Circle of Pain

Starring: Tony Schiena, Dean Cain, Bai Ling, Kimbo Slice, Heath Herring, Yves Edwards

Synopsis:

Former MMA champion Dalton Hunt (Schiena) retired from the fighting circuit after a training accident saw his best friend Wyatt (Cain) seriously injured and wheelchair-bound. Victoria Rualan (Ling), the new owner of the MMA franchise, forces Dalton out of retirement to fight her current champion, Colin “The Brick” Wahle. In order to get him back in the right mind-frame, Wyatt introduces Dalton to his personal trainer, Bronner, who has some off-kilter training methods.

I’ve name-dropped Circle of Pain into a couple of previous reviews, citing it as the nadir of Martial Arts movies. Now it’s time for the full review.

Lets start with a couple of positives. Although the script is very much by-the-numbers, it at least avoids the biggest clichéd storyline for a Martial Arts movie – the underground tournament. Instead it heads down another well-trodden road, the “one last job”. It focuses on just one match, and the road taken to get there by the participants.

It also has Dean Cain and Bai Ling providing some colourful characters. Bai Ling is the sleazy owner of the franchise, looking to go national, and not above threatening Dalton’s family to get what she wants from him. Plus, she makes out with her masseuse, providing the films only moment of fleeting titillation. Dean Cain plays Wyatt, Dalton’s best friend and room-mate. In a tragic training session, Dalton accidentally kicked Wyatt in the back, damaging his spine and confining him to a wheelchair. Although he hides it as much as possible, Wyatt has turned to alcohol to numb the painful memories.

Yves Edwards also does a good turn as Bronner, who reluctantly agrees to train Dalton and provide cryptic, yoda-like platitudes. The most interesting aspect of the impending fight is the need to get Dalton’s mind in gear. Getting him fit isn’t a problem, but Dalton has had a serious crisis of confidence ever since injuring Wyatt. It’s a good thing that there is that psychological hook too, because the fight scenes in this film suck. They suck bad.

Look closely at the faces of the actors during any of the fight scenes in the film, and you can see the little nods they give each other to signal they are ready. There’s a real nervousness to them, as if they know they haven’t had time to rehearse them properly. You would think that a film about MMA would make sure it’s fight sequences were the business, but here they feel like an after-thought. And I don’t accept budget restraints as an excuse either. According to IMDB, this film cost $1million to make. I can name about a dozen independent action movies which cost a hell of a lot less and look a hell of a lot better.

Kimbo Slice turns up at one point as a football player who ends up fighting Dalton in a bar, thanks to Bronner stirring things up. I don’t know what the deal is with Kiimbo Slice – he always gets good billing and appears prominently on the DVD covers of his films , even though he’s only in the film for a couple of minutes. Readers may know him best as “prison rapist #1” in the excellent Blood and Bone.

Verdict:

3 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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