The Condemned - L'isola della morte

A very popular Japanese film called Battle Royale concerns an entire class of bad tempered middle school students forced to fight to the last survivor on a deserted island for their transgressions. Considered too controversial for American audiences, it's never been released in the states. "The Condemned" is basically a remake of that film. Instead of unruly teenagers, death-row inmates from around the world forced to kill each other for the pleasure of an insane internet magnate's 30 hour snuff reality program.

Steve Austin joins 9 other on the island where they stalk and eliminate each other in some of the most violent ways imaginable.

This part of the story is fairly involving, but as the violence becomes more sadistic, it no longer seems entertaining. The sobering effect spreads to the movie characters as well, too late to help the combatants. Self righteously, the producers use this as a podium to speak down to the audience who bought tickets to watch the very entertainment they are presenting.

The movie is not helped by a stateside subplot involving Stone Cold's girlfriend who lives on a sprawling ranch and supports herself as a waitress.

Honestly, I really enjoyed this film. It reminded me of the good old days of action films such as Commando, Demolition Man, etc. Anyone who can endure/enjoy Stallone or Arnold in action movies certainly shouldn't have a problem with Steve Austin's acting.

I think this film just gets a bad rap from critics because WWE is associated with it and no one wants to be the guy that gives them a break. It certainly won't win an Oscar, but if you enjoy action films then I'd definitely give this a chance. Just try & forget WWE is associated with it, let it stand on it's own two feet and judge it for yourself with an open mind.

There are lots of pretty negative reviews of this movie and one has to wonder why those people watched it in the first place. Did they miss the essential clue as to what they would get? The opening credits clearly tell everyone that this a WWE movie. It would seem, therefore, that those who don't like the fake, meticulously staged regular offerings of World Wrestling Entertainment wouldn't want to watch this either. That isn't rocket science - is it?

But no, the wowsers and wet-nellies just HAD to watch it anyway - and then grumble and whinge about gratuitous violence and sadism. If they don't like professional wrestling, then there's a pretty sure chance they're not going to like The Condemned so why did they watch it at all? Mind you, I wouldn't mind betting that, if the story were ever true, those wowsers and wet-nellies would be among the first to sign up to watch the programme on the Internet - and then still complain! It's a bit like the well-known fact that the most vociferous anti-porn campaigners also happen to own the biggest collections of porn! (Of course it's all kept as "proof" of just how corrupted the world is - or so they say!)

OK, getting to this movie for what it is. It is a B-grade action flick with mostly B-grade actors (although there ar a few exceptions to that). Personally, I thought the story concept was quite good. The real protagonist is an entrepreneurial guy who knows that an awful lot of people actually do like gratuitous violence (he probably did research on how many viewers professional wrestling gets) and decides to convert that into a reality show. The problem is that no self-respecting TV network would ever run it and so he resorts to the obvious and puts it, live streaming on the Internet.

Without wanting to introduce any spoilers, I will stick to what the film's own promos state, which is that ten convicted criminals from death-rows around the world (another clever ploy to ensure that the maximum audience can be secured to support "their" champion) are let loose on an island which is rigged with numerous cameras and told that they must each defend themselves against the other nine as only one of them can ultimately survive. The survivor will be freed with a new identity and a big wad of money to go and do whatever he likes. There are a few little "twists" thrown in for good measure and I'll leave those who want to watch it to find out what they are. I found that I was placing myself into the shoes of each of the criminals and wondering how I could make the best of the situation. Of course, the first thing I had to do was remember that I was already sentenced to death and then view the situation from that standpoint. Secondly, I had to remember that my opponents were also killers and thus there was no room for compassion on either their parts or mine.

With that frame-of-mind established, I found myself entering into the story with a different attitude than I would have had it been presented differently. I was reminded of "Running Man" as far as the plot went but the difference was that this movie is set in the present and, as such, was (with some imagination) "believable."

OK, 'nuff said. If you don't mind action with lots of violence, then you will probably enjoy The Condemned. If you like Mary Poppins and romances, then don't watch this movie. Simple really!

Hey, this is not going to test the gray matter but if you want an entertaining albeit violent movie to fill in a few hours this is not a bad choice. The plot is predictable but the main saving grace is Steve Austin as Jack Conrad as he comes across as a compassionate and somewhat likable hero who ended up in this predicament by trying to do the right thing for his country. He does not exactly have to stretch his acting muscle but you do end up hoping he will win through. Although much of the violence is not right in your face in parts it does carry on that bit long although this is used to separate the "no morals, no borders" team from the good guys within the production cast. This movie serves up exactly what it promises but is still an entertaining movie. I would recommend to a friend.

We were really surprised when me & my friends watched this movie; it was really the best WWE movie ever, taking into consideration that we all don't enjoy wrestling, but we gave it a try, as it was thought to be as "Battle Royal", not a wrestling movie, & in fact, it surprised us all. All the acting was excellent, especially Steve Austin & Vinnie Jones, & surprisingly sometimes emotional acting was there even from the male characters!! The plot was so simple but extremely good (for a WWE movie!), also the shooting was very fine. I recommend you watch this movie, especially with a group of friends, you will be very surprised & will have a lot of fun !