Submundo das Lutas

I watch Gary Daniels movies for all the wrong reasons. I think he's the martial arts equivalent of Tommy Wiseau as the only guy close to him is Olivier Gruner who was in a movie called "Angel town" in the 1990s. But no one would remember him.

There is some potential to this. The camera work and fight choreography are what shine in this movie, everything else except the ending you can see a mile away. Considering Gary is in his mid 50s and he's still kicking as high as he can says a lot as well. It's not just a bunch of poorly stitched together slap fights with his back to the camera so body doubles can do it all or men running around shooting blanks for an hour and a half.

The dialogue starts off good. It's not just a fighter being encouraged by his moderately attractive girlfriend to do one last fight to pay off their debts to someone dangerous or finally "Get out" from doing it.

The supporting cast are weak. We've got a Mexican version of Denny in "the room" who keeps calling Gary's character "dude". This movie really shows its budget based on how many scenes the locations were shot in and how many other characters are in this. I wouldn't be surprised if all the fights happened in the same "Arena". The makeup department keeping Gary's injuries did a good job and Gary wasn't just a Belgian, a former transporter (Jason Statham) or whatever the heck Steven Seagal says he is this week wood chipper.

Am I going to remember this movie in a month? Probably not. Is it Gary's worst movie. No, he's done worse. I went into this and didn't even know who was going to be in it. It was a joy to see his name in the credits as the movie started as I knew, if the dialogue sucked I'd have some more Tommy Wiseau like line delivery. I feel if you go into this with realistic expectations as this is probably a C or D movie you MAY enjoy it.

Gary Daniels was a great fighter in the day and at 57 he's in excellent shape still but the fight choreography in this film is shockingly bad. Very slow and obviously choreographed. Acting is somewhat plastic. Daniels would be more suited to more credible fight choreographers for his fights and also bigger directors . Can't recommend this sadly.

Nicely directed,no shaky cam,well edited. Simple story to follow, nothing new, decent action cheography, Gary daniels has still got it and does well in the lead aswell as the action scenes. Supporting actors all do fine, just lacking budget which is a shame could have been better.

Overall a decent action film and for die hard gary daniels fans.

I remember when Gary Daniels was a rising star in the B movie industry in the 1990s. Since that period, I've hardly seen him in any movies at all, though he's kept working steadily. When I found this particular effort of his on Netflix, I decided to give it a look to see how he's been doing lately. Though judged from this movie, it doesn't seem like he's doing very well. I realize that Daniels is now in his early 50s, an age where it's harder for a martial arts actor to find quality projects, but he surely could have done better than this ultra low budget Mexican effort. It is a really crudely made exercise, with really bad cinematography and rock bottom production values. The script is even worse, with important scenes or linking footage missing, leading to a garbled story. Also, the so-called twists in the story will be no surprise to any viewer. As for the action, the martial art sequences are mediocre at best, and flat at their worst. The gunplay scenes are even worse. You'd be much better off looking in thrift stores for copies of Daniels' 1990 efforts instead of this absolutely pathetic effort.

Unless you count it as a surprise that the previews 3 reviews of this movie claim to have spoilers. Only read one of them from someone who seems to be a fan of Gary Daniels. And if you are of a certain age, you may have seen some of his movies too. You may also be wondering why he didn't become bigger. Then again, you may also realize that he probably made a lot of bad decisions.

This movie is one of them. While it may have read nice on paper, this seems to come straight out of the mind of a 6 year old. Don't get me wrong, kids do have great ideas too obviously. This is not one of those cases. The script is riddled with inconsistencies, the acting if you can call it that is below average at best (with Daniels being the top dog) and an overall tension span that is so weak you may fall asleep ... Action scenes are ok if you are being kind ... and haven't seen any martial arts movie in the last decade.

Obviously this all also boils down to budget and maybe the director may have more to offer. In this case though I highly and strongly recommend not watching this