The Condemned (2007)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Nice effects though.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

In spite so many negative reviews, I watched the movie. I am glad I did, cause till end, I had a good time.First with the good things. I have seen "Tournament", "Death Race", Hunger Games" etc. before and I kind of like these movies. When I started watching this, I did not expect much. But I was surprised to find out that the movie had elements, that were quite entertaining. The story was good enough. The performances of actors were more than what was expected. The cinematography was good. The speed was satisfactory. Lastly the direction was great, and I would love to see a few more from Scott Wiper.But there were a few loose ends too. The story line had great opportunities for Breckel, our villain no. 1, but I feel he could not be as cool as there was scope. And then, if he was so choosy about his contestants as we could see at the beginning of the film, what made him select Paco and his wife and Yasantwa? I don't know. Also near the climax, Jack died on camera, but came back off camera. Then how come his wife seemed expecting him when he returned at the last scene? Also I feel her character did not deserve that much of screen space. Lastly, during the fight scenes, I did not understand why there were so many cuts, why the camera shook so much with so many close shots.

I can't say that the director is good, but he filmed it at least in a acceptable way. And the cinematography is beautiful, whitch helps. The script is predictable. The protagonist as every other character are bad. The movie even tries to create a backstory for the protagonist, but just make it worse. The cast are horrible, Vinnie Jones almost make it enjoyable but the dialogues don't help in any way. I saw this movie when I was a kid (yes, totally wrong), and in that time I was able to visualize that this movie isn't a big thing, but I actually enjoyed. I rewatch it this year, I was not able to reach the end. If you like to see strong people killing each other you can give it a try. Maybe you enjoy it.

Simply put - if you like action films you'll enjoy The Condemned. Following along similar lines of Battle Royal and the newly released The Hunger Games, a group of international death row inmates are sent to an island to fight to the death in order to win their freedom - with the whole thing broadcast live on the internet. As highly unbelievable as this situation may seem, the moral repercussion are actually adequately addressed. The illegal show gains a mass following but not without attracting the attention of certain international agencies.I'm not a huge fan of Steve Austin or WWE wrestling and so at first I was a bit sceptical about a WWE production with the lead role being given to a pro wrestler. But despite this he performs his role well, and the acting is of a pretty good standard throughout. The fight scenes are gritty and believable, and the sub-plot back story doesn't interfere too much with the action. This is switch-your-brain-off entertainment. Enjoy it for what is is. 7/10

The Condemned is an action film that sounds good in the concept but I've noticed one too many similarities to Battle Royale. Ten prisoners on death row are gathered together by some TV producer to participate in the game, on a remote island, with the goal to kill each other within a limited time. To further force the criminals to participate, explosive collars have been placed around their ankles which can be detonated at will. Sound familiar. Battle Royale follows a very similar storyline but with Japanese students instead of criminals. This was likely changed to adult criminals to avoid major controversy in the USA.The Condemned can be a fun action film if you turn your brain off for a while, with some decent fighting scenes but that's about it. The characters are pretty bland save perhaps the Japanese guy and Vinnie Jones when he's funny, and the music was pretty shoddy save Savin' Me by Nickelback. Pardon me for comparing is much to BR but it felt like it was a cheap attempt to remake the film whilst trying to sneak it past the American censors.