Os Condenados

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.

The concept is simple: 10 vicious felons are put onto an empty island and told that the last one standing after 30 hours will go free. To make their efforts to kill each other, weapons have been stashed in various places around the island. To make the effort pay itself off, the organizer of this event is airing it over the internet where viewers can subscribe and watch the mayhem. Naturally one of these felons is actually a good guy who's wrongly in prison.

As a setup for a testosterone packed action film it is hard to argue that it's bad since it does pretty much what it sets out to do. The whole subplot of violence as entertainment is also interesting enough. Naturally both of these things have been tackled on film before and in better form than this, but this by no means makes the film bomb by trying to out run itself and be too smart. Where the film does mess up is with another subplot involving the hero trying to get back to his wife. You see, he was a government agent and went to prison to keep his cover as a "badguy" and this kept him out of contact with his wife. Not only is this the most clichéd part of the film, it is the least interesting and the least relevant to the message that the main part of the film sets up. Sure, there needs to be some audience sympathy for the protagonist in a film like this, but it shouldn't interfere with the rest of the movie.

Another thing is the shaky cam, as it has come to be called. Is this some sort of budget cutting device? The production doesn't use dollies and camera rigs any more to cut down costs? The fight scenes here are pretty good, and they should be in an action film, but with such messy camera work they are not shown very well. Some films manage to have good shaky cam scenes as they give it a certain edge, but many films either get the rhythm wrong or go to far and it doesn't look as good as it could have looked. --- 6/10

BsCDb Classification: 13+ --- violence, profanity

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 !

One has to bear in mind that The Condemend is wwe production so don't go expecting some massive work of art with lots drama, action and a deep plot that will make you think- NO! Since it is a WWE production with wrestlers that have belonged to that company it has them doing what they do best in their specialised field of entertainment. The plot in nothing too out of this world if you have seen Battle Royale then you shall understand the point but it is by no means a great movie like Battle Royale so be warned. However having said that it has got all the ingredients in it to keep fans of the action genre connected and the story just picks up and moves on at a good pace with action to keep you hooked in. Steve Austin was good giving what he had to work with although to be honest it did not really need any effort as this role is a mirror image of his tough guy persona in WWE , however it was funny watching try to play the silent tough guy who grunts quiet a bit! But the star of the show in my opinion was the proper English hard-man Vinnie Jones , he was entertaining! The action was great along with the over the top theatrics which we see in the WWE . My complaints were that it drag on a little longer than it should of done I mean it was filled up in a few dull moments between fight scenes which were not needed and a few parts which tried to show that the characters had depth - that was just silly. To conclude , The condemned is not nearly as bad as people are making out to be, its merely a time pass and it should not be compared to anything bigger or deeper like Battle Royale however if you would like to see it then make sure it is on one of your boring Monday nights. Fans of the action genre and WWE will be left feeling satisfied to a meek extent as it is not that bad but could of been better.

THE CONDEMNED : 6.7 OUT 10

THE FIGHT IS ON .