DOA: Dead or Alive (DVD)

DOA: Dead or Alive is based on the very successful series of video games by the same title. As I have never played these games they have no influence of my review of the film. The film tells the tale of the best martial artists in the world who take part in a "winner takes all" competition. Dead or Alive is definitely aimed at a male audience and this is evident by the leading cast. The main trio are Devon Aoki, Holly Valance and Jaime Pressly who kick ass in their tight fitting clothing. Yep, definitely one for the guys. Eye candy aside, which is very difficult in this film, there is still some other positives left to cover - ...  Read the complete review

Films based on video games have produced very mixed results. At best they qualify as enjoyable, at worst (and that is the norm) they end up being rubbish, trying to fit in parts of a game into a storyline to appease all and generally failing. Games that actually have plots are generally the worst ones, Silent Hill & Doom for example. If they don't have much of a plot they tend to be better, mainly because the writers can do their own story around the basic premise of the game. Dead Or Alive (DOA henceforth) fits into the second category, it takes the basics of the game, the one on one fighting competition, and expands it into an actual storyline. ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Of all of the video game adaptations possible, whoever thought of making a Dead or Alive adaptation? Well, while it is corny and pretty naff, it is also quite amusing because it totally revels in its absurdity, even including energy bars at one point ala the video game style. The film revolves around three key fighters who team up to take on a nefarious team of generic big-bads. First there's Princess Kasumi (Devon Aoki), who hears that her brother has been killed and exits the temple, much to the chargrin of Ayane (Natassia Malthe). Then there's Tina (Jaime Pressly), a daddy's girl who ...  Read the complete review

As far as things go, success does not normally lend itself to computer games that are turned into films, especially this style which gives a head to head gameplay. Street Fighter was a flop, and Mortal Kombat has, at best, a cult following that was enough to spawn a dodgy sequel and a TV series that airs on the Sci-Fi channel. Doom had similar success, with even its star, Dwayne 'The Rock'Johnson, slating it. So, D.O.A. was theoretically doomed from the start. Yet, because it tries to add a bit of modernity and a bit of fun to the hour and a half, it actually just about passes muster. D.O.A. stands for Dead Or Alive, and is an invitation only tournament which ...  Read the complete review

Movie adaptations of video-games has somewhat of a hit and miss past, more miss this hit. Come to think of it, I can't think of one that has been a resounding success. With this in mind, a couple of friends and me sat down to watch videogame adaptee 'DOA: Dead or Alive'. The game was a second rate beat em' up brawler that focuses on sexy ladies wearing very little to give its tired and unoriginal game play some extra spice. Unfortunately, this approach seems to have been taken on board with this big screen debut, relying on flashing a bit of flesh to mask over its weak acting, diabolical plot points and stolen action sequences. The story centres around a ...  Read the complete review