| Product: |
DOA: Dead or Alive (DVD) |
| Date: |
05.11.06 (274 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Jaime Pressly, fun storyline, a fair few fights
Disadvantages: simple storyline, not for everyone.
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. If you liked the Charlie’s Angels films you will like this one to, it is very similar to both the Angels films but with the addition of a fighting contest in the plot. In fact DOA could very easily be Charlie’s Angels 3, the three main characters are almost replacements for the 3 Angels. By design or not I don’t know as the personalities are all based on ones in the game… there is Kosumi (Devon Aoki, Sin City & 2 Fast, 2 Furious), a female asian warrior (the equivalent of Lucy Lui). Tina (Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl & Torque), an American wrestler (very like Drew Barrymore) and Christie (Holly Valance, Neighbours & Prison Break) an assassin/master thief (the Cameron Diaz double).
DOA even starts off with a super cool Charlie’s Angels style introduction of the characters. A fast and stylish look at the characters and their fighting styles of the three main women while also setting up the Dead Or Alive combat competition plot. The 10 minute (approx) pre credit sequence cleverly acquaints you with the main protagonists and the Dead Or Alive competition before leading into the main story.
The superficial plot behind the action in Dead Or Alive is that every year there is a big, invitation only fighting competition on an island. Donovan (Eric Roberts), the man behind it all invites the best fighters at all disciplines and then puts them in a knockout competition to uncover the best overall fighter
All the girls are there not just for the fight but for there own reasons as well. Tina is there to prove she is a better wrestler than her dad who is also an invited participant (yes I know that makes no sense if all combatants should have different disciplines!), Christie to steal the prize money and Kosumi to discover what had happened to her brother, who disappeared after entering the competition the year before.
Dead Or Alive is never going to be everyone’s cup of tea, it is aimed at the teenage computer game playing male and hence is not high brow stuff. The fighting tournament takes up the first half of the movie and is pretty enjoyable. Daft, stupid, very much what you are probably imagining it to be like but enjoyable none the less. There is nothing special about it but the fights are well staged and the three women can certainly look good while doing all the stunts.
Once the main plot kicks off though and the evil genius unleashes his master plan things actually get to be pretty good, of course it is still totally stupid but in good old action movie/b-movie style you don’t care at all. The whole thing is just fun, fun, fun! It may be predictable but the plan of the evil genius is just pure sci-fi madness, the kind of thing that normally only appears in comics and as such just fits in to the feel of the movie completely.
It is also perfectly paced as it is just getting a bit too much with the linear plot of women in not much clothing fighting and bitching when the major plot kicks in and reinvigorates the on screen action.
Like Transporter (also directed by martial arts star Cory Yuen) I really enjoyed this. It’s not high quality but sometimes you need to see something that is a no brainer and you can just sit back and enjoy without thinking. The poster, the trailer, everything you read about it will give you the knowledge of what the film is about and your assumptions about it will be spot on.
Throw in the comedy interludes with the geeky scientist and the way they even manage to shoehorn in the other Dead Or Alive franchise game, getting the 3 main women and Helena (Sarah Carter, Final Destination 2 & Smallville), the daughter of the originator of the Dead Or Alive competition, into swimming costumes, on a beach, playing volleyball (from the obviously named Dead Or Alive: Volleyball) and you can see they are not taking things too seriously. And of course getting to see Jaime in a bikini is worth the price of entry alone!
Let’s not also forget the latest wrestler to enter the world of acting, Kevin Nash, who plays Tina’s dad. He may not be great but then he sure puts in a performance far superior to that of WWE great Triple H.
All in all if you liked the two Charlie’s Angels or Transporter films then you will also like this. Don’t expect too much from it and you will find yourself smiling, enjoying and getting your money’s worth out of Dead Or Alive. I think I would say this is the most enjoyable movie made from a video game I have seen, without a doubt!
*The title makes reference to the fact that I have got hold of a poster for this film and it will be going on my wall some time soon ;o)*
Summary: Four gorgeous women fighting evil, who could ask for anything more :o)
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