Oh, for crying out loud. This was a fun little movie with lots of good action in it that never takes itself too seriously. For what it was intended to be, it can't possibly rate this low. Was it honestly worse than "Highlander 2", with its big budget and big-name stars? Or "Glen or Glenda", a shining example of deep cinematic ineptitude? I don't think so!
80 Reviews
Gangs of Los Angeles fight with police for the city while the Shadow Lord fights for the other half of a long lost amulet.
die_buffy_die5 July 2006
Double Dragon is better then Super Mario Brothers. Then again, so is everything else. The movie was released in 1994, looks like it was made in 1989, and the fashion is circa 1980. Why is it people from the future dress like they're from the past? And why is it Alyssa Milano looks hefty? It was terrible, unsophisticated and bumpy.
That said, it gave me exactly what I wanted. Slapstick Sung-fu action and a few familiar faces. I enjoyed. You don't rent a movie like Double Dragon because you want an engaging plot. You rent it to relive your childhood hi-jinx.
Watch it and I guarantee you that you'll be downloading an emulator and playing it within a week.
That said, it gave me exactly what I wanted. Slapstick Sung-fu action and a few familiar faces. I enjoyed. You don't rent a movie like Double Dragon because you want an engaging plot. You rent it to relive your childhood hi-jinx.
Watch it and I guarantee you that you'll be downloading an emulator and playing it within a week.
I Keep Watching, But Don't Know Why!
Movie-Misfit25 November 2014
One of my favourite childhood games gets the typical nineties Hollywood makeover and only just entertains for all the wrong reasons!
Set in the future, well, if our year of 2007 really turned out like this, in the city of New Angeles. With vehicles powered by burning rubbish, police curfews, buildings held up by jacks, and lots of colourful clothes and bad jeans, we enter the god awful world of James Yukich's Double Dragon.
In a nutshell - Embarrassing acting from most cast members, all but Dacascos, Wolf and Nickson, that only adds to the unintentional humour, terrible make-up, costumes and direction. Its only saving grace is its two gorgeous leading men who give us some decent fight scenes and a number of funny enough one liners!
In my opinion - Hollywood, oh Hollywood... For many years you have astounded us with your inability to chose directors that know what they are doing, that suit the project in action, or generally just can't stop ruining great things! Taking a documentary film maker and handing him one of the ultimate and most popular games of that time, should have been the first sign to the studio fat cats that this was going to be as much of a success as the previous years, Super Mario Bros.
Haunted by that typical mid nineties costume department that helped make a lot of then films look naff, there is pretty much nothing in this 90 minutes of madness that stays true to the game. Every extra looks ridiculous and is annoying as hell, with most of it playing out like some bastard child from a Power Rangers episode!
Is there anything good in Double Dragon I hear you ask? Well, yes if I'm honest. Both its leading men are absolutely gorgeous and perfect leading men material for such a film. They probably act the best out of everyone, and Scott manages to hold his own in the fight scenes alongside the always incredible Mark Dacascos. It is only a shame though that Hollywood executives thought this would be the best film to introduce Mark as a leading man, instead of his classic Crying Freeman which went unreleased in the US for many years!
Double Dragon has its moments. It just makes me so angry to see such a great thing wasted, and another case of what could have been if it was in the right hands. In one scene, the spinach feeding scene, the actor in terrible make-up states, 'I'm not acting...'
Never a truer word said.
Set in the future, well, if our year of 2007 really turned out like this, in the city of New Angeles. With vehicles powered by burning rubbish, police curfews, buildings held up by jacks, and lots of colourful clothes and bad jeans, we enter the god awful world of James Yukich's Double Dragon.
In a nutshell - Embarrassing acting from most cast members, all but Dacascos, Wolf and Nickson, that only adds to the unintentional humour, terrible make-up, costumes and direction. Its only saving grace is its two gorgeous leading men who give us some decent fight scenes and a number of funny enough one liners!
In my opinion - Hollywood, oh Hollywood... For many years you have astounded us with your inability to chose directors that know what they are doing, that suit the project in action, or generally just can't stop ruining great things! Taking a documentary film maker and handing him one of the ultimate and most popular games of that time, should have been the first sign to the studio fat cats that this was going to be as much of a success as the previous years, Super Mario Bros.
Haunted by that typical mid nineties costume department that helped make a lot of then films look naff, there is pretty much nothing in this 90 minutes of madness that stays true to the game. Every extra looks ridiculous and is annoying as hell, with most of it playing out like some bastard child from a Power Rangers episode!
Is there anything good in Double Dragon I hear you ask? Well, yes if I'm honest. Both its leading men are absolutely gorgeous and perfect leading men material for such a film. They probably act the best out of everyone, and Scott manages to hold his own in the fight scenes alongside the always incredible Mark Dacascos. It is only a shame though that Hollywood executives thought this would be the best film to introduce Mark as a leading man, instead of his classic Crying Freeman which went unreleased in the US for many years!
Double Dragon has its moments. It just makes me so angry to see such a great thing wasted, and another case of what could have been if it was in the right hands. In one scene, the spinach feeding scene, the actor in terrible make-up states, 'I'm not acting...'
Never a truer word said.
It's cheesy, but remember, cheese is good too.
Skeletors_Hood6 August 2002
Ok, it's not an Oscar winner, but few films are. It is a campy flick, but it's not the wanna-poke-your-eyes-out-to-stop-the-pain campy, but rather in the realm of a guilty pleasure.
In agreement with an earlier post, this was not supposed to be a film that took itself seriously. Notably, the action was on par with any other martial arts movie being made, and the script had a bunch of smart-assy humor (which I must admit that I'm a big sucker for). It's meant to be a fun film, and that was the end result.
As far as a video game movie is concerned, it's not the worst ever made...Mario Bros is still the king, with Street Fighter in a close second, and Final Fantasy in third place. So you see, there are worst movies that have been made.
And folks, I'm not ashamed to admit that I have the DVD for this film in my collection.
In agreement with an earlier post, this was not supposed to be a film that took itself seriously. Notably, the action was on par with any other martial arts movie being made, and the script had a bunch of smart-assy humor (which I must admit that I'm a big sucker for). It's meant to be a fun film, and that was the end result.
As far as a video game movie is concerned, it's not the worst ever made...Mario Bros is still the king, with Street Fighter in a close second, and Final Fantasy in third place. So you see, there are worst movies that have been made.
And folks, I'm not ashamed to admit that I have the DVD for this film in my collection.
Double the stupidity...
fmarkland3214 June 2006
Mark Dacascos and Scott Wolf star as Jimmy and Billy Lee, two brothers who join forces to keep a magic medallion out of the hands of a gang leader (Robert Patrick in an embarrassing performance) he already has the half of it and he'll do anything to get the other half. People often times wonder why Robert Patrick and Mark Dacascos never got that far in their careers. Well for those that are curious, here is your reason. Double Dragon is easily one of the worst video game adaptions and from what I remember about the video game, this isn't one that is all that hard to adapt. Indeed had this been done as an Indianna Jones style thriller with numerous martial arts fights, we might have had something. What the movie ends up being is a cheeseball adaption that fails to engage anyone over the age of 11. Although i'm not sure even if small children will enjoy something so stupid. It's a bad movie. Just plain bad.
* out of 4-(Bad)
* out of 4-(Bad)
Dumb fun, but that's it
gladrius8 June 2004
I wasn't expecting the next Citizen Kane of this movie, but I was expecting a little more than I got. Double Dragon, the game, is about two of the baddest martial artists the gaming world has ever seen, but the Lee brothers in the movie are a pair of goofballs who don't kick any significant butt until like the last fifteen minutes of the movie. They actually spend most of the movie running away from the bad guys. There are one or two recognizable video game bad guys like Abobo and the lady with the whip, but other than them this movie has almost nothing to do with the game. As far as adaptations of Double Dragon I'd say this rates a little below the cartoon show in quality. You can have some dumb fun by watching this movie, but dumb's the operative word...
Double Dragon, sounds more like a bad Chinese restaurant.....
bujinbudoka22 April 2006
Here's the thing, I'm an avid video gamer, and I'd be hard-pressed to find a Double Dragon game I didn't play. As a fan of the games I was very much looking forward to the movie.
Sadly I was very disappointed from scene one. It had nothing to do with the games, and even the horrible animated series was better than this crap.
Sure, they have the main characters from the game, Jimmy and Billy Lee, but they only had one character played by a real martial artist played poorly by Mark Dascascos of the ill-fated Crow TV series.
Basically the movie takes place in an apocalyptic wasteland which was Los Angeles and does pretty much everything it can to bring down any kind of honor the game itself maintained.
I vote it as possibly THE WORST VIDEO GAME MOVIE EVER....aside from Mortal Kombat: Annhilation. If you see this movie, run.
1 out of 10.
Sadly I was very disappointed from scene one. It had nothing to do with the games, and even the horrible animated series was better than this crap.
Sure, they have the main characters from the game, Jimmy and Billy Lee, but they only had one character played by a real martial artist played poorly by Mark Dascascos of the ill-fated Crow TV series.
Basically the movie takes place in an apocalyptic wasteland which was Los Angeles and does pretty much everything it can to bring down any kind of honor the game itself maintained.
I vote it as possibly THE WORST VIDEO GAME MOVIE EVER....aside from Mortal Kombat: Annhilation. If you see this movie, run.
1 out of 10.
It's not as bad as they say... it's even worse!
mentalcritic29 August 2006
My first acquaintance with the Double Dragon feature film was through a collection of video captures hosted on the X-Entertainment web site. Even they could not prepare me for the purely abysmal experience that the film proper represents. Like so many video game films after it, Double Dragon takes a perfectly good idea for a video game and turns it into an abysmal feature film. The film itself has a few things in common with the video game: the title and a few character names. The game featured one or two players moving a character from the left of the screen to the right, punching and kicking seven bells out of anyone who dared to get in their way. Unfortunately, Greenleaf Productions and director James Yukich thought that by aiming the film at children too young to remember any of the video games, they might make some money. Fortunately, the adults who were old enough to have played the classic video games ignored the film as it deserved. We certainly would not want the powers that be in Hollywood getting the idea that we actually like this kind of crap, after all.
The first problem lies in the screen writing. What made the video games so compelling was that they made as little effort as possible to differentiate its setting from the reality of the player. The story, such as it was, was secondary to people beating each other senseless. In the feature film, the writers attempt to give the story of Double Dragon a background, a motivation, or a reality. They manage to get all three, that much is true, but they all come out the same way: incredibly silly. Making matters worse is some incredibly stupid costume design. I do not know who designed Alyssa Milano's attire for this flick, but I am just betting they spent much of the time when they first saw what they had made laughing at poor Alyssa. Whomever designed the makeup effects for the Abobo character should have been arrested for crimes against the viewer. I do not know exactly what they were trying to achieve with all the lumpage on his body, but whatever it is, they failed. Perhaps his best scene is when Milano is force-feeding him spinach in one of the weirdest interrogations on film.
Also looking to fire their agent is Robert Patrick, who was at the time struggling to capitalise on his burst of fame after Terminator 2. Perhaps his agent told him that films based upon video games were going to be the new big thing. What the agent forgot to mention was that while they were a new big thing, they were a new big thing in unintentional comedy. Preceded by one year with Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon set a new low in cinematic history that it took another five years to worsen in the form of Wing Commander. I have no doubt in my mind at all that when Patrick looks back at this film, he thinks to himself "this is the moment I took what was still a salvageable career, and flushed it down the can". His performance is utterly terrible here, so I am inclined to blame the level of pathetic that Double Dragon reaches upon the director. After all, he has shown already that he is more than capable of turning in a good performance with halfway decent direction. Not that a good performance from either would have saved this cinematic abortion.
Another problem for a film based upon a beat-em-up video game is that the fight scenes are terribly executed. The camera rarely sits still long enough to make out what is going on, the choreography is utterly terrible, and the actors chosen for the parts clearly have no idea what they are doing. Was it really that difficult to get some people who really know their martial arts for the task? Hell, let's farm the rights out to Golden Harvest, they at least know how to choreograph a halfway decent fight scene. Especially poor are the scenes with Abobo, where none of the superhuman strength the film goes to great pains to tell us he has is actually utilised. Much like Michael Beck in Xanadu, he is really there as window dressing. Part of the problem here is that the canonical character Abobo is meant to appear superhuman in size, and the film just goes too far in trying to maintain that illusion. It would be better to have left the character out of the story altogether than present us with the tumour-encrusted visage we get here.
Even as an unintentional comedy, Double Dragon is a failure. Sure, there are moments when the viewer is either going to laugh or cry, the moment when Marian force-feeds Abobo spinach being a prime candidate. However, these moments are too infrequent, and the film takes itself far too seriously otherwise, for this to be anything other than a mean-spirited laugh at the principal actors. Half of the dialogue sounds like it was ADRed by prepubescent children, and none of the actors save Robert Patrick look like they could punch their way out of a bag of potato chips. I can still remember when the advertising corps. made a big deal about this being a film based on a video game, back in the days before films based on video games had a reputation for being universally terrible. And I still wonder what the hell Alyssa Milano's costume designer was smoking. In at least half of the shots she is in, she looks like she is contemplating force-feeding spinach to her agent until he vomits up a lung.
For these reasons, I gave Double Dragon a one out of ten. Between watching this film again and being given a spinach enema, I would choose the spinach. You must be wicked hardcore if you can sit through this.
The first problem lies in the screen writing. What made the video games so compelling was that they made as little effort as possible to differentiate its setting from the reality of the player. The story, such as it was, was secondary to people beating each other senseless. In the feature film, the writers attempt to give the story of Double Dragon a background, a motivation, or a reality. They manage to get all three, that much is true, but they all come out the same way: incredibly silly. Making matters worse is some incredibly stupid costume design. I do not know who designed Alyssa Milano's attire for this flick, but I am just betting they spent much of the time when they first saw what they had made laughing at poor Alyssa. Whomever designed the makeup effects for the Abobo character should have been arrested for crimes against the viewer. I do not know exactly what they were trying to achieve with all the lumpage on his body, but whatever it is, they failed. Perhaps his best scene is when Milano is force-feeding him spinach in one of the weirdest interrogations on film.
Also looking to fire their agent is Robert Patrick, who was at the time struggling to capitalise on his burst of fame after Terminator 2. Perhaps his agent told him that films based upon video games were going to be the new big thing. What the agent forgot to mention was that while they were a new big thing, they were a new big thing in unintentional comedy. Preceded by one year with Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon set a new low in cinematic history that it took another five years to worsen in the form of Wing Commander. I have no doubt in my mind at all that when Patrick looks back at this film, he thinks to himself "this is the moment I took what was still a salvageable career, and flushed it down the can". His performance is utterly terrible here, so I am inclined to blame the level of pathetic that Double Dragon reaches upon the director. After all, he has shown already that he is more than capable of turning in a good performance with halfway decent direction. Not that a good performance from either would have saved this cinematic abortion.
Another problem for a film based upon a beat-em-up video game is that the fight scenes are terribly executed. The camera rarely sits still long enough to make out what is going on, the choreography is utterly terrible, and the actors chosen for the parts clearly have no idea what they are doing. Was it really that difficult to get some people who really know their martial arts for the task? Hell, let's farm the rights out to Golden Harvest, they at least know how to choreograph a halfway decent fight scene. Especially poor are the scenes with Abobo, where none of the superhuman strength the film goes to great pains to tell us he has is actually utilised. Much like Michael Beck in Xanadu, he is really there as window dressing. Part of the problem here is that the canonical character Abobo is meant to appear superhuman in size, and the film just goes too far in trying to maintain that illusion. It would be better to have left the character out of the story altogether than present us with the tumour-encrusted visage we get here.
Even as an unintentional comedy, Double Dragon is a failure. Sure, there are moments when the viewer is either going to laugh or cry, the moment when Marian force-feeds Abobo spinach being a prime candidate. However, these moments are too infrequent, and the film takes itself far too seriously otherwise, for this to be anything other than a mean-spirited laugh at the principal actors. Half of the dialogue sounds like it was ADRed by prepubescent children, and none of the actors save Robert Patrick look like they could punch their way out of a bag of potato chips. I can still remember when the advertising corps. made a big deal about this being a film based on a video game, back in the days before films based on video games had a reputation for being universally terrible. And I still wonder what the hell Alyssa Milano's costume designer was smoking. In at least half of the shots she is in, she looks like she is contemplating force-feeding spinach to her agent until he vomits up a lung.
For these reasons, I gave Double Dragon a one out of ten. Between watching this film again and being given a spinach enema, I would choose the spinach. You must be wicked hardcore if you can sit through this.
Pure cheese
deadsouldragon4 November 2021
Its a PG movie from 1994!
thrownaway20072 May 2009
To all of you moronic people who refuse to leave decent movies alone- Double Dragon was a PG movie. It wasn't meant for the adult viewer in particular. I watched this movie when I was a kid, after it came out on video and I thought it was spectacular. I still think it's a decent movie. If any one of you losers can name a singular movie from 1994 that was directed towards children that was still packed with action that was better than this then you're a freaking bum. I can probably guarantee that most of you butt heads, that's right I called you butt heads, hated any martial arts style movie that ever came out. Bruce Lee's movies were of a worse quality than this movie and I love Bruce Lee's movies. The point is you can't be a narrow-minded nitwit if you're going to watch movies. I can name a handful of movies or more that everyone and their mother absolutely loved, but I and the majority of the people around me thought were boring and pointless, but I never tore down the movie to other people I just told them that I personally didn't enjoy it. But I guess that's lost on Americans, the rest of the world enjoys something and you guys come along and muck it up.
Dumb dialog, poor acting and the director was apparently a possum!
planktonrules22 May 2019
If you are looking for a genre filled with great films, I suggest you never consider movies based on videogames. This is because many of these films are among the worst movies you can find...with MANY on IMDB's infamous Bottom 100 List. "Double Dragon" is no exception to the rule...it, too, is a bad movie based on a videogame.
The story is a confusing bit on nonsense set in the dystopain world of New Angeles in 2007. This world is filled with evil gangs and it has a strong "Mad Max" look to it. In other words, it's a lot like Los Angeles in real life. The heroes are two dopey guys and a lady who, ineplicably, CAN actually act (Julia Nickson)...so I have no idea why she's in the film. The trio spend much of the movie fighting some baddie and being chased by his minions...all over some medallions which I couldn't have cared less about nor could many in the audience based on the reviews.
The film has many problems going for it...bad acting, terrible dialog and, I kid you not, the director was apparently a possum! The film is terrible and silly...and not even worth watching to see some tiny cameos by Vanna White, George Hamilton, Andy Dick or Alyssa Milano. Is it among the worst movies based on videogames....possibly not. But only because there are so many crap films based on videogames!!
The story is a confusing bit on nonsense set in the dystopain world of New Angeles in 2007. This world is filled with evil gangs and it has a strong "Mad Max" look to it. In other words, it's a lot like Los Angeles in real life. The heroes are two dopey guys and a lady who, ineplicably, CAN actually act (Julia Nickson)...so I have no idea why she's in the film. The trio spend much of the movie fighting some baddie and being chased by his minions...all over some medallions which I couldn't have cared less about nor could many in the audience based on the reviews.
The film has many problems going for it...bad acting, terrible dialog and, I kid you not, the director was apparently a possum! The film is terrible and silly...and not even worth watching to see some tiny cameos by Vanna White, George Hamilton, Andy Dick or Alyssa Milano. Is it among the worst movies based on videogames....possibly not. But only because there are so many crap films based on videogames!!
A great movie for 5-10 yr old karate fans, very TMNT like
Thomasjod17 November 2013
You have to take this movie for what it is, a mid 90's video game era and Ninja obsessed culture movie. Many people rate this movie bad because they are up tight adults. In reality, this movie is great for kids who like martial arts, etc.. It's a good movie for kids who want to watch Martial Arts style movies but without all the bad language and sex. Somehow that gets bad ratings from the morons of today.
The futuristic imaginary city, "good gangs", and villain aspects are so good. Cheeky one liners and cars with flames. My sons loved it. It's very much a power ranger and TMNT feel. It's so 90's and this movie had great casting.
The futuristic imaginary city, "good gangs", and villain aspects are so good. Cheeky one liners and cars with flames. My sons loved it. It's very much a power ranger and TMNT feel. It's so 90's and this movie had great casting.
Were you expecting this film to take itself seriously?!
bannonanthony7 March 2001
I really don't see what everyone's problem with this picture is! I believe that if any film bases itself on a computer game, then it stands to reason that is not going to take itself seriously for a split second! I played some of the DOUBLE DRAGON games for Nintendo when I was younger and they were pretty jokey themselves. This little picture has great fights, great action and most importantly of all, a great sense of humour. Robert Patrick camps it up wonderfully as bad guy Koga Shuko. A young Mark Dacascos (DRIVE, THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, CRYING FREEMAN) kicks less butt than usual but is still enjoyable. Alyssa Milano is great as the sardonic revolutionary Marion, and both Dacascos and Scott Wolf as the Lee brothers (Dacascos is 'Home Lee' and Wolf is 'Ug Lee', geddit?) both have a fine line in sarcastic remarks. The car chase near the start with the 'Dragon Wagon' being pursued by Abobo's van is brilliant, especially with the use of computer graphics. Again, a classic example of good, mindless fun!
Airheaded
Leofwine_draca5 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
DOUBLE DRAGON is one of a wave of video game adaptations that did the rounds in the mid 1990s. Others included STREET FIGHTER, MORTAL KOMBAT and SUPER MARIO BROS., and truth be told none of them were very good; this one's no exception. The story is nothing more than a couple of knucklehead brothers teaming up to battle a random megalomaniac, played by Robert Patrick making bad career choices in the wake of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. The story has plenty of jokes and action, but it's all very silly and very cheesy indeed. A young Mark Dacascos stars but fails to make the kind of impact he did in DRIVE, for example. As for the rest, expect bubblegum-style brightness but an entire lack of depth.
FUN EYE CANDY!!
cybrfett21 February 1999
Don't go to this film for a unique film experience, look at it for what it is. A fun movie with really cool sets, a good soundtrack, and is almost complete eye candy I enjoyed it besides I'm a huge Alyssa Milano fan.
Horrible Trash
bardellsean10 May 2020
Zero quality in any area
BrickNash13 September 2014
I'm going to start by saying that there has only ever been one great video game to move adaptation and that was the terrific Mortal Kombat and that should give you an idea of what direction I'm going in with this review.
I'm not your average movie goer, I am first and for-most a retro gamer and in the 80's and 90's I lived and breathed computer and video games with Double Dragon being one of my all time favourite games. It's now 2014 and for 20 years I have avoided seeing this film. I deliberately dodged it when it came out because I just knew in my heart of hearts that not only would it have nothing to do with the game but it would be watered down kids action with bad acting all round.
Well guess what, I was right!
Double Dragon: the Movie is atrocious!!! Seriously, it really is that bad. Now I'm a big fan of low budget post apocalyptic action films from the 90's but even then Double Dragon takes the biscuit for just sheer lack of quality on all counts.
The film features I think THE worst acting I think I have ever seen. the delivery of the cringe worthy lines is so bad it makes King Of The Kickboxers look like an Oscar winner, but then those kind of films are backed up with a quaint charm and great fight scenes, Double Dragon has absolutely none of that whatsoever and is a magnificent turd from start to finish.
I'm convinced that video game adaptations were simply cash makers given to first time or music video directors to dip their toe in the film world because the name would generate at least a bit of revenue and it really didn't matter whether the actual film was good or not.
As for the game well, it had a pretty thin story I'll admit, but there was no reason why they couldn't have taken that thin story and built on it instead of making up this mystical nonsense and almost completely changing everything which just p*****d off fans of the game who should have been the films main target instead of the simpering under 10 year old's that it was aimed at.
I will be fair, there are one or two positive points in the film but they are extremely trivial. One is the matte paintings used for wide shots of the earthquake ravaged city, they are quite nice and add a bit of atmosphere. Two is Mark Dacascos, he is a fine martial artist and a decent actor but even he struggles in this film. Third and finally is Robert Patrick who genuinely looks like he's having some fun. When he accepted this role Mr Patrick was either desperate for work or he is the absolute King and master of not giving a f**k and I suspect it is the latter because he seems to take a lot of glee in hamming it up and ham it up he does, but with a bit of a wink.
Another small point I'd like to make in the interest of fairness is that if you were young and saw this film when it came out then I can totally understand the nostalgia value attached to it and how that can make any film seem so much more enjoyable but being such a huge fan of the game I was never going to have that even if I saw it in 1994 so this review is completely objective.
That's about it! I don't think I've ever given any film a 1 before but Double Dragon truly deserves it. A great, steaming pile of utter s**t that bears practically zero resemblance to the great game on which it is based and is an absolutely terrible example of film making in itself.
I'm not your average movie goer, I am first and for-most a retro gamer and in the 80's and 90's I lived and breathed computer and video games with Double Dragon being one of my all time favourite games. It's now 2014 and for 20 years I have avoided seeing this film. I deliberately dodged it when it came out because I just knew in my heart of hearts that not only would it have nothing to do with the game but it would be watered down kids action with bad acting all round.
Well guess what, I was right!
Double Dragon: the Movie is atrocious!!! Seriously, it really is that bad. Now I'm a big fan of low budget post apocalyptic action films from the 90's but even then Double Dragon takes the biscuit for just sheer lack of quality on all counts.
The film features I think THE worst acting I think I have ever seen. the delivery of the cringe worthy lines is so bad it makes King Of The Kickboxers look like an Oscar winner, but then those kind of films are backed up with a quaint charm and great fight scenes, Double Dragon has absolutely none of that whatsoever and is a magnificent turd from start to finish.
I'm convinced that video game adaptations were simply cash makers given to first time or music video directors to dip their toe in the film world because the name would generate at least a bit of revenue and it really didn't matter whether the actual film was good or not.
As for the game well, it had a pretty thin story I'll admit, but there was no reason why they couldn't have taken that thin story and built on it instead of making up this mystical nonsense and almost completely changing everything which just p*****d off fans of the game who should have been the films main target instead of the simpering under 10 year old's that it was aimed at.
I will be fair, there are one or two positive points in the film but they are extremely trivial. One is the matte paintings used for wide shots of the earthquake ravaged city, they are quite nice and add a bit of atmosphere. Two is Mark Dacascos, he is a fine martial artist and a decent actor but even he struggles in this film. Third and finally is Robert Patrick who genuinely looks like he's having some fun. When he accepted this role Mr Patrick was either desperate for work or he is the absolute King and master of not giving a f**k and I suspect it is the latter because he seems to take a lot of glee in hamming it up and ham it up he does, but with a bit of a wink.
Another small point I'd like to make in the interest of fairness is that if you were young and saw this film when it came out then I can totally understand the nostalgia value attached to it and how that can make any film seem so much more enjoyable but being such a huge fan of the game I was never going to have that even if I saw it in 1994 so this review is completely objective.
That's about it! I don't think I've ever given any film a 1 before but Double Dragon truly deserves it. A great, steaming pile of utter s**t that bears practically zero resemblance to the great game on which it is based and is an absolutely terrible example of film making in itself.
An insult to fans.
MsFarEast16 February 2006
This film clearly insults fans of the classic NES side-scrolling beat em' up. I can imagine the seared minds of those who loved their classic game when exiting out of the theater. And how right I am. Not only is the film a disgrace to the games, it also shows that Hollywood is only interested in $ signs rather than the material. For starters, the production values (WHATEVER THAT IS) are laughably bad, the acting is akin to that of a lobotomized inmate in an asylum, and to top it off, the horrendously awful fight choreography and special effects. Who, and I mean WHO can't forget the disgusting portrayal of Abobo, the coolest and meanest brute in the games. That name struck fear and terror in the hearts of those who played the games.
The greatest joke played on the fans is the plot. It is clearly a direct contradiction to the games where the focus was on the brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee out to rescue Marian from the clutches of the Shadow Warriros. Here they fight against a nameless gang led by a totally cheesy and lame villain who's very weak for the brothers. It was supposed to be set in a post-apocalyptic version of New York!!! Why must Hollywood insist on having the film take unnecessary liberties when making video game movies? I can't recommend this travesty to anyone. It is bad I tell you, BAD!!! Stay far away from this piece of trash.
The greatest joke played on the fans is the plot. It is clearly a direct contradiction to the games where the focus was on the brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee out to rescue Marian from the clutches of the Shadow Warriros. Here they fight against a nameless gang led by a totally cheesy and lame villain who's very weak for the brothers. It was supposed to be set in a post-apocalyptic version of New York!!! Why must Hollywood insist on having the film take unnecessary liberties when making video game movies? I can't recommend this travesty to anyone. It is bad I tell you, BAD!!! Stay far away from this piece of trash.
Absolute piffle.
Baphomet-425 February 1999
Rarely do I comment on poor films, but I feel that as a movie lover, it is not unreasonable to feel outraged when you wait for three years for a movie based on a gaming classic and your patience is met with "Double Dragon", a pathetically acted, woefully directed, sopoforic waste of time and money. Avoid.
Paul Dini?
batmang-9391913 June 2018
It's not as bad as all that!
ShadowGal15 August 2004
I feel bad to see that this movie got such an incredibly low rating. Granted, it was no masterpiece. Then again, I don't think it was supposed to be.
I first saw this movie when I was fairly young, and I absolutely adored it. I had a crush on the brothers (the "Double Dragons" of the title), and I borderline-idolized the glow-in-the-dark punk kids. They were just so cool to me!
About a year ago or so--maybe two years ago--I watched this movie at about 2:00 in the morning during the summer, when there was nothing else to watch except infomercials or music videos. I was either 17 or 18. The movie wasn't as good as I'd remembered, but, to my very pleasant surprise, it wasn't nearly as bad as other people remembered it to be.
This is a good late-night movie, or nice if you're in the mood for something cheesy and nostalgic. I give it a 6 out of 10. A little above average--but I think that's just nostalgia. For most people viewing it, it's probably worth a 5.
I first saw this movie when I was fairly young, and I absolutely adored it. I had a crush on the brothers (the "Double Dragons" of the title), and I borderline-idolized the glow-in-the-dark punk kids. They were just so cool to me!
About a year ago or so--maybe two years ago--I watched this movie at about 2:00 in the morning during the summer, when there was nothing else to watch except infomercials or music videos. I was either 17 or 18. The movie wasn't as good as I'd remembered, but, to my very pleasant surprise, it wasn't nearly as bad as other people remembered it to be.
This is a good late-night movie, or nice if you're in the mood for something cheesy and nostalgic. I give it a 6 out of 10. A little above average--but I think that's just nostalgia. For most people viewing it, it's probably worth a 5.
A movie with everything
Reaper20 January 2001
Arcade Classic
ferren-8775424 March 2019
How dare you are Maggots insulting this very instant classic EVER!!!
HOW DARE you said nonsense rambling bumbling a MOVIES. This is NOT MOVIES!!! This is BIG FRAGMENT created only for supporting the 1 on 1 vs Arcade.
HOW DARE you said nonsense rambling bumbling a MOVIES. This is NOT MOVIES!!! This is BIG FRAGMENT created only for supporting the 1 on 1 vs Arcade.
"Your incompetence sticks needles into the flesh of my honor"
Field781 August 2019
Having played the original Nintendo game myself, it is actually a small miracle that I managed to miss this movie for so long, and I guess it is no more than justice that I finally watched it in the year of its 25th anniversary.
Movie adaptations of games generally have a bad name for a number of reasons, like not being able to replicate the gaming experience, poor production values, or taking itself way too seriously. Although Double Dragon makes a valiant attempt to replicate the game's theme of urban decay and street gang martial arts (I was never aware that it had much of a story), it is definitely poorly made, with laugable acting and direction, ridiculous story and dialogue, and hokey fight scenes. But what saves it from my Wall of Shame is the fact that it doesn't take itself seriously for one moment.
I don't know what the cast thinks of it today, but it looks like most actors had a pretty good idea that they weren't doing Shakespeare, and tried to have as much fun on screen as possible. Some performances, like Scott Wolfe and Alyssa Milano's, are funny in a particularly cringe-inducing way, but Robert Patrick (who had already shown his sense of humor in a Wayne's World cameo) steals the show by chewing the scenery at every opportunity he gets. The dialogue is cheesy and unintentionally funny throughout ("You're weak, like your father!" "You're ugly, like your mother!"), but Patrick delivers a line so immortally preposterous that I had to make it the titel of my review (who said there was no Shakespeare?).
The art department clearly did most of the work, by putting Escape From New York, Mad Max and Big Trouble in Little China into a blender for the film's convincing post-apocalyptic punk look. That obviously left very little budget for fight choreography, so they settled for some kicks and punches in the air mixed with a lot of goofy slapstick and bad-pun jokes. What few dollars were left were spent on make-up for henchman Abobo's transformation into what looks like a hilariously bad paper-maché imitation of Sloth from the Goonies.
Many call this one of the worst game adaptations of all time, but you have to recognize cult potential when you find it. This would actually be a 4-star movie if it wasn't so enjoyably B- or even C-grade. Really, I had a big smile on my face the entire time, and couldn't help laughing at the extremely cheesy running gag where the protagonists are startled by something, stay silent for a beat, and then yell "WHAAAAAH!!" in unison before running away.
This film doesn't make the mistake that Streetfighter (both versions) or Doom made, which is thinking that anything in it actually matters or should be taken seriously, not even for a second. It is such unpretentiously bad pulp that it's fun, and I'd say that after 25 years, it is ready for a re-appraisal of its camp value.
Movie adaptations of games generally have a bad name for a number of reasons, like not being able to replicate the gaming experience, poor production values, or taking itself way too seriously. Although Double Dragon makes a valiant attempt to replicate the game's theme of urban decay and street gang martial arts (I was never aware that it had much of a story), it is definitely poorly made, with laugable acting and direction, ridiculous story and dialogue, and hokey fight scenes. But what saves it from my Wall of Shame is the fact that it doesn't take itself seriously for one moment.
I don't know what the cast thinks of it today, but it looks like most actors had a pretty good idea that they weren't doing Shakespeare, and tried to have as much fun on screen as possible. Some performances, like Scott Wolfe and Alyssa Milano's, are funny in a particularly cringe-inducing way, but Robert Patrick (who had already shown his sense of humor in a Wayne's World cameo) steals the show by chewing the scenery at every opportunity he gets. The dialogue is cheesy and unintentionally funny throughout ("You're weak, like your father!" "You're ugly, like your mother!"), but Patrick delivers a line so immortally preposterous that I had to make it the titel of my review (who said there was no Shakespeare?).
The art department clearly did most of the work, by putting Escape From New York, Mad Max and Big Trouble in Little China into a blender for the film's convincing post-apocalyptic punk look. That obviously left very little budget for fight choreography, so they settled for some kicks and punches in the air mixed with a lot of goofy slapstick and bad-pun jokes. What few dollars were left were spent on make-up for henchman Abobo's transformation into what looks like a hilariously bad paper-maché imitation of Sloth from the Goonies.
Many call this one of the worst game adaptations of all time, but you have to recognize cult potential when you find it. This would actually be a 4-star movie if it wasn't so enjoyably B- or even C-grade. Really, I had a big smile on my face the entire time, and couldn't help laughing at the extremely cheesy running gag where the protagonists are startled by something, stay silent for a beat, and then yell "WHAAAAAH!!" in unison before running away.
This film doesn't make the mistake that Streetfighter (both versions) or Doom made, which is thinking that anything in it actually matters or should be taken seriously, not even for a second. It is such unpretentiously bad pulp that it's fun, and I'd say that after 25 years, it is ready for a re-appraisal of its camp value.
Accept it for what it is and you'll find yourself having fun
CuriosityKilledShawn20 August 2015
Since the Super Mario Bros. movie in 1993 video games have been met with fiercely negative reviews from critics who savage almost every single one of them based purely on their origins. I understand now that we live in an age where video games are movies in their own right, if not even more poetic and innovative than most movies themselves, but in 1994 they were not considered to have any literary or theatrical merit, and even to this day (with a second attempt at a Hit-man movie only just being released as I type this review) they still cannot seem crack the code on how to make a coherent and worthy adaptation.
Double Dragon is not the exception, it's the rule. The classic arcade game featured two dudes, Billy and Jimmy Lee, who walk to the right in an apocalyptic cityscape and beat-up thugs who have kidnapped their (apparently shared) girlfriend Marian. She obviously enjoys double (CENSORED). This could not and was not going to make a good movie.
With a writing team consisting of Paul Dini and Peter Gould any additions or expansions on this thin premise was welcome and the resulting movie is a live-action cartoon with way too many ideas for its budget or its director's abilities.
Double Dragon is an ex-treme-ly 90s flick. Martial arts movies for the kids became a big thing (or at least attempted to) in the early 90s after the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Drivel like Surf Ninjas and 3 Ninjas never managed to capture the edge that made the 1990 TMNT so good. Double Dragon almost gets there, but chooses goofy humor instead of darkness and pathos.
The year is 2007. Instead of suffering a dismal summer of an awful Die Hard sequel and a Simpsons movie with no laughs in it the people of New Angeles long for clean air and safety in the streets. The old city has been destroyed by an earthquake (another popular 90s trope) and gang roam at night while smog smothers during the day.
Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos play "twin" brothers Jimmy and Billy. They look nothing like each other. Tom Cruise could play Scott Wolf's twin easily, but the budget couldn't stretch to Cruise. They are also supposed to be 17-years-old despite being 25 and 29 at the time of filming. They are orphans looked after by Satori (Julia Nickson) who holds one half of a sacred amulet (yes, it's one of THOSE kind of plots) which can grant super powers to anyone with both halves.
A clean air industrialist (Robert Patrick) wants the amulet so he can take control of New Angeles, despite running a pretty tight monopoly already. And so the streets are raging as a final fight with a vendetta is unleashed upon the thugs of New Angeles. An overweight and blond Alyssa Milano plays a more dynamic version of Marian, wearing short shorts that barely cover her vagina. Robert Patrick manages to avoid embarrassment by being surprisingly game about the whole thing too.
By all rights the movie is terrible, but there's an infectious vibe to the eccentric production design and cinematography, and some of the matte paintings and establishing shots are quite impressive. James Yukich (his name creates an appropriate onomatopoeia) has no real vision of his own and lets the chaos take whatever shape it naturally wants to be. You either go along with the low-brow cheese that it is or you'll hate it. Personally I was never once bored by it nor did I really dislike it. The crudity of its assembly (half of the dialogue is ADR) and the tacky synth score helped turn it into a surreal, almost auteur experience. But why on Earth Yukich figured that "Altogether Now" by Scouse band The Farm made for a fitting end credits song is beyond me. It doesn't match the film at all!
Since the day of its release and the resulting internet notoriety over the years I have always been curious about the big screen bomb of Double Dragon, but honestly it's not that bad.
Double Dragon is not the exception, it's the rule. The classic arcade game featured two dudes, Billy and Jimmy Lee, who walk to the right in an apocalyptic cityscape and beat-up thugs who have kidnapped their (apparently shared) girlfriend Marian. She obviously enjoys double (CENSORED). This could not and was not going to make a good movie.
With a writing team consisting of Paul Dini and Peter Gould any additions or expansions on this thin premise was welcome and the resulting movie is a live-action cartoon with way too many ideas for its budget or its director's abilities.
Double Dragon is an ex-treme-ly 90s flick. Martial arts movies for the kids became a big thing (or at least attempted to) in the early 90s after the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Drivel like Surf Ninjas and 3 Ninjas never managed to capture the edge that made the 1990 TMNT so good. Double Dragon almost gets there, but chooses goofy humor instead of darkness and pathos.
The year is 2007. Instead of suffering a dismal summer of an awful Die Hard sequel and a Simpsons movie with no laughs in it the people of New Angeles long for clean air and safety in the streets. The old city has been destroyed by an earthquake (another popular 90s trope) and gang roam at night while smog smothers during the day.
Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos play "twin" brothers Jimmy and Billy. They look nothing like each other. Tom Cruise could play Scott Wolf's twin easily, but the budget couldn't stretch to Cruise. They are also supposed to be 17-years-old despite being 25 and 29 at the time of filming. They are orphans looked after by Satori (Julia Nickson) who holds one half of a sacred amulet (yes, it's one of THOSE kind of plots) which can grant super powers to anyone with both halves.
A clean air industrialist (Robert Patrick) wants the amulet so he can take control of New Angeles, despite running a pretty tight monopoly already. And so the streets are raging as a final fight with a vendetta is unleashed upon the thugs of New Angeles. An overweight and blond Alyssa Milano plays a more dynamic version of Marian, wearing short shorts that barely cover her vagina. Robert Patrick manages to avoid embarrassment by being surprisingly game about the whole thing too.
By all rights the movie is terrible, but there's an infectious vibe to the eccentric production design and cinematography, and some of the matte paintings and establishing shots are quite impressive. James Yukich (his name creates an appropriate onomatopoeia) has no real vision of his own and lets the chaos take whatever shape it naturally wants to be. You either go along with the low-brow cheese that it is or you'll hate it. Personally I was never once bored by it nor did I really dislike it. The crudity of its assembly (half of the dialogue is ADR) and the tacky synth score helped turn it into a surreal, almost auteur experience. But why on Earth Yukich figured that "Altogether Now" by Scouse band The Farm made for a fitting end credits song is beyond me. It doesn't match the film at all!
Since the day of its release and the resulting internet notoriety over the years I have always been curious about the big screen bomb of Double Dragon, but honestly it's not that bad.
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