Released: November 1994
Director: James Yukich
Rated PG-13
Run Time: 96 Minutes
Distributor: MVD Rewind Collection(2018, USA)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Cast:
Robert Patrick: Koga Shuko
Mark Dacascos: Jimmy Lee
Scott Wolf: Billy Lee
Julia Nickson: Satori Imada
Kristina Wagner: Linda Lash
Alyssa Milano: Marian Delario
When the Super Mario Bros. movie was released back in 1993, it was the first movie to be based on a video-game. Nintendo and the studio behind the film wanted to give audiences something a little different, but also tried to placate the die-hard Super Mario fans. However, because of some serious problems behind the scenes with pretty much everything including the overblown ego of the directors, Super Mario Bros. ended up becoming one of the worst movies of the year because of how far it strayed from the source material. There was very little in there that matched up with game, not that there was all that much to work with in the first place, but instead of a bright and colorful film that you would have expected from a Mario Bros. movie, you ended up with what looked like a Mad Max reject of a film. It was dark, grimy, and gooey. It was NOT what audiences wanted or what fans of the game were expecting. Nintendo opted to get out of the film-making business when their film flopped. Studios would continue to try and make movies based on video-games in the following years, with the best one being Mortal Kombat. In 1994, there were two movies released that were based on video-games. The first one was Street Fighter with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia(in his last performance). The other one was a film that based on a lesser known franchise called Double Dragon.
Double Dragon follows two brothers, Jimmy and Billy Lee as they struggle to survive in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of New Angeles in the year 2007…….I’ll let that one sink in for a while. At the same time, a warlord by the name of Koga Shuko is on the hunt for a mysterious and powerful medallion called the Double Dragon, which was split into two pieces centuries ago. Having obtained one half of the medallion, Shuko discovers that the other one is in the possession of the Lee brothers and their caretaker, Satori. The funny thing about those old games on the original NES system is that story-telling was the furthest from game-makers’ minds. Those games were distractions and entertainment. Games like Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros. never had much of a story to begin with. Because of that the writers behind Double Dragon had to come up with something that could help explain the world of Double Dragon. What’s funnier is that the story in this film isn’t that terrible, really. It’s bonkers, but it kind of works in a bizarre sort of way.
I’m not going to sugar-coat it. Double Dragon is a bad movie. There are a lot of interesting ideas in this movie, but none of them really gel. Let’s talk about what I did like about the film. First of all, Robert Patrick’s hairdo in this film is bonkers. It’s like he’s channeling Vanilla Ice. Robert Patrick alone is reason enough to watch this movie. He chews the scenery like it’s nobody’s business. He puts everything into it and he’s clearly having fun with the role. If you don’t know who Robert Patrick is, let me point you to a little role that he did for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He played the T-1000. So, he can be a scary individual when he wants to be. But here, he’s just a guy that wants total domination of one major American city. Is that too much to ask for? IS IT?! Secondly, Mark Dacascos is one of a handful of actual martial artists in this movie, and he can act. He has some good moments especially during a chase through a junkyard. The river chase sequence is legitimately exciting with some pretty big explosions. Funny anecdote, and you’ll find this on the MVD Blu-Ray: The movie was filmed on location in Cleveland, Ohio, even though it’s supposed to be set on the West Coast. Apparently, somebody forgot to tell the residents and authorities in Cleveland that they were going to set a river on fire. You can imagine the chaos. I also really liked the concept of the Double Dragon medallion amplifying the spiritual power in somebody. One half of the medallion allows the wearer to be able to possess others while the other half gives the person that wears it invulnerability and strength. When you put the two halves together it gives a single person unlimited power, which is why Shuko is looking for the medallion.
So….what didn’t work? Pretty much everything else. Outside of Robert Patrick, Mark Dacascos, and MAYBE Julia Nickson, everybody else was seriously miscast. For one, Scott Wolf is supposed to be playing Jimmy’s younger brother, Billy, but he’s not Asian and Scott is not a martial artist. The same goes for Alyssa Milano as Marian. She’s not a martial artist in a movie that’s kind supposed to be centered around that sort of thing. That costume that they designed for Ms. Milano certainly didn’t do her any favors. It was clearly designed so that our leads could ogle her at various points in the film. Let’s talk about Abobo. The character design here is hilariously terrible. The character was supposed to start out as a punk but got mutated because of Shuko’s experiments. Yeah, this doesn’t really work. I don’t know what they were trying to go for, since he doesn’t stay a villain throughout the entire film. Outside of some action sequences, the action is pretty tame. In fact, very few people even get killed in this movie, outside of two, maybe three. Slapping this film with a PG-13 rating was really stupid, considering that this film was supposed to be aimed at everybody. Even for the early 90’s, Double Dragon felt like a PG movie. There’s nothing really in here to offend anybody, except those who have good taste in writing and high-quality film-making. Don’t mock me. Not only that, the tone is all over the place. There are times when it wants to taken seriously, but in the next scene, you’ve got Jimmy and Billy screaming and running. That happens more than three times in the movie. It’s kind of like watching a live-action cartoon. If you do buy the MVD Blu-Ray of this film, stay away from the animated pilot of the cartoon. It’s worse than this movie.
Double Dragon, like Super Mario Bros. before it, fascinates me with how badly things went wrong. Where Mario went bad because of really stupid decisions by the directors, Double Dragon suffered because there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and each one had their own vision for what the movie was supposed to be, which is why the tone is all over the place. It also explains why a lot of the more interesting ideas weren’t executed properly. Writers Peter Gould and Michael Davis had to come in and try and salvage what was left of the screenplay, but it was too late. As one of them pointed out, there’s a good movie in here somewhere that’s struggling to free itself. I guess maybe that’s why I’ve got a soft spot for films like this, because they had potential, but ended up falling way short for one reason or another. To be fair, most of the people involved in this movie ended up going on to have decent careers. The movie is currently available through MVD’s Rewind Collection and has some pretty decent special features including a brand-new Making-of feature that has stars Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos, writers Michael Davis and Peter Gould, and producer Don Murphy. They discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what went wrong. The writers didn’t really hold back, so that was pretty interesting. The disc also includes the animated series’ pilot episode(avoid it), original theatrical, VHS, and TV trailers as well as archival EPK(electronic press kit)footage and interviews. Does a movie like Double Dragon deserve such an extensive disc? Not really, but it’s really cool that MVD put some real effort into this release. If you have a soft spot for this movie like I do, it’s worth taking a look. Good movie? Not a chance in hell, but it is absolutely insane. The Blu-Ray? Highly recommended. You can find it on Amazon or MVD’s website.
My Final Recommendation: Total domination of one major American city is NOT too much to ask for.
Robert Patrick’s hair: 100/10
Insanity Factor: 500/10
Quality Film-Making: 1/10
Entertainment Value: 8/10
Robert Patrick: 10/10
Overall: 7/10. Seems fair.