This small franchise feels a lot like the 'Bloodsport' and 'Kickboxer' franchises, if you can call them that. All three started out with a solid original movie that became fan favourites over time. And all three followed on from that original with declining sequels that basically destroyed the franchise. The only key difference, this franchise managed to hold onto its main stars for at least one sequel, plus this franchise enhanced its cast for its sequel.
So Eric Roberts is back, along with Philip Rhee and Sean Penn! Heck, even the Korean martial arts team from the first movie turn up! Continuity bonus earned! The story follows on from the first movie with the boys setting up a martial arts studio in Vegas, Vegas? Thing is, Brickley (Penn) has been secretly competing in a violent underground MMA tournament (before MMA became mainstream) and promptly gets himself executed by the main end-of-level boss. It now falls on Grady (Roberts) and Lee (Rhee) to uncover what actually happened, because the bad guys made it look like an automobile accident.
So yeah, the plot is pretty darn generic to say the least. I mean, the whole secret underground fighting tournament where fighters get killed? That is one mega unoriginal plot right there. I also found it quite amusing that this is happening right in downtown Vegas, or so it seems. At a big venue, or underneath one, plenty of people and potential attention? Seems risky to me. I guess being in the desert makes it easier to dispose of bodies. Naturally the actual arena looks like your standard gladiator-type fare. Circular, flames around the edge, iron bar guarded entrances and exits, a baying mob of wealthy elites watching behind glass screens etc...The main end-of-level boss is, of course, an oversized man mountain called Goro...I mean Brakus. They even have their 'Running Man' style announcer and host in the form of Wayne Newton.
The story unfolds in highly predictable stages that we've all seen before. The good guys start snooping around and the bad guys don't like it. The good guys get too close, so the bad guys shoot up their home, of course. The good guys take their family to relatives outta town, who happen to be Native Americans, just so the movie can have some spiritual training montages. This also seems to be an excuse to cast Sonny Landham as the one and only person who knows how to beat Brakus. But first, he's gotta sober up, only then can he become a Native American Mr Miyagi. Am I complaining about this? No, no I'm not, the casting is action flick genius. Anyway, the bad guys find them, and shoot up their home, of course. The good guys then return to face the bad guys on their home turf, in the arena.
To be fair, despite the paint-by-numbers plot, the actual action sequences are pretty good. Nothing special, but good. When it comes to the meat and potatoes of the movie, the fights, again its pretty good. Rhee is a good martial artist and can hold his own. The other fighters in the arena are also good-looking fighters who can actually do the moves, not much trickery involved. Obviously its all in the same vein as a certain Jean Claude Van Damme classic, but it's still good. Heck, the final battles in the arena are a pretty good take on 'Street Fighter 2' truth be told, especially with the boxer. The final boss Brakus is played by German Arnie wannabe Ralf Moeller, who is actually a pretty good fit for this role.
End of the day this was actually a good little action martial arts flick. It's definitely better than I expected and the martial arts is still of a good quality. The only real drawback is the fact its a complete mish-mash of other movies. A little bit of 'Bloodsport', 'Kickboxer', 'The Running Man', and a whole host of cookie-cutter, straight-to-video-type action revenge movies. You could almost have any A or B-level action star in here, and it would still work fine.
7/10
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