Double Dragon (1994)

cinematic genius.

I saw two movies in 1994. There is no question in my mind: Double Dragon > Schindler's List. BAR NONE. January 4, 2009

Double Disaster

After the disaster that had been the "Super Mario Bros." movie, "Double Dragon" had the chance to set future game-to-video adaptations on the right track. It certainly seemed simple enough: with a slew of "action heroes" left over from the `80s and a premise that was all about kicking butt, where could it go wrong?
Well, let me count the ways in which it became just another casualty of the `adaptation wars'...

In the movie, Los Angeles has been ripped apart by an earthquake, leaving the city a deadly fighting ground for various gangs and a struggling police force. Evil billionaire Koga Shuko (Robert Patrick, "Terminator 2") plans to utilize an ancient and magical artefact known as the Double Dragon to empower himself so he can take over the city. One half is easily obtained...but the other is in the hands of karate-practicing brothers Jimmy (Mark Dacasos, "Brotherhood of the Wolf") and Billy Lee (Scott Wolf, "The Nine"), who must add escaping from Shuko's henchmen to their list of tournament-losing, gang-fleeing worries.

I won't even get into how much the film's tone and storyline deviates from the video games, but I'll warn that the film's age-appeal stops at 10. Think of it as "Power Rangers" without the costumes and the giant robots: Jimmy and Billy spend less time fighting than they do running and cracking bad jokes, and when they do fight, it's against slobbering gang members and a guy in the worst monster costume I've ever seen. While the adventure aspects of the film are decently done for any preteen audience, things like acting and having a decent script ("I just want total domination of one major American city! Is that too much to ask?!") are best left ignored by those of us who know better.

In the film's defence, the fight choreographer apparently took a page out of Jackie Chan's playbook and had the fights incorporate the environment more than most other action films back then did - using a street cone as a weapon, stopping an attacker with a swinging car door, etc. In addition, Mark Dacasos' legitimate talent for martial arts shows: though there's no decent one-on-one showdown that lets him shine, his skill and athleticism are apparent even before he became a big-time player.
Scott Wolf, however, is less of a worker. The guy was never a martial artist to begin with and it doesn't look like he had any training for the film: most of his moves consist of sloppy-looking kicks that any kid in front of a TV can do, shoving, and...well, running.

As an adaptation, it's unfaithful, and as an action movie, it's kind of lame; throw in Shuko's ridiculous hairstyle and the knowledge that it was directed by a man who had before (and since) only directed pop concerts and video packages, and you've got yourself a film that's easy to hate. Gamers, put it out of your minds - this one is lost to oblivion. September 26, 2008

Hell Yeah!!!

This is the movie world's LL Cool J!!!!
If it weren't for Mac and Me, I'd say this movie was the greatest of all time!!!
People, wake up!!!
You're so used to seeing garbage like Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Star Wars, House of the Dead, etc you don't know what a good movie actually is!!!
Buy this and watch it with your family on Thanksgiving, you won't be sorry!!!!

OH, almost forgot.... I strongly recommend renting this movie along with The Mangler, you won't be sorry!!! May 21, 2006

Video Game Based Movies

Most video game based movies are bombs and this one stands out above some of the ones that cames before it. Mark Darascos is a great martial-artist and this film gives just a taste of what he can do. February 1, 2006

worst martial art movie ever (it doesnt deserve a star if i have other ratings)

im a big fan of the Double Dragon series, i had been waiting for months til the movie came out, after awhile this movie is such disapointment
come on, who cares about me medals? who cares about the super power? we want decent, authentic martial arts movie, we want the true double dragon spirit, man, what a joke, without the medals, the 2 double dragons are 2 weakest guy in da world, they had to run away from their enemies in every fight til they can get their medals, come on, man, we dont want Tom&Jerry
we want double dragon!!!
what a joke, why do u ppl made a movie that based on the cartoon that based on the video game, the DD original spirit somehow lost in this new cartoon, and now you were making a movie based on it?
why didnt u ppl just make a movie straight out of the video game, throw in some good martial arts, make the DD the 2 greatest fighter in the world, make them travelling around the world beating the hell out of everyboby, maybe everyone will buy it and you ppl will have to make DD da movie 2, 3, 4... who knows? after this disaster, the DD series went down like hell...
this series was so great, why? you ppl are to blame
all i want to do to you ppl is punch u in da faces, and stuff the stupid medals down ur throats...
magic medals piss me off!!!!!!!!!! January 9, 2006

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