Double Dragon appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not terrible, the transfer suffered from more than a few problems.
Print flaws became the most obvious distraction, as various specks and marks cropped up on a persistent basis throughout the movie. Though these could’ve been worse than they were, the flick nonetheless showed far more source defects than I’d expect to see.
Sharpness varied. At times, the movie showed pretty good clarity, but more than a few mushy shots occurred as well.
At least the image lacked jagged edges or moiré effects. I also saw no edge haloes, and digital noise reduction didn’t seem to turn into an issue.
Dragon offered a pretty bright palette, but color reproduction felt inconsistent. While some shots brought out vivid hues, others showed tones that appeared messy and rough.
Blacks were reasonably dark and dense, though some inky qualities affected them at times. The same went for low-light shots, as they varied from mostly positive to slightly muddy. Enough of Dragon looked good enough to give us a “C-“ transfer, but it came with far too many problems.
It’s 2019 and Dragon fails to include a lossless 5.1 option. Only a Dolby Digital 5.1 track appears here, a reason to immediately deduct points from the release.
Even if I ignore that issue, the mix seemed mediocre at best. The soundscape emphasized music and played the score through all five channels in a pretty engaging manner, albeit one that didn’t muster terrific separation. While the music showed up in all the speakers, instrumental differentiation felt average.
As for effects, they broadened to the different speakers in a moderately active manner. However, they didn’t bring out great localization, so they blended together in a semi-mushy way at times. While some segments offered positive placement, others were less effective.
Audio from 1994 should hold up well compared to newer films, but the quality of the Dragon mix seemed subpar for its era. Speech remained intelligible but the lines tended to show some edginess and lacked particularly natural tones.
The synthesizer score lacked great range, so the music was reasonably clear but without much dynamic power. Effects seemed about the same, as they failed to demonstrate much range or impact. Honestly, this sounded more like a track from 1984 than 1994, as it didn’t hold up well.
We get a mix of extras here, and we start with a documentary called The Making of Double Dragon. In this one-hour, seven-minute, 35-second program, we hear from producer Don Murphy, writers Michael Davis and Peter Gould, and actors Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos.
“Making” looks at the script and development, story/characters, cast and performances, and reactions to the film. “Making” loses points because it lacks a wide variety of participants, and it also comes with an erratic approach to the film. This means “Making” skips around a fair amount and doesn’t trace the production in a logical manner.
Nonetheless, we get some pretty good insights about the movie, mainly from Davis and Gould, as they present lively memories. I’d like a more concise take on Dragon but “Making” still brings a decent overview.
Next comes Portrait of a Producer, a 24-minute, one-second piece with Murphy as he discusses Dragon and other aspects of his career. Like “Making”, “Portrait” lacks focus, but Murphy’s thoughts bring us good information.
Even before the movie’s creation, Double Dragon hit screens as an animated TV series. The Blu-ray brings us the 1993 pilot episode.
Entitled “The Shadow Falls”, this show lasts 22 minutes, 20 seconds. It’s predictably awful but still fun to see as a bonus.
Two short featurettes follow. Behind the Scenes lasts four minutes, 21 seconds, while Making of goes for four minutes, 44 seconds.
“Scenes” consists solely of footage from the set, whereas “Making” includes comments from Wolf, Dacascos, director James Yukich, and actors Robert Patrick and Alyssa Milano. “Scenes” gives us some good shots, but “Making” offers nothing more than promotional fluff.
Five Galleries appear. We find “Stills” (56), “Behind the Scenes” (20), “Artwork” (37), “Storyboards” (59) and “Press Photos” (17). Some decent material arrives, but the DVD-quality presentation becomes a weakness.
In addition to a mini-poster, the package completes with a few trailers. For Dragon itself, we locate three trailers and two TV spots. We also get promos for Angel Town, Black Eagle, Man from Earth, Out of Time, Raven and Return of Swamp Thing.
A second disc presents a DVD copy of Dragon. It includes the documentary, the featurettes and the pilot but it lacks the other extras.
Even by the low standards of the videogame movie genre, Double Dragon flops. Stupid, silly and utterly devoid of entertainment, nothing good comes out here. The Blu-ray provides problematic picture and audio along with a generally good roster of supplements. As both a film and a Blu-ray, this release sputters.
