{"id":30194,"date":"2019-01-22T17:30:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T22:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=30194"},"modified":"2019-01-22T17:32:36","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T22:32:36","slug":"double-dragon-1994-2-disc-special-edition-blu-ray-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/22\/double-dragon-1994-2-disc-special-edition-blu-ray-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Double Dragon (1994): 2 Disc Special Edition [Blu-Ray\/DVD]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Director James Yukich\u2019s \u201cDouble Dragon\u201d is a nineties anomaly that\u2019s right up there with \u201cSuper Mario Bros: The Movie,\u201d and \u201cStreet Fighter: The Movie.\u201d It\u2019s so deliriously awful and willingly misses the point of the source material it adapts, and yet it\u2019s delightfully entertaining. As an artifact of the decade, it\u2019s a fun tribute to everything 1990\u2019s (Mark Dacascos and<\/em><\/strong> Scott Wolf!), as a video game movie it\u2019s a fascinating example of what not<\/em><\/strong> to do, and as an action movie it\u2019s a serviceable amalgam of martial arts, comedy, science fiction, post apocalyptic fantasy, and chop socky schlock. If you can divorce yourself from the video game, \u201cDouble Dragon\u201d works as a fascinating but entertaining botched cash in on a video game series that was so much better.<\/p>\n

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Based very loosely on the smash hit Nintendo video game, \u201cDouble Dragon\u201d is set in the dystopian world of 2007, where crime lord Kaga Shuko is setting out to find the mystical Double Dragon medallion. It\u2019s been split in two pieces and scattered; when assembled the medallion can grant the user amazing powers. When Kaga garners the powers of one piece, he can become the shadow monster which allows him to possess human. But he wants the other half. When brothers and martial artists Billy and Jimmy Lee learn their mentor and sensei Satori has been guarding the other half of the medallion for years, Kaga learns of the secret and seeks out the trio for the other half. After Satori dies, it\u2019s up to the teenage brothers to avenge their master, and keep the other half safe while fulfilling their destinies.<\/p>\n

The 1994 movie is watchable by virtue of sheer nostalgia, as it manages to depict everything that was so weird but fun about the nineties. From the frost hair, flat tops, and wild fashion, to the attempts to mimic films like \u201cRobocop\u201d and \u201cBlade Runner\u201d with a back drop that\u2019s painfully hard to look at, and Alyssa Milano slumming it in goofy genre projects before her career resurgence in the late nineties. To worsen things, the production crew commits to an unpleasant aesthetic by turning every villain in to ugly freaks and mutants. Even Abobo is given a bizarre make over. The casting is also purely nothing but stunt casting with Scott Wolf barely able to sell his role as a martial artist, while Mark Dacascos is fairly misused.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Robert Patrick still riding high off his iconic role in \u201cTerminator 2\u201d That said, \u201cDouble Dragon\u201d packs in some fun and hearty laughs, however unintentional they may be. Not to mention the direction from James Yukich adds some flair to a film that\u2019s fairly unspectacular. Mark Dacascos was always such a fun and dynamic action star that Hollywood never knew what to do with and he gets a good spotlight in a movie where he might have shone brightly if paired with another action star with equal or superior skill. I doubt we\u2019ll ever get another attempt at a feature adaptation, but \u201cDouble Dragon\u201d has a ton of kitsch value and is so bad it\u2019s quite good. It deserves a viewing for its unabashed embracing of the decade both excellent and awful.<\/p>\n

Along with the DVD copy, there are alternate cover arts for collectors, as well as a special mini-poster. There\u2019s a brand new feature length documentary called \u201cThe Making of Double Dragon\u201d which features interviews with stars Scott Wolf and Marc Dacascos, writers Peter Gould & Michael Davis and producer Don Murphy. There\u2019s a brand new featurette called \u201cDon Murphy: Portrait of a Producer\u201d which explores the career of Don Murphy. There\u2019s a vintage \u201cMaking Of\u201d featurette, and a vintage Behind the Scenes featurette. As an added treat there\u2019s the original pilot episode of the 1993 \u201cDouble Dragon\u201d animated series entitled \u201cThe Shadow Falls.\u201d There\u2019s a storyboard gallery, press photos, a marketing gallery, and finally a Behind the Scenes photo gallery. There are a slew of TV Spots, the original VHS home video trailer, and finally the original theatrical trailer.<\/p>\n