A trio of two-fisted heroes facing off against an army of goons with nothing but their martial arts skills and whatever they can pick up off the street. With a thirty-year-old franchise built around an idea that simple, it's surprising that no one has made a fast-paced action movie out of it already.
Streets of Rage, known as Bare Knuckle in Japan, is a four-game franchise of luminaries in the beloved side-scrolling beat 'em up genre. The original games were hits of Sega's golden era that spawned a fervor over the series' long hiatus and its eventual grand revival in 2020. That revival was so successful that it spawned more than a new hit game — it's bringing out a full feature film adaptation.
The first Streets of Rage dropped onto the Sega Genesis in 1991. Inspired by its peers like Final Fight and Double Dragon, the game tasked its players with fist-fighting armies of enemies to progress through dangerous urban environments. Players could choose from a trio of playable characters with different capabilities and use a variety of found objects as weapons to defeat their foes. The plot, as with most of its peers, was extremely sparse. It follows three to four cops who seek to shut down the operations of a deadly crime syndicate led by the evil Mr. X, who has taken over the city's government. Blocked at every level by their gang-owned superiors, this small group of determined cops must take to the streets to dispense vigilante justice. It's a very simple plot, prime for a non-stop white-knuckle action thriller.
When it comes to video game movies, all hope was lost until very recently. Sega's own Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise has been an incredible reversal of fortune for the typically abysmal genre. While it once felt as if any video game adaptation was a doomed venture, the modern cinematic landscape seems to be much more hit-and-miss. The Sonic films work as charming, kid-friendly action comedies by capturing what fans love about the characters, and interweaving Sonic's personality into a fairly standard kids' movie. Without being overly married to the material, the films feel free to change details from backstory to character motivation; yet, they still stick closely to the most important draws of the franchise. While these films seem to have found a strong formula in adapting Sonic and happily spread it out to a full cinematic universe, Streets of Rage is a different beast. Luckily, they've got the first name in Hollywood anyone would think to get for this project.
Derek Kolstad's screenwriting career began in 2012 with a couple of forgettable shoot 'em ups starring Dolph Lundgren before he hit the big time. The same year, he sold a script that was then titled Scorn. The next year, Keanu Reeves read the script and joined the project. Keanu recommended that Kolstad change the title, and suggested that the film be named after the film's main character. Kolstad named the piece's former world's greatest assassin, dragged back into the industry on a quest for revenge after his granddad: John Wick. The John Wick franchise came from nothing to become one of the most important action franchises of the modern age. Kolstad has written the screenplay for all three of the films so far, but aside from the Wick films, he doesn't have a ton to his name.
Interestingly, Streets of Rage is far from the only video game Kolstad has been tasked with adapting. He's been attached to a Hitman TV series, a Just Cause movie, and a Splinter Cell anime, among others. He's likely the perfect fit to bring Streets of Rage to the screen, for more than one reason.
One of the best aspects of the John Wick franchise is its efficiency. The franchise builds so much with so little, never wasting more than a few minutes on exposition when a quick exchange or a knowing nod could suffice. The world of Wick is intricate and fascinating, but the plot of each film is driven solely by the straightforward emotional logic of its immediately identifiable characters. Streets of Rage's handful of hard-nosed cops are almost entirely visual. Looking at them establishes everything fans need to know about them. Derek Kolstad can provide the script that quickly and efficiently establishes the stakes, puts the heroes on the streets, and confronts the audience with stellar action.
The director, stars, and many other details of the upcoming have been withheld so far. There's still a ton that fans don't know. Kolstad is a stellar choice, single-handedly lending some credibility to the project, but there is another thing to keep hope strong in Streets of Rage. One of the most important aspects of the franchise is the stellar electronic soundtracks. So much of the franchise's identity is wrapped up in the compositions of Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima. With the right needle-drops or a skilled electronic musician at the helm, the film will feel like Streets of Rage from the soundtrack alone.
Streets of Rage is a franchise so simple that a decent script, some well-choreographed martial arts, and a great soundtrack is all it needs. Hopes are high for the film so far, but keep an eye on Sega. Anything could happen on the Streets of Rage.