DOA: Dead or Alive Thoughts
Jun. 19th, 2012 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThis is not a good movie but it's also not the worst one I've watched this month and it is one I actually rather enjoyed. It was fun. The fact that it was full of female characters in major roles probably contributed to that a lot.
- I really appreciated the girls stories and how diverse they were. Kasumi's determined search for the truth about her brother's 'death', Tina's desire to prove herself a real fighter, Christie's plan to steal the money and Helena's wish to live up to her father's ideals*. They weren't perfect and there were definitely points that could have been better or needed to be expanded on but I liked the variation.
I suppose Ayane was actually supposed to be the fifth 'lead' in a way - considering she's standing to fight with the other girls at the end but she didn't feel on the same level as them. I think it's a lack of motivation - her attempts to kill Kasumi and refusal to look into Hayate's death - are somewhat puzzling. Is she just that big a stickler for rules?
* I think the major let down was with Helena's characterisation. Her motivation never felt as solid as the other girls (well, excluding Christie maybe) but her reaction after learning the truth about her father is what really fell short. I never got the sense of rage or betrayal that she should have been feeling. Also I wish that Helena had more to do with Donovan's defeat. He killed her father and betrayed her - it's classic and his death should have been hers.
- I wish that we had gotten more interaction between the girls. I really liked how things began - them forced to work together to make it to the tournament in time and how that created a bond between them - and I liked what we did get between them - Christie spending the night in Tina's room, Kasumi giving Tina acupuncture - but I wanted more of them becoming friends.
- I really liked Tina's relationship with her father. And actually he was pretty great in himself. I loved his thumbs up when she knocked him into the water.
- How does Hayabusa fighting a bunch of ninja guards make any sense? He was supposed to be sneaking in – I’m pretty sure that Donovan would notice all his knocked out/dead guards!
- Shouldn't there have been more fighters if this tournament was such a big deal?
- I was a bit annoyed how the movie paired up, almost all, the girls by the end.
- On the wiki it states that both Max and Weatherby were added specifically to the movie. That immediately makes me wonder how things would have been different if they hadn't been added - and honestly I think it could have been done easily and I might even have liked it better.
Instead of Max setting up Christie to arrange her DOA invitation and being the person who came up with the plan it could have been Christie learning about the money, deciding to rob Donovan and setting up her 'discovery' by the police in order to attract a DOA invitation.
That in turn would have lead to Christie who'd need to approach Helena to find the tattoo. Actually without Max or Weatherby they could easily have gone a Christie/Helena route which I'm all for. It could add a ton of depth - Christie using Helena in order to rob her but finding herself genuinely liking her and maybe even falling for her. Them being paired against each other would also have been even more interesting.
With Weatherby gone you could have Helena suspicious all along about her father's death and perhaps she's been secretly investigating since and has been planning on using the tournament as a cover for finding out the truth. There's no reason why she can't have the computer skills Weatherby is given and so she ends up cutting the tech transfer/releasing the others.
... you know you could go seriously AU in several ways. If you (mostly) took out Hayabusa then you could make Helena the one who searches the compound secretly. Perhaps she and Kasumi are both sneaking around and run into each other and while it starts off suspicious they end up bonding and working together to solve both their mysteries - which they, logically, believe could be related.
Ayane in turn could be a participant in the tournament. In this version the security is too tight for her to sneak in so she finagles an invite. She could still try to kill Kasumi in the bamboo forest but this version also has them talking and fighting verbally over the right thing to do. Her characterisation is expanded. Perhaps her dealing with her grief over Hayate leaving and then dying by closing off her feelings.
So at the end perhaps Helena finds something - proof perhaps that Hayate is alive - and so the girls go in search. The four of them - Kasumi, Christie, Tina and Ayane - are captured while in the control room Helena sees all. Cue a similar ending as the movie.
- I really appreciated the girls stories and how diverse they were. Kasumi's determined search for the truth about her brother's 'death', Tina's desire to prove herself a real fighter, Christie's plan to steal the money and Helena's wish to live up to her father's ideals*. They weren't perfect and there were definitely points that could have been better or needed to be expanded on but I liked the variation.
I suppose Ayane was actually supposed to be the fifth 'lead' in a way - considering she's standing to fight with the other girls at the end but she didn't feel on the same level as them. I think it's a lack of motivation - her attempts to kill Kasumi and refusal to look into Hayate's death - are somewhat puzzling. Is she just that big a stickler for rules?
* I think the major let down was with Helena's characterisation. Her motivation never felt as solid as the other girls (well, excluding Christie maybe) but her reaction after learning the truth about her father is what really fell short. I never got the sense of rage or betrayal that she should have been feeling. Also I wish that Helena had more to do with Donovan's defeat. He killed her father and betrayed her - it's classic and his death should have been hers.
- I wish that we had gotten more interaction between the girls. I really liked how things began - them forced to work together to make it to the tournament in time and how that created a bond between them - and I liked what we did get between them - Christie spending the night in Tina's room, Kasumi giving Tina acupuncture - but I wanted more of them becoming friends.
- I really liked Tina's relationship with her father. And actually he was pretty great in himself. I loved his thumbs up when she knocked him into the water.
- How does Hayabusa fighting a bunch of ninja guards make any sense? He was supposed to be sneaking in – I’m pretty sure that Donovan would notice all his knocked out/dead guards!
- Shouldn't there have been more fighters if this tournament was such a big deal?
- I was a bit annoyed how the movie paired up, almost all, the girls by the end.
- On the wiki it states that both Max and Weatherby were added specifically to the movie. That immediately makes me wonder how things would have been different if they hadn't been added - and honestly I think it could have been done easily and I might even have liked it better.
Instead of Max setting up Christie to arrange her DOA invitation and being the person who came up with the plan it could have been Christie learning about the money, deciding to rob Donovan and setting up her 'discovery' by the police in order to attract a DOA invitation.
That in turn would have lead to Christie who'd need to approach Helena to find the tattoo. Actually without Max or Weatherby they could easily have gone a Christie/Helena route which I'm all for. It could add a ton of depth - Christie using Helena in order to rob her but finding herself genuinely liking her and maybe even falling for her. Them being paired against each other would also have been even more interesting.
With Weatherby gone you could have Helena suspicious all along about her father's death and perhaps she's been secretly investigating since and has been planning on using the tournament as a cover for finding out the truth. There's no reason why she can't have the computer skills Weatherby is given and so she ends up cutting the tech transfer/releasing the others.
... you know you could go seriously AU in several ways. If you (mostly) took out Hayabusa then you could make Helena the one who searches the compound secretly. Perhaps she and Kasumi are both sneaking around and run into each other and while it starts off suspicious they end up bonding and working together to solve both their mysteries - which they, logically, believe could be related.
Ayane in turn could be a participant in the tournament. In this version the security is too tight for her to sneak in so she finagles an invite. She could still try to kill Kasumi in the bamboo forest but this version also has them talking and fighting verbally over the right thing to do. Her characterisation is expanded. Perhaps her dealing with her grief over Hayate leaving and then dying by closing off her feelings.
So at the end perhaps Helena finds something - proof perhaps that Hayate is alive - and so the girls go in search. The four of them - Kasumi, Christie, Tina and Ayane - are captured while in the control room Helena sees all. Cue a similar ending as the movie.
