The Circuit

This was one of the most absurd ideas for a movie I've ever had the displeasure of coming across! I know it is what it is; but the acting was probably the worst I've seen up to now. These people just couldn't spit out their lines and when they did it was hard to understand them because of all their indecipherable accents. I went in with low expectations and yet I was still disappointed because it doesn't even classify as typical mindless action-type fun such as "Bloodsport" and the like. And don't get me started on the raw cheesiness of the props such as those stupid tiki torches lighting up every part of the building/arena/outside that the bad guy owns, or the main character driving a construction machine to the fight because the car door is locked, or why the bad Asian dude does a Michael Jackson dance after he wins a fight (which I'm sorry for, but it definitely detracts from one's alleged toughness). That list is just the tip of the iceberg as well, there were seriously so many plot holes and the like that I'd go crazy if I thought about them any harder. Funding should not be handed out for fecal matter such as this.

Final Summation:

Movies: Awww, hellz no!

DVD Purchase: Wouldn't collect it if you paid me.

Rental: Not worth it in any aspect whatsoever!

Not what I expected from a karate-type movie. Parts of the movie were slow and seemingly irrelevant. I would have expected more fight scenes to show that Longstreet was indeed "the man." A few scuffles did not make him stand out, especially being the former "circuit" champ.

And I am now suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. This movie was horrible. It was boring, unrealistic, and the acting was dreadful. The best part of the movie was the end credits because that signaled the end of my torture.

Watching Gruner play the nice guy with moves of death and a heart of gold is wearing out its welcome. If I hear him say," I don't want to fight" one more time I will scream in frustration. He has potential, but he is picking the wrong scripts.

There were so many things in this movie I could nitpick, I would be typing for days. The worst would be Gruner blatantly plugging his own line of athletic gear. Then there is the gratuitous nudity, the requisite nosy reporter, and the bad guy wearing black. Skip this or suffer like I did.

Bryan Genesse and Billy Drago are the best things about this movie, and I like the fights. Olivier Gruner was the weak link in the film, terrible actor and terrible action star, but his supporting cast makes up for his lack of talent. If you like fighting and those bizarre Hong Kong kung fu movie training sequences, The Circuit delivers!

Any gritty, martial arts extravaganza produced by the competent action filmmaker, Jalal Merhi, starring handsome, no less credible martial artist Olivier 'Nemesis' Gruner would strongly suggest the viability of 'The Circuit' (2002) being a slam bang fight flick of some note, factor in the reptilian presence of master B-Movie bad guy, Billy Drago and it would appear to be a sure thing, and it is, kinda', if one generously overlooks the somewhat formulaic premise.

Powerhouse puncher, Olivier Gruner is the bizarrely named, Dirk Longstreet, a retired, undefeated ex-Circuit champion who has moved on from the seedy world of underground, no holds barred combat to a loftier position of respected Athletics coach, until a pretty righteous, high kicking bar fight dramatically displays Longstreet's far from rusty form, this lapse in judgment not only exposes Gruner's beast mode, his pugilistic prowess inadvertently draws the mercenary attentions of those cold hearted manipulators that would attempt to draw him back into The Circuit by methods nefarious.

Thankfully, the uninspired narrative doesn't linger too long on the rather tired shenanigans of duping Olivier's brother into fighting, solely as a lure for Longstreet's reluctant return to the Circuit, focusing on Merhi's talent for staging exhilarating scenes of martial art combat. The Circuit's adrenalized heart is the enigmatic, Olivier Gruner whose charisma lends additional lustre to what might have been yet another contrived, anonymous-looking 'Bloodsport'/ 'AWOL' DTV clone, which, frankly, it is. No undiscovered action classic by any stretch of the imagination but Gruner is tremendously watchable, his plentiful fight scenes are exemplary with a tough-edged training montage, which remains one of the more rewarding inducements to watching these lunk-headed action movies in the first place!

Some of the 'acting' performances are rudimentary and the irksome, almost ironical misfire is the notable absence of a truly malevolent, 'boo-hiss' Tong Po-style nemesis, as the anodyne, ceaselessly preening 'Tiger Twins', for all their braggadocio demonstratively lack bite, and the less said about, Gail Harris's failed daytime soap mugging the better! One of the more pleasant surprises was seeing ubiquitous reigning VHS-era villain, Billy Drago cast against type as a far more sympathetic character and the pounding, ersatz Prodigy score by composer, Varouje is quite the techno-flavoured banger!