It is a cliché to even point out it, however some clichés are clichés for a purpose: Most online game motion pictures aren’t superb, and those which can be superb are often good “for a online game film.” That is to say that no matter their budgets, they’re b-movie style workout routines with modest objectives, achieved with modest success.

For instance, live-action motion pictures primarily based on preventing video games are largely underwhelming. We have had two live-action “Road Fighter” motion pictures and actually, neither of these movies has been about avenue preventing. The movies primarily based on “Tekken” and “King of Fighters” did not make any impression in any respect. The much less mentioned about “Double Dragon” (which was primarily based on a beat ’em up, however continues to be a film about fighters), the higher.

Typical knowledge states that Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Mortal Kombat” is likely one of the finest online game motion pictures simply because it would not stray from the essential method. It will get a bunch of characters who’re good at preventing in the identical place and makes them struggle one another. However that is the naked minimal we must always be capable to count on from these motion pictures, not a perfect.

And admittedly, even the unique “Mortal Kombat” pales compared with the various preventing motion pictures that immediately impressed each the film and the online game, like “Enter the Dragon” and “Grasp of the Flying Guillotine.” It is a enjoyable film however the fights are largely unremarkable, the plot is weirdly self-serious contemplating how nonsensical it’s, and the performing is everywhere. It is an inconsistent piece of leisure.

It would be a stretch to say that Corey Yuen’s “DOA: Lifeless or Alive” is a cinematic traditional, or that it transcends its subgenre, and even that it is a top-tier struggle film in a vacuum. Nevertheless it kicks extra butt than all the opposite online game preventing motion pictures put collectively.