Mark Dacascos played a classic video game protagonist in a forgotten martial arts movie from the 1990s – Double Dragon. Long before his resurgence in action films like John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Mark Dacascos headlined a number of martial arts movies, primarily in the 1990s. Among his most notable films during this period were Only the Strong and Drive. It was between those two films when the actor made Double Dragon, which released as a low-budget martial arts film in 1994.
Mark Dacascos’ role in Double Dragon followed significant parts in American Samurai and Only the Strong. After playing the main villain in American Samurai and the central character of Only the Strong, Dacascos served as the co-lead of Double Dragon, which featured a few now-recognizable actors, including Alyssa Milano and Robert Patrick. Double Dragon wasn’t anywhere near a hit, nor is it remembered as one of the best 1990s martial arts movies, but it did offer an interesting take on a video game series that was relevant at the time, and one that’s still worth watching today.
Double Dragon Was A Fun Adaptation Of A Popular 1990s Beat ‘Em Side Scroller
Released in 1987, Double Dragon was an arcade beat ’em up side-scroller game from Technos. The game followed martial artist brothers Jimmy and Billy Lee as they fought through hordes of thugs as they sought to take down a dangerous gang known as the Black Warriors. Afterward, Double Dragon grew into a franchise with multiple video game releases on consoles like the NES and SNES. While the studio was pumping out games in the series, a live-action adaptation was produced, with Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos cast as Billy and Jimmy respectively.
The Double Dragon movie was released in November 1994, just a few months after the release of Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls.
The 1994 Double Dragon film takes some liberties with the source material, going from a standard crime-fighting story to something with an almost post-apocalyptic flavor. It takes place decades into the future, where a fictionalized version of Los Angeles has been left devastated by a mᴀssive earthquake and acid rain. This serves as the backdrop for the main plot, which entails a search for a mystical artifact called the Double Dragon. Billy and Jimmy Lee have to race to find it before it’s found by Robert Patrick’s villainous crime boss character, Koga Shuko.
The movie’s main villain, Koga Shuko, was original to the film, though he was brought into the video game franchise a year later with the release of 1995’s Double Dragon.
While much of this is entirely new, Double Dragon does honor the games in its approach to the action. To stop Koga Shuko, Billy and Jimmy have to fight through legions of gangsters, utilizing their expertise in martial arts to prevail.
Double Dragon Was A Fun But Extremely Campy Martial Arts Movie
Double Dragon Isn’t Nearly As Bad As Its 12% On Rotten Tomatoes May Suggest
There’s plenty to enjoy from this premise (and its execution), but there should be no expectation for Double Dragon to offer anything on a serious or dramatic level. That was never necessary anyway, considering that Double Dragon is a beat ’em side-scroller video game franchise with an extremely limited emphasis on story. Double Dragon simply breathes life into its core concepts and characters, complete with a campy atmosphere that seems appropriate for its formula.
Not entirely unlike Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Street Fighter movie, Double Dragon isn’t afraid to risk being silly in its effort to adapt the source material, such as its inclusion of Billy and Jimmy’s blue and red costumes from the games. The movie is over-the-top in both its action and humor, but this – combined with its fast pace – makes it a worthwhile viewing experience.
