Satori has been raising two handsome smartass teenage kickboxers in and around L.A. The other half, as it turns out, belongs to an exiled kung-fu master named Satori ( Julia Nickson-Soul). Not content with his new superpowers, he sets out to find the second half (I’m wondering why so many talismans in movies are so easily broken down the middle). He has got his hands on one half of a magical amulet that allows him to turn into a shadow. High atop a tower in the still-standing downtown, a wicked corporate swine named Guisman ( Robert Patrick) rules the cops and most of the gangs. These are brightly-dressed gang members, and are about one tenth as threatening as the goofball gangsters in “The Warriors.” The post-apocalyptic landscape looks less like a smoking, destitute hole, and more like a Universal backlot action spectacular set. The landscape is ruled by evil gangs and secret street fighters. The story of “Double Dragon:” Los Angeles has been devastated by The Big One. Incidentally, the actual screenplay was co-written by Michael Davis, who just created “Shoot ‘Em Up.” T” (episode: “The Ninja Mystery”), the short-lived “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” series, and “Ewoks.” I so exhaustively list his filmography as to give you an idea where “Double Dagon” started from. Its story was by Paul Dini which people who grew up watching cartoons in the early ‘90s might recognize as the writer of “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Tiny Toon Adventures.” He was also one of the single minds responsible for “Freakazoid!” He’s since gone on to write for “Lost.” He also used to write for such great shows as “Jem and the Holograms,” “Mr. “Double Dragon” was directed by a man credited as James Nickson (née James Yukich), a long-time music video luminary who has worked for greats like Pat Benatar and Mike + The Mechanics. But calling “Street Fighter” batter than “Double Dragon” is like saying it’s better to be hit with an aluminum bat than with a wooden one. Luckily, we are still dating.Ĭhris, if you are reading this, you were correct. My loving girlfriend sat through both films with me. With equal moxie I proclaimed “So I could watch it back-to-back with ‘Double Dragon.’” We put them in the player. She looked at me as if I just blew my nose on her blouse. “Why did you rent ‘Street Fighter?’” she asked. “Look what I got!” I proudly exclaimed, and withdrew it: “Street Fighter!” I brought them home in a stack to show to my girlfriend. I was proud of myself, having finally the moxie to fulfill this childhood desire. In late 2006, after some nostalgic film discussions with co-workers, I was reminded of my old adolescent urge to see “Double Dragon,” and, by extension, to compare it to “Street Fighter.” I rented them both, and brought them home, intending to watch them back-to-back. I grew up without many video-game-based films in my system, and, it could be argued, that I was a better person for it. I leaned over to my friend and whispered that I wanted to see “Double Dragon.” He scoffed at me, pointing out that “Street Fighter” was clearly superior.Īs it turns out, I saw neither film that year. The other was “Street Fighter,” also a Van Damme vehicle, and featured a UN-like military enclave bringing down a South American tyrant. One was called “Double Dragon,” and featured a grim gang-ruled future, which ended up being saved by the fighting skills of two wisecracking teenagers. Two new films were coming soon to a theater near us, both of them based on popular video games. When I went to see the Peter Hyams-directed, Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle “Timecop” back in 1994 with a friend of mine (he was almost 15, I 13), we were treated to several audience-appropriate previews.
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