Featured Blu-ray Review: Double Dragon

March 4, 2019

Double Dragon: Collector’s Edition - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray

Double Dragon

Double Dragon came out 25 years ago. It failed to find an audience in theaters and one look at its reviews explains why. Is it as bad as its reviews / box office struggles? Or does it deserve to find a more receptive audience 25 years after it first came out?

The Movie

The film is set in the near future, the year 2007, in the city of New Angeles. It begins with Koga Shuko telling his minions about the Double Dragon, a medallion made by an ancient Chinese leader who realizes it was too powerful for any one person, so he split it into two. Koga Shuko has sent his minions, led by Linda Lash, to China to retrieve the medallion. However, when she returns, she only has one half.

The other half belongs to Satori Imada, the adoptive mother figure to the Lee brothers, Jimmy and Billy. We first meet these two in a tournament, which they should have won, but Billy was too enthusiastic and eventually got the pair disqualified in the final round. Worse still, Billy starts a brawl and by the time they are done, it’s past curfew and the cops have left the streets to the gangs. The trio get into a car chase with one such gang, the Mohawks, and they are only saved at the last minute by the Power Corps, led by Mariam. The Power Corps are a good gang that are trying to fight the gangs at night, when the cops all go home. Of course, the cops and the media have labeled them terrorists, so they have enemies on both sides of the law. The leader of the Mohawks, Bo Abobo, spots the medallion around Satori’s neck and while he doesn’t get it, he heads to Koga Shuko to tell him.

Koga Shuko immediately goes to where Satori, Jimmy, and Billy live. Fortunately, Jimmy and Billy are able to get away. Unfortunately, Satori has to sacrifice herself to allow that to happen. Now the brothers have no where to live and no one to turn to... except Mariam.

So how is Double Dragon? Let’s start with the positives. They improved the character of Mariam a lot. In the video game, she’s kidnapped in the beginning and the two Lee brothers fight over her at the end. That’s it. Here, Miriam is the leader of the Power Corps and for most of the movie, the most competent good guy. Another positive is Robert Patrick, who really seems to be having fun with this role. It’s a cheesy movie and he sells the bad guy with just the right level of cheese. Julia Nickson-Soul, who plays Satori, is more serious with her performance and is one of the best parts of the movie.

On the downside, Jimmy, and Billy. I didn’t buy these two were brothers, as they had no chemistry together, and their sibling rivalry was cringe inducing and not funny. The action scenes also tend to be overly long and not particularly well made to begin with.

On the other hand, it is a slime of prime 90s cheese and if that’s what you are looking for, then this film delivers.

The Extras

The extras begin with a making of featurette. Actually, calling it a featurette is not quite accurate, because it’s over an hour long. It’s fascinating to watch and I do like how many of the interview subjects readily admit the film’s faults. There is a 24-minute profile of Don Murphy, who produced the movie. Up next is a pilot for the animated series. There are a couple of short archival behind-the-scenes / making of featurettes. Finally, there are a series of galleries. This is a lot of extras for a critically reviled box office bomb.

The Verdict

Double Dragon is not a good movie. Even the people who made the movie admit it is not a good movie. It is a cheesy movie and can be entertaining if you are into cheese. Additionally, the Collector’s Edition Blu-ray is loaded with extras, so if you are a fan of the movie, it is worth picking up.

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