"To Live is to Fight, to Fight is to Live!"

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!

Helmed by director Kitao Sakurai, Street Fighter is set to bring the battle from the arcade to the big screen with Hadoukens, roundhouses, and all your favourite characters.

As a non-video gamer who used to love this kind of fighting game back in the day, this new Street Fighter movie - due out on October 16 - is the perfect companion piece for/counterpoint to next month's Mortal Kombat II.

"You Wanna Know My Power? I'm Johnny Cage!"

How can you NOT get fired up by that music?

FINISH HIM!!!

This time, the fan favourite champions - now joined by Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) himself - are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.

Mortal Kombat II will be in cinemas and IMAX internationally beginning 6 May and then across North America from May 8.

Meet The Contestants In Next Year's Street Fighter

Street Fighters Ryu and Ken reunite when Chun-Li recruits them for the World Warrior Tournament. As they face a hidden conspiracy, they must confront each other and their past - or face destruction.

I've never really been a video gamer, but I used to enjoy mashing the buttons playing Street Fighter at university (we occasionally had a set-up where the game was projected onto a giant screen in our lounge).

Fighting games and demolition driving games were my favourites, as you could trade off a lack of skill with furious button punching up to a certain point.

Anyway, if nothing else, it means I recognise more characters in this line-up than I did when I watched the Mortal Kombat film the other year.

Street Fighter, starring Jason Momoa, 50 Cent, Cody Rhodes, and David Dastmalchian, is currently scheduled to hit cinemas on October 16, 2026, while Mortal Kombat II beats it to the punch (despite being pushed back from its original release date of last October) with a new opening date of May 15.

Are You Ready To Meet The Players and "Finish It" When Mortal Kombat Returns For Round Two This October?

From New Line Cinema comes the latest high-stakes installment in the blockbuster video game franchise in all its brutal glory, Mortal Kombat II.

This time, the fan favourite champions - now joined by Johnny Cage himself - are pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.

Karl Urban stars as Johnny Cage, alongside Adeline Rudolph, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Tati Gabrielle, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, with Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion.

Director Simon McQuoid returns to helm the follow up to his explosive 2021 cinematic adventure, from a screenplay by Jeremy Slater, based on the videogame created by Ed Boon and John Tobias.

Mortal Kombat II – only in theaters and IMAX October 24.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a video game player, especially since my stroke left me without the requisite attention span or hand-eye co-ordination to be any good.

However, I'll admit to a fondness for fighting games and mashing some serious buttons in my university days playing Street Fighter (side note: I tried rewatching the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie the other week, and it has not aged well).

That said, as far as I recall, I never played Mortal Kombat, so have no real knowledge of the game's mythology or investment in  the characters.

It seems there's a supernatural martial arts tournament every century (it's not really clear how often) and if the Bad Guys of the Outworld plane win 10 tournaments in a row the Elder Gods will allow them to invade Earth (or something).

Outworld is a grey Zack Snyder-filmed Burning Man Festival kind of place, full of people in black pleather BDSM costumes.

Anyway, these guys and gals have already won nine tournaments in a row (just how rubbish are the Earth's champions?) and Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung (Chin Han) wants to ensure victory in the 'final' tournament by sending assassins to Earth and killing our contenders before the tournament even begins.

But... if he can do that already, why are they even bothering with the tournament?

Because reasons, I guess.

There's an awful lot of hand-waving when it comes to spelling out the backstory and deep motivations of all involved, ultimately meaning the plot of Mortal Kombat has holes in it you could fly an Imperial Star Destroyer through.

The Emperor of Outworld's assassins are led by Sub-Zero (amazing martial artist Joe Taslim of The Raid fame) who has incredible ice-based superpowers to complement his martial arts moves.

In the pre-credits flashback to Ancient Japan, he sends the great ninja Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) to Hell, establishing an enmity between the two men that spans time and space.

Back on modern-day Earth, unsuccessful cage fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) is drawn into these shenanigans because his bloodline marks him as a champion, and he ends up getting recruited by a pair of special forces operatives, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and Jax (Supergirl's Mehcad Brooks), to protect him from Sub-Zero.

There's a quest to find a hidden temple, which gets resolved quick sharpish, and soon they are joining the forces of Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Elder God and protector of 'Earthrealm', to stand against Shang Tsung's fighters.

Mortal Kombat is dumb and occasionally nonsensical but has enough superpowered beatdown chutzpah to power through.

One of the film's problems, on top of its logic-lacking narrative, is that by being all post-modern and having the Bad Guys trying to circumvent the titular Mortal Kombat tournament, there ends up being no actual Mortal Kombat in the movie at all.

That said, the film is at its strongest when there's fighting going on. And, unsurprisingly, there's a lot of amped-up fighting going on in its 110-minute duration.

It also, as befits the reputation of the Mortal Kombat gaming franchise, features a lot of brutally violent 'finishing moves'.

So, there's that.

Sadly, Cole and Sonya, the two nominal leads, are quite bland, but luckily they are initially teamed with the foul-mouthed Australian mercenary Kano (Josh Lawson), who pretty much steals every scene he is in. 

The lack of strong leads is countered by the sheer number of different fighters involved in the story.

This isn't one of those superhero movies where powered characters plough through hordes of faceless goons. 

Mortal Kombat is about small groups of unique combatants beating the shit out of each other.

And if that sounds like your sort of thing, then you'll probably enjoy Mortal Kombat.