History Film / DoubleDragon

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doubledragon1994_5075.jpg]]

->''"Thousands of years ago in ancient China, an evil army of shadow warriors... terrorized the great city of Shang-sa. To save his people the good king sacrificed himself to create a mystical medallion. Realizing the ultimate powers of the medallion, the king split it in half. To one son he gave the power over body, to the other, power over the soul. This is the legend of the Double Dragon."''
-->-- '''Koga Shuko'''

''Double Dragon'' is a 1994 MartialArtsMovie loosely based on the ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' video game series.

In [[TwentyMinutesInTheFuture 2007]], a huge natural disaster known as the "Big One" has left most of California flooded. In the city of [[NewNeoCity New Angeles]], a powerful crime lord named Koga Shuko (Creator/RobertPatrick) owns one half of a mythical medallion known as the "Double Dragon". When Shuko learns that two young brothers named Billy and Jimmy Lee (Creator/ScottWolf and Creator/MarkDacascos) have uncovered the other half, he orders the entire gang population of New Angeles to go after the Lee boys.

When their adopted mother Satori (Creator/JuliaNickson) is killed during an attack by Shuko, the Lees must team with a Guardian Angel-style group of vigilantes known as the Power Corps, led by the police chief's daughter Marian Delario (Creator/AlyssaMilano), in order to avenge the woman that raised them and save the city.

See also the Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme movie ''Film/DoubleImpact'', which is viewed by some as a SpiritualAdaptation of the games.

!!This film has examples of:

* ActionGirl: Marian, who's leading a band of rebels and who pretty much saves the brothers' bacon at every turn.
* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: The Double Dragon Medallion.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Billy to Jimmy. And also, Marian's little brother Marc.
* AsHimself: George Hamilton, Vanna White, and Andy Dick are [[KentBrockmanNews a New Angeles news team]], apparently having taken jobs in TV journalism in the wake of the Big Quake. It's not entirely clear if this bit is supposed to be full-on AdamWesting or not due to how flatly it's played.
* BigBad: Koga Shuko, also known as "Geistman" by Satori, the brothers' guardian.
* CurseCutShort: An exchange between Billy and Koga Shuko has Billy going "Oh, sh-" before Koga Shuko interrupting him, saying "You said it." Later given a DialogueReversal as the brothers turn the tables on Koga Shuko.
%%* DaChief: Delario.
* DecompositeCharacter: Marian the DistressedDamsel (with some occasional competency at times) is basically split into the movie's Marian, who took the competency aspects, and Satori, who was not that incompetent but shares Marian's fate in the second game.
* DemonicPossession: The second half of the Dragon Medallion gives the user power over the soul, which is used to evil effect by Koga Shuko, as well as to hilarious effect when Jimmy possesses Shuko at the end.
* DirtyCop: Averted with Marian's dad Chief Delario. Shuko tries to bribe him with a suitcase full of cash to look the other way. Delario just closes the suitcase, refusing to take it, [[DisappointedInYou disappointing Shuko]]. Though he does take the money when Shuko (possessed by Jimmy) asks to be arrested.
-->'''Chief Delario:''' I told you Shuko, you can't bribe me.\\
'''Shuko/Jimmy:''' It's no bribe. ''(offers his hands)'' Arrest me.
* TheDogBitesBack: When Abobo sees what he's been turned into, he gets even with Shuko by revealing his weakness to the heroes.
* DragonsUpTheYinYang: In addition to the dragons in promotional imagery from the game, the film added various dragon-themed props.
* EliteMooks: The Ninja Wraiths that the brothers have to fight when Shuko unites both halves of the medallion.
* {{Expy}}: Shuko may be partially based on the Shadow Master, due to his power to possess people turns him into a shadowy spectre and later transforms into a dark warrior.
* EyeScream: A more lighthearted example happens when Jimmy pokes Smartass Mohawk on the eye with a metal bar, leaving him crying. Luckily for the man, there's a guy with an eyepatch to give him a shoulder to cry on about his loss.
* FascinatingEyebrow: Shuko, after possessing Jimmy, as Billy fights just before the final battle.
* GangOfHats: Every member of Mohawks, led by Abobo, has a mohawk. There are also gangs that dress up as clowns, schoolboys and postmen.
* HypocriticalHumor: The press question Chief Delario about the possibility of some of the gangs (like the Power Corps) being misunderstood. He reminds them it's almost curfew, and they depart.
* InformedAttribute: We're certainly informed the powers of the magic amulet are awesome, and Shuko's shadow powers with his half are pretty cool. But when he gets the whole thing and gains supposedly ultimate power, he loses it thanks to a brightly-lit room. And the Lee brothers getting powers from the amulet involves Shuko losing all of his, at which point they could've easily defeated him with no magic powers at all. So really, all the amulet gives the brothers is fancy martial arts outfit and let Jimmy possess Shuko to make him look like an idiot after he's already lost.
* InNameOnly: An odd case; the movie keeps many character names, and even attempts to adapt some elements of it, preserving some of the villains and even the confrontation between the brothers at the end. But then there's the rest of it.
* InspectorJavert: Marian's dad believe the Power Corps are a dangerous gang, despite how many times she says he's wrong. Later, he changed his mind after seeing her daughter is one of them and saves her and the brothers from Shuko's henchgirl Linda Lash.
* KickTheDog: Not only does Shuko blow up Satori's place with her in it, but he possesses Satori with his medallion ''[[ForcedToWatch just to make her watch]]''.
* MacGuffin: The Double Dragon Medallion. One half, belonging to Billy, grants power over the body, while the other half, used by both Shuko and Jimmy, grants power over the soul.
* MythologyGag: Shuko with his medallion's powers, is loosely based on the Mysterious Warrior from ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonII''.
* {{Ninja}}: When Shuko combines both medallions by himself, the result is Shuko turning into a shadow being which then splits into two deadly Ninja Wraiths that the brothers have to deal with.
* PoliceAreUseless: Even they follow curfew. Though justified, since they have neither the manpower nor motive to deal with the gangs. Averted with Chief Delario, who wishes to do more. After helping Marian and the Lee Brothers, he tries to motivate his fellow officers to take care of the gangs once and for all, but they wouldn't. Delario's second-in-command thinks he's only asking for their help to find his daughter. But he tells them his daughter and her Power Corps are doing the work for the cops. He gives them a direct order to come with him, but they still refuse so he went on his own. By the end of the film, the police now have the strength to fight the gangs rather than compromising with them.
* RecursiveCanon: A ''Double Dragon'' arcade cabinet appears in the background. A Shuko-possessed Jimmy breaks it while fighting Billy.
* RedOniBlueOni: Billy and Jimmy. Ironically, in complete opposition to their trademark colors, Jimmy is the more calm and responsible Blue while Billy is the more impulsive and reckless red.
* SecretKeeper: Marc knows Marian is the leader of the Power Corps. But he tries to get something out of keeping it a secret, which Marian ignores. He hopes she'll get busted eventually. Of course, their dad does find out and Marian probably won't hear the end of it despite things working out in the end.
* ShoutOut:
** Koga Shuko asks from his twin underlings: "[[Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews Huey, Lewis. Any news]]?"
** Creator/AlyssaMilano asks, "Series/WhosTheBoss"
** Marian compares Abobo to the [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Stay Puft Marshmallow Man]] after seeing his transformation.
* WeaksauceWeakness: It's established early in the film that for whatever reason, Koga Shuko is sensitive to light, which is why he spends most of the film wearing sunglasses, sunglasses that conveniently disappear during the climax. After he gets both pieces of the amulet and goes OneWingedAngel, Marian gets the lights back on, stripping away all of Shuko's power just like that.
* WhipItGood: Linda Lash carries a whip.
* WonderTwinPowers: The only way the Dragon medallion could be used in the movie without corrupting the user with its power, with Billy using one half of the medallion and Jimmy using the other.
* {{Xenafication}}: Marian, the Power Corps leader, is supposed to be the same character who gets punched in the stomach and carried off by the Black Warriors in the original game.
* YouDidEverythingYouCould: Jimmy thinks Satori [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot should have told him and Billy the truth about the medallion sooner]]. Billy defends her, saying she had no idea Shuko would find the first half and be looking for the other, "she did the best she could". [[WhatTheHellHero Billy calls him out for it]], since she was the only family they had.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Shuko mutated Abobo into a hulking giant for failing to steal the other half of the medallion, despite insisting he had no idea what it was.
* YourMom:
-->'''Shuko:''' You're weak like your father.\\
'''Billy:''' You're ugly like your mother!
* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Chief Delario designates the Power Corps as terrorists, even though they're the most heroic gang.
* {{Zeerust}}: The film takes place in a future after a huge natural disaster has left most of UsefulNotes/LosAngeles (now dubbed New Angeles) flooded... in the year 2007.

----

''Double Dragon'' is a 1994 film loosely based on the ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' video game series.

* InformedAttribute: We're certainly informed the powers of the magic amulet are awesome, and Shuko's shadow powers with his half are pretty cool. But when he gets the whole thing and gains supposedly ultimate power, he loses it thanks to a brightly-lit room. And the Lee brothers getting powers from the amulet involves Shuko losing all of his, at which point they could've easily defeated him with no magic powers at all. So really, all the amulet gives the brothers is fancy martial arts outfit and let Billy possess Shuko to make him look an idiot after he's already lost.

* WeaksauceWeakness: It's established early in the film that for whatever reason, Koga Shuko is sensitive to light, which is why he spends most of the film wearing sunglasses, sunglasses that conveniently disappear during the climax. After he gets both pieces of the amulet and goes OneWingedAngel, Marian gets the lights back the lights back on, stripping away all of Shuko's power just like that.

* WeaksauceWeakness: It's established early in the film that for whatever reason, Koga Shuko is sensitive to light, which is why he spends most of the film wearing sunglasses, sunglasses that conveniently disappear during the climax. Unsurprisingly, during the climax Marian turns the lights back on, leaving him completely helpless.

* DecompositeCharacter: Marian the DistressedDamsel (with some occasional competency at times) is basically split into the movie's Marian, who took the competency aspects, and Satori, who was not that incompetent but shares Marian's [[StuffedIntoTheFridge fate in the second game.]]

%%* ThoseTwoBadGuys

''Double Dragon'' is a 1994 [[VideoGameMoviesSuck film loosely based]] on the ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' video game series. And by "loosely based", we mean it has nothing in common with the original video games other than the names of a few characters and [[InNameOnly the title]].

Aside from deviating from the original game's basic plot of two brothers beating up gang members in order to rescue a common love interest, the film also downplays the Lee brothers' martial art skills from the game by having their movie alter-egos spend most of their screen time screaming like girls and running away from the bad guys, unlike the original games, which were about beating people up.

The film was featured on an episode of ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst''. It was also given the Podcast/{{RiffTrax}} treatment in 2021, albeit with a couple scenes inexplicably missing, such as the "air mail" bit.

For those looking for a [[SpiritualAdaptation more faithful adaptation]] of the games, see the Jean Claude Van-Damme movie ''Film/DoubleImpact''.

* CurseCutShort:
-->'''Billy:''' Oh, sh-
-->'''Koga Shuko:''' You said it.
** Later given a DialogueReversal as the brothers turn the tables on Koga Shuko.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Koga Shuko spends the whole movie trying to unite the almighty magical amulet, and uses it to turn himself into a pair of seemingly unstoppable ghost-like killers. Until Marian turns the lights back on, leaving him completely helpless.

The film was featured on an episode of ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst''. It was also given the Podcast/{{RiffTrax}} treatment in 2021, albeit with a couple scenes inexplicably missing.

Aside from deviating from the original game's basic plot of two brothers beating up gang members in order to rescue a common love interest, the film also downplays the Lee brothers' martial art skills from the game by having their movie alter-egos spend most of their screen time screaming like girls and running away from the bad guys, CompletelyMissingThePoint of the original games, which was about beating people up.

The film was featured on an episode of ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst''.

* KickTheDog: Not only does Shuko blow up Satori's place with her in it, but he takes over Satori ''[[ForcedToWatch just to make her watch]]''.

* DemonicPossession: The second half of the Dragon Medallion gives the user power over the soul, and which is used to evil effect by Koga Shuko, as well as to hilarious effect when Jimmy possesses Shuko at the end.