The Cage

If you can watch the movie and try to be positive about it and see the fun of it (even and especially the unintentional fun of it, like in the bad acting), you might enjoy it. If this still doesn't work for you, take the title and try not to surrender before the end credits roll. You might like the music ... or the action ... or the women.

But all in all, as you can see by the rating, you will likely not like the movie. I only got interested into the movie, because I heard they released the movie in a cut version in Germany. I can't tell you exactly what they cut out, but it wasn't the "softcore action" of the movie. It must have been a bit of the fighting, that goes on.

And to be honest, if you like/love the 80s style US Martial Arts movies, you might more than enjoy this. And if it were shot in the 80s, van Damme would've been the first one to call for this! No offense to the writer/director/producer AND main actor of this, but he can would have been the better choice ... especially because he can act quite a bit more, than the guy on hand here.

What kinda bugs me though, is that the guys, that seem to be able to hold their own (acting wise), get shoved to minor roles. Especially the Georges St. Peter guy and the Rampage guy (I think that's what he's called). If they would've been longer in the movie, it would have helped immensely!

I couldn't really believe how terrible this movie was. T and A couldn't even save this (well, maybe if it had been better looking T and A). Basically this is a poor movie in all categories and is basically, as many reviewers have claimed, a softcore porn movie like you see on Cinemax or Showtime late at night.

Don't get me wrong, I love MMA. I have interviewed Quinton Jackson and I love B.J. Penn, G.S.P., Anderson Silva and Heath Herring and I'm loving that they got a chance to make some money without taking the bumps and bruises they normally get in the ring. However the acting was probably the worst of any movie I've ever seen. G.S.P. and all the guys could probably get a little better, and I actually thought that Heath Herring was the freakin star of the entire movie in terms of acting ability. The main character, who I guess is supposed to be the experienced actor is the worst I believe I've ever seen. I literally almost turned the movie off and I'll watch almost any martial arts movie to the end.

As for breaking down the areas of the movie. There was hardly any training sequences, mainly in between fights it was just a bunch of sex scenes (usually sex is historically a big no-no before fights). So I would give this a 0 in terms of training. I like my martial arts movies to show some training techniques and the more of them they are, the more aspects of training they show, and the realism of the training the better he movie. This one had none of that. As for the actual action, it was pretty terrible there as well. I will rate it a 4, simply because of my true life MMA guys. They didn't get to show off enough of their skill, nor where they even given some roles where they could maybe use some Hollywood effects to supe them up a little bit. But just being generous I'm giving it a 4 in terms of overall fight scenes and action, the fighting was fairly realistic.

The acting was truly the low point of a movie that I really can't find many high points. I don't usually, or ever worry about the acting in these type of movies as long as the action is kick a** and the fighting is either very realistic, or a good back and forth between the main hero and villain, or something innovative in terms of the fight choreography. This movie had none of that, as well as even worse acting than even the lowest of this genre. Since martial arts movies aren't known for Robert Deniro type performances and saying that this movie is the worst I've seen thus far that would put my acting rating in the negatives. The lead character is terrible, the lead villain is OK and I'm a fan of his and always have been. He far outshines anyone else in the movie and I was actually hoping he would beat the crap out of the main good guy (I hope he did accidentally belt him in a few of the takes). And the supporting acting of MMA fighter, Heath Herring was pretty decent too, especially considering as many hard tough fights that Heath has had in real life. He seems really sharp still, no signs of any damage from all his fights and he seems to have a natural talent for acting if he wanted to do that. Still, when your lead character is so bad the movie is gonna be bad. For it's genre I would rate the acting of this movie as a 3 (only because of Herring and lead villain Patrick Kilpatrick). I would rate it a 1 or a 0 if not for those 2 guys. In terms of overall genres of movies, this movie gets a 0.

Action 4

Acting in Martial Arts Genre 3

Acting Overall Genres 0

Story Martial Arts Genre 1

Story overall Genres 0 (I should give it negatives)

In closing, if you're a die-hard martial arts/kung fun movie fan, you may still regret watching this. If you are martial arts movie fan, plus huge MMA fan and really like George St Pierre, BJ Penn, Quinton Jackson, Heath Herring, or Anderson Silva then you might want to give this a watch just to see those guys. I would steer clear of this unless there is totally nothing else on. I also wouldn't buy this movie unless it is found at a yard sale or something for under a dollar. I don't really know if it's worth a rental, unless you are really curious and can find it at a Redbox.

Hector Echavarria please for the love of the movie going public never make a movie ever again! You make everyone sound like a Mexican, GSP's voice might be the funniest thing ever! Also, if you watch late night HBO porn, this movie actually has worse actors! BJ Penn and Rampage have a sweet 1 minute cameo, and I actually gave up on the movie before I ever saw Anderon Slyva. This movie consists of round house kicks, sex, huge haymakers, sex, jumping back fists, sex, terrible lead acting, sex and Hector Echavarria attempts to be an MMA god and fails miserbly. So, in closing, Hector Echavarria please attempt another career because movie making is not in your future. I heard Billy Mays job is open, you might have a good shot at that!

Dear god is this a horrible movie, its like a throw back to the awesome 80's martial arts movies, but holy crap does it fail on every level.

Even if you are a huge MMA/UFC fan Don't watch this embarrassing movie, Films like the original Kickboxer and Bloodsport are far superior to this, hell even Only the Strong was so much better, i have never seen a worse martial arts movie in my life, its insane that this movie was made in 2009.

I only watched it for my love of MMA and the UFC, also i Love "bad" movies like the Bloodsport sequels and films like Only the Strong and Shootfighter. But i have never seen such an unwatchable film in my life.

Stay away, you have been warned!!!

The cover tricked me into renting this film. The UFC fighters pictured on the front cover are only in the film for a brief period of time. The acting is poor, and plot is poor. However, the film did keep me slightly entertained, despite being a poor film.

If you are a fan of mixed martial arts, do not rent the film. I am a moderate fan, but quickly decided that I do not view this film for authenticity of mixed martial arts, instead I viewed it as entertainment. The fights scenes do not resemble fighting or mixed martial arts. It is more like violent dancing. Very unrealistic fights.

Overall, the film is bad, and I honestly felt embarrassed that I was watching it at times. A 4/10 is a bit easy, I probably should have voted 3.