Balrog and Ken square off in the center of the mat before a roaring crowd, delivering the kind of spectacle that has long defined the "Street Fighter" video game franchise. Rapper and actor 50 Cent plays Balrog, trading shivering blows with Noah Centineo's Ken Masters in a scene that Capcom, the Japanese video game company, first perfected in animated form with an arcade game in the late 1980s. More than 30 years later, the franchise has moved from a screen no larger than 30 inches to the big screen with the new film, which opened in theaters Friday.
The cast includes WWE stars Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, along with UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski, who were tasked with bringing the game's larger-than-life fights to live action. The filmmakers said honoring the franchise and its passionate fan base required "huge efforts" across the board. Capcom stayed on set throughout filming, and Rhodes, who plays Guile, called its presence "extremely helpful" when actors had questions about their characters' backgrounds.
Stunt coordinator Jon Valera incorporated signature moves such as the hadouken, hurricane kick and rising dragon uppercut, though he acknowledged the difficulty of translating video game action into real life. Many of the actors are not professional fighters, and they trained extensively. Centineo spent six weeks learning shotokan karate, while Callina Liang, who plays Chun-Li, drilled two hours of kicks six days a week for the character's spinning bird kick.
Volkanovski, who plays Joe, said the crew's commitment to the source material brought back a wave of nostalgia. "They're sticking to the roots," he said, adding that the team went above and beyond to make the video game moves work on screen.
Source: ESPN General · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing