The Circuit

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!

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.

Poor sound quality really had me pulling my hair out, and the accents of the actors was trying my nerves, but I didn't turn it off. I cared about what happened to Derek Longstreet and I watched until the end.

I hope they fix all the technical problems for the obvious sequel and get some well spoken actors next time. The strong point of this film was the fights, nothing fancy, but good energy.

This movie is in no way a memorable masterpiece such as Gladiator, or even as good as one of Van Damme's later movies such as "The Quest". However if you are bored and you have Showtime and happen to catch this on the Action channel then it's not that terrible a movie. If you have ever trained in boxing or MMA, or been around it then some of the very few scenes of the training will drive you nuts. The fighting is sort of a blend of realistic MMA, with some unnecessary over the top Hollywood junk. The athleticism of the fights isn't that over the top, sometimes fairly clumsy looking but at least not so stylized to look superhuman like old JCVD spin kicks. As for the action rating I'm gonna rate this as a true MMA fan and martial arts movie fanatic. It gets some credit for it's training scenes. I like a movie that does the classic Van Damme "Kickboxer" type of training, or even "The Karate Kid". I think that "Kickboxer" gets some of the highest marks for the training scenes so I'm gonna rate that movie at a 9. This movie, for the training scenes I'd give it maybe a 6 due to mainly some inconsistencies. Mainly it's the fact that the main hero is supposed to already be this billy bad ass fighter, yet then the guy that talks so highly about him acts like the guy has no clue when he trains him, it didn't make sense. The actual combat is only mediocre. The lighting is terrible in the pit they fight in and the action is usually panned out too far. I'd only give it a 6 of 10 in overall fighting scenes, mainly ranking over a 5 simply because it's fairly realistic combat. There is a few different styles of martial arts represented, although not enough emphasis on that.

The acting isn't nearly the worst I've ever seen as some have said. If you want to see the worst acting ever then watch the MMA movie, "Never Surrender", which features George St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, Anderson Silva, Heath Herring, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. It has maybe 3 of the top 10 pound for pound real life MMA fighters, yet the star is some dude that kicks everyone's butt with ease. I guess he's the star because he's the "actor", and I use quotes because he's the worst actor I've ever seen. So if I were to rate the acting parts of this movie, as compared to it's peers (other martial arts B movies), then I'd rate this one at least a 7 of 10. In terms of just acting overall versus any movie, it'd maybe get a 3.

Overall I'm rating this movie a 6 of 10. My rating is based on the genre of movie it represents. It's not a high budget movie such as "Kickboxer" or "Lionheart" nor is it a low budget gym like "Bloodsport" or "The Last Dragon", however it is entertaining in spots and no worse than most other in this genre. It's not a chick flick, and that's enough for me when I've got a rare moment to sit and watch one of my favorite types of movies. Only watch if you are a die-hard martial arts movie fan and don't expect anything groundbreaking and do expect some cheesiness.

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!