Sexyloutak
Absolutely the worst movie.
Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
jose_moscardo
I like this movie. OK, they didn't spend (or waste) a lot of money and the story is not "Gone with the wind". But inside its limits I have enjoyed it a lot. First of all, I found it very entertaining. Much more entertaining, in fact, that many Hollywood blockbusters. Second, I really think that Tony Schiena is a good actor for this kind of action stuff, this is my first time to watch him on the screen but his fine performance (cool but also human and believable) deserves my respect. I was surprised too because fighting are built into a dramatic story that makes sense for me. This is a violent film but not only a film about violence, I found more topics in it: friendship, honor, loyalty, family. If I can complain about something, it is only Bai Ling's waste performance. This actress deserves something better than appear only some minutes with a few lines of dialog. Watch "Red corner" or "The beautiful country" and you will understand what I am talking about.
p-stepien
As if stolen from the garbage can of an "Undisputed" scriptwriter, the movie tells a story of an undercover cop Danny (Tony Schiena) framed for drug smuggling, money laundering and murder. Put into prison with criminals he helped place in the slammer he is destined to confront dog-haters. In order to save himself from being back-stabbed under the shower Danny agrees to join up for underground prison cage fights organised by Anton Vargas (Vinnie Jones). The decision keeps him safe from harm. That it until the night of the fights to the death...Given how tragically unoriginal script all that the movie could offer was a good execution of the beat down script. However in order to pull this off you would need to arrange a cast and crew, which isn't borderline dull. Tony Schiena, even though he can pull off a tough-as-nails face, is absolutely appalling with his line delivery and lacks any acting range whatsoever apart from punching peoples guts out. Most of the supporting cast is equally dreadful with only Dave Fennoy, who very amiably plays Danny Irving's mentor, and Vinnie Jones (being his normal rat-faced self) pulling off a decent showing.The unoriginal script also does itself no favours with some absolutely gut-wrenching logic epitomised by a dreadful end-scene, where Gwen, an uncorrupted Internal Affairs officer, gleefully watches Danny give a stash of stolen cash to the family of a convict. Given the absolutely basic nature of the story the amount of plot holes galore is absolutely astounding.In a sheer attempt to overawe sensory receptors of the male audience in order to hide all the above deficiencies, the director overloads the movie with loud music (mostly in-your-face nu-metal or hip-hop), gratuitous sex scenes and some brutal fights. The fights themselves, which actually are key given the nature of the film, are decent enough, although they lack proper build-up and necessary drama to really involve. On top of that these sequences are woefully painful to watch from a cinematographic point of view due to the sheer amount of slow-motion shots.All in all: Not a good movie. Not even in its testosterone driven B-movie action category.
Comeuppance Reviews
In Chicago's Blackwater state penitentiary (not to be confused with the covert ops organization), mob boss Anton Vargas (Jones), rules the roost. Everyone is on his payroll, including the warden and the guards. He runs Punchfighting matches in the basement of the prison. Meanwhile, undercover cop on the edge Det. Danny Bolan (Schiena) is involved in a drug bust gone wrong where he's framed and mistakenly sent to Blackwater. While inside, he faces off against Vargas and his Punchfighting minions in order to survive. That includes criminals he himself put in jail.This modern-day Punchighter is another 90-minute commercial for the TapouT brand. While Circle of Pain (2010) has more TapouT product placement than Locked Down, still, somehow, inmates in a maximum security prison have have TapouT shirts and hats.These TapouT ( we feel very silly adding that last capital T, just so you know) productions always manage to get one B-list name - in Circle of Pain it was Dean Cain, Beatdown (2010) has Danny Trejo, and here we have Vinnie Jones. He is underused as the baddie, and this role doesn't let him live up to his full potential. He wears the same outfit the whole movie and doesn't say that much. As for Kimbo Slice, the filmmakers tacked on some unrelated plot about him fighting people in Florida. The word "shoehorned" comes to mind here. Tony Schiena is such a meatheady dolt - more than usual - I didn't recognize him at first.There are a lot of classic clichés on display: Bolan tells Vargas "we have a lot of history together", the scene where a guard says to the incoming prisoners "this is the end of the line" and "you can't do anything without my say so", and at one point Bolan even says "this might sound clichéd, but my father was a cop...my grandfather was a cop..." Also, Bolan's shrew of a girlfriend whining, telling him he can't a be an undercover cop because she never sees him anymore. The lifer/trainer of the Bolan character, and much more.Despite some of the negative things we've said so far, Locked Down is really not that bad for a modern-day Punchfighter. These movies hark back to a late 80's/90's style of filmmaking, which is decent, but what ruins that is all the horrible nu-metal music over the top of it all. Tunes such as "Wildfire in the Streets" by Tommy Fields, and other bands such as "Stabbed", "Eject", "Dgat" and others offer their selections as well. The most ridiculous song names a bunch of real-life fighters and how they are all going to, and I quote "pop your hood". What this means exactly is open to interpretation.As far as the fights, they have all the slow motion and quick cuts you might expect, as well as the choreographed pulled punches, but at least they seem to be TRYING.Locked Down is worth seeing if you liked Circle of Pain or other TapouT vehicles. It's more of the same.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
lovecraft231
As I make my second foray into reviewing a "Tapout Presents" movie, I've come to accept the fact that I'm Lionsgate's bitch. Sure, I tend to bitch about them, and I even took a hiatus from them, yet for some reason, I just keep coming back for more. In a way, I almost admire the studio. Yes, the Direct to DVD movies they release are usually worthless crap, yet how many other major studios are releasing so much exploitation garbage on a regular basis? I kind of appreciate that to be honest. So, while Daniel Zirilli's second foray into directing a movie for Tapout is an all around bad movie, it's at least a slight improvement in a few regards, and at times shows that maybe (and that's a really big maybe) they'll finally achieve their obvious goal of giving the world a passable afternoon action flick one of these days.The plot, like many of these pictures, is nothing special: Danny (Tony Schiena) is a respected cop whose set up and taken to prison. In this prison, underground cage fights are being orchestrated by an ruthless crime lord named Anton Vargas (Vinnie Jones), and it's not long until Danny is forced to participate. Good thing for him that he's got a trainer in his cellmate Irving (Voice Actor Dave Fennoy.) Can Danny make it out alive? Can his innocence be proved? Why are so many Mixed Martial Arts stars promoted, yet only given small roles?Before I get to the good and bad, I think it should be noted that MMA stars Kimbo Slice and Rashad Evans are on the DVD and Blu-Ray covers. This is notable because the image of Kimbo used is the same one used for the box art of "Circle of Pain", only it's now kinda in the background. I don't know whether I should shake my head at how cheap this is, or if I should applaud it.Now, onto the nitty gritty. For the bad, well, there's plenty bad about this movie. While the production values have improved, the action scenes are now shot with super slow motion and music video techniques, which is kind of annoying. Also, Bai Ling is in it, but not for very long, and she was obviously cast just so she can get naked. Plus, she clearly seems like she doesn't want to be in this, and that she'd rather be doing something that's at least a little more dignified.Apart from that, it's the usual complaints you hear about these "Tapout Presents" movies - mostly wooden performances, the fact that Mixed Martial Arts stars are promoted as being in it, yet not given much to do other than fight and curse (though that's for the best, as Kimbo Slice delivers his dialog with all the conviction of a 12 year old), throwing in more gratuitous than usual sex and nudity (why do these things keep briefly turn into something resembling a soft core Cinemax movie?), a horrible script, more clichés than most action movies, terrible Nu-Metal, Pseudo-Grunge and Hip Hop blaring in the soundtrack, etc. Then there's Tony Schiena himself. It's obvious that the director and producers (all 22 of them - yes, a total of 22 people are credited as producers) want him to be some kind of action star, but he's just not that convincing as a bad ass or an actor to achieve such status.Now, for the few positives. As I mentioned, the production values have improved, as it now more resembles a movie than it does a music video or soft core flick in those regards - director Zirilli actually makes something out of his limited budget, and makes something that looks more expensive than it probably was. Also, the score actually resembles a film score for a change, and what do you know, there's more than one good to passable performance in this. Of course, it's Vinnie Jones who steals the show, clearly having a ball with his role, though Fennoy actually delivers a good performance as well, doing the best with what's ultimately a really clichéd role, and Sarah Ann Schultz does a decent enough job.I can't recommended "Locked Down" to anyone other than really undemanding fans of action/exploitation garbage. That out of the way, it's the best "Tapout Presents" movie thus far - though that's really not saying much - and it gives me at least a (most likely false) sense of hope that they'll pull off something that's at least somewhat watchable someday. It's very unlikely that will happen, but a man can hope.
