DOA: Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive is a film that is so exploitative and atrociously bad, that somehow it ended up being a whole lot of fun. However to view this as a fun film, it must be viewed as intended: With brain switched off, and ol' Mr McDong taking control of your functions for 80 minutes. Yes, this may be a film with a predominantly female cast, but ladies need not turn up to watch this, cause they probably won't enjoy it, unless their sexual barometer is registering the opposite end from "hetero." This film is total gratuity in every regard, from the scantily clad, sexy ladies, to the barrage of testosterone pumping action. This is hot chicks doing high kicks! So with that, and having this the pre-conceived idea when I bought my ticket, I knew I'd enjoy it. Hell the film was marketed right. It's about a video game and has the subtlety of said game, which is in the button bashing, short attention span of the games spectrum. It's a simple movie for a simple movie going experience. IF anyone goes into this film and comes out having not enjoyed it, then they SHOULD have known better! I think only those who want to see this kind of film, who are in the mood, will watch, and they'll get a kick out of it like me. Critics will despise it cause it represents a film they have to watch, but probably don't want to.

So DOA is essentially a non-interactive video game, an FMV if you will. It's got an awful script, mediocre acting, and all the efforts of the filmmakers have gone into perfectly capturing, glistening, bouncing boobies amongst the martial arts mayhem. The plot essentially is nothing more than little set-ups to all the fights, taking place at a secret fighting tournament set up by Eric Roberts, in grade-A scenery chewing mode. Roberts to me is a tragic waste of talent, who in the early 80's looked a great prospect and to some, me included, has more talent than his over-rated sister Julia (who now of course takes all the plaudits). Roberts is consigned to doing DTV movies now, or TV movies and on the rare occasion he appears back in the multiplexes, it's in another B-movie that usually is awful. However at least Eric is enjoying himself here, relishing his return (somewhat) to the limelight. or to put it another way, to remind people Julia wasn't an only child! The rest of the main cast, who register any interest, are the hot ladies. There's the rather bizarre, yet strikingly attractive looking Devon Aoki and then there's also Holly Valance, Sarah Carter and Natassia Malthe too. However it's Jaime Pressley who steals the show, not only with her performance, that delivers the most laughs (intentional ones that is), but also she has a bod to die for and considering some stiff competition from Valances sculpted physique in particular, that's no mean feat.

Overall though this film will go down as a classic bad movie. The filmmakers never intended making anything beyond what they deliver. This is bad, it's cheesy and it's forgettable. But it's outrageously fun while it lasts and it most certainly requires the wearing of loose fitting underwear to allow for Sgt Schlong to stand to attention every now and again. I feel guilty having enjoyed it, but I had a good idea of the film that would be delivered and it was delivered as I imagined. ***

Wow. I never thought In my wildest dreams that I would be standing behind this film, sticking up for it opposed to slandering it with the rest. I actually went to see it for a laugh and so what if there were a half dozen beautiful girls flaunting there stuff right? well the first 10 minutes kinda made me think I was gonna be dead right, but not entirely. Sure it was a very poor excuse for a plot, but the action was really quite good. Before I get into that I need to make a remark, a lot of people have been slandering this movie because of it's story line, fair enough, but if you say that it doesn't make sense, you must be one thick chimpanzee, The story is so linear it hurts, and very, I repeat VERY easy to understand! Back to the movie. The acting was fine, I was especially pleased at Holly's Performance, A perfect role for her I would say, if Anyone's ever seen any of her film clips

Plot: Pro-wrestler Tina (Jaime Pressly), master thief Christie (Holly Valance), and ninja princess Kasumi (Devon Aoki) are competitors in a martial arts tournament with a $10 million prize.

That pretty much sums up the basis of the plot haha but yeah. Good Action, Hot Girls, a worth while watch. Oh and another thing, Sarah Carter who starred in 3 episodes of Smallville plays another butt kickin' Babe, very sexy. It was kind of refreshing be able to watch a movie where the plot wasn't really a problem at all, all you had to do was focus on what was going on, no having to think about how this person knows this person and why they want to kill each other. It was also good to see a 'Girl Power' Flick which wasn't cheesy in the way that Charlie's Angels was, yeah it was cheesy in other ways, but none of that, "come on angels, let's go get 'em" All in all a good watch, I just hope they don't try and do a sequel *sighs* and IF they do, I hope they get a damn script writer!!!!

7 Stars

In 1999, the martial arts movie was redefined by "The Matrix." What people forget is, the martial arts movie was previously redefined four years earlier, with the release of 1995's "Mortal Kombat." Of course, yes, "The Matrix" left everything before it in the dust. But for that 4 years, we had a short-lived champion... exciting action sequences, fair-to-cheesy dialogue, and a thumping techno soundtrack. It took something as historical as the Wachowski Brothers to knock it off its perch.

"Dead or Alive" features action sequences about on-par with "Mortal Kombat," dialogue scenes that are only slightly more painful, and the added presence of Eric Roberts, which takes two full points off its IMDb rating just for attaching his name to it.

I didn't hate DOA; it was miles better than "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" and director Corey Yuen ("Transporter," "So Close") is certainly light-years better than Uwe Boll, if that even means anything.

Slightly better than your average rental, but not worth a $7 movie ticket. In 1996 this would have made a bundle, but today it's just something that might actually hold your attention on cable at 3 a.m. 6/10.

As a fan of the DOA video games, it was in my nature to go see this film. Even though I knew it was going to be shocking, I was surprised (a bit).

Following the storyline from the games, DOA is about a fighting tournament held on a secret island were all is not what it seems. Princess Kusami (Devon Aoki) joins the tournament to find her brother. Tina (jammie Pressley) a distinguished womens wrestler joins to prove to the world she's not fake, like her "fighting style". Christie (holly valance)playing a sultry thief joins in order to steal a vault full of money, hidden on the island. Over time they meet other characters and they learn to work together in order to stop the main villain, Donovan (Eric Roberts).

Like most fighting video game/movies the really isn't much of a story and a few of the actors are below par (espesially from Kane Kosugi), I was really impressed by Holly Valance and Sarah Carter.

Most reviews can tell you that this is strictly for teenage boys, and I can tell you there right, through some racy shots of Holly valance and Jamie Presley. But what Impressed me the most with DOA is the fight sequences. Kane Kosugi has one of the best I've seen In a while on a flight of stairs and Sarah Carter and Holly Valance battle it out in the rain making it an almost glorified wet t-shirt Competition.

If your looking for something innovating form this genre, keep walking, but if your looking for a great way to spend and hour and a half with some friends, then see DOA.

Here we have yet another video game movie that makes me embarrassed to play video games. One comment here claims, "Teenage boys are going to love it" because of the plentiful T&A and ample dose of action, and while yes, we do love our sex and violence, we live in a society where these things are the norm. Personally, I like the boobs and fighting to be handled with some sort of art. The script is laughable, the premise is incredibly derivative (although this is true of the game), and the talent of the actors is essentially irrelevant. The fights seem to be a loving tribute or rip-off to other, better fight movies. The camera work is frantic and overworked. This movie felt like a 90 minute pilot for a bad 90s TV show starring Pamela Anderson.

Yes, DOA is pretty weak source material, but if you're going to adapt a video game, try to put a little effort into it. If I just want tits and gore, I can watch porn and hobo fights.