Scorpion

My brother came home with this, because he knows what a big MMA fan i am, and the back of the cover says "Scorpion is the definitive mixed martial arts movie".

First off, the cover mentions nothing of the movie being french with subs, but anyway ...

I was hoping this was going to be a good movie, to strengthen the argument for MMA, helping it get even more exposure, how stupid was I ? The writers/directors were doing exactly the same as the gang leader/fight manager/whoever he was. They made this movie, hoping that the popularity MMA has at the moment, would make them rich.

Eye gouging, fish hooking, stomps to a downed opponent, the only part of this movie I would call MMA were the gloves !

Go easy people its real hard being a pioneer(joke).....but this film is an attempt to at least try to use 'real' fighting in a fictional story.It is notoriously hard to make most effective techniques used in MMA to look good on the big screen,so i think its a darn nice try!Obviously you must be open minded when were brought up on a steady diet of such spectacular footage that we all are nowadays-there is no comparison.However i do advise giving this one a try as i sort of enjoyed it(in the dark with loud surround sound guys).....maybe i am a little biased seeing as though my favourite K1 fighter is in it(Jerome Le Banner) but hey what u gonna do?

The script can be a bit melodramatic at times but the acting is good and the fight scenes are good. If you like martial arts films and you are a fan of Clovis Cornilliac, Karole Rocher, Caroline Proust or Olivier Marchal then this film is worth watching.

Another IMDb member tipped me that this was worth seeing so I ordered the DVD.

Started great, and then wound down. Which is really really ironic since the whole point of MMA and martial arts is pacing. So what good is a film that exhausts itself off the top? To put the review in perspective, as weak as it is, it is still a much more entertaining product that the DTV stuff that is now coming out of the US MMA circuit, where the "big names" in the sport think it is really cool if they bypass the middle man (ie, Hollywood) and make the films themselves, starring themselves, written and directed by themselves. Yuck.

And it does not even come close to the quality of Warrior or Forbidden Kingdom, the two martial arts films I have seen in my lifetime.

Scorpion is one of those movies which you will watch for the sake of watching. I mean french action movies are rarley boring, and Scorpion ain't no different. Okay it sets the mood nicely however the acting may not be the greatest but it certainly is entertaining. Check it out if your a fan of mixed martial arts movies , however don't expect anything big or like the best mixed martial arts movie. The acting is cheesy , the script is crap but the story told is a good one and thats what keeps you watching , its like one of tough guy movies you just watch for the sake of watching.

SCORPION 6.7 OUT OF 10