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When General M. Bison takes high-ranking hostages and demands $20 billion in ransom, he pushes an already incendiary crisis to the brink of global conflict. Meanwhile, Colonel William F. Guile’s rescue mission remains stalled until the hostages’ location can be determined. Guile and his British intelligence officer, Lieutenant Cammy, must recruit two unlikely heroes, small-time hustlers Ken Masters and Ryu Hoshi in an audacious plan to locate the sadistic general’s futuristic secret fortress. But their entire plan is nearly derailed at the last moment when GNT news correspondent Chun-Li Zang, who wants much more than a story, intervenes. For more about Street Fighter and the Street Fighter Blu-ray release, seeStreet Fighter Blu-ray Reviewpublished by Martin Liebman on July 9, 2009 where this Blu-ray release scored 2.5 out of 5.

'Street Fighter' assembles its armies (yeah, the movie has more army-on-army action in it than it does fighter-on-fighter action) on Blu-ray with a 1080p. 2.35:1-framed transfer. Ranging from “acceptable” to “ugly,” 'Street Fighter' begins poorly with a fair amount of shimmering over the opening credits and never really improves from there. The image often appears overly sharp and processed with some edge enhancement plaguing some scenes. Featuring anything but a true film-like appearance, 'Street Fighter' features a few artifacts here and there and plenty of noise in some places while appearing terribly smooth in others, sometimes differing not between scenes but between shots. The image often takes on an incredibly hazy appearance that diminishes colors and details, and to such an extent in a few scenes as to practically wipe the screen clean of all but the most basic structure of the displayed imagery. Detail and color reproduction aren't bad in the better scenes. Outdoor shots hold up well enough, the film's colorful palette coming to life in both the dusty streets of Shadaloo City and in the rich, jungle-like areas outside of it. Colors on the Allied Nations Uniforms stand out nicely, particularly the bright blues, and the finer details to be seen in the uniforms — flag patches and other adornments — look rather good. The 1080p transfer does reveal some of the shoddily-constructed sets and props; close-up shots sometimes reveal unnatural seams or bad paint jobs. Fortunately, there's no major problems with banding or blocking, but even in the relative absence of these issues, 'Street Fighter' never looks all that good.

'Street Fighter' pummels Blu-ray with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Loud but somewhat muddled, this aggressive presentation excites the senses but never really satisfies them, the track delivering all the makings of a first-rate soundtrack but not quite managing to squeeze enough clarity or realistic ambience out of the material to create a seamless environment. Sound is often tossed all through the listening area with only moderate regard for precise placement. Sure, a cage fight in chapter three features cheering crowd noise pouring from every speaker, but there is more a sense of phoniness than realistic immersion in the moment. Such scenes place most of the emphasis across the front with only a few cursory sounds thrown into the rears. A soundtrack need not offer a full-throttle back-speaker assault to be good, but this track uses them in such a way that they don't generally serve their primary purpose of delivering good, supportive atmospheric sounds, both small and large. Action sound effects — punches, gunshots, explosions — pack plenty of heft and tend to deliver the goods. Dialogue is also consistently reproduced adequately. Not a bad soundtrack but sounding more like a preliminary effort rather than a final, finished product, 'Street Fighter' sounds good but not great on Blu-ray.