Description: Four gorgeous women are invited to a remote island to participate in a fighting tournament.
Amazon.com: Based on the popular video-game series, Corey (The Transporter) Yuen's DOA: Dead Or Alive brings together cheesecake titillation and martial-arts action in a lightweight slice of exploitation that's sure to keep its largely young and male audience happy. Jaime Pressly (My Name is Earl) is top-billed as a pro wrestler who joins a no-holds-barred brawling competition on a remote island; once there, she discovers that the tournament's sponsor, Donovan (Eric Roberts at his toothiest and oiliest), has nefarious plans up his sleeve, and the competitors (which include Devon Aoki, Holly Valance, and the always impressive Kane Kosugi) must bond together to fight a common enemy. As with 2007's The Condemned, DOA: Dead Or Alive is the 21st century equivalent of an early '70s drive-in movie: Proudly loud and lunkheaded, its main function is to cram as much fighting and bikini-clad women into its running time as possible, and to that end, it's enormously successful. Director Yuen understands this, and wisely skews the tone towards the broadly (ahem) tongue-in-cheek; Pressly (whose knack for comedy doesn't get as much mileage here) and the rest of her castmates look good and move well, and the fighting, while not on par with Hong Kong or Thai standards, is plentiful and flashy. If you come expecting this and nothing else, you'll have a fine time with DOA: Dead Or Alive. --Paul Gaita
Good movie but bad plot. DOA is a good movie but has a very bad plot. Jamie Pressly, Devon Aoki, Holly Valance. The movie is choregraphed by Corey Yuen. It is a great chick flick but the story needs a-lot of work. I know it's based on the popular video game.
Wild,crazy martial arts fun!!! Reasons to watch this movie...
1) Over the top martial arts mayhem. 2) Beautiful women,including but not limited to...Jaime Pressly("Joy" from My Name Is Earl)and Sarah Carter("Alicia" from Smallville). 3) Evil criminal mastermind well played by Eric Roberts.
Fighters of various styles compete in a by-invitation-only martial arts tournament.Some fight for money.Some fight for answers.Some fight to prove themselves.The tournament takes place on a secluded island.The fighting is crazy-wild,along the lines of Kill Bill and Charlies Angels and is surprisingly good and well done.Jaime Pressly has been kick boxing and practicing the martial arts for years(watch the making of feature) and is very believable as a fighter(as are all the stars).
This is not a Bruce Lee movie.It's more light hearted in feel than Kill Bill.It's more Charlies Angels with a touch of evil genius who wants to rule the world thrown in. Martial artists,professional wrestlers,ninja assassins,master thieves and excellent characterization and acting by all involved(even Eric Roberts),makes this a very entertaining movie.It's not a comedy,but it's not dark and bloody either.Just a good popcorn action flick.
More "Dead" Than "Alive" Chalk one up for oblivion and greedy studios, video game fans - we lost out on "DOA: Dead or Alive". Whilst watching this movie, I became convinced of a couple of things: first of all, the filmmakers obviously wanted to replicate what "Mortal Kombat" had done for the adaptation genre ten years ago; and secondly, every single one of them had both an unhealthy fixation with breasts but had never actually touched a pair themselves. Both of these aspects become all too obvious throughout the course of this 87-minute debacle that's sure to give critics just another reason to bash on game-based movies.
In "DOA", the best fighters from around the world - including a Japense princess (Devon Aoki, "Sin City"), a female pro wrestler (Jaime Presley, "My Name Is Earl"), and a beautiful assassin (Holly Valance, "Taken") - are called to partake in a tournament for the prize of $10 million. Their reasons for joining are diverse: the princess Kasumi is searching for her lost brother Hayate (Collin Chou, "The Forbidden Kingdom") who disappeared after the last tournament; Tina the wrestler is desperate to prove to the world that she's not a fake; and the assassin Christie plans to steal the prize money. However, when it becomes clear that the tournament is merely a cover for a more sinister operation instigated by the organizer Donovan (Eric Roberts, "Runaway Train"), the remaining warriors must cast aside their differences to escape with their lives.
While the film has no shortage of characters from the game series, you'll get to actually know next to none of them because the focus is constantly on the three starring ladies, which are highlighted more for their quirks and sex appeal than for their respective backgrounds or fighting abilities. Characters like Hayate, Hayabusa (Kane Kosugi), and Ayane (Natassia Malthe, "Elektra") are major players in the games, but in the movie, they're presented as little more than afterthoughts in favor of the teasing sensuality, light lesbianism, and partial nudity, all of which are presented as though the viewer is eavesdropping in on the classroom daydream of a 15-year-old boy - girls sharing beds, fighting topless, the ever-forgettable volleyball match, etc. etc. etc.
Of course, that's only half the story - what about the action? Ten martial arts showdowns highlight the actual fighting aspect of the franchise. To run down the list, Tina vs. Zack (Brian J. White - designated token black guy), Hayabusa vs. guards, and the sword fight involving Helena are good; Kasumi vs. Ayane, Helena vs. Christie, Hayate vs. Donovan, and Donovan vs. the girls are merely decent; and Leon vs. Kasumi and Tina vs. Bass are in the infamous negative-star range (Max vs. Bayman also takes place, but it's too much of a joke to count). Though it lacks a proper term, I label the action in "DOA" as "pop fighting" - lots of posing, quick cuts, wire-fu, and the performing of moves that not even suspension of disbelief can make plausible; in particular, the Leon/Kasumi encounter is a study in ridiculousness. Another critic quipped "checking one's brain at the door is required before watching DOA", and that effectively sums up the fighting.
I won't even get into the forsaken acting, the braindead dialogue ("I am your servant, but if you leave the compound, I am honor-bound to kill you"), the ridiculous production (overdone sound effects, repetitious transitions), or the fact that Hayabusa walks through the entire movie wearing his headband like an idiot on a hot day: you'll already know by now that unless you're over the age of fourteen, you'll need to watch this film whilst intoxicated to walk away thinking it was at all signifigant. "DOA" might have been a great film back in 1995, but nowadays, it's thoroughly behind the times in what both an action movie of any kind could be. The film received only limited promotion in North America, and I'm not surprised: director Corey Yuen ("The Transporter"), writer J.F. Lawton ("Under Siege"), and producer/genre guru Paul Anderson ("Resident Evil") really could've done better than this.
Actually Good Just like all the other reviewers say, the story is NOT going to win any oscars.
The first 15 minutes or so had me thinking the movie would suck because the fighting/intro to the characters seemed really cheesy to me. There were also a couple other teeth-gratingly cheesy moments in this movie to boot.
As the movie went on, the action actually started to really impress me and it lost that cheesy feeling it gave me near the beginning. I also really liked the women (of course) in the movie to, with my favorite fight being the one between Helena and Christie.
So yea, if you want a movie with good combat and gorgeous women check DOA out.
Review of Dead or Alive (DOA) DVD was entertaining and special effects and stunts were done well. Babes were hot and kicked a** which is always fun and an acknowledgement that women can be attractive and also accomplished. Looking forward to seeing a sequel for this flick. Would have been improved with the addition of more sizzling Asian babes. Also, I appreciated the quick filling of this order by Amazon.
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