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Reviews
STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
5 Stars Classic
4 Stars Excellent
3 Stars Good
2 Stars Fair
1 Star Tragic

POSTER ART
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FILM DETAILS
Certificate
tbc
Cast
Devon Aoki
Holly Valance
Sarah Carter
Natassia Malthe
Matthew Marsden
Jamie Pressly
Eric Roberts.
Directors
Corey Yuen.
Screenwriters
Running Time
tbc minutes


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DOA: Dead Or Alive (tbc)

DOA: Dead Or Alive
Plot
The planet’s finest warriors, including four feisty femmes, are invited to a tropical island to take part in a fighting contest to win $10 million. But the tournament organiser (Eric Roberts) may be up to no good. Let battle commence!

Review

What are you doing friday night, six months from now? Well, cancel it — since you’re better off getting some mates round with a bevy of bevvies and laughing your reproductive equipment off at DOA, a videogame adaptation of such gleeful empty-headedness that the highest compliment we can pay it is that it should have gone direct to DVD. It’s that good (bad).

The Dead Or Alive series is all about exotic locales, bright, primary colours, and endless battles between bemuscled he-men and female warriors with boobs bigger than their brains. The movie sticks closely to this template — only the bust sizes have changed — but director Corey Yuen lavishes his energy on cranking up the pace, paring down the plot and making the whole kit-and-caboodle so darned fun that audiences won’t be absent-mindedly reaching for their joypads (steady…!) halfway through.

Yes, the performances are so wooden that things improve when Eric frickin’ Roberts turns up with a bad wig. Yes, its message of female empowerment is lost in an endless succession of gratuitous bikini shots (including, game fans, a volleyball sequence). But it’s all so knowingly performed and directed, and so ridiculously entertaining that — faint praise alert! — this is the movie that Charlie’s Angels should have been.

Verdict
In a year of big, dumb, enjoyable B-movies, DOA strikes a blow for girl power. Still, best wait for the DVD.


Reviewer: Chris Hewitt

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Your Reviews
Average user rating for DOA: Dead Or Alive
Empire Star Rating

Empire User Rating

Okay the plot is bollocks, and its is incredibly stupid that very male entering the tournament is beaten, by a female 4 times smaller than them, and yes the fact that Eric Roberts was cast is just asking for trouble, also how the hell were the pirates at the sart beaten, I mean they were led by the guy that played Lui Kang on the Mortal Kombat movies, however granted the girls were pretty hot and wore bikinis through most of the movie, and if it was ever shown on tv, I wouldn't mind watching it... Read More

dgribble About me
11:37, 04 March 2008 | Report This Post

We know why we all watched it.
Empire User Rating

This is a bad film but then again you get what you bargained for, hot girls, bad special effects and possibly the worst story line i'v seen in ages. it is however an ok way to spend a brainless hour and ten mins, sligtly dull but stupid and silly all th same. ... Read More

JimBo! About me
09:42, 23 February 2007 | Report This Post

Couldn't get much worse
Empire User Rating

This film was a travesty from the moment it began the acting was poor at best and a plot seems to be an optional extra. The film is based on a well selling game however the basic plot of the game is to kick the rubbish out of your opponent and this is not enough to hang a film on. I went along expecting a mildly thrilling action film instead I found a total waste of my time. Personally I would not see this film again if I was paid to; absolutely terrible premise and consistently a bad film throu... Read More

djohnson6 About me
15:36, 14 November 2006 | Report This Post

Couldn't get much worse
Empire User Rating

This film was a travesty from the moment it began the acting was poor at best and a plot seems to be an optional extra. The film is based on a well selling game however the basic plot of the game is to kick the rubbish out of your opponent and this is not enough to hang a film on. I went along expecting a mildly thrilling action film instead I found a total waste of my time. Personally I would not see this film again if I was paid to; absolutely terrible premise and consistently a bad film throu... Read More

djohnson6 About me
15:36, 14 November 2006 | Report This Post

Couldn't get much worse
Empire User Rating

This film was a travesty from the moment it began the acting was poor at best and a plot seems to be an optional extra. The film is based on a well selling game however the basic plot of the game is to kick the rubbish out of your opponent and this is not enough to hang a film on. I went along expecting a mildly thrilling action film instead I found a total waste of my time. Personally I would not see this film again if I was paid to; absolutely terrible premise and consistently a bad film throu... Read More

djohnson6 About me
15:36, 14 November 2006 | Report This Post

Couldn't get much worse
Empire User Rating

This film was a travesty from the moment it began the acting was poor at best and a plot seems to be an optional extra. The film is based on a well selling game however the basic plot of the game is to kick the rubbish out of your opponent and this is not enough to hang a film on. I went along expecting a mildly thrilling action film instead I found a total waste of my time. Personally I would not see this film again if I was paid to; absolutely terrible premise and consistently a bad film throu... Read More

djohnson6 About me
15:36, 14 November 2006 | Report This Post

Just Dead
Empire User Rating

What a let down... okay I never expected it to be good but this should have been made back in the early 90s with the flurry of other bad beat 'em up movies. In the first 5 mins we're introduced to a dreadful looking CGI japanese palace and learn why Devon Aoki didn't have any dialogue in Sin City. The acting is wooden, lines are poorly delivered, the bad guy's pathetic and the fight scenes are lacking. Holly Valance seems deperate to follow in the footsteps of Kylie (even in one of her worst fil... Read More

DeadlyAvenger About me
13:03, 20 September 2006 | Report This Post

RE: DOA:Dead Or Alive
Empire User Rating

Really really dull , builds towards the end but it feels very much like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, so very silly and the opening 5 minutes are laughable. Poorly done fights, a terrible bad guy and a crap ending add to the madness. Still Devon looked pretty.   1/5 Bollocks but pretty ... Read More

Godzilla About me
17:10, 19 September 2006 | Report This Post

RE: DOA:Dead Or Alive

L: tenacious k lookin forward to it for the sheer fact of devon aoki ote] Really? She looks like an extra from Deliverance. ... Read More

Bobby1975 About me
17:04, 19 September 2006 | Report This Post

RE: DOA:Dead Or Alive

Saw this the other day and I'll throw in my two pence.   The picture below sum up the film in general -       sp; Overall....Its not gonna win any awards (Maybe best arse in a bikini award) but it wears its silliness well and is inoffensive fun with lots of very fi ... Read More

kenada_woo About me
14:31, 18 September 2006 | Report This Post

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