This movie is in no way a memorable masterpiece such as Gladiator, or even as good as one of Van Damme's later movies such as "The Quest". However if you are bored and you have Showtime and happen to catch this on the Action channel then it's not that terrible a movie. If you have ever trained in boxing or MMA, or been around it then some of the very few scenes of the training will drive you nuts. The fighting is sort of a blend of realistic MMA, with some unnecessary over the top Hollywood junk. The athleticism of the fights isn't that over the top, sometimes fairly clumsy looking but at least not so stylized to look superhuman like old JCVD spin kicks. As for the action rating I'm gonna rate this as a true MMA fan and martial arts movie fanatic. It gets some credit for it's training scenes. I like a movie that does the classic Van Damme "Kickboxer" type of training, or even "The Karate Kid". I think that "Kickboxer" gets some of the highest marks for the training scenes so I'm gonna rate that movie at a 9. This movie, for the training scenes I'd give it maybe a 6 due to mainly some inconsistencies. Mainly it's the fact that the main hero is supposed to already be this billy bad ass fighter, yet then the guy that talks so highly about him acts like the guy has no clue when he trains him, it didn't make sense. The actual combat is only mediocre. The lighting is terrible in the pit they fight in and the action is usually panned out too far. I'd only give it a 6 of 10 in overall fighting scenes, mainly ranking over a 5 simply because it's fairly realistic combat. There is a few different styles of martial arts represented, although not enough emphasis on that.
The acting isn't nearly the worst I've ever seen as some have said. If you want to see the worst acting ever then watch the MMA movie, "Never Surrender", which features George St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, Anderson Silva, Heath Herring, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. It has maybe 3 of the top 10 pound for pound real life MMA fighters, yet the star is some dude that kicks everyone's butt with ease. I guess he's the star because he's the "actor", and I use quotes because he's the worst actor I've ever seen. So if I were to rate the acting parts of this movie, as compared to it's peers (other martial arts B movies), then I'd rate this one at least a 7 of 10. In terms of just acting overall versus any movie, it'd maybe get a 3.
Overall I'm rating this movie a 6 of 10. My rating is based on the genre of movie it represents. It's not a high budget movie such as "Kickboxer" or "Lionheart" nor is it a low budget gym like "Bloodsport" or "The Last Dragon", however it is entertaining in spots and no worse than most other in this genre. It's not a chick flick, and that's enough for me when I've got a rare moment to sit and watch one of my favorite types of movies. Only watch if you are a die-hard martial arts movie fan and don't expect anything groundbreaking and do expect some cheesiness.
