Circle of Pain [DVD]

Where to start first? the acting? the false advertising? the bad name this movie gives to mixed Martial Arts? Lets hope the politicians in New York never get their hands on this movie, they would have a field day! Or if your friends who have no idea what MMA is about watch this they will think your mad to watch a sport like that!

First up the cover of the DVD has former Ultimate fighter 10 season participant and former UFC fighter and Youtube sensation Kimbo Slice on the cover. He is not the main actor and is in about 3 scenes in total. Heath Herring is the main MMA fighter in the movie as he plays the undefeated champion "The Brick" who is 21-0 and one more win away from creating a new record, enter former champion Dalton Hunt(Tony Schiena) who hasn't fought since he put his best friend played here by Dean Cain in a wheelchair 5 years ago, but of course he needs the money as his family have their home taken away from them by nasty promoter, who's played by Bai Ling yes she was in that other bad movie Southland Tales! So he comes out of retirement to take the fight and begins training, one of his training partners is UFC fighter Miguel Torress. Former UFC fighter Roger Huerta helps train "The Brick".

The acting is terrible, the script is terrible and toward the end they fill the movie with some soft pornography for no reason at all, it's like they decided our movie is ten minutes short so lets add in some soft porn! There is a few extra's included, such as interviews with the cast. Enter former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir who has a very small one scene role in the movie yet in the extra's he's talking like he's on his way to Oscar glory.

The fight scenes look vicious and doesn't represent a real MMA fight in the slightest, it looks like a no holds barred fight where head butting is allowed, and there's even one scene where they burst true the cage door and fight outside! You can only imagine what Dana White would think if he has seen this, also do any of the fighters regret taking part in this movie? Do yourself avoid this you will only end up cringing or laughing hysterically at the bad acting!

I received this DVD along with another one and got it on time. The film itself is not too bad very entertaining

I'm a big MMA fan and to be honest, when it comes to watching these straight-to-DVD movies, I'm not expecting some masterpiece of cinema which is the holy grail of MMA, I just expect a simple story with some fighting, and that's pretty much what you get with this movie. Alright, the fights aren't technical whatsoever but they are still entertaining to watch and it's always fun to see cameos from real life MMA fighters such as Frank Mir and Miguel Torres.

The characters in this film are nothing to write home about. The main character is the typical tough guy who tries to avoid trouble but trouble always finds him. Dean Cain and Bei Ling's characters are really quite annoying. Heath Herring's character is just a generic bad guy. The coolest character is probably the trainer who lives on a farm and starts a fight with Kimbo Slice. He has a few funny moments.

I would reccomend this film if you are a big MMA fan who doesn't take films too seriously, but if you are looking for a more serious film then I recommend "Blood & Bone" or "Redbelt"