DOA: Dead or Alive (2007)

34% of critics liked it
(44 reviews)
43% of users liked it
(460,373 ratings)

Legendary Hong Kong action director and choreographer Corey Yuen brings Tecmo's best-selling video-game franchise to the big screen in a martial arts extravaganza featuring an impressive quartet of female fighters including Devon Aoki, Sarah Carter, Jaime Pressly, and Holly Valance. Tina (Pressly),… More Legendary Hong Kong action director and choreographer Corey Yuen brings Tecmo's best-selling video-game franchise to the big screen in a martial arts extravaganza featuring an impressive quartet of female fighters including Devon Aoki, Sarah Carter, Jaime Pressly, and Holly Valance. Tina (Pressly), Christie (Valance), Kasumi (Aoki), and Helena (Carter) are four skilled martial artists whose outwardly sexy appearances betray their true lethal natures. When the fearsome females each receive an invitation to take part in an illegal martial arts competition to be staged on a remote Asian island, the prospect of a ten-million-dollar top prize is only sweetened by the fact that they will be facing off against some of the toughest fighters on the planet. Now, in order to defend their honor and search for the answers to life's greatest mysteries, Tina, Christie, Kasumi, and Helena will check their inhibitions at the beach and prepare for a series of fights that will test not only their strength, stamina, and endurance, but the very foundation of their dedication to the martial arts as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Corey Yuen
Written By: J.F. Lawton, Adam Gross, Seth Gross, Granz Henman
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure

In Theaters: Jun 15, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Sep 4, 2007
Studio: The Weinstein Co.

Critic Reviews

Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly
If you only ever see one bad movie about warrior chicks who meet on a tropical isle for a fight contest, make it DOA: Dead or Alive.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Quantcast The plot is but an excuse for a series of elaborately choreographed fight sequences featuring a combination of digital and wire work that somehow manages to feel completely fake despite the obvious physical exertions of its well-trained cast.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
DOA was the right title for this, acronym-bending or not.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
There was a time when movies like DOA: Dead or Alive lurked sheepishly at schoolboy height on video store shelves, spines straining to accommodate the charms of their actresses.
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
Charlie's Angels, Survivor, American Gladiators and Girls Gone Wild are just some of the bad influences on Hong Kong action director Corey Yuen's laughably silly adaptation of the video game DOA: Dead or Alive.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
While the teen target audience may be convinced that this is exciting, the rest of us will leave the theater exhausted and with brain cells thoroughly fried.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
Yuen's propensity for impossible computer-generated slow-mo combat action wears thin.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Sexed-up game adaptation is heavy on bikinis.
Bill Gibron, PopMatters
DOA is actually the gender equity version of August 2007's Shoot 'Em Up! , a mindless exercise in violence with enough style and sass to get an audience over its superficial stutters.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
Virtually faceless bosomy kick butt babes.
Prairie Miller, WBAI Web Radio
A metaphorical training bra for ogling boys - along with second childhood Dirty Old Aged men - DOA gives new meaning to females hooking up and hanging out, when it comes to airborne upper body intimate wear and its gravity defying plastic contents alike
Kam Williams, Mount Desert Islander
If this flick were titled with truth in advertising in mind, ala Snakes on a Plane, it would have a name like Jiggly Babes Kick Butt. The stuff that post-pubescent dreams are made of.
Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound
This film knows its genre and its audience.
Josh Rosenblatt, Austin Chronicle
Let's hope some special form of punishment awaits the man or woman who came up with the idea of basing movies on video games.
Frank Lovece, Film Journal International
It's all about as thrilling as watching the countryside whiz by in the car.
Michael Ferraro, Film Threat
There is enough masturbation fodder here to keep many 11-year-old kids who have yet to find daddy's porn stash very happy.
Brian Marder, Hollywood.com
DOA might as well stand for "Dead on Arrival."
Stax, IGN Movies
DOA is a bad, cheesy and cheap production that nevertheless has enough goofy appeal to warrant watching with your buddies...
James Diers, E! Online
Charlie's Angels 3 it ain't, but big up to director Corey Yuen for crafting a splashy and appropriately trashy fighting flick that chicks can cheer for.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

John M

Kevin nash was funny . . Eric Roberts was funny . .the whole movie was more fun than it shouldve been oh wait it wasnt a comedy??
Coxxie M

Devon Aoki's acting is more predictable than my balls in a hot-tub. this is a movie called "dead or alive: dead or alive." There is also a black guy with a green dinosaur-spike mow-hawk who thinks everybody wants to fight him or blow him. im sure theres a real world… More
Devon Aoki's acting is more predictable than my balls in a hot-tub. this is a movie called "dead or alive: dead or alive." There is also a black guy with a green dinosaur-spike mow-hawk who thinks everybody wants to fight him or blow him. im sure theres a real world audition tape of him somewhere.
Wahida K

OUTSTANDING!
Dead A

Cheap!
E.J. B

DOA: Dead On Arrival. The person who chose this movie to watch has now been banned from ever having this privilege.
Alexander W

Had it not been for three very beautiful and extremely fit ladies and some funny lines in the scipt i doubt this film would have been released, i didn't even watch the end once I guessed Tina wasn't going to win the competition, who knows what happens, and do i really care?… More
Had it not been for three very beautiful and extremely fit ladies and some funny lines in the scipt i doubt this film would have been released, i didn't even watch the end once I guessed Tina wasn't going to win the competition, who knows what happens, and do i really care? no
Lorenzo v

Ayane: I am your servant but if you leave the compound, I am honor-bound to kill you. You'll probably love this film...If you're a 9 year old kid drooling over Jaime Pressly in a bikini that is. This film has got to be the stupidest action movie ever. I… More
Ayane: I am your servant but if you leave the compound, I am honor-bound to kill you. You'll probably love this film...If you're a 9 year old kid drooling over Jaime Pressly in a bikini that is. This film has got to be the stupidest action movie ever. I mean that's saying a lot because I've seen almost all of Seagal's straight-to-video movies and at least the guys there had the decency to respect the law of Physics but this one, they just trashed Newton and went crazy with the ridiculous fight scenes and all that comes along with it. I mean, jumping off a cliff which is higher than the Empire State building and surviving the fall in the deep waters below, I'm no scientist but I think it is considered fatal if you jump that high in that altitude, its like hitting solid ground. All lead actresses were bland, hollow and annoying. The only good thing about them is that volleyball scene and that's that. Yes they're pretty but its sad to say their assets were wasted bigtime on this one. I'm talking about physical assets. If you're talking about acting skills, it is zilch. 1/5
Arash X

Based on a fighting game series, Unoriginal with a very weak plot, But It's entertaining & funny specially because of its logical flaws & plot holes and ofcourse its unrealisticness
Drew S

It's tempting to write this off as camp, but I'm not so sure, considering it's directed by a 55-year old Cantonese man who probably thinks that this is what Americans find funny and awesome in alternation. Well...it's funny, in a derisive "am I seriously… More
It's tempting to write this off as camp, but I'm not so sure, considering it's directed by a 55-year old Cantonese man who probably thinks that this is what Americans find funny and awesome in alternation. Well...it's funny, in a derisive "am I seriously seeing this?" kind of way. And it's awesome like those really endearing foreigners you see at community college, who you may occasionally attempt to talk to and they just give you this awkward cute smile and return to their own little ESL-fueled world. I don't really know what I'm getting at here. The movie sucks, yeah, but serves its highest purpose as a punching bag for you and your cynical friends. If you're watching it for the gratuitous T&A or the badly-edited, generic action, then you are a sad person and should stay in your room forever.
Craig S

Directed by: Corey Yuen. Starring: Devon Aoki, Eric Roberts, Holly Valance, Jaime Pressly, Matthew Marsden, Natassia Malthe, Sarah Carter. OK....good things about this film...Well its a faithful adaption of… More
Directed by: Corey Yuen. Starring: Devon Aoki, Eric Roberts, Holly Valance, Jaime Pressly, Matthew Marsden, Natassia Malthe, Sarah Carter. OK....good things about this film...Well its a faithful adaption of the video game....I guess.....is that even a good thing? Now I knew what to expect from this film before I saw it, a brainless, cheesy action film made only to show some great choreography and action in the style of Hero and House of Flying Daggers and show women in bikinis, so I got in the mood to watch this....and was still extremely disappointed. Yes the script is cardboard thin, I think trying to be 100% faithful to the game by actually making the whole film look like a game was a bad idea, yes it adds the cheese to it that you would expect, but you don't expect it to be completely smothered in it. The dialogue is cheesy (expected), the acting wasn't even there (expected)...basically everything that I expected was there....but I never thought that everything I wanted to be great was extremely bad. From director Cory Yuen, a master choreographer on films such as the first Transporter is at his complete worst here....he didn't do the choreography, but he made it worse. When there were signs of promise with the choreography shown, the direction jumps in with shaky camera movements (to give the effect that the character got hit hard), quick cuts and zooms and ridiculous sound effects. The film is completely ridiculous and far fetched, which I expected but theres nothing there to even make the film 'exciting' or 'fun'. As for the women in bikinis, you can get more satisfaction from a Maxim magazine. And I think I will now have nightmares after seeing Eric Roberts in a very bad wig. Not recommended.
Steve K

Well, what's there to say? It is what it is. It was certainly diverting, at any rate.
EightThirty .

COOL AZZZ..These Girls are Pretty TOUGH!^_^!
A.D. V

Eye candy; male eye candy to be more specific. As far as video game adaptions go this is pretty accurate...considering the game didn't have much in the way of plot either. What it basically boils down to is hot, sweaty women fighting and bending their bodies in ways that can… More
Eye candy; male eye candy to be more specific. As far as video game adaptions go this is pretty accurate...considering the game didn't have much in the way of plot either. What it basically boils down to is hot, sweaty women fighting and bending their bodies in ways that can only be accomplished in video games. The one big plus for me though is... <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k49/advee/helena.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> Sarah Carter as Helena....Mmmmm.
Kylie B

Ah Dead or Alive. Being a fan of the games I wasn't looking to expect much from this in terms of accuracy or plot. However, aside from Helena (who is given characteristics more like Hitomi than her game self) and Hayabusa's costume all the back stories, clothing and… More
Ah Dead or Alive. Being a fan of the games I wasn't looking to expect much from this in terms of accuracy or plot. However, aside from Helena (who is given characteristics more like Hitomi than her game self) and Hayabusa's costume all the back stories, clothing and personalities were pretty accurate. Of course, even in the game the plot is thin but this delivers a reasonable mix of comedy and the martial art action. Not enough Ayane for my taste though.
Tim B

Exactly as good as you think it's going to be... Lot's of fighting...check Girls in skimpy bikinis...check Bare bones plot...check ...If you were looking for something more, you've come to the wrong place. Best viewed with pizza and beer with the boys.
Dean !

Probably the best game to film adaptation so far. Really keeps the feel of the game with flashy graphic scenes just like playing the game. The charaters are true to the game and the fights very impressive. Complete with the sexy female charaters and it couldn't be any more like… More
Probably the best game to film adaptation so far. Really keeps the feel of the game with flashy graphic scenes just like playing the game. The charaters are true to the game and the fights very impressive. Complete with the sexy female charaters and it couldn't be any more like the game.
Justin Y

So what do we have here? Another video game to movie adaptation. I myself am not a big fan of the game or haven't played them a whole bunch to really be able to compare the stories between the two. So I won't get into that. I can honestly say though that some of the… More
So what do we have here? Another video game to movie adaptation. I myself am not a big fan of the game or haven't played them a whole bunch to really be able to compare the stories between the two. So I won't get into that. I can honestly say though that some of the character relationships are not on the same page as the game and some of the characters didn't look like what many people were expecting them to. Hayabusa is an example of this. These are a couple things that will make die-hard fans of the game hate this movie. With that said let us move on.You do not have to have played the game or known that the game exists to watch this film. Since the story is really weak it will be easy to follow and understand. This movie does come in at a short 80 minutes though, which leads me to say that there wasn't really any character development or background, with the exception of Kasumi (Devon Aoki) maybe. They actually get a good amount of characters from the game in here but other than the ones on the cover they have very little airtime or importance in the film. If the movie was longer that might have been different.Many people will compare this movie to Mortal Kombat. Why? Because they are both adaptations of games that are pretty similar conceptually. So lets do a little comparison, action wise. This film does have a ton of action. Way more than Mortal Kombat, in my opinion, and the quality and choreography of the fights are about the same. Nothing really spectacular. The only exception may be the fights involving Helena (Sarah Carter). She really does have a couple nice action scenes. One of her fights may actually stick out like the Johnny Cage-Scorpion fight from the first Mortal Kombat.In case you're wondering, yes this movie does have a lot of female cleavage and sexuality (no nudity) just like the game does to attract the male population. They even get the 4 girls to play volleyball in this movie. I ain't complaining.At the end of the day this movie is an action first story last film with some pretty decent choreography and hot girls to play the characters. It is these girls that actually boosted my rating for this movie. But, when it comes down to it I would rather sit down and watch Mortal Kombat because of the way better soundtrack. I'm also a bigger fan of the MK series so I can relate to the movie more. Oh, before I forget, it was nice to see a cameo from Robin Shou, who was in the Mortal Kombat films. Too bad it was only for a mere minute.
Lewis C

Not as bad as you think it is, but if you're not a fan of the games or B-level action movies, you should probably skip this one.
Luke B

t's a steaming pile of crap, with no plot to speak of, so-so acting cheesy dialogue etc. But who cares, it had incredibly beautiful women in not a lot of clothing punching people. Needless to say if you want your films to be brainless and ever so pretty to look at this is the… More
t's a steaming pile of crap, with no plot to speak of, so-so acting cheesy dialogue etc. But who cares, it had incredibly beautiful women in not a lot of clothing punching people. Needless to say if you want your films to be brainless and ever so pretty to look at this is the one. I was laughing all the way through at the absurdity and poor script, but at least I was having fun and enjoyed the whole film.
Jason S

Really bad. Some of the things they do in this make me shake my head in wonder.