DOA: Dead or Alive (2007)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Instant Favorite.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A fleeing Japanese princess, a girl wrestler daughter of wrestler, and an attractive master thief/killer get invited to DOA--some type of yearly fighting contest.A bunch of other guys are invited as well, including the big wrestler dad but the movie focuses on the three skinny tiny girls who beat up on 300lb guys no problem. Well, make that 4 skinny tiny girls as the daughter of the founder of the contest also participates as does some guy involved with the thief.The princess is there to look for her brother who was a contestant a year ago and is told he died. But he couldn't have because he was the greatest martial artist. Following her is her protector and her nemesis who is trying to get her to return to her reign.All this takes place on an island with Buddhist motifs everywhere. Running the operation is Eric Robers and his IT guy who falls for the founder's daughter, and countless minions. They inject all contestants with something to track them.Of course all the girls do well in their fights. Meanwhile, the thief and her guy plan an stealing all of Roberts' money. At some point he grabs all the main characters and through the substance he injected in them obtains their skills. He wears some fancy glasses that predict their moves and then beats most of them. He wants to sell the technology to the highest bidder. By that time the thieves are close to the money, our heroes escape, the island is about to blow up and Roberts also tries to escape.DOA is a fun hyper kinetic campy action movie. It's edited in a fast-paced hyper active way so you're always entertained. It's thankfully beautifully filmed in daylight with rich colors and contrast, there's none of that fighting in the rain at night nonsense that Hollywood is so fond of doing. And it's very sexy, probably one of the sexiest movies made in a long time, especially for a PG-13 movie, but it's even sexier than R-rated movies. And how could it be otherwise with the lovely Holly Valance (whatever happened to her?) and the wonderful Natassia Malthe, who unfortunately doesn't get to do anything sexy. Fighting scenes are actually pretty good, too. DOA is just plain fun escapism.

When I set about seeing this film, I had no idea it was based on a video game series, but it does make sense, especially when I read about what it was about, I just fancied something simple to watch really, directed by Corey Yuen (The Transporter). Basically "Dead or Alive" (DOA) is a martial arts tournament on an isolated island within an advanced complex where the world's best fighters participate in a contest, the loser who gets knocked-out will be forced to leave the island and return home, the winner will receive the ultimate prize of $10 million. Three female fighters are chosen to take part, they are Ninja princess Kasumi (Sin City's Devon Aoki), professional wrestler Tina Armstrong (My Name Is Earl's Jaime Pressly), and master thief and assassin Christie Allen ("Kiss Kiss" singer Holly Valance). Arriving on the island by aeroplane and parachute, Christie, Tina and Kasumi find out they are not just fighting for the championship, they are going against tournament master Donovan (Eric Roberts), the late tournament founder's teenage daughter Helena Douglas (Final Destination 2's Sarah Carter). Kasumi left her kingdom in search of her brother Hayate (Collin Chou) who disappeared a year ago at the tournament, Tina is taking part to prove she is not a fake when fighting, and Christie and her lover and treacherous partner Maximillian 'Max' Marsh (Resident Evil: Extinction's Matthew Marsden) plan to break into a vault on the island, of course Donovan has his own agenda and other plans of exploitation for the female fighters. Also starring Kane Kosugi as Hayabusa, Natassia Malthe as Ayane and Derek Boyer as Bayman. The cast all do their parts fine, there is an alright sort of story going on, and some fight scenes are well edited, but it felt like a big mash- up of Charlie's Angels and Mortal Kombat taking place on a Tracy Island, and I was much more distracted by the beautiful women kicking ass and semi-naked with fabulous figures in bikinis almost the whole way through, overall it is an average martial arts action adventure. Okay!

Of all the genres of video games adapted for the silver screen, by far the most disastrous has to be to the beat-em-up (assuming that we forget the mess that was "Super Mario Bros."). Movies are supposed to have plot and character development, rather than a bunch of different arenas and costumes. The Dead Or Alive games occupy a strange place within the genre, speaking as someone who doesn't really get beat-em-ups. Street Fighter had the vast list of cast and special moves to master, Mortal Kombat had the digitised avatars and bloody finishing moves. DOA, meanwhile, boasted that the graphics engine could "realistically" show boobs moving about and boy, did they move about! The movie adaptation is under no illusion that it only has to appeal to young boys on the cusp of discovering girls and frankly, if you don't match that description then this will depress, underwhelm or entertain you with its crude laughs or a combination of all three.DOA itself is your standard fighting tournament, organised on a mysterious tropical island with a variety of oddball combatants and a $10 million prize fund for the winner. Each contestant is invited by tournament organiser Donovan (Eric Roberts) to attend, having been judged to be masters of their particular fighting style. For Princess Kasumi (Devon Aoki), it is a chance to find her apparently dead brother and fellow warrior Hayate (Collin Chou). Master thief Christie (Holly Valance) has her eyes on a bigger prize with her on-off partner Max (Matthew Marsden) while retired professional wrestler Tina (Jaime Pressly) sees the DOA as a chance to prove that wrestling isn't fake. As the tournament progresses, it becomes clear that our three heroines must work together to overcome a much greater threat than any of their opponents thus far.Assuming that you're still interested by this point, "DOA: Dead Or Alive" does nothing to remedy the woeful track record of video game adaptations. It isn't as bad as a Uwe Boll effort - there is almost an excess of spit-and-polish as characters carry out "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"-style moves with alarming regularity. I can't comment on how close to the originals their movie counterparts are but most characters fit into one of four categories: bikini babe, muscle-bound meat-head, generic ninja and other. Retaining the rampantly sexist element, the film has almost as much gratuitous shots of Valance, Aoki, Pressly and Sarah Carter as it does fight scenes but neither the teasing nudity or the overly-familiar carnage has the slightest bit of context. There isn't a single shot in this movie you haven't already seen elsewhere with the possible exception of Roberts throwing away the rest of his career. His ridiculous performance is probably the worst of the lot although Aoki pushes him close, being a charisma-void in the middle of the picture. Carter does OK compared to the rest of the cast but isn't given nearly enough to do besides a couple of fight scenes and oh yes... wear a bikini.I imagine that fans of the game might enjoy this as will the afore-mentioned pre-pubescent boys that "DOA: Dead Or Alive" strives to appeal to but personally, I found this film about as clever as smashing my own face in with a frying pan. Why is the code to Donovan's secret vault tattooed onto the back of the neck of one of the contestants? Why does bamboo slice perfectly when a sword goes through it but during a fight, becomes as tough as scaffolding (and sounds like it too)? Why did the computer nerd and comedic device Weatherby (Steve Howey) stick around after discovering the evil scheme at the heart of the tournament? Why was nothing explained about the purple-haired warrior Ayane (Natassia Malthe) trailing Kasumi and what exactly did she do in the film? Why did all the tournament contestants have to parachute onto the island instead of taking a boat? Because director Corey Yuen thinks it looks cool and that's the end of it. "DOA: Dead Or Alive" feels cheap, nasty, repetitive and frankly, a little seedy. If you're looking for brainless thrills or a bad movie that you could easily provide your own commentary on then this will do the trick. Everyone else should keep well away - this is about as much fun as rebooting your Xbox.

I like action movies, but I know the score with movies based on games. They tend to be low budget crap, that offend every sensibility you might have towards good film making.However I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It has a nice clean style, doesn't take itself too seriously, and it was fun and entertaining to watch. Most importantly I didn't feel it suffered too much from the bad acting, casting and costumes that plagued similar movies like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. The notable exception being Ayane, who suffers from the dreaded 'white girl in an anime costume' playing Asian. Thankfully she is not in it too much.If I could liken it to other movies. I would say it is on a par with films like Fast and the Furious (or any Vin Diesel film really), Charlie's Angels, or Men in Black. If you were able to sit though those, and be entertained, then you should be happy with this too.I don't usually like watching trailers because they often spoil films. But in this case, there isn't a great deal to spoil. So I would advise watching the trailer and go with your impulse. If you find yourself thinking "this might be fun" then you will probably enjoy it. On the other hand: If you think "this looks like inane tripe" then I doubt watching the whole thing will change your mind.I would give this film a 6, it has good fight scenes, hot girls, non- stop action, and nothing too serious or annoying to spoil the fun.