Locked Down

Well, I have a fondness for b movies however this is likely the worst movie I have seen ... possibly ever. The acting is sub par even for a "Tap Out" movie with the best acting job being done by Kimbo... and that was mostly grunts and swears. Tony Schiena's acting is... well I don't know if you can really call it acting. Tack on a pointless and rather cheap looking sex scene and it's a recipe for a failed and embarrassing movie.

By the way, I noted that IMDb has a bio on Tony, and after a bit of checking, I have concluded that it's mostly (if not entirely) fictitious.

He claims to be a world champion Karateka, but doesn't include what organization, style or any other details. The bio is done by some company in England that I am pretty sure is his own as they have not reviewed anyone else on IMDb. He's got videos on You Tube titled "World Champion" consisting of a few seconds of blurry action in some sort of local karate tournament, with rave reviews by people that I can only assume are himself. All in all... really cheap.

Which brings me to the last point. Action. All the fighting looks like it's done by drunk bears. Repetitive screaming and waving your arms around is not martial arts.

On the other hand... if you really like bad movies, this is likely the worst, so it's got that going for it.

After a drug sting operation goes bad with the death of 2 cops and the accidental death of the dealer, the cop who pretended to be a buyer in the sting is arrested some time later at his home where a search turns up money and drugs in the mattress of his bed. It is insinuated that he deliberately killed the dealer and his ass is sent to a prison where a criminal he sent away years before is running a "cage fighting" operation in the basement (Well, where else they gonna hold it?). At some point in the course of his stay, it is impressed on him by said criminal that he has to participate in the fights and "no" was not an option.

While this movie is a cliché of the genre (guy in prison fights to survive in illegal prison matches), it isn't unoriginality that necessarily spoils it because even original ideas can be executed badly. By the same token, old ideas can be done well. If you like clear, methodical, workman-like exchanges in your fight scenes you might not be happy with the "music video-editing-and-effects-type" of fighting employed here. Mind you, I think the music in this movie is good, and I like music videos --BUT-- this was a bit much. The whole film in retrospect seemed to me like one very long music video even though there were actually scenes without music. I wonder why?

Further, because of the way certain things were thoughtlessly thrown into this movie it seems to me that the people who made it were being exploitive and were probably using a formula directed at the younger crowd: hard rock and rap, visual effects (lots of slow mo & fast mo), and a little T&A thrown into the mix for good measure. So. Music, ass-whippings, and ass. A formula for success, no? "Not necessarily" is what this movie proves.

Instead of loud music, video editing and effects, the fight scenes should have been bare and workman-like; just 2 guys in a cage, mano a mano, showing their technique and the size of their balls with the only sound coming from their contacts and the crowd watching. This, by itself, with the same tired story-line would have been a great improvement. That said, the movie is not "worthless". It can provide "light entertainment" for the individual who just wants to kickback and not think too much. As well, if you can't get enough of music videos and don't mind your movie essentially turning into one, you could get something from this.

The guy wrongly convicted

The sadistic guard

The clueless or corrupt warden

The prison bully

The helpful cell-mate

The mess hall encounter

The threats

The showdown at the end

Can anyone put the list above to music? It should be a song by now. Love, Boloxxxi.

A film that has soaked up principles of failure in unispirated action films. Schiena is as pale as the color of the film when it flickers on a screen. Nonsense that you don't have to see.

I want not be very critic about this film. Obvious, its target is so precise than nothing against it matters. But the chance to be little better remains and the regret, to. Nothing original. A very old recipe of action films about cops in prison, revenges, survive, the wise venerable friend and the pure bad guy are present. And, maybe, the presence, more than acting , of Vinnie Jones can works for sustain this...film.

So , not exactly bad , but the sex scenes, the presence of women gardiens in a men jail, the low effort for choreography in the fight scenes, the dialogues are the sins of a film who presumed can be mediocre .

But, sure, the public reigns .

In the 80s this might have worked more than fine. But having a lead that does not have the charisma to carry the movie on his shoulder, throwaway female roles (Bai Ling reduced to almost nothing and therefor criminally underused, no pun intended) and other stuff that does not add to make this movie any better.

The fight scenes overall are decent, but not as spectacular as others in similar movies I've seen. And that is a "neck" breaker, because you don't expect much in the story department, but there should be something in the action department. While there are worse movies out there, there are better. Even Vinnie Jones has done better roles and movies ...