Double Dragon is a bad yet still cheesy movie that screams 1990s with its style and direction, not to mention some over-the-top performances. I didn’t exactly hate this movie but it was hard to sit through at times.
Double Dragon
— MVD Rewind Collection —
(1994)
Genre(s): Action, Adventure
MVD Visual | PG13 – 96 min. – $39.95 | February 5, 2019
Date Published: 02/10/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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MVD Visual provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 1.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: In post-apocalyptic California, brothers Billy Lee (SCOTT WOLF) and Jimmy (MARK DACASCOS) are highly trained martial artists living in the ravaged city of New Angeles. The pair have been trained by Satori (JULIA NICKSON), who took them in after their parents died. When Satori finds herself pursued by evil overlord Koga Shuko (ROBERT PATRICK), who’s intent on possessing her mystical dragon medallion, the siblings are charged with protecting it from Shuko and his henchmen.
Quick Hit Review: Double Dragon is a movie I don’t think I ever seen before, outside of some scenes for the bad good videos on YouTube (i.e. Best of the Worst). So watching this for the first time and… god what a terrible movie. It reminded me of Batman Forever without the budget and somehow even worse acting and stilted dialogue. On the one hand, I did find it amusing every time Robert Patrick showed up with his 1990s beach blonde haircut, and likely all that was on his mind was only a couple years prior, he was the villain of Terminator 2, now he’s the bad buy up against two lame ass bros. The action, so to speak, was pretty poorly executed and considering it’s a plot — in which bad guy Patrick is after the other half of the dragon emblem to rule the world – that we’ve seen countless times before, which means you’re sitting watching some bad, over-the-top performances from just about all around, including our intrepid stars, Mark Dacascos and Scott Wolf, who at the very least seemed like they were having a good time.
Considering the crap that’s been out there in the video game to film adaptations, this is… okay not nearly as bad as Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, so there’s that going for Double Dragon. The film was directed by James Yukich and no surprise that not only was this his feature debut, but came from the world of music videos, and the frenetic editing showed in this film. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.25/5 |
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This release in the MVD Rewind Collection comes with a matted slip cover and inside is a folded poster of the film’s slip cover artwork. The interior cover is reversible revealing the original poster art. The Making of Double Dragon (1:07:35) – This is an in-depth, retrospective documentary featuring new interviews with Producer Don Murphy, Screenwriters Michael Davis & Peter Gould and Actors Scott Wolf & Mark Dacascos. The interviewees discuss aspects of their careers and then their work on Double Dragon, and some honest comments on what did not work. The best parts were with Davis and Gould, those two were a hoot, wish they had done a commentary track… Don Murphy: Portrait of a Producer (24:01) is an extended interview with Murphy as he talks about his career and how Double Dragon came about. “The Shadows Shaw” Animated Pilot (22:20) – This is the first episode of the Double Dragon animated series. Behind the Scenes Featurette (4:21) from circa 1993. Making of Featurette (4:44) is a promotional video with on-set interviews. There are several galleries: Stills (4:56), Behind the Scenes (1:55), Artwork (3:15), Storyboards (5:51) and Press Photo (1:28). Rounding things out, there are 2 Theatrical Trailers, the VHS Trailer and 2 TV Spots to go along with trailers for other MVD releases (Angel Town, Black Eagle, Man from Earth, Out of Time, Raven and Return of Swamp Thing). |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Double Dragon, based on the footage I’ve seen, has come a long way from its VHS days now coming to high-definition Blu-ray. The film is presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec). Not sure how much restoration was done or the source, but the picture here is fairly good, detail is sharp and colors come across with a nice vibrancy. However, there were a number of instances of dust marks and a couple obvious scratches. |
AUDIO – 3.25/5 |
| The default option is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track but also includes a PCM 2.0 track as well. Either option is fine but produces some minor hisses while the dialogue at least comes through with good clarity and even the action sequences come through with some minor depth. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
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Overall, Double Dragon is a bad yet still cheesy movie that screams 1990s with its style and direction, not to mention some over-the-top performances. I didn’t exactly hate this movie but it was hard to sit through at times. This Blu-ray from MVD offers up good video, okay audio as well as having a nice selection of bonus materials. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.