Movie review: DOA: Dead or Alive
Viewed on: Blu-Ray
Released: 2006
On paper, it seems like the most stupid game movie ever. A fan service for adolescent guys wanting to see Dead or Alive babes jumping about, fighting and playing volleyball. In a way, it delivers all that, but somehow it works well enough as a tongue-in-cheek view of the whole franchise and delivers some hard-hitting fight scenes.
There’s no denying that the plot is simple; a bunch of martial arts fighters are invited to an island for the "Dead or Alive" contest and a chance to win 10 million dollars. It’s the same stupid premise utilised in the video game counterpart, but then again, stories in fighters traditionally scrape the bottom of the barrel anyhow.
Many of the main characters from the games are here, with Jaime Pressly charmingly playing Tina perfectly, while Devon Aoki fills the mysterious and deadly shoes of ninja Kasumi well and Holly Valance portrays the deadly assassin Christie successfully, to name a few. Everyone is invited by Dr. Victor Donovan, portrayed in a funny and over the top fashion by Eric Roberts.
The tournament plays out, drama ensues, and the hidden intentions of all the characters intervene and come to the surface. Accumulating in a full-on, chaotic and intense action ending. It’s not reinventing anything, but it works fine as a simple plot for action. It's one of those movies where you need to switch off your brain and just enjoy it with some snacks at hand.
What it successfully delivers are entertaining, intentional, cheesy lines and over the top personalities, delivered in a believable and humorous way by the actors. While there’s a ton of cheap eye candy of the ladies, the volleyball match comes to mind, it pulls off some intense and well-choreographed fight scenes. The fights feel raw and powerful, pulling off convincing kicks and moves to make it exciting to watch. The cheerful tone of dialogue helps keep it light at heart and enjoyable too.
The location of the island, complete with a hidden complex beneath the surface, depicts some beautiful sunsets and charming tropical island environments. A pleasant watch as such, there seems to be a solid budget behind it all. They even manage to pull of the iconic look of the fighters, residing in the cosplay camp, rather than a typical movie interpretation of video game characters.
While it never blows you away in any meaningful manner with its plot, it's a neat watch for fans of the franchise or martial arts movies. A fun watch to just kick back and enjoy some brainless fighting and action. It has a positive, feel-good vibe, with a lot of well-done fight scenes, action sequences and funny lines along the way.
They could've done a lot worse, and kudos for the actors to pull it off as an enjoyable watch!
On paper, it seems like the most stupid game movie ever. A fan service for adolescent guys wanting to see Dead or Alive babes jumping about, fighting and playing volleyball. In a way, it delivers all that, but somehow it works well enough as a tongue-in-cheek view of the whole franchise and delivers some hard-hitting fight scenes.
There’s no denying that the plot is simple; a bunch of martial arts fighters are invited to an island for the "Dead or Alive" contest and a chance to win 10 million dollars. It’s the same stupid premise utilised in the video game counterpart, but then again, stories in fighters traditionally scrape the bottom of the barrel anyhow.
Many of the main characters from the games are here, with Jaime Pressly charmingly playing Tina perfectly, while Devon Aoki fills the mysterious and deadly shoes of ninja Kasumi well and Holly Valance portrays the deadly assassin Christie successfully, to name a few. Everyone is invited by Dr. Victor Donovan, portrayed in a funny and over the top fashion by Eric Roberts.
The tournament plays out, drama ensues, and the hidden intentions of all the characters intervene and come to the surface. Accumulating in a full-on, chaotic and intense action ending. It’s not reinventing anything, but it works fine as a simple plot for action. It's one of those movies where you need to switch off your brain and just enjoy it with some snacks at hand.
What it successfully delivers are entertaining, intentional, cheesy lines and over the top personalities, delivered in a believable and humorous way by the actors. While there’s a ton of cheap eye candy of the ladies, the volleyball match comes to mind, it pulls off some intense and well-choreographed fight scenes. The fights feel raw and powerful, pulling off convincing kicks and moves to make it exciting to watch. The cheerful tone of dialogue helps keep it light at heart and enjoyable too.
The location of the island, complete with a hidden complex beneath the surface, depicts some beautiful sunsets and charming tropical island environments. A pleasant watch as such, there seems to be a solid budget behind it all. They even manage to pull of the iconic look of the fighters, residing in the cosplay camp, rather than a typical movie interpretation of video game characters.
While it never blows you away in any meaningful manner with its plot, it's a neat watch for fans of the franchise or martial arts movies. A fun watch to just kick back and enjoy some brainless fighting and action. It has a positive, feel-good vibe, with a lot of well-done fight scenes, action sequences and funny lines along the way.
They could've done a lot worse, and kudos for the actors to pull it off as an enjoyable watch!
