, a 37-year-old freelance prop maker, found it a throwback to growing up in the 1990s through its music and humour, and thought it would work even for viewers who never played the games.

Why it goes full camp

The paper's reading is that director Kitao Sakurai chose to embrace the absurdity rather than make a gritty fighting film, setting the story in 1993 and leaning on stylised choreography and retro looks. Malay Mail notes that Sakurai has said he wanted to recapture the feeling of playing Street Fighter II in the 1990s. The cast is Andrew Koji as Ryu and Noah Centineo as Ken Masters, recruited to the World Warrior Tournament by Callina Liang's Chun-Li, with Jason Momoa as Blanka, Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson as Balrog, Roman Reigns as Akuma and David Dastmalchian as M. Bison. Legendary Pictures and Capcom produced it.

What that means for a reader deciding tonight: this is a film to see for its fights, its colours and its references, not its story, and the bigger the screen the more of what works you get.

Where the big screens are

The chains have given it more premium halls than any other film this week. Of its 2,906 sessions listed between Saturday 17 and Wednesday 21 October, 316 are in IMAX, 188 in Dolby Atmos, 108 in D-BOX and 48 in 4DX. Saturday is the peak, with 800 sessions, falling to 711 on Sunday and about 480 a day after that. GSC carries 1,310 of the week's sessions and TGV 1,179, and ten chains have it in all, from 10 Star in Sabah to Grand Cineplex in Kedah.

Before you book

The chains classify it 16 and list it at 119 minutes. The Street Fighter page lists every cinema and format, and the showtimes page lines up each cinema's Street Fighter sessions with IMAX, D-BOX and 4DX marked on each time. For the weekend's IMAX sessions, booking ahead is the safer choice.