Undisputed II: Last Man Standing

Former heavyweight champion, George 'The Iceman' Chambers (Micheal Jai White, taking over for Ving Rhames) is sent to a Russian gulag on trumped-up charges where he must fight. Once you get past that this movie is less of a sequel than a remake (one that misses the whole crux of the original I might add). Once you surrender to the fact that Walter Hill is the Undisputed winner in directing. You'll find that this direct to DVD movie is actually pretty good in a brainless action movie kind of way. White does the best with what he's been given and the fight scenes are well staged. One could find worse ways to spend around an hour and a half, can't vouch for the film being very memorable though. To sum up, more in common with the Penitentiary films of days of yore than a sequel to Undisputed, but it's still solid.

My Grade: C+

I attended the premiere at Paramount Studios and have to say I was impressed by the breathtaking fight scenes. They were filmed at a very high speed, so there was a hyper-real crispness to them and interesting time changes throughout. Things were slowed down and sped up to catch Michael Jai White's amazing choreography.

Michael Jai had a hand in much of the production and his attention to detail in these scenes in particular shows. Scott Adkins is also an incredibly adept martial arts performer and comes off as an appropriately menacing villain. Michael Jai plays George Chambers with all the hubris and latent anger you could want, but also with an undertone of humor not present in Ving Rhames' portrayal of the character.

The last reviewer made a good point about this film having an 80's action feel to it. There's a no-nonsense brutality to the fighting that you don't often see these days. This is no Jackie Chan hit-em-with-a-broomstick fest. Think Rocky meets UFC. A definite adrenaline-pumper!

As a martial art practitioner I want to assure the audience that the movie will like to those of you who expect to see a really tough fight! Even this time the creators made the fight scenes even more interesting, mainly because this time you will see not only clear boxing (as the previous "Undisputed"), but also you'll see very exciting moves by kicks, knees and even grappling. This time Chambers, unlike, the previous part, will have to face much more devastating opponent in the person of the Russian prisoner Yurii Boika, whose character will take your attention from the beginning of the movie with his splendid moves on the ring. In my opinion the character is created perfectly for the atmosphere of the movie.

Those of you who'll watch the movie, expecting something as good as the first part, wont be disappointed at all just because the director presents one well known of the audience Jorge Chambers. In that movie he is the same tough and proud guy, who, becomes clearly, that if you try to tell him what to do, he would crush at least your nose. Namely that side in the Iceman's character, to be proud, fighting for his honor, made him one of my favorite characters I've ever seen.

This is way better than the original film. It's explosive and heart-pounding from start to finish. The best American made martial arts action film in years. An action classic. An adrenaline-charged action-packed edge of your seat thrill-ride that packs some of the most intense, mind-blowing and bone-crushing martial arts sequences I've seen in some time. It's stylish, hard-core, gripping and wickedly entertaining. One cool as hell action flick that delivers. A stunning, thrilling and well-crafted piece of action movie. Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins are just pure dynamite, they deliver with their great performances and power packed fight sequences. These two set the screen on fire with their extraordinary energy. A tremendously exhilarating movie. This film in every sense of the word is a knockout.

I thought this movie was pretty fun. It was certainly by the numbers, but it didn't really disappoint. The characters were all pretty good, some over the top, but still engaging. Michael Jai White was pretty good as the protagonist (certainly uses the expression "F you" a lot), the bad guy was pretty standard but fun, and the Russian inmates were more than just cardboard cutouts. I thought the fight scenes were great, nicely choreographed, exciting and inventive. As a sequel, well, it's kind of interesting the bad guy from the first movie is the hero in this one, but you don't really need to see the first one to enjoy this movie. One needs to certainly turn their brain off a bit, but as an action movie, I would definitely recommend it for fans of the genre.