Punches, kicks and pure ‘Street Fighter’
NOAH Centineo as Ken, and Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, battle it out at the second World Warrior Tournament in ‘Street Fighter.’
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures
For fans of Street Fighter, the thrill is not just in seeing familiar characters on screen but recognizing the moves that made them legendary.
That challenge was at the heart of the new Street Fighter, where Filipino-American stunt choreographer Jon Valera and his international team worked to translate the video game’s exaggerated fighting styles into physical action that could work in a live-action film.
Director Kitao Sakurai wanted the movie to retain the personality of the game’s iconic moves while giving them a cinematic scale. He turned to a stunt and VFX team that understood the source material as both filmmakers and longtime fans.
“In the same way that the actors were all super involved with how they thought about their characters, Jon Valera, our stunt choreographer, Sandra Balej, our VFX supervisor, are also huge fans of the game, so they were super passionate about bringing all the iconic moves from the game to life,” Sakurai said. “I think audiences are going to be totally blown away by how many of the signature moves we were able to put in the movie.”
The responsibility came with plenty of pressure for Valera. Street Fighter is one of gaming’s most recognizable franchises, meaning its combat sequences had to satisfy viewers who already know how these characters move.
Rather than copying the game’s movements literally, Valera’s team built fighting styles around each character’s personality and martial arts background.
Chun-Li draws from Chinese martial arts, while Blanka’s combat incorporates animalistic movements and capoeira. Guile’s style is deliberately heavy and military-inspired. Dhalsim presented a particularly unusual challenge.
The production also assembled stunt specialists from several countries, combining martial arts expertise with disciplines such as aerial performance. Wires, rigs, practical effects and VFX helped extend what the performers could physically achieve while keeping the action safe.
One major sequence reportedly took nearly two weeks to film, bringing together dozens of extras, aerial stunts and carefully timed pyrotechnics.
Street Fighter, starring Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Jason Momoa, Callina Liang, Vidyut Jammwal, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Orville Peck, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i and Cody Rhodes, opens in Philippine cinemas on 14 October.