Long before music director Uwe Boll stink up the video plot film genre withHouse of the Dead , BloodRayne , Postal , Far Cry , and more , Hollywood ’s earliest attempts to work gambling franchises to the heavy screen were dismal failures . For the worst wrongdoer , motion-picture show historians might point to1993’sSuper Mario Bros. , the live - natural process cinematic bombthat drive Nintendo out of Hollywood for three X untilThe Super Mario Bros. Moviebrought the company back in 2023 . That was definitely a terrible film , but it was n’t until 1994’sDouble Dragonmovie that video game adaptations establish a new Sir David Alexander Cecil Low .
1994 was also the year that theStreet Fightermovie reach dramaturgy with a bravura carrying out by the late Raul Julia as well as a hilariously awful turn by Jean - Claude Van Damme . That cinema is at least fun to watch , which is more than we can say forDouble firedrake . The source cloth forDouble Dragonwas a 1987 colonnade game — and its sequels — that allowed up to two players to take ascendance of Billy and Jimmy Lee as they go up against a ring call the Black Warriors to rescue Billy ’s kidnapped girl , Marian . It was n’t exactlyOn the Waterfront , but most of the games from that era were n’t big on story .
Yet somehow , theDouble Dragonmovie supervise to botch up that simple setup . And we ’re extend to show you how .
All of the main characters are miscast
In the game , Billy and Jimmy are hardened warriors who are intelligibly grown adult man . So of course director James Yukich depicted them as teenagers . Although somewhat ironically , Mark Dacascos was 30 when he play Jimmy Lee , while Scott Wolf was 26 when he portray Jimmy ’s young brother , Billy . Wolf ’s breakout role as Bailey Salinger on Fox’sParty of Fivedebuted a few month beforeDouble Draco , which probably saved him from going to movie jail over this turkey .
Wolf and Dacascos largely flirt the brothers like cuckoo , and there ’s never really any credible peril for either of them . It ’s like someone dropped Bill and Ted into a bad martial arts movie . The movie also assay to holler up the role of the game ’s only “ good ” female character , Marian ( Alyssa Milano ) , by re - envisioning her as heroine who leads a group shout out the Power Corps . Milano has had some fun round , let in her long campaign onCharmed , but Marian was not her okay hour .
As ridiculous as Milano looks with that short bleached hair , at least she came off better thanTerminator 2‘s Robert Patrick , who was stick with a facial expression that was anything but restrain . Patrick plays the film ’s scoundrel , Koga Shuko , and it ’s just impossible to take him seriously . The sheer threat that Patrick bring to the T-1000 is completely wanting , and his execution comes off as unintentionally comedic .
The script’s attempt to flesh out the world doesn’t work
Batman : The Animated Seriesco - creator Paul Dini was accredit on this plastic film for the chronicle he co - wrote with Neal Shusterman , which was written for the concealment by Michael Davis and Peter Gould , who went on to write and produceBreaking BadandBetter Call Saul . So there was some real gift behindDouble Dragon‘s hand — it ’s just not reflected on the screen .
threefold Dragonfell into the same hole that the live - actionSuper Mario Bros. movie did by trying too difficult to excuse the conflict of the game and build out the world . Instead of a simple setup that pits the Lee brother against the gang under Koga Shuko ’s control , there ’s an elaborate backstory that include an earthquake and a semi - postapocalyptic Los Angeles that is overrun by the underworld . Somehow , there are still martial arts tournaments in this courageous new world . But as think , the backdrop of the flick ’s story go down flat .
The special effects are anything but special
Double Dragonwas reportedly made for only $ 7.8 million , which was a down in the mouth - budget motion-picture show even by 1994 standards . But that does n’t excuse the film for limited effects that are absolutely mortifying . keep an eye on the prevue above , and you ’ll see Koga Shuko ’s shadow warrior effects that make him seem like a human toon fromWho Framed Roger Rabbit . I ’ve seenMighty Morphin Power Rangersepisodes with more convincing special consequence than these .
Movie - making is never easy , and Yukich probably become as much out of the budget as he could . Unfortunately , the results talk for themselves .
The action is subpar even for the ’90s
Dacascos is a material soldierly artist , and he ’s one of the few histrion in the flick who can defend with any genuineness . The rest of the chief cast just kind of does what they can . If there was one affair thatDouble Dragonhad to get right , it was the natural action . And it just did n’t cultivate . The combat chorography was bad , the performers were flimsy , and there ’s never any real excitation or intuitive sense of fury .
Yes , this is largely a nestling movie rather than a neat martial arts flick , but the attempt to water down the concept for a untried audience stunningly backfired . equate this film to theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesmovie from 1990 , and you ’ll see that the latter was capable to serve natural process fans and child . three-fold Dragonsimply could n’t pull off the one aspect of the arcade game that string people to them in the first place . More than anything else , that ’s what doomed this movie to averageness .
you may watchDouble DragononPrime Video , but if you want a version that you ’ll actually enjoy , lease or buy theRiffTrax : Double Dragonedition , which is also onPrime Video . The latter is from the former cast of characters fellow member ofMystery Science Theater 3000 , and they draw off the incredible feat of makingDouble Dragonwatchable .
