Review of DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) by Kai82 — 24 Jan 2020

There are two ways to rate this movie: 1. An enjoyable and beautiful silly movie that takes itself not serious. 2. A movie that fails at nearly everything. It is a movie adaptation of the Dead or Alive video games.

I have not played the games so I don't know if this is a good adaptation. The main story arc is about a martial arts contest on an isolated island held by a multi millionaire (Or billionaire?) with a prize money of 10 million dollar (Anyone thinking that this man has an evil agenda or just wants to see nice women fighting each other? ;-).

Then there are the stories of the participating characters. Some want to prove themselves others want the money or have personal reasons to attend. I must admit that this movie is full of cliches and stereotypes that I would rate negative in other movies.

It is like a “So bad that its good” movie and I view this as guilty pleasure. For me this is a hilarious enjoyable movie. I like the humour of this movie. There are so many gags that work well. It helps that the movie took itself not serious and I think that is the reason that I like it (And it got so many positive user scores).

But what about the fight scenes? As adaptation for a fighting game it delivers some good fights and some hilarious silly over the top fights. However the final confrontation is really good. I have seen worse in better movies.

The bad guy gets a remarkable punishment. The actors are fine. In a movie like this you don't expect a Shakespearean performance (That would be awkward). I like the female cast and their interactions as well as the male cast and villain.

Overall this is silly, funny and enjoyable. If you want a good serious movie then you are at the wrong place. Watch Dead Poets Society, The Godfather or Schindler’s List instead. All three of this movie are 10/10 and should be on all times top lists.