November 4, 1994 | The year is 2007, the city is ''New Angeles,'' the earthquake-ravaged remains of Los Angeles and San Diego, and the news is mostly bad. Much of the city is so flooded, tourist boats cruise along Hollywood Boulevard. After nightfall, police stations lock their doors and street gangs claim the inner city. The air quality is dreadful, the aftershocks are frequent and the nightly TV newscasts are hosted by Vanna White and George Hamilton. No kidding.

In the world according to Double Dragon, a brash and scrappy little B-movie loosely based on the popular video game, things can't get much worse than they already are. But that's not due to any lack of trying by Koga Shuko (Robert Patrick), a billionaire business tycoon with an unbridled ego and a high-rise, two-tone hairdo. Like most other movie bad guys in his position, he doesn't get much help in achieving his career goals from his inept henchpeople. ''All I want,'' he rages, ''is total domination of one major American city. Is that too much to ask for?''

Actually, it is. But Shuko is certain he will turn his vainglorious dreams into reality if he gains control of the Double Dragon amulet, a mystical medallion that will grant him amazing mental and physical powers. Trouble is, the medallion was split in half centuries ago. Shuko gets the first half easily enough, thanks to a femme fatale assistant who cracks a mean whip. But the other half belongs to two teen-age brothers, Billy (Scott Wolf) and Jimmy Lee (Mark Dacascos), who just happen to be martial-arts champions.

And, not surprisingly, they're not about to give up their half of the Double Dragon without a fight.

Double Dragon, which was directed by Jim Yukich and written by Michael Davis and Peter Gould, won't win many prizes for the originality of its plotting. But that doesn't mean it is bereft of pleasant surprises. Obviously aimed at youngsters who spend most of their time squandering quarters at video arcades, the movie is a tongue-in-cheek adventure that rigorously avoids the kind of graphic rough stuff that can result in an R rating. Instead, there is a slap-happy jokiness to the action scenes, which are only slightly more believable than an average episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. And there is a genial exuberance to the lead performances of Wolf and Dacascos, who behave as though the Lee brothers aren't too many rungs above Beavis and Butt-Head on the evolutionary ladder. When push comes to shove, or head butt comes to karate chop, these guys can fight with the best of them. More often than not, however, their initial response to danger is a terrified scream, a bug-eyed grimace of terror and a rapid dash in the opposite direction.

They are the good guys, to be sure, but they aren't entirely comfortable with their roles. Near the end of the film, when the Double Dragon medallion transforms them into costumed super heroes, Billy considers their flashy new garb and asks: ''We don't really have to wear these, do we?''