D.O.A. - Dead or Alive
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Movie Reviews of D.O.A. - Dead or Alive
Movie Review: Well, it's a fighting movie with good looking chicks!
Summary: 4 Stars
It's not bad, it's not material to an academy award but it's fun and can keep you entertained for its run, so, if you like martial arts and nice looking girls, this is the movie for you.Movie Review: Doesn't Kick High Enough
Summary: 3 Stars
There's a world tournament going on, an evil conspirator is running the game, and the only people that can stop him is Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu---I mean Tina, Christie, and Kasumi. Pardon me, but when "DOA: Dead or Alive" teamed up those three girls as the leads, I get the whole "Charlie's Angels" vibe, especially when there's fighting going on in an exotic location and frequent eye-candy. Anyway, the story goes is that a group of fighters have been chosen to participate in a series of one-on-one fights started by Eric Roberts, and whoever wins get all; one joins for revenge, the other for the prize, the host is up to no good, et ceteriha, if you've seen "Enter the Dragon", the whole movie's like that except no one dies from brain edema after filming. Like the franchise's overarching 'plot', it's pretty irrelevant and most would see it for one thing only: the bounce. Which the film, sadly, doesn't have.
I've played enough DOA games and read enough of its fan porn to fill up an Encyclopedia Britannica set, so I'm well adapt about the material enough that judge this adaptation to be goofy but passable. Just about all of the DOA3-based characters appear in this film, with the exception of Hitomi who had better things to do in Germany, although most of them are cameos that only appear once and never again. Again, the most prominent leads in the film are Kazumi (played by Miho), Tina (played by Joy Hickey), and Christie (played by that pop star from Liam Neeson's Torture Avenger). The movie does has its supporters: Ayane, an extremely Caucasian ninja assassin who's ordered to kill Kazumi and the film disregarded their half-sibling relationship from the games because that would've been funny; Ryu Hayabusa, who's actor looks laughably nothing like the Ryu Hayabusa in the game (although his skills in "Ninja Warrior" isn't anything to joke around); Tina's father Bass who looks more like a steroid Billy Ray Cyrus and making a lousy lesbian joke; and Zack, because every video game movie needs a token wise-cracking fool to get on my nerves, although Zack in the videogames is also like that, so I should give the movie a point for accuracy. There's also two guys named Max and Weatherby, but they don't appeared in the games and thus aren't worth discussing further.
As far as the casting choices, I'm not too impressed with the girls; I always had trouble finding Devon Aoki attractive, because her face almost looks like the Lady in the Radiator from "Eraserhead". The actresses are even more bland than the original characters they're portraying. It's rather disappointing for Jamie Pressly, who I would expect to give more spunk to her hot-tempered wrestler like she did as Joy.
The fights are just okay and the CG effects are beyond fake. Fanservice wise, it's overbearing and obnoxious with one particularly extreme close-up shot of a fighter's rump, but given what this film is based on, I expected this kind of treatment. For all the flaws it had, "DOA: Dead or Alive" does follow the source material to a decent degree. It could've been much less than what it is.
Movie Review: "Enter the Dragon" with "Charlie's Angels": Martial Arts Action Directed by Corey Yuen "The Transporter"
Summary: 3 Stars
Yes, "DOA: Dead or Alive" is a martial arts action film based on video game (by Tecmo) and the film does not try to conceal its origin. As the film starts, we are immediately introduced to Princess Kasumi (Devon Aoki), leader of a ninja clan in Hokkaido, Japan, who flies (literally) to a small isolated island in the East China Sea. There, a martial arts competition is held by a mastermind named Donovan, and the winner gets $ 10 million.
Then you meet the contestants invited to the fight. They include Tina (Jamie Pressly) a pro-wrestler, Christie (Holly Valance) a sexy thief/assassin, Helena (Sarah Carter) daughter of the dead doctor who initiated the institute, and Hayabusa (Kane Kusugi), bodyguard of Princess Kasumi. And Princess herself has her own purpose to be in the island, looking for her missing brother Hayate (Corin Chau, Seraph of two "Matrix" sequels").
The script for the film is written by J. F. Lawton and Adam Gross & Seth Gross. J. F Lawton once directed a cult ninja flick set in Japan named "The Hunted" (1995), and his recent works as writer include that of TV series "V.I.P." The story of "DOA" is a concoction of "Enter the Dragon" and any action films based on video games, but I believe you already know that much.
[DECENT ACTIONS] Despite its weak story, the actions of "DOA" are decent. Sure, "DOA" is no Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee film, but it delivers, and is at least as good as `Charlie's Angels" (I'm talking about the first one, and I thought that was not bad.) Much of the credit goes to the director and some (if not all) of the actors. "DOA" is directed by Corey Yuen whose previous jobs include that of a director/martial arts action choreographer for the first "Transporter" and some Hong Kong-made action films like `So Close." He surely knows how to show good stunts with styles though fans will know that this is not his best.
Among the participants of the competition, Jamie Pressly and Holly Valance are most impressive. I heard they both had practiced martial arts before, and it is obvious they have really been training for long. Corin Chau does his actions expertly again (against Eric Roberts wearing sunglass-like gadget, yes, that's Julia's brother!), but the real find is Kane Kosugi (son of Sho Kosugi, who became famous for starring Grade B ninja flicks in the 1980s). Kane's speedy and nimble movements in one non-stop action sequence are thrilling to see. I'm not saying he is as great as Jet Li or Tony Jaa, but he is surely a talented guy.
"DOA" is full of actions. Moreover, many ladies show up in bikini without any particular reasons, but please don't take them seriously. Never mind if a ninja (who is definitely Japanese) speaks perfect English. Please forget about the cheesy CGI. You know "DOA: Dead or Alive" is silly and corny, made solely for entertainment, and the film also knows it. It is nothing innovating or revolutionary, but is still fun,
Movie Review: Hot babes and high kicks.
Summary: 3 Stars
First of all I don't know a single thing about the video game. A bunch of people are invited to DOA, a tournament that takes place every year to find the best fighter around. 3 super hot girls are invited, including Jaime Pressly. The main part of the story is about a Japanese princess who escapes from her castle to join the tournament because she wants to find out about her brother's death. Collin Chou plays her brother and he was killed at last year's DOA. There are other little subplots, but good storytelling is not exactly Corey Yuen's specialty. The acting by everyone I thought was very good, but unfortunately the movie is completely mindless.
The action is not the greatest but not bad either. The main problem is that there is too much editing. The editing is done nice and slick, but I like to see a lot of exhanges without cutting. The fights with the women are extremely cut up (and when its not cut up their moves look completely unskilled), but some of the fights are actually pretty good. One of the highlights is when Kane Kosugi takes on about 20 guys. Even though there is some ridiculous wirework invloved, the fighting is mainly on the ground and Kane Kosugi and Corey Yuen work together beautifully. Kosugi is the meanest looking guy in the world when he fights. All he has to do is give a quick kick to the shin and his opponent goes falling flat on his face. And he pulls it off so convincingly. His kicks are amazing and his arm locking moves are very proficient. Corey Yuen shows why he is one of the best fight choreographers around in this scene with great choreography and some nice full contact looking hits.
The next fight is surprisingly a good one between Jaime Pressly and a black guy who is always trying to get into her pants. I am usually not a fan of wirework, especially Corey Yuen's, but this scene is done very well and has a couple of jaw dropping shots. Pressly's punches look horrible but she has a couple of good kicks. Her opponent is very fast and I wouldn't mind seeing him in more movies.
Collin Chou has the most disappointing fight. How Corey Yuen managed to make this the worst fight of the movie is beyond me. I don't know what he was thinking. Collin Chou is one of the most amazing performers ever to hit the screen (see Donnie Yen's Flash Point for proof), but he is completely wasted here, even more than Matrix 2 and 3. He does some ugly wire kicks and his fight with Eric Roberts is too brief. Very very sad. This ruined the movie for me.
The only other decent fight has Kane Kosugi against a guy about twice his size. Kosugi looks awesome but the fight only lasts for about 30 seconds.
Overall I wasn't too disppointed with this movie. Great eye candy, good action, and no thinking required.
2.5/5
Movie Review: crap review on Netflix, but it was better than that
Summary: 3 Stars
After reading all the 1 star reviews on Netflix, I still watched the trailer. Then I found out the director of the Transporter did this movie too. So....I just had to check it out.
It was fun.
I'm not going to own it, but it was fun and much better than Ultraviolet.
- Fast action.
- Acrobatic martial arts.
- Gorgeous girls all around (so much better looking than the Charlie's Angels trio and they had Sarah Carter who I just loved when I first saw her in the tv show Smallville)
- Eric Roberts as a bad guy on the tv show Heroes and a bad guy here. He's perfect for those types of roles.
- Great sets that get smashed to pieces
- Lots and lots of fighting that is so unrealistic you laugh at the silliness of it, but love it at the same time
If it wasn't for all the scantly clad bodies and sexual themes, this no-blood fight movie would have been rated PG.
Yes, everyone who gets slashed by a sword just falls down with no blood. No effort went into any type of makeup work on the main characters after taking several punches in the face. Oh, well, we like our female leads looking pretty throughout I guess.
It was a movie where you turn your brain off, laugh out loud a couple of times and enjoy the scenery and action. Pure fun, but not an oscar winner by any stretch of the imagination.
You want a quality, thinking person's movie watch The Fountain or Children of Men.
You want a zone out for a bit with the type of movie that isn't another bad effects B-horror film, then get this.