Kung Fu movies are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. I love stuff like the Transporter, the more over the top the fighting is, the more fun I have.
So when DOA: Dead Or Alive dropped through the letterbox from my rental company I looked forward to some top class craziness from the assistant director from Transporter 1&2, The One and Kiss Of the Dragon - all top class OTT Kung Fu movies that are just pure popcorn fun.
I was also aware that DOA was based on the video game that involves cgi ladies bouncing majestically around a virtual beach volleyball pitch. Bonus points already.
And so I settled down to watch the movie whilst Jen was out, and was pleased to see plenty of eye candy in the form of major wire-fu and lovely lasses like Holly Vallance, Jaime Pressly and Devon Aoki high-kicking their way through a tournament arranged by the up-to-no-good Donovan (hammed up like a butcher’s shop by Eric Roberts). Fortunately they have brought enough bikinis with them to survive through to the final.
Sure enough, the tournament is a front for Donovan’s naughtiness and before you know it our girls are fighting for their lives and hoping to escape from the island. This is a completely potty movie - it’s like a video game with real actors - even the KO’s are just like a fighting game, and as soon as characters are out of the competition, they are gone, gone, gone, we don’t see them again! The fighting is beautifully choreographed, and the fights are set in typically dramatic locations, and the only thing that gets in the way is that pesky need to have some sort of story.
It is worth mentioning that this film is a lot of fun - sure it’s daft, sure it’s loopy, but it’s fun and, particularly for male viewers, chock full of eye candy. One for the gents to hire when the missus is out shopping, but whatever you do don’t expect her to like you if you make it your Valentines’ movie…
