User reviews

I am rarely tempted to review a movie, but in this case I am willing to stick my neck out.

Although this movie had me watching until the end, it was with a good deal of frustration. I am a one-time martial artist and a keen fight spectator, and in my opinion, the fight scenes in this movie were not (for the most part) up to snuff. I'm not saying that the fighters were amateurs, it was the choreography that annoyed me. Many of the moves and techniques seemed to be used simply for the looks, and not for authenticity. Without going into specifics (I don't want to give away spoilers) the were a lot of very poor choices of hold/grapple/blow that you simply would not see in real competition. The very experienced Ernie Reyes Sr. dropped the ball on this one.

Another bug-bear was the music being that it was way too loud in some places, actually drowning out the dialogue, and inappropriate in other places.

Having said all that, I thought the acting was good for the most part, and in particular one scene featuring John Savage and Ki Reyes (Oscar), which had my partner tearing up.

In summary, I would not recommend this for anyone who just wants to see an MMA movie, and also not for the hard of hearing:) I'd rather rent 'Redbelt' or 'Never back down'.

ART OF SUBMISSION is a dull drama detailing mixed martial arts fighting in an urban setting. The main character is played by Ernie Reyes Jr. as a tough fighter desperate to make a name for himself but who finds his life spiralling out of control after making some difficult choices. Finding himself in prison, he befriends the warden who has him released so that he can take part in some televised fighting contests.

There's little more plot to it than that, and indeed the narrative exists merely to feature a string of fighting scenes. An early multi-participant brawl in a garage is the highlight here, although there's a whole bunch of MMA fights at the climax. Unfortunately, the fights are very poorly filmed in an ugly style, all quick editing and cross cutting, so that it's very difficult to tell whether any of the participants are truly skilled or not.

This film wants to be NEVER BACK DOWN but doesn't come close. A bunch of seasoned performers make appearances, including a typically weary Ving Rhames who seems to appear in any old thing. '90s B-movie favourite Matthias Hues appears in support but doesn't really get to do much while George Takei makes no impact as the clichéd master villain. Maria Conchita Alonso, of THE RUNNING MAN fame, plays the hero's mother.

Submission, err, Red Canvas or Art of Submission released in 2009, or 2012, or, oh, forget it, all the same movie. This is a MMA action/drama movie centering around the plight of a young adult who wants to train to be a mixed martial arts star. Of course, he is in troubled times and the movie attempts to juggle the action with the drama but falls short on it. The tempo switching in this movie is often too random to hold the audiences attention, while debating if this is a tear-jerker, or just a beat 'em up flick. The fighting sequences at times are very well done, and other times, just plain silly. Ernie Reyes Jr. does a decent job acting as the main character, often being forced to shift gears from a apprehensive heavy to a sentimental person of the film quite quickly. Ving Rhames (big fan of) plodded through this movie, seemingly unconvinced of why he was there. I may have been a bit more sold on this movie had it not been the length of it. By the films finale, I just felt more or less like "get it over already" so I will. 3.9/10

This movie had great action scenes on par with any best selling film. The music and storyline were hard hitting and it was hard not to root for the underdog. Real life is hard and messy and that is portrayed here.

If you have really seen this movie you know that it has some excellent martial arts fighting. It's about time you see some real good triumph over evil.

Some of us know what it is to hit bottom before we can even consider looking up for help. Everyone needs some hope at the end of the day though.

As real as it gets... Real Fighters, Exceptional Full Contact choreography by the legendary Ernie Reyes, Sr. A compelling and meaningful storyline carried by wonderful performances. Ernie Reyes Jr. is awesome. UFC Fight considered the fights "Top Notch." Others give the film's story and direction a "Black Belt." Over 1600 martial arts school owners who screened the film in Orlando gave it great reviews. Won 'Best Picture" at the action on Film Festival... Finally, a martial arts movie made by martial artists, for martial artists... People who have seen it as crushed and streamlined download through pirate internet sites don't have a fair representation by which to criticize the picture or sound mix... Watch it legitimately on the big screen, then make your comments... True MMA fans, fighters, and Martial Artists love it, and that makes me proud of the incredible team that put this project together. Great Work!

Art of Submission is an absolutely brilliant MMA Martial Arts thriller which is just absolutely amazing and awesome. This film has some real In your face high powered MMA fighting that'll just blow your head off. The film has scenes with good looking and sexy girls in it, high powered MMA fighting, it also is a film which is tense, pretty violent and has lots more. The film also has some absolutely brilliant acting by Ving Rhames as Gene, Ernie Reyes Jr as Johnny Sanchez, Maria Conchita Alonso as Maria Sanchez, Sara Downing as Julia, John Savage as Harbin Rask, Gray Maynard as Torch and George Takei as the greedy Krang. The fight scenes were just absolutely awesome and I was amazed with Johnny Sanchezs strength and power all the way before the final fight against Torch. Johnny Sanchez was just absolutely amazing and I just loved watching him fight using his excellent strength and power. I don't know why this film was given such a low score of 4.4/10, it's completely unfair and should have been given a much higher score. When I first started watching the film and saw fight scenes and scenes with Johnny and Julia together, I was going to give this film an 8 which is very good, but as the film went on it got better and better, the fight scenes were absolutely brilliant, the unity and close chemistry amongst the Sanchez family was absolutely brilliant and I thought about it and decided i'm going to give this film 10/10 because it is an absolutely brilliant film. All the acting by the other actors such as the people who played the other members of the Sanchez family etc was also absolutely brilliant. Ving Rhames acting as Gene was absolutely awesome and I loved watching him act in this film and Ernie Reyes Jrs acting as Johnny Sanchez was also absolutely awesome and I also loved watching him in this film.

Anyone on here with a bad review has not seen Art of Submission! They had only seen the Red Canvas film that was pirated beforehand. The Art of Submission movie was well played by all actors. The fight scenes were well played by all fighters. Ernie Rays Jr. did an outstanding fight performance as well as the MMA fighters. The music was off the charts! I am looking forward to a sound track to follow. I can imagine hearing this sound track being played at many fights, wrestling matches, foot ball games etc! The music get's you pumped!

The story line was real. It hit home. A great family movie. Had some great helicopter shots of Vegas!

This Submission Movie is a Must See! Great actors, great fight scenes, and a great story. You will want to buy this for your library once it comes out on DVD. Grab a bunch of friends when it comes to a theater near you and don't miss it. There is also a great story behind the production of this film. Much blood, sweat, and tears have went in to making this film for us to see. Several years in the making and now it's time for you to enjoy an amazing project that will get you excited to bring others. Check out the cast if you haven't yet and I am sure you will see some popular names that you have enjoyed watching in the past.

This film touched all aspects of great entertainment. Action, comedy and love. It pulled on my heart strings, made me laugh out loud and had me intrigued through the whole film. It engages both those interested in martial arts and those didn't know they were. You'll be on the edge of your seat as this story unfolds. There are great actors who deliver to their potential ad well as unknown names who set new standards. There is a hot level of excitement that reaches all crowds, from Vegas nights to fantastic eye candy. There was not one full moment in this film keeping the whole audience engaged. You will not be disappointed. Never has there been a film in martial arts that has actors with such martial art experience. A fight scene is not just a movie, it's true action.

Art of Submission is not only a great movie for UFC fans but contains many family relationships which the whole family can enjoy and relate too. The relationship between Johnny and his father unfolds, develops and grows through out the movie until the final scenes. An excellent performance by Mario Alonso (Johnny's mother). With the back drop of Las Vegas, under the superb directing of Ken Chamitoff and Adam Boster actors Ernie Reyes Junior, Sarah Downing, Ving Rhames and John Savage come together to make a heart warming story come to life. The struggle between failure and redemption through the venue of UFC is truly inspiring for parents and children of all ages. The excellent choreography of legendary martial arts Ernie Reyes makes for exciting fight scenes. A great film for the whole family. Thoroughly recommend.

Just a great "feel good" movie full of great MMA fight scenes. I'm so tired of the illegal underground fight movies that send out a negative message and giving MMA a bad rap. This movie has Rocky, and the Karate kid wrapped together providing the viewers with a pleasant experience. I enjoyed watching REAL MMA fighters like Frank Shamrock and Grey Maynard instead of actors act like fighters. Also good to see the training scenes filmed at the TAPOUT gym in Las Vegas. Ving Rhames, is classic as the gym owner and trainer and George Takei is alway fun to watch as he plays the villain running a corrupt made for TV fight show. John Savage was also a nice surprise as he plays the prison warden. Ernie Reyes is the movies hero who has to take on life's hurdles as he struggles with life, love and family. Great Job fellas, in my opinion this is a must see!

PROJECT STATUS: January 10th, 2015 During the production of MONEY FIGHT there were three PHASES of production..

Phase One: This first vision of the film Starring Ernie Reyes Junior, Maria Conchita Alonso, with John Savage and George Takei was licensed and distributed in several foreign territories including: Germany, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Brazil.

Phase Two: We decided to rework the project to include more back story to the main characters and add other theatrical elements including; Ving Rhames, Matthias Hues, Aerial Photography, shooting at various gorgeous outdoor locations such as the boot camp in Valley of Fire and the Las Vegas Strip. We also added many elements with high production value, more heart, more romance, more sex appeal, better sound design, etc. We added several fights from known celebrity athletes and re-edited the entire feature to incorporate the full hour of additional footage. From this we created a very fast paced version of the film. The budget of this rework was $2,000,000. This film was showcased at AFM in 2012. This version of the film was licensed and distributed in several foreign territories including: Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, France, UK and a re-release in Germany. However, we did not find a suitable US theatrical distribution deal, so we decided to get back to work.

Phase Three: After receiving great feedback from the international distribution community and additional funding from the limited international release, we decided to invest in a more fluid and heart felt re-edit of the project. We consulted with Steve MIrkovic, the award winning editor of Passion of the Christ, Con-Air, 16-Blocks and almost all of John Carpenters films. With his leadership and insight we created MONEY FIGHT. We invested a full year in post-production and another $500,000 into this final vision of the film which included scenes and footage never seen in either of the previous versions of the film, a greatly enhanced sound track, a dynamic re-edit of all the fights, beautiful sound design and color work. One may consider this version of the film "the director's cut." We prefer to refer to it as the final realization of a worthwhile story… Our vision realized. This final cut entitled MONEY FIGHT has not been seen by the distribution community. It was test screened in San Jose on September 21st 2012, and received standing ovations and a one week box office gross of over $9000. Marketing: We have invested nearly $400,000 into grass roots marketing leading up to this point. The entire martial arts community in the US is aware of the project in one form or another and eager for its release. The marketing has included having over 2000 martial arts school owners being bussed from the Martial Arts Super show to a sneak peek screening. Booths and poster signings at UFC Expo's, ATA World and National Karate Tournaments, and most importantly, we have produced three televised live fights that are currently being showcased throughout many TV networks.

Current Objective: We are seeking out methods and relationships to release the film MONEY FIGHT theatrically in North America and then distribute the remaining rights worldwide.

This was a fantastic kick back and eat popcorn movie. Great to see George Takei, Ving Rhames, John Savage, and Maria Conchita Alonso get good parts again. The story takes you on a mixed martial arts thrill ride while weaving in a lovingly crafted drama that threatens to break hearts. Two sexy leads in Sara Downing and Ernie Reyes Jr. Sizzle together with a raw chemistry not often seen in this genre. Kudos to the directional duo - Adam Boster and Kenneth Chamitoff - who seem to have discovered a formula that both honors and borrows from classic motion pictures in the martial arts and action disciplines. Production value to burn - and the score rocks!