Bullet Points: Double Dragon

The big screen adaption of the video game Double Dragon had a lot working against it…

• First off, it is a movie based on a video game… video games, especially at this stage in the game, had one dimensional storylines… so for some movie critics and movie goers they were instantly going to dump on it. The fact that the Super Mario Brothers movie the year prior was a box office flop didn’t do Double Dragon any favors either.
• Double Dragon is regarded as one of the best video games of all-time, that means there were a lot of people who invested a lot of time into playing the game and its sequels. In addition to the time invested, these video game fans were also emotionally invested in the characters and the mythos of the games. When something becomes so beloved like Double Dragon, it is nearly impossible to please the entire fan base, who could have already had what a Double Dragon movie would look like in their heads for years.
• Lastly was the PG-13 rating… while the rating makes sense from the standpoint that you want the age group that primarily plays the games to be able to buy a ticket and see the movie, at the same time you are going to turn off a big chunk of action movie lovers with the toned down fights that don’t feature the blood, guts and violence that they have grown accustomed to.

But even with all of these things working against it, is 1994’s Double Dragon really as bad as some would like you to believe?

• After the Shock: The movie takes place in New Angeles in 2007, New Angeles is what remains of Los Angeles after a great earthquake that took place years earlier. The world has become a much different place after the quake with a mandatory curfew in place as gangs rule the night in New Angeles. Getting caught outside after curfew is a dangerous proposition… something our heroes Jimmy Lee (Mark Dacascos, Only the Strong), Billy Lee (Scott Wolf) and their guardian Satori (Julia Nickson, Rambo: First Blood Part II) find out the hard way when they lose track of time while competing in some sort of tag team karate tournament and find themselves being chased down by the hulking Bo Abobo and his sidekick Mohawk (John Mallory Asher, Showdown). The Lees and Satori manage to narrowly escape, but the seeds for more trouble are planted when Abobo tries to rip off the half medallion that Satori was wearing around her neck.

• Nice Hair: The other half medallion was recently acquired by the movie’s main villain Koga Shuko (Robert Patrick, Zero Tolerance)… in fact the movie actually began showing Koga Shuko’s minions, that include the lovely but dangerous Linda Lash and a pair of martial arts experts Huey and Lewis (played by Bulletproof Action favorite, Al Leong), recovering the half medallion for their boss somewhere in the Philippines. While this is happening we get the back story about the medallion through narration… one piece of the medallion has power over the soul, the other piece as power over the body. When the medallion is whole it has unimaginable power, power that could be used for evil… which is why legend has it, the medallion was split in two.
• He Wants It All… He Wants It All… And He Wants It Now: Not surprisingly, once Koga Shuko finds out that the other half of the medallion is in New Angeles he wastes little time making his way over to the abandoned theater that the Lee Brothers and Satori call home. The highlight here for me was when Mark Dacascos and Al Leong tangle for a few minutes… but when things don’t immediately go his way Koga Shuko escalates things quickly and has his henchmen set the theater on fire… Satori ends up sacrificing herself so her boys Jimmy and Billy can escape with their half of the medallion.

• Gangs of New Angeles: Koga Shuko’s first attempt to make the medallion whole again may have been a failure, but he is not giving up easy… he gathers all the gangs of New Angeles together and appeals to their sense of greed by offering them riches if they can track down Jimmy and Billy and get him the other half of the medallion… this is an offer they can’t refuse and Jimmy and Billy Lee are about to be in a world of hurt… fortunately for them, they have an ally in the form of Marion (Alyssa Milano, Commando) who is the leader of a group known as the Power Corp… a group that has been standing up to the gangs and trying to shut down their illegal activities. And just like that we’ve got ourselves a classic battle of good vs. evil.

Double Dragon is average at best, but it was a movie that never tried to be anything that it wasn’t and fully embraced what it was.

Mark Dacascos did most of the heavy lifting where the martial arts were concerned. Scott Wolf’s action sequences were kept simple to not totally expose his lack of fighting skills. Robert Patrick seemed to enjoy his turn as an over the top cartoon villain. And then there’s Alyssa Milano… for any teenage males in the audience who had grown up watching her on TV, I don’t think you could have cast anyone better.

Bonus Bullet Points:

• Missed Opportunity: The station wagon that Jimmy and Billy drive is affectionately known as The Dragon Wagon. If there’s not a food truck out there that serves Chinese cuisine called The Dragon Wagon, then somebody needs to seriously rethink their marketing.
• Proud of Themselves Quote: At one point Lash has Marion all tied up and she asks, “Who’s the boss now?” No doubt in my mind whoever came up with that line was REALLY proud of themselves for doing so, kind of like how proud I am of my Dragon Wagon food truck idea.
• Familiar Faces: Double Dragon had some familiar faces… Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes and The Barbarians) and Vincent Klyn (Cyborg and Point Break) both played gang members… George Hamilton and Vanna White (as themselves) played the Channel 102 news anchors, while Andy Dick was the “smogcaster”.
• Burning River: At one point, when the gangs catch up to Jimmy and Billy, the Lees flee by speed boat. This leads to Billy uttering the line “Isn’t this river supposed to be flammable?” A good portion of the movie was actually shot in Cleveland and the river that was used in the movie was the Cuyahoga River, which at one point was among the most polluted rivers in the United States, infamously caught fire no less than 13 times!